Crew ‘prepared for the worst’
TORONTO – How do you prepare for Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco?
Do you gulp?
Take a deep breath?
Say your prayers and eat your vitamins?
“You prepare for the worst, man,” Columbus Crew defender Josh Williams told the Columbus Dispatch ahead of Wednesday night’ s decisive Eastern Conference final.
The ex-TFC centreback is well aware of his former club’s danger men – both of who missed last week’s goalless first leg at MAPFRE Stadium due to suspension.
The Crew’s biggest hope Wednesday night could be how much a three-week break impacts Toronto FC’s two leading scorers. Both Giovinco and Altidore haven’t played since the Reds outlasted Red Bull New York 24 days ago.
“It’s a logical conclusion to make that if they haven’t played in 24 days they’re going to be somewhat rusty,” Crew bench boss Gregg Berhalter told the Dispatch.
The Atomic Ant didn’t sound like a man lacking confidence earlier this week.
“Now it’s our turn,” Giovinco told reporters, later adding “for me and Jozy there’s pressure all year. We know we’re important for the team.
“The (first leg) result was good. Now it’s our turn. We have to do the best possible.”
The scenarios are simple: Toronto FC will host its second straight MLS Cup with a win while the Crew need just a draw involving goals to return to the title game.
The unlikeliest result, another goalless draw, will see the two sides play extra time.
Asked how the injection of two top strikers will change the complexion of this series, coach Greg Vanney’s comments were in line with Williams’ take.
“There’s a big adjustment,” Vanney said of swapping Tosaint Ricketts with his two leading men. “It’s very different to play against one striker instead of two.
“It creates a lot of different images. We’re a totally differentlooking team if Tosaint is up top alone verses if we have those two strikers. For us, I think we’ll look very different from what we looked like the other day.”
It’s a fixture that promises to be the most hyped, most anticipated and most watched match since last December’s disappointing MLS Cup final. It’s a playoff fixture to determine whether TFC goes down as the greatest team in league history.
After breaking the 1998 L.A. Galaxy’s record for points (69) in a regular season, the Reds could become the first MLS team to win a domestic treble. No club has captured a Supporters’ Shield, domestic Cup and MLS Cup all in the same season.
“When we won the Supporters’ Shield we talked about this idea that aside from the trophy, aside from what it meant having been the best team from the beginning to the end, what it really meant for us was that we were going to be able to dictate how our season ended, however that might be.
“We knew that we were getting the second leg of every season at home. We knew the final, if we could get there, would be at home. And the relationship this team has with our fans and with the city is pretty special. I expect an incredible atmosphere tomorrow night.”
It’s a match that sold out – approximately 30,000 seats – shortly after additional tickets were offered to season seat holders weeks ago. It’s a match that surely will draw the biggest TV numbers since last year’s MLS Cup drew 1.5 million viewers.
“We’re not feeling any weight of anything,” Bradley said of mounting pressure. “Games like (Wednesday night) are why you play. On the biggest nights, when everything is on the line, these are the games you want to be playing in. The teams who embrace that and who aren’t fazed by it and who are ready to just step on the field and go for it ... are typically the teams that give themselves the best chance.”
There’s been a back-and-forth debate concerning which side has the upper hand entering Wednesday’s affair. While the Reds have called on supporters to crank up the noise and hostility inside BMO Field to tip scales further in their favour, the Crew have fired a few warning shots of their own.
“We feel really good,” Columbus forward Ola Kama rat old ML S soccer. com. “It’s hard for teams to play at home when you have that away-goal rule. It’s really tough. So I know that we’re in a good position. But we also know that it’s hard to go into Toronto and actually win. But I feel really good about it.”
Not nearly as good as Toronto, though, where supporters are expecting an inspired, but different, performance after the Reds slipped past New York.
Emotions can’t run nearly as high as they did three weeks ago when Altidore was sent off and Giovinco could hardly control himself.
“We’ve had good practice in terms of the mentality needed for tomorrow night, Bradley added. “So we’re going to do it one more time.”
In order to, perhaps, do it once more in December.