The goal is to prevent goals
New York City brings MLS’s highest-scoring attack to East semifinal
Nick Hagglund has been a familiar face in Toronto FC’s lineup in recent weeks, but that wasn’t always the case for the Reds’ centre back this season.
There were times this year when the 24-year-old American defender, who played in less than half of Toronto’s regular-season games this year and started only eight, couldn’t see a light at the end tunnel.
“It was a tough situation. We had a great group; our defence was doing great,” Hagglund said Friday, two days before the first leg of the Reds’ Eastern Conference semi-final against New York City FC at BMO Field.
“You don’t fix something that’s not broke, so for sure in the middle of the season I was frustrated. Happy with the team performance but I wanted to be a part of it, wanted to feel like I was helping the team out.”
As recently as a month ago, Hagglund believed Toronto’s coaching staff had settled on a lineup. But since being given the opportunity to start against Philadelphia on Sept. 24, the defender has clocked nearly 400 minutes over six games. That’s almost half the minutes he has played this season.
Hagglund is overjoyed to be starting in the business end of the year. “You always want to be playing in the big games,” he said. Toronto has never beaten New York; the two teams played to a pair of draws this year.
The contests between the two teams have historically proven high- scoring affairs, with 18 goals in the five games since New York joined the league as an expansion team last year. Hagglund and his teammates boasted the second stingiest defensive record in Major League Soccer this season, and the team’s performance will need to reflect that come Sunday. New York City, with threats like striker David Villa and attacking midfielders Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo, was the league’s highest scoring team this season with 62 goals. And away goals will act as a tiebreaker in the semifinal.
Coach Greg Vanney said the team is focused on first managing and taking away New York’s strengths, namely its set plays and goal-scoring prowess, and then employing the likes of strikers Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco to exploit the visitors’ clear weakness: a flimsy defence.
Coach Patrick Vieira’s team had the third-worst defensive record in the league.
“You can score goals,” Vanney said. “But you can also leak some goals.”
“I wanted to be a part of it, wanted to feel like I was helping the team out.” NICK HAGGLUND TORONTO FC DEFENDER