Crew tasked with beating Toronto FC back line
Three previous meetings against Toronto FC and two weeks of film study ahead of Tuesday’s first leg of the Eastern Conference finals have given Crew SC a few theories on how it might be able to break down a compact Toronto back line.
Ola Kamara wasn’t willing to reveal them Friday.
“We learned something from it,” Kamara said. “I’m not going to tell you the secret.”
Based on Toronto’s 2017 results, it’s a well-kept secret. Toronto FC allowed 11.7 shots per game this season, fifth-fewest among MLS teams, and committed the second-fewest fouls
per game at 10.6. In a 69-point regular season, Toronto allowed just 37 goals, lowest in the Eastern Conference and second-lowest in MLS behind Sporting Kansas City.
“They’ve got a good defense,” coach Gregg Berhalter said. “They’re difficult to break down and that’s the exercise, focusing on how to break down Toronto, how to create goal-scoring opportunities. It’s numbers and it’s space.”
Toronto condenses space centrally and does a good job of getting numbers behind the ball. That stems in part from the team’s knowledge that it has the ability to get goals if it needs to. Toronto led the league with 74 regular-season goals and is able to stay disciplined in its defensive third, especially when playing with a lead.
“They play a wide back five that covers a lot of ground across the penalty box, so it becomes challenging,” Berhalter said. “I think it’s highlighting certain things, key movements that can break them down and then it’s gonna be about, in the game, executing.”
Berhalter regularly fielded questions in late spring and early summer about his team’s challenges breaking down formations with three center backs. Lately, nearly every Crew opponent has lined up with two center backs as opposed to three.
Most teams struggle with making a final pass against a threeman back line, and the Crew’s most-recent
game against Toronto FC, while nearly six months ago, was indicative of that fact. In a 5-0 loss on May 26 at BMO Field, Crew SC registered 11 shots, but not one on target.
Just one Crew offensive regular, midfielder Pedro Santos, acquired from Portuguese club SC Braga in August, has not faced Toronto FC. The 29-year-old said much of the Portuguese Liga plays with two center backs, adding that his most-regular exposure to 3-5-2 and 5-3-2 formations has come in Europa League games.
“We don’t have too much time to think (against a compact defense), but we have training on a small field and I think we are prepared because we are training well,” Santos said. “If we have good movement, we’re gonna find space because when we recirculate the ball, the other team (will) slide and we’ll find space.”
Kamara, the team’s leading scorer with 19 goals between the regular season and playoffs, acknowledged the challenges of facing five defenders, but said he’s more focused on the Crew’s offensive movement than the tendencies of Toronto’s back line. He’ll leave the game-planning to the Crew’s coaching staff.
“My mental state, I’m not walking around thinking about (Toronto),” Kamara said. “I have an offensive approach and I’m thinking about how I’m going to score and not, ‘Oh, they’re so good in defense’ and, ‘Oh, it’s going to be so tough.’ I’m not thinking like that.”