Confident Reds eager to get back on pitch
Just back from Montreal, team seeks payback against Revolution for June 3 loss
Not long after Toronto FC’s charter flight home from Montreal touched down early Thursday, coach Greg Vanney was hearing from players eager to suit up for their next game, less than 48 hours away.
Many were anxious to get back on the field for Friday night’s league match against the New England Revolution despite the quick turnaround from the first leg of the Canadian Championship final on Wednesday night.
“I thought I’d have a couple (asking to suit up) but I had a lot more, which I like,” Vanney said. “It’s a group that is hungry to play and a part of it, I think — a small part of it — is who we’re playing, and the fact that we lost the last time we played them.”
Toronto’s 3-0 away loss to the Revolution in early June is a blemish on an otherwise impressive 9-2-5 record for the MLS Eastern Conference leaders, who will hit the midway point of the season Friday at BMO Field.
That defeat against a team that sits outside the playoff picture still stings. They’re confident it won’t happen again, and motivated in part by the way the Revolution celebrated that night.
“We didn’t have a great night against them and they punished us, but at the same time we felt like they showed a little bit of a lack of class towards the end of the game in the way that they did a couple of things — the way that they danced on the ball, or the way that they celebrated a couple of goals,” TFC’s Eriq Zavaleta said. “Because of that, it gave us an extra little chip that, in my opinion, you don’t want to give a team like us.”
Revenge could help make up for tired legs in a busy stretch of the schedule. Vanney says managing the workload will be a big factor when he fills out the game sheet, but some players who saw action in Wednesday’s 1-1 tie with the Impact will definitely pull double duty.
Thursday’s workout was mixed. Some players got touches on the field, while others ran or did yoga. Zavaleta and midfielder Benoit Cheyrou, however, said the effects often kick in later.
“It’s usually the worst day two days after a game,” Cheyrou said. “For myself, this is when I am the most tired. “
No matter what shape he wakes up in on Friday, Zavaleta — who has logged the second-most league minutes on the team this season — knows he can’t let it affect his performance.
If the busy periods the Reds have gone through as of late have taught them anything, it’s the need to finetune their bodies for the challenge.
“We make no excuses,” Zavaleta said. “We will show our depth and, at the same time, show our professionalism in how we approach our bodies and how we’re able to recover quickly.”
One player who has had a relatively light schedule of late is striker To- saint Ricketts, who has been out with a hamstring strain. Vanney expects the Canadian to return to the field against New England at some point.
Those are just a few of the questions Vanney will have to answer before Toronto lines up Friday night. The one thing he knows for sure is that his team has no intention of repeating the mistakes they made the last time the clubs met.
“We’ve been on the fortune side of a lot of good results, so the ones we haven’t had … stand out in their own special ways. … To lose 3-0 — to, for sure, not put our best performance out there, for a lot of reasons — that we’ve got to clean up.”