A rare first for Herdman
Coach is looking forward to his initial visit to Yankee Stadium
As someone who has coached around the world, John Herdman is no stranger to different venues.
But Saturday marks his first visit to the narrow confines of Yankee Stadium where his unbeaten and resurgent Toronto FC side takes on winless New York City FC.
“I’m excited. It’s bringing us back to the narrow field of Hamilton (Tim Hortons Field) or Edmonton (Commonwealth Stadium),” said the former Canada coach, referencing CFL stadiums where the Canadian men hosted World Cup qualifying games before Qatar. “We purposefully narrowed fields for certain matches (in the past), so I’ve had some experience on how to get the best out of your team on 64 metres (width). But apparently (Yankee Stadium is) even smaller that it’s quoted as.”
Herdman got a scouting report from Portland Timbers coach Phil Neville, who was briefly part of his Canadian coaching staff last year.
“He said the pitch is beautiful, it’ll play well,” Herdman said.
“But you’ve just got to be ready. Like one pass, (the ball) seems to be in your (penalty) box. We narrowed all the (practice) fields in this week and have been training with that philosophy.”
New York has stumbled out of the gate, with losses at Charlotte (1-0) and St Louis (2-0) and, last time out, to visiting Portland (2-1) in a game that saw it concede goals in the 85th and 97th minutes.
New York coach Nick Cushing reported there was “a lot of anger” in his team’s dressing room after the Portland loss. But he said that emotion led to productive sessions this
“There are 31 more games left and there are really positive elements of our performance that will really help us to get results,” he said.
Toronto opened with a scoreless draw at FC Cincinnati before winning 1-0 at New England and 1-0 over Charlotte in last Saturday’s home opener at BMO Field. But its record at NYCFC is 1-4-5.
TFC, which gave up 59 goals last season, second-worst in the league, is the only team yet to allow a goal this season.
“It’s going to be a difficult Toronto team … They’re incredibly compact, but we have the ability to unlock that,” Cushing said.
“We have the ability to disorganize them.”
Herdman says New York is normally an intricate “surgeon’s knife team” but showed it could play direct in the first half against Portland when it led 1-0.
“It sort of blew away everyone that watched just how direct they were,” he said. “So I think the coach is willing to come away from his identity to get the outcome he needs and they played well (for the) first 45 minutes, I thought.
“We’ve got to be ready for them not being New York, given they just need to win.”
Italian star Lorenzo Insigne, who managed just four goals in 20 league appearances last year, has two goals for TFC already — both honoured as the MLS goal of the week.
Toronto is without goalkeeper Sean Johnson and fullback Richie Laryea, both dealing with hamstring strains, and defender Nicksoen Gomis, who could miss about four weeks after wrist surgery. Forward Deandre Kerr, who sat out the first three games with a calf issue, could be a reserve Saturday.