ATLANTA — Toronto FC ventured into the lion’s den that is Mercedes-Benz Stadium and managed to tame a talented Atlanta United club on Wednesday night, posting a 2-1 victory to move to the MLS Cup final on Nov. 10 against the Seattle Sounders.
TFC tamed the Five Stripes where it counted. On the scoreboard. But the Reds were fortunate to come away with the win as, for large parts of the match, the explosive United side dominated. But thanks to goals by Nick DeLeon and Nicolas Benezet, and a huge game by goalkeeper Quentin Westberg, Toronto prevailed.
The trip to Seattle’s at CenturyLink Field a week Sunday for the MLS Cup final will mark TFC’s third appearance at the final in the past four years. The Reds have now gone 13 consecutive MLS games without losing.
DeLeon, who came in as a substitute in the 54th minute, scored a cracker in the 78th minute to give Toronto the 2-1 lead and ultimately the win. He picked up a pass from Alejandro Pozuelo just in front of the penalty area, swung around with the ball and right-footed a shot into the top left corner past Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan.
“Definitely my favourite goal of all time. So far,” DeLeon said.
Atlanta fired 18 shots to four for Toronto (5-4 on target) and held possession 60% of the time and TFC coach Greg Vanney acknowledged that his club was outplayed for much of the match, but praised his players for coming through in a pretty hostile environment, and on turf.
“Truthfully, I’m exhausted,” said Vanney afterwards. “But I’m also elated, so proud of the guys. It was an exhausting game. I’m sure for them, but even on the sidelines, it was exhausting.”
The match was a prickly affair with lots of arguing and protesting and the 44,055 faithful on hand grew more impatient and frustrated as the minutes went by and their team missed numerous chances to take the lead. That only intensified following DeLeon’s goal. United, the defending MLS Cup champs, wouldn’t go away quietly, pressing its attack through the five minutes of extra time.
For the third straight playoff game, Jozy Altidore was unavailable to play because of a quad strain. There was a thought that centre back Omar Gonzalez would be able to start as he was progressing well from his hamstring strain but he was relegated to the bench. The decision not to put him in the starting XI probably came down to game fitness and the fact that veteran defender Laurent Ciman has played well in his place in the post-season. Ciman played well, again.
The match got off to a wild start, with two goals and an unsuccessful penalty kick in the first 14 minutes.
Atlanta opened the scoring in the fourth minute on a beautiful three-way passing play starting with Ezequiel Barco finding Pity Martinez through the Toronto midfield and then Martinez fed Julian Gressel a pass in front for the easy strike.
And then in the eighth minute, TFC midfielder Michael Bradley brought down Martinez in the penalty area, a foul he pretty well had to make as Martinez was all alone. But Westberg came up huge, saving the Josef Martinez penalty kick in the 11th minute by diving to his right, to prevent an early 2-0 Atlanta lead.
“They had a loud crowd, they had a good team, really confident, maybe a little too much,” said Westberg. “As long as we were still in the game 10 minutes in, I think we had momentum and heart going our way.
“You can’t be the most talented team all the time. Sometimes the brave team, and the strong team and the resilient team wins and once again I think we showed a lot of that.”
Benezet tied it up in the 14th minute when he took a pass in the left flank from Ciman, cut to the middle and right-footed a shot past Guzan to the far corner.
Atlanta, showing its speed in transition, picked up a free kick in the 35th minute about five yards from the penalty area after a Benezet foul and the attempt by Barco was blocked by a TFC defender. Two minutes after that, Westberg came up big again when he saved a shot in the right side of the box on Gressel.
In extra time, with Atlanta pressing, Westberg made another big save, this time on Leandro Pirez.
The Sounders and Reds previously met in MLS Cup in 2016 and 2017. Seattle won the first match up on penalty kicks in 2016, before TFC earned a convincing 2-0 victory in 2017 — both matches at BMO Field.
VANNEY ‘SCARFS’ IT DOWN
TFC coach Greg Vanney raised a few eyebrows when he walked on to the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium before Wednesday night’s Eastern Conference final against Atlanta United wearing a thick scarf — even though the game was played indoors.
Turns out, Vanney wore it for superstitious reasons. He wore the same scarf when his club defeated D.C. United outside at BMO Field in the first game of the playoffs on Oct. 19 and then again last week at cold and damp Citi Field in the win over NYCFC.
There was no way he was not going to wear it against Atlanta United.
“It was hot as heck in there and I got to the point where I thought I was going to pass out a few times,” said Vanney, with a laugh. “I do get superstitious sometimes.”
Rain or shine, you know the coach will be wearing the scarf on Nov. 10 in Seattle when his club takes on the Sounders for the MLS Cup at CenturyLink Field.
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October 31, 2019 at 07:17PM
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