Toronto FC 1, Nashville SC 1
Q. A good performance against a talented team but is there any concern that these ties have to be turned into victories?
OMAR GONZALEZ: First of all, thank you. And of course, we know that every game needs to be three points, and we're all -- before we walk out on to the field, this is at the forefront of our mind but this is a championship game.
We need to win. We are at home in front of our fans. We have to get three points and so when you walk away after the final whistle and it's another point at home, you're disappointed. We really are.
And I guess the silver lining is that we are five games unbeaten. We're much better than we were a month ago. We're improving. Today we controlled the majority of the game with our possession, and so we looked a lot better. That's the silver lining, and we just have to keep moving forward.
The wins are going to come, and the group is united in that mindset. And now it's on to the next one. Tonight it wasn't all three points, but we walked away with something, and now we go away from home; if we have to win away from home -- away from home, we do that. We are all locked in and looking forward to Philly on Wednesday.
Q. Congratulations on the goal. Was that something you guys had worked on in training or did that just come off spur, at the last minute? Seemed like, I don't know, can you just explain it? It seemed -- how did it come off.
OMAR GONZALEZ: That's exactly what we worked on. No, it's something that we've been talking about and working on, and so we caught the other team sleeping and you know, I've been dreaming about getting another goal. I'm always working so hard on set pieces to try to get to the right spots and find the right timing with Yeferson and with his service and my runs, and so for it to finally come off today is very gratifying.
I'm so happy and hopefully the floodgates will open for next game and give me more confidence to keep on attacking the ball and keep on making the runs and knowing that the service is going to come.
And so, yes, it's something we've worked on and we have to keep working on it. Because as the season goes on and as the games keep getting tighter and tighter, these moments are huge for us. Set pieces are huge for us.
You know, not just myself but my teammates need to all be committed in those moments to try and get on the ball, yes.
Q. The Nashville goal tonight, it seemed to come out of nowhere. What did you see on that play?
OMAR GONZALEZ: Yeah, it did come out of nowhere, and it's not like it didn't -- it didn't catch us by surprise because we worked on it in training. We knew they were going to do a long throw when we worked on it. And then sure enough, you know, they still managed to score off of it. That's really disappointing because you know, everyone was in the right position, and it just sneaks through.
Zav is fronting Sapong, I'm behind him and it goes off to the left of us, and it just hits off Leal. You know, sneaks in the near post.
So it was very upsetting. You could see our heads drop a little bit right after the goal because we know that we cannot let goals in like that. We let them off hook. They had nothing -- they had absolutely nothing going on in the first half, and then we give up that goal and they are back in it.
And so, disappointing, and we just have to be sharp in those moments when it's a dead ball and be more aggressive in those moments, as well.
Q. You said there that you felt that you let them off the hook. Is that sort of the general mood in the locker room right now is that you guys let that win slip away because of a goal that you knew what they were going to do?
OMAR GONZALEZ: Absolutely. I mean, before the game, we talked about how we're the team with, you know, the most goals allowed, and you know, we've done much better but only allowing a single goal in the previous three, four games.
And so our goal tonight was to get the clean sheet and then we let in that goal. And so you know, as a defender, I love scoring goals, but I love getting clean sheets as well, and it's something I live for. You know, and so the fact that we are not getting clean sheets is a real pain in the butt right now.
We all know it. We need to be better. Maybe next game, we will get that clean sheet.
Q. You mentioned that you guys now are unbeaten your last five games, even without an important piece like Alejandro positive way low against a red-eye hot Nashville team, you still find a way to get a point. Has this team sort of re-found its confidence after this one?
OMAR GONZALEZ: Of course, it's not just after that game we found our confidence. We've been working on that. Over the past five games, it just keeps on getting better and better and better, and like I said tonight we controlled the game and that was another step in the right direction.
Yes, we didn't have positive way low and even when he comes back, it's going to be maybe even more control and maybe even more opportunities on goal because he has that ability to get that assist.
So, yeah, right now, we have a lot of confidence. But we're still hungry. We want three points. We're not satisfied with just one point and so -- and so we're going to -- we're going to keep on working on it.
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