Toronto FC 4, Montreal 0
Q. Can you take us through the game?
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, overall, important game for us. Created a lot of chances. Nice to see us finish the game in a smart way and get a shutout. That's a long time coming. I felt a lot of really good performances. Good team win and awesome to be in another final.
Q. What stood out for you the most? What did you like most?
BOB BRADLEY: Just that there's some more moments of fluidity. Look we created a lot of chances. Throughout part of the first half we had advantages that we didn't do very well with. So I see all of that stuff. You know, there's still a part that we talked about all year that connects our ideas when we have the ball and what we look like defensively.
So there was a little stretch in the first half where I didn't like that part. And then I think we found a better way to deal with certain things. When they would try to look down our back four sometimes was coming off early and going into that midfield so we were able to get Kosi out to Bassong and not have him tied down by Kone and on midfield good a good job of coming over.
So we did some pretty good things. But that is right of part of our idea is what we have the ball, our fluidity and keep the ball, connect passes and what that looks like when we lose the ball because that creates better defending situations and pandemic sure you're better in terms of not giving up stuff in transition. So look, tease a lot of positives.
For me the best part was still that I think we created a lot of chances tonight and then look we created a lot of chances at Red Bull the other day and just didn't do well enough in certain moments. Idea that we could continue with that part and then score four goals, and then got a shutout. All those things I think are important.
Q. You mentioned it's nice to be in a final. How much does that experience carry over in terms of winning something, getting a winning culture in the room and gaining confidence?
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, look, there's a lot of guys that have played in a bunch of finals. They set the pal but you have guys that got their first opportunity and were nervous. Some didn't play well so they learned that but the feeling as a whole when you hold up a trophy at then and everybody can celebrate and be excited, especially, again, we all know that to become a better team is ongoing. We knew when we started that this was going to take time. This was going to have be to be just emphasized over and over, better details, getting better in all parts of the game and becoming a more complete team.
So in the midst of all that when you can have a night where at the end, there's a trophy and everybody's excited and you don't need to spend all your time talking about all the little things that could be better, we did that a few days later but that's important and I know that everybody as had he came in tonight, you could tell how excited they were to play a semifinal at home with a chance to get in another final.
Q. Do you have a special message you give to the players? We saw you start very strong today and your defense was perfect and midfields were creating chances?
BOB BRADLEY: Look, our messages are the same in terms of the way we want to play football and we have to become more consistent. You know, early in games we haven't done well. That's a product of a lot of different things but trying to find the right way to start a game, to be smart, to find a way to see if we can start to play in their end, those are important things, and tonight we were able to do some of that.
Q. First time this season your team won by MLS Cup goals. Best all-around performance by your team this year?
BOB BRADLEY: If you just go by the score, sure. I don't know if we would. I thought we played pretty well against Philly. Different kind of games. But the idea that we can score a bunch of goals, MLS Cup goals, that has to be something that we can continue to improve.
I started out a few minutes ago saying we had a bunch of chances in the first half but we weren't sharp enough with execution ideas, that kind of stuff. You can't, in this whole thing, you can't be like on a cloud next season if now you have a night where some things go your way and pretend that everything is now great and then other nights when you let something get away, just look at the negatives and fail to see the positive things, the work of just trying to get better is ongoing, so yeah, we'll enjoy the final. We get back into the lead and we have a busy stretch and we have to continue to have the right way to engage the whole group all the time. That's the only way to do it.
Q. How pleased were you with the team discipline?
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, we had played football. We had good focus, good concentration. That's important. So I think good leadership on the field tonight for sure and a lot of good performance.
Q. Shane, seems like he's always in the mix there.
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, look, Shane will tell you, this year's been a challenge. He's heard about things that he didn't hear about before. Defensively there's situations where maybe he was coached that you do one thing and we ask him sometimes to be able to understand that, no, certain moments you've got to be able to control one thing but be ready to go and help another guy. Some of his ideas in passing, terms of finding the right inside passes -- but he's a really good guy, good competitor.
On some of the nights when it hasn't gone as well, he takes -- he's a real guy so that when you look hard at certain things, he's not phased by that. I think that's important because I think we need as many guys like that as possible who are good pros who want to get better and who are open to being coached who can see -- who are exceeded about some of the things that maybe that they are now seeing for the first time or hearing about more because they see that it's helping them get better. So yeah, working with Shane is a lot of fun, good guy.
Q. Did Deandre get something --
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, he felt something in the warmup.
Q. Was the plan always to give Oso some time in the second half?
BOB BRADLEY: Yes, but you can't guarantee that. We knew that they were available based upon how the game would go. We were hopeful that we would get them on field tonight but we've got a lot of games coming up and on a hot night, you have to also be smart with how you use subs. They have worked out great that we can get them both on the field. It's important to see both of them back for sure.
Q. How important is this win?
BOB BRADLEY: It's helpful but you just have to find the right way to continue. It's important after every game to look at things clearly and keep guys going in a strong way. You know, the work to become a good team is not easy. It doesn't just go like a skyrocket. It's hard work every day and I think that the thing that has been most important is that there's still a pretty good resilience in that group and there's some guys that set a good tone and are really good leaders. We just have to continue to build on that.
Q. You've watched a lot of games between these two teams before. Your reaction to the atmosphere?
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, stadium was awesome. Obviously I know the rivalry. I know how much it means to fans, and they were out there for us tonight.
That means a lot. The players feel it. They come in for the warm up. They feel that -- after the game, it's great that we can share the moment that with our fans and just keep the work going. It's great.
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FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports