Toronto FC 2, Atlanta 2
Q. What does it mean to get a goal in your 100th game?
RICHIE LARYEA: Obviously nice to make an appearance -- more so for your hometown chub. Nice feeling. Obviously it would have been better to get three points but nonetheless obviously a cool milestone for me.
Q. You extend the unbeaten streak but how is the mentality?
RICHIE LARYEA: Obviously to go down twice and come back into the game and play some good football, and have some really good moments I thought defensively, the two goals, we can go back and clean them up very easily.
But yeah, I think it shows a lot to the group. I think a lot of the people are thinking the opposite, say, like, we haven't picked up three points at home or whatever that may be but that can have been very well a loss.
So the mentality of the group is very good right now and I think it's important to be able to get points out of these games, even though we feel like we played well enough to get three and could have controlled the game a little bit better but again, I think it's definitely a step in a better direction. I think we'd all be sitting here with different questions if we didn't pick up points at all.
Q. The crowd obviously loved it when Lorenzo came on in the second half.
RICHIE LARYEA: When he's on, he's going to be the best player in the league. So to have a guy like that and playing alongside a guy like Fede who is one of the best players in the League, it's going only going to help us. And getting him in full fitness, it's what we need. And we've had some good results without him here, and now he's back and hopefully able to stay healthy for the rest of the season, I'm sure he'll contribute in a huge way.
Q. The goal, turning the afterburners on, did you see that space?
RICHIE LARYEA: Fede did a good job -- Fede played me a perfect ball into the middle of the pitch, and I actually was wanting to get the ball across to Oso but that kind of closed in. I thought, let me take this and see where it goes, and I was able to get further up the pitch and then get a shot on target and score a goal. So it was good.
Q. You've had a lot of big moments in the career and at the International level, how does that goal rank?
RICHIE LARYEA: Yeah, I think that's probably right up there with one of the best ones just because it's my hundredth game in my hometown, and to be able to bring the team back into the game and spark a belief within the stadium, within the group to win that game was special. So yeah, it's definitely up there.
Q. I know you guys are probably tired of hearing this, but is there something -- wasn't quite that relentless.
RICHIE LARYEA: Again, yeah, I think if we lose this game you're asking me a different question. I think it shows good character in the group to be able to get back and tie the game and get a guy like Brandon and even myself that are not on the score sheet week-in and week-out to score goals. That's big, and you get guys to step up and make big plays for the team.
It's early in the season and we'll get sharper and we'll get better. Those are all things but I think with this group that we have and the players that we have, we can get back to that ruthlessness that we've had in the past and be able to bury teams off. So we'll just keep going and I think we'll be completely fine.
Q. Inaudible.
RICHIE LARYEA: Obviously when you've had a guy that's made that many games for the club or captain it's going to be different, but he was still on the sidelines pushing the group. I heard him off to the bench side all second half, so it's good to have a guy like that in the corner for the team and even though he wasn't out, there he was still helping us get through the game.
So obviously a miss, with the type of player and type of captain he is and great player that he is. Yeah, it was weird but I'm sure he'll be back soon.
Q. The communication you receive from the bench, is it the same as you hear from the pitch?
RICHIE LARYEA: Yeah, just hearing it from the bench side.
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FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports