Vancouver 2, Toronto 1
TERRY DUNFIELD: Vancouver are a really good, really top team. They don't give you a ton. And I thought we just edged in the first half. It was close. Just looking at our metrics, at halftime, some detail went out, got our goal, which was great. Really nice feeling. It was great to see the BMO on its feet again. Leads to a turnover and a set piece, and just looking at our organization, it's not quite right.
It's a good header from Blackmon, and yeah, we struggled to come back from that punch, I think. And then just reviewing the second goal, we maybe could have gone tight to goal. We decide to drop off, protect what's behind us, is fine. We know the relationship between Gauld and White is good. There's one player in the box versus our six. And it's in the back of the net. But up until that point of the goals, I thought it was a nice performance.
I thought in the first half, he pushed the back three back and made space for others. It was a little bit selfless at times in the second half. I thought it was amazing, the quality from Lorenzo. That's what he can do in the half-turn, and then you can just see the athleticism and composure and technique of Deandre Kerr come out 1v1, as soon as he's through, it's a goal, so I thought that was great.
Q. Did you see any rust from the guys today?
No, we expected it. We wasn't played for two and a half weeks, so I thought there would be a little bit of clunkiness but once we got to 10, 15 minutes, we started to find rhythm and find ways through and over Vancouver's midfield wall and created some nice attempts.
Q. What concerns do you have about the rest of the season affecting other players?
I think the way the season has played out, it's a lot of opportunity for younger players. When they look back at this season, not only have they had a lot of important appearances, they have, I'd say, for the most part speaking collectively grown throughout the year. Kobe comes to mind, Kerr, Alonso again was solid today. I think it's been a real positive season.
Q. What was behind Michael -- especially when Shane was available --
I think Michael moving into that position has allowed us to build out of the back and progress up the field consistently. I think he has this incredible quality of making others around him better, and with some top playoffs from Sigurd and Alonso in front of him. We have unlocked something, Michael playing in that role.
Q. Given how the season has played out, is this sort of loss especially bitter?
I think as the game played out, I think you didn't necessarily have -- similar when we played Montréal, that old school rivalry feel where tackles are flying in and it's high intensity and it's a little bit tactical at times.
I think to kind of summarize or paraphrase the game, we struggled to deal with a couple punches, and I think just a couple scars were opened up after conceding two. We weren't able to punch back.
Q. On Deandre, how much with a young player -- having to learn how to use --
It's been great to have Lorenzo back for sure, and I think the way Lorenzo plays, time s is so important, being at full fitness. A lot of his actions are implicit and if he's having to think as a player, is he going to run in depth, is he going to be on the same wavelength with me, or at least potentially him taking an extra touch. But when it all comes together, it does look like that sequence on the first goal.
Q. When you see a header like that, how frustrating is that for you?
I think we are in a good spot. It was something we spoke about at halftime, just keeping our fullbacks a little more narrow. We gave up some territory but it would keep us connected. It's frustrating but one of the threats of Vancouver is just the quality of their front two together. It's a lot of work to do to score from 15, 16 yards. There's not a ton of pace on the cross so it is a good header. But yeah, I think both goals, a hundred percent -- most of the goals, come on guys, you can make a play there. Unfortunately maybe that feeling just kind of transferred to the group a little bit, like, oh, man, we shouldn't be here.
Q. What do the next few days look like for you before Miami?
Yeah, it was frustrating just having to look at my phone seeing D.C. were tied and mathematically we were still hanging around. We wanted to keep a real nice feeling from Philly, get a little bit of momentum to go down to Miami.
But just kind of our luck run; we are going to play a rested Messi probably. But no, I'm sure the guys will be looking forward to going down to Inter Miami. We'll train there for a day or two and head to New York.
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