Cincinnati 3, Toronto FC 2
Q. What's the mood after a disappointing loss?
AIME MABIKA: Disappointing because we're at home and no matter who we play, the expectation is to try to get three points.
The mood at halftime was obviously very positive going down 2-0 against a good team and reacting really, really well and getting it 2-2. I spoke about some things in the first half that we could have done better. I thought in the second half, we did a lot of those things well, obviously opened the game, and yeah, to lose 3-2 after coming back, against a really good team, yeah it definitely stings.
Q. Does it hurt seeing them celebrate?
Yeah, of course. Of course. I mean, just for me personally, just kind of told them congratulations, they have had a good season. The support showed. It exemplifies being able to do it from February all the way to October. They definitely deserve it but it's definitely not nice to see someone celebrate on your field.
Q. With the back three what was your point of view --
Yeah, we played both actually. So we played back three for the first, I don't know, 30 minutes of the first half and switched to a four. It was the same thing in the second half.
Yeah, I think it was good. Obviously Cincinnati keeps their attackers, they keep three high the way they have the two nines and then Acosta floating in between. I thought the back three was good to be able to always have three defenders versus their three attackers and then once we are able to grow into the game in the first half, that's when we switched to a four and that's when we were able to create a few more chances but I thought it gave us a good foundation to kind of start the game with in both halves.
Q. How good is their front three? Terry talked about how fluid they are and how hard to handle.
It's a good balance for them. Obviously Acosta, he's designated as a number ten, but he's sort of everywhere. He pops up on the left, pops up on the right which is difficult to handle. Obviously in the scout, that someone we obviously have an eye on and he can pop up in different spots.
But their two nines are just very good in the box. You can see on the first two goals, they were very opportunistic. It's definitely difficult. I thought we could have done better with a couple of the goals but yeah, a very good be front. They have scored a lot of goals, so yeah.
Q. It's always difficult when a team is eliminated but what is this part of the season like for you?
For me, and I can speak for a lot of the guys as well, obviously we represent Toronto FC, whether we are playing to get into the playoffs or not, we are playing for the Badge and to try to get three points. I think you saw a team try to do that today. The easy thing to do is say we are out of the playoffs, it doesn't matter. But that hasn't been our thinking, before the game, during the game, for us it's to play for the Badge and each other and to play for our families and to play for our fans.
DraftScripts by ASAP Sports
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports