TORONTO – While Toronto FC’s 3-0 loss Saturday to the LA Galaxy may not appear to have provided many positives for TFC, head coach Greg Vanney did take away some information that could help his team in the final four games of the season.
He was able to bring Jermain Defoe back into the mix after he missed the previous six games with an injury, while giving some recovery time to other players, such as Gilberto, who didn’t play at all. But perhaps most importantly, Vanney was able to get a good look at the midfield combination of US international Michael Bradley and Canadian national teamer Jonathan Osorio.
Vanney said he was pleased with the combination play of the two, saying they’ll be his first-choice for the remainder of the 2014 season starting Wednesday at home against the Houston Dynamo (7:30 pm ET; TSN, MLS Live in US).
“I think, from the beginning, it kind of just clicked between me and Michael,” Osorio told MLSsoccer.com. “Greg has seen that. He’s been here watching from the beginning of the year, and he sees the success that Michael and I had since the beginning of the year. If I recall, I don’t think there’s been many games where we’ve lost when Michael and I play in the middle together.”
He’s right.
Osorio and Bradley have combined together in the center of midfield just five times this season, winning four of those matches and dropping just the one against the LA Galaxy on Saturday. Under former head coach Ryan Nelsen, Osorio was used as a wide midfielder more often than not, but it is centrally that Vanney sees the two playing their best football.
“That’s clear, in our history, that we’ve had our success when those two have been in proximity of each other so they can play off each other,” Vanney told MLSsoccer.com. “There’s some good synergy there.”
It’s for this reason that the two are also important members of their respective national teams, but both will remain with Toronto FC instead of going to play in friendlies – the US against Ecuador and Canada against Colombia – later this month, a decision Vanney said came after communication from the club with those national teams.
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“Those are two guys who have played a lot of minutes for us over the course of the year,” Vanney said. “As has it with Jurgen [Klinsmann, US head coach], he felt it important, as did Michael, to stay here and help the team try to make a playoff run.
“For Jonathan, I would imagine he’s in the national team picture on any given day other than maybe this time period where the club is making a push for its first playoff run,” Vanney added. “That’s the main thing. I did not speak to the CSA specifically about Jonathan, but I’m confident that he’s in the mix if we’re not in this playoff-searching run right now.”
But for Osorio, missing out in a friendly against Colombia, where his parents were born and a team he cheered for in the World Cup, stings just a little bit.
“I’m disappointed that I can’t be there to help the team and play against my homeland country,” Osorio said. “These things happen in football; we have responsibilities at our club, especially for me, being at my hometown club. Hopefully a chance like this will happen again – probably not, but life goes on.”
Armen Bedakian covers Toronto FC for MLSsoccer.com.
