ORANGEBURG, N.Y. — When Alex Ring looks at Toronto FC, he doesn’t see their current spot in the Eastern Conference standings (a lowly 10th place), but rather the team that lifted the MLS Cup in December.
The New York City FC midfielder subscribes to the theory that to be the champs, you have to beat the champs, and Sunday’s tilt at Yankee Stadium (5 pm ET | TSN 4/5 – Full TV & streaming info) is their first chance in 2018 to do just that.
“Last year, they were the team. They played a good regular season and won the MLS Cup,” Ring said. “If we want to go in that direction we have to beat them. With them and Atlanta, those are the teams you eventually have to beat in the end. I think our game a couple of weeks back against Atlanta is a good game to build on.”
That game — a 1-1 draw against the Five Stripes in a match dominated by NYCFC (8-3-4) in the Bronx — was Patrick Vieira’s last as head coach. He subsequently made his long-rumored move to OGC Nice, while Domenec Torrent, who spent the last 11 years as Pep Guardiola’s assistant, was hired as his replacement.
Torrent has been in Spain awaiting his work visa, and retained assistants Javier Perez and Rob Vartughian have run the training sessions in his stead. It is unclear how much input Torrent has in the tactical game plan for Toronto, because Perez and Vartughian weren’t made available to reporters at training Thursday.
Regardless, goalkeeper Sean Johnson said his personal preparation for the match doesn’t change. The club’s core values, he said, stay the same.
“We want to keep our performance honest, keep true to the beliefs we have and the values we have as a team,” Johnson said. “We’ve been a persistent team, we’ve always worked hard and we maintained our focus over long stretches. I think that’s going to be really key for us. Nothing else to us really matters.”
Like Ring, Johnson isn’t judging Toronto by their struggles in the first half of the season. There’s too much quality on their roster to overlook the Reds.
There’s also history to consider. TFC cruised to a 4-0 win in their last meeting at BMO Field last July, which came on the heels of a 2-2 draw at Yankee Stadium a few weeks earlier. NYCFC never beat Toronto during Vieira’s reign, including a 7-0 aggregate defeat in the Eastern Conference Semifinals of the 2016 MLS Cup Playoffs.
Their last win over TFC came on Sept. 16, 2015, a 2-0 victory at Yankee Stadium with Frank Lampard and Patrick Mullins scoring for the Cityzens.
“They’re a team that has the potential at any point in time to really kick on and they have the quality of players,” Johnson said. “That’s something they’ll forever have on their roster this season and it’s just a matter of when they click. We’ve got a really solid group and we’ve gotten good results this year. We have to do what we need to do to make sure we go out and impose ourselves on Sunday.”
Ring is certain that despite Toronto (4-7-3) sitting beneath the playoff line in the Eastern Conference for much of the season, the Reds will be defending their title in the postseason.
They arrive in the Bronx unbeaten in their last three games, and they’re not yet completely whole, with Jozy Altidore, Drew Moor and Chris Mavinga still on the mend.
“You should expect that from a team of the quality they have that they’re going to make the run now, or soon,” Ring said. “I expect them to be in the playoffs just because of the quality they have. I like to meet the teams when they’re at their best, so hopefully they’ll bring their ‘A’ game, because we will.”
