Toronto FC took command in their match on Saturday against the Portland Timbers, but they quickly relinquished it and never found a way back in a 2-1 loss at BMO Field.
Jonathan Osorio opened the scoring for the home side in the 20th minute, but the Timbers — coming off their first win of the season last week — had an immediate answer, as Bill Tuiloma's beautiful volley tied up the match two minutes later. Jeremy Ebobisse scored a second-half winner to take all three points on the road.
Following the match, TFC were left to determine what went wrong.
“I thought in simple terms we were disconnected most of the day,” head coach Greg Vanney said. “They were far better connected than we were … they were more cohesive as a group both on the defending side and the attacking side than we were. Because of that, they were able to control the game.”
“I felt a lot of things were a little bit too individual and too slow to have any bite to it.”
Vanney pointed to his club losing possession “carelessly,” flagging seven lost back passes in the first half alone. He also wants to see the team be a little more purposeful with its possession. But he’s not making excuses about the team missing star forward Jozy Altidore, who suffered an injury last week in the win over Minnesota United.
“You always miss Jozy,” Vanney said. “He brings a little bit of something to every game, and the ability sometimes when the day is not great to just make a play. And you miss some of his creative running off the ball and the thing he sees maybe a split second faster than anyone else and that maybe [Alejandro] Pozuelo can connect to. Maybe. But you don’t win many games during a season if that’s what you’re relying on. You win games consistently over the season through collective performances.”
Now with five matches in a 15-day span, Toronto aim to right the ship.
“We weren’t on our game,” Osorio said. “These kinds of games come once in a while when everybody is off their game and we lose balls that we don’t normally lose.
“We’re not happy with today,” Osorio continued. “Today was unacceptable and we’re going to work this week to change that.”
