Toronto FC came into New York to open the season and left a hushed Red Bull Arena with a 2-0 victory. Although all Marco Delgado could hear were the screams echoing from his mouth after his goal in the 91st minute sealed the deal for his club.
Head coach Greg Vanney had a simple message for his club heading into their season opener: frustrate their offence by playing sound defensively.
Playing a frustrating defence wasn’t the club’s forte in the 2015 season, but a tighter 4-3-3 all preseason long and now one game into 2016, has rewarded the Reds with three points.
“The three guys in the midfield can stay a little tighter with each other, which defensively, certainly as a center back makes things a little more clear for us. You can see all three of those midfielders in front of you, you can direct traffic a little bit better and it denies service into the forward’s feet,” said Drew Moor, who was brought in during the offseason to clean up the club’s back end. “Bradley Wright-Phillips was able to get the ball and hold it up, which isn’t really necessarily his game but when you play against a big target striker… you want to clog up that midfield so it allows our outside players to have a little bit more freedom when they get the ball to command the flanks and look for crosses.”
Sebastian Giovinco swung a ball across for a running Tsubasa Endoh which resulted in a late penalty and subsequently, the game winner from the spot with less than 10 minutes left in the match.
The Red Bulls are a club looking to bait their opponents into beating themselves by making mistakes, giving away bad balls and forcing your structure to disorganize itself. By no means was it a perfect game by the visitors with balls flying over Giovinco’s head at times but the 11 on the pitch stuck to the game plan that focused on reversing the roles on their opposition.
“4-3-3 is something we can move in and out of when we need to but it’s just a starting point and we set it up that way to frustrate the Red Bulls who like to play through the middle,” Will Johnson explained, who is also entering his first year with Toronto. “Our formation forced them to go around us to beat us, but I think competing being solid as a unit was the most important factor on Sunday.”
Vanney’s tactics early into the 2016 season compliments the 4-3-3 very well, by means of pushing the ball wide and creating confusion in the final third. But Moor says that wasn’t easy Sunday.
“Sometimes Sebastian will find himself drifting out in those wide positions and get the ball in dangerous pockets where the centre back doesn’t know if he has to stay up or the midfielder doesn’t know if he has to get outside,” said the 32-year-old. “When you’re playing a team like the Red Bulls – who want to come through the middle and want to break down your mid field when you have those three guys tight – it’s difficult.”
This Sunday will possess the same difficulty in a New York City FC that plays the same style as last week’s opponents. With the smaller field dimensions, Moor says it will be more of a boxing or wrestling match than a soccer match early on but they will have to weather the storm once again.
A repeat performance from Endoh would be another vote of confidence from his teammates who were more than impressed with his debut.
“He’s a kid with a big engine,” Delgado praised. “He was tracking back, moving forward, keeping possession and he played with a little bit of swagger out there and it was good to see him enjoy it out there.”
There’s the obvious understanding that one game doesn’t define a career. There isn’t a need to put the Tokyo, Japan native on a pedestal just yet, but if the 4-3-3 happens to stick around and helps the team snag valuable points, Endoh must continue to showcase his professionalism that is winning over his teammates.
“He plays beyond his years,” Moor said. “He’s smart and a lot of rookies go out there running and aren’t doing much thinking but thinking a lot and he’s trying to get into the right positions – it’s a big responsibility.
It’s a responsibility that could contribute to the club starting the season with consecutive wins for the first time in franchise history.
