- Toronto FC lost 1-3 to New York City Football Club, to finish its competition at the MLS is Back tournament.
- Vancouver Whitecaps ended their participation after a penalty shootout against Sporting KC.
- Young Thomas Hasal, Whitecaps’ goalkeeper, was tremendous, but he couldn’t prevent a defeat.
Toronto’s Massive Failure
Greg Vanney’s team was considered a strong favorite over New York City FC. But the way they played wouldn’t back up that claim. The Citizens were better in every single aspect of play, and they fully deserved to progress to the next stage. In the end, the final result of this matchup was 3-1 for the team, who was the last one to advance to the knockout stage.
City took the final spot on the rankings of the third-placed teams, and that wasn’t because they played well, but due to LA Galaxy’s draw versus Houston Dynamo.
Toronto allowed a goal after just five minutes of play. The defense didn’t react very well after one free-kick, and once moving the offside line, they forgot about Jesus Medina who went behind their back. Anton Tinnerholm noticed that and made a perfect assist to Medina, and City’s player didn’t have too much trouble to score.
Nothing important happened until the early part of the second half. Ten minutes into the same, Maxi Morales made an exquisite assist to Valentin Castellanos, for 2-0. This was Morales’ 50th assist for NYCFC.
Until the end of the game, he scored one goal too, in the 81st minute, while Patrick Mullins set the final result, three minutes before the end.
“Everything was too slow. It lacked urgency; it lacked intensity,” said Greg Vanney. “There’s a lot of individual and collective things that I will take away from the game.”
Vancouver Out After Penalties, Hasal Fantastic
It is a pity for the young Whitecaps goalie Thomas Hasal that his team didn’t advance to the next stage. The 21-year old goalkeeper was superb last night against Sporting Kansas City, posting some unreal saves and single-handed fly keeping his team in the game.
He has sight saves throughout the game, six in the first, with some of them being marvelous. In the end, after a goalless draw, Vancouver didn’t have luck and was eliminated after the penalties, 3-1.
SKC’s Tim Melia stopped two Whitecaps’ players, and Gianluca Busio added the winning penalty to lead their side to the top 8 of the MLS is Back tournament.
Despite this, the members of the Canadian team were not unhappy, but proud on their effort after the game. All eyes during the post-match interviews were on Hasal, and Caps’ head coach Marc dos Santos used that to give strong advice to his goalie.
“Thomas needs to stay in his bubble, keep focused, keep working,” dos Santos said. “It’s the only way he’s going to become better and better. But he’s showed great signs in the last 180 minutes.”
SKC plays against Philadelphia Union, while NYCFC faces the winner of Portland Timbers vs. Cincinnati FC match.
