Written by Daniel Ayik
From red cards to fights and having half the starting XI out due to injuries, Toronto FC has done almost everything wrong in what may be their most important week of the 2023 MLS Season where they ended up facing their bitter Canadian rivals CF Montreal in both a Cup and regular season matchup.
In what is usually a favorable matchup for TFC, where they lead the all-time series against Montreal, a match against their rivals has lately become a nightmare where in the last nine matches, Montreal has won seven and lost one. Saturday night’s match only added to this struggle that Toronto has had when facing Montreal.
Toronto were given a handicap before the match even started where Coach Bob Bradley was forced to put out a makeshift starting XI given injuries to starters: Jonathan Osorio, Sigurd Rosted, Matt Hedges, Michael Bradley, and Alonso Coello. As such, a 3-5-2 system was deployed where struggling Mark-Anthony Kaye was used as one of the three Centre Backs. In what may be a revelation, Kaye actually had one of his best performances of the 2023 season in this defensive role where he won all of his ground duels, completed 83% of his passes, and 80% of his tackles.
During the postgame interview, MAK stated that he’s played Centre Back only once during his career, a Canadian Men’s National Team friendly in 2017. In terms of how the match looked from the defensive line Kaye stated, “I do think I am good with the ball and have the ability to play passes into the midfield. It is a very similar position in a back three that I usually drop into as a midfielder. You can see more passing options and have more time there (in the backline) than you do in the midfield.” However, Kaye
also stated that he started at Centre Back given the long list of injuries that Toronto had and that he should return back to the midfield role that he is more comfortable with.
Apart from the changes in the starting lineup, the first half was extremely uneventful for both sides, a notion that is suggested through the highlight reel on MLS.com where the video starts from the second half.
Following the goalless first half, Hernan Losada and his Montreal squad quickly added a goal in the 53rd minute through the boot of Finland international Lassi Lappalainen. Montreal’s Centre Back George Campbell was given free reign to run straight through Toronto’s core which was made up by young Canadians Kosi Thompson and Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, and play a perfect ball to Lappalainen who calmly slotted the ball past Toronto FC keeper Sean Johnson.
Twitter link to goal:
Following Montreal’s goal, it went from bad to worse for the struggling side from Toronto who three minutes after conceding, went down a man after Marshall-Rutty was shown a second yellow card for wasting time on a throw-in. A mistake which ended up harming TFC on the night, Mark Anthony-Kaye stated that “we aren’t going to let this get him down to a point where it sets him back,” which shows that despite the poor results, there is some comradery left in the Toronto locker room.
Fifteen minutes after going up one, Montreal added a second through the boot of Chinonso Offor who loved this past week, scoring against Toronto in both Canadian Championship and MLS play. The goal itself was a typical goal that came from a lazy Toronto FC backline. A simple flick by Lappalainen deflected off of Toronto defender Aime Mabika and locked on the Offor who had the simple task of placing the ball past Sean Johnson. The way how Offor found that space however was a troubling sight since Kosi Thompson who directly had eye contact on the Montreal striker, failed to follow him into the Toronto box, which hence leading to the second goal.
Twitter link to goal:
The two goal deficit was too much for Toronto to overcome and was made clear when Bob Bradley decided to take out both Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi in the 80th minute. Short-term loanee Antony Curic from Toronto FC II also made a brief stint as he was subbed on in the 90th minute.
Looking forward, the Reds currently sit bottom of the Eastern Conference where they will have to quickly forget about this week and face the team directly above them in the standings, NY Red Bulls at BMO Field on Wednesday. This upcoming match needs to be a breath of fresh air for a Toronto side who will now face a struggling team as opposed to a team who is top of the Eastern Conference, NE Revolution and CF Montreal who has now won six games in a row. The NY Red Bulls are in a similar state as Toronto where they fired Coach Gerhard Struber only a week ago. If Toronto FC enter this match with a mentality that is anything less than ‘must-win’ they should expect more of the same results.
Matchday photo is credited to CF Montreal on Instagram