MLS Playoffs: Can the Crew stop historically good Toronto FC?
Toronto FC face the Columbus Crew in the MLS Eastern Conference finals. Here’s what to expect from the tie.
Toronto FC have been the consensus MLS Cup favorites since March. They’re probably the best regular season team in MLS history and at this point, they’re hoping to avoid the fate of the 2007 New England Patriots. With the deepest roster this league has ever seen and a core of superstars rivaling any other, it’s hard to bet against TFC.
The Columbus Crew are here to spoil the party. The East’s fifth-seed once considered the conference’s weakest playoff opponent, the Crew quietly cruised into the postseason on a 10-game unbeaten streak and have been rejuvenated by the impressive #SaveTheCrew movement aimed to stop owner Anthony Precourt’s push to relocate the storied club to Austin. Led by a red-hot roster and one of the league’s best managers, they’ve already eliminated Toronto’s two biggest challengers.
These two will face off in the Eastern Conference finals. The first leg is Nov. 21 at MAPFRE Stadium in Columbus.
What to know about Toronto
How they got here: A record-breaking regular season saw them take 69 points from 34 games (a league record) and emphatically clinch the Supporters’ Shield with weeks to spare. They faced sixth-seeded New York Red Bulls, a desperate playoff-built team that demolished Chicago in the first round, in the conference semifinals, and won 2-2 on away goals despite a bonkers second leg that saw them lose 1-0 at home.
How they play: With superstar strikers Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco suspended for the first leg (see the aforementioned bonkers game against NYRB), Greg Vanney will likely be pragmatic and put out a bunkering 5-4-1 in the first leg.
Speedy striker Tosaint Ricketts will start up top, and the familiar three/five-at-the-back will take shape behind him; just with, say, Jonathan Osorio running hard in midfield instead of Giovinco rolling around the 18-yard-box. Their usual look (which they will use in the second leg) is an aggressive 3-5-2 based around rock-solid midfield rotations and the Altidore-Giovinco partnership up top.
Their midfield is so, so good and fun to watch. No. 6 Michael Bradley is a machine in defensive midfield, No. 8 Marky Delgado is a perfect passer and seems to do everything tactically correct, and No. 10 Victor Vazquez is an assist machine. Watch how well they cover for each other, specifically the synchronization between Delgado and Bradley. TFC seem to have a player in every spot on the field at every moment. That’s a sign of both a good defensive team and a good pressing team.
Strengths: They will ruthlessly trap you in your own defensive half like no other MLS team. That won’t happen much in Columbus without Jozy and Seba, but that just gives them more numbers on defense and more room for Ricketts to run. Strengths are everywhere.
In the second leg, Giovinco will dunk free-kicks like no other soccer player in the world can.
Weaknesses: Any weaknesses one can create for TFC are no more than nitpicks, if we’re being honest. Let’s nitpick, then:
– There a questions surrounding the quality of keeper Alex Bono. He sometimes takes too many touches and can be indecisive on medium-range shots, especially ones that force him to use his hands.
– Theoretically, a club should be able to create favorable matchups down the flanks given TFC’s habit of throwing their wing-backs forward. Nobody’s figured it out yet, though.
– You can get under their skin. Tyler Adams did it for the Red Bulls in the second leg, and we’ve seen it throughout the season: things can get ugly fast when TFC players start to lose their heads.
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What to know about the Crew
How they got here: Ever the underdog, they looked vulnerable and error-prone for the first two-thirds of the season before figuring it out for the final third, playing just well enough to calmly slide into the postseason but shaky enough to keep them under the radar. That’s why it was so surprising when they rode Zack Steffen The Super Human Goalie past Atlanta in the knockout round on PKs and then resoundingly defeated NYCFC at home in the first leg of the conference semis, 4-1. They just barely held on in the second leg. The dream continues.
How they play: In short, the Crew are a combination of their pretty possession early 2017 days and increasingly-pragmatic late 2017 days.
They continue to build many of their attacks from stretches of possession and clever movement in the offensive half, often making for good-looking games. But unlike their earlier selves, they keep that possession farther up the field, decreasing backline distribution errors and assuring more touches for star attackers like No. 10 Federico Higuain.
In attack, they utilize two inverted wingers in Justin Meram and Pedro Santos, who squeeze the central channels and open avenues for Higuain’s devastating through-balls.
Strengths: Higuain is an elite MLS chance-creator, and with a stout midfield pairing of Homegrown captain Wil Trapp and ball-winning workhorse Artur behind him, he’s afforded plenty of opportunities in transition.
Harrison Afful has hit his stride at right-back, Ola Kamara is an elite finisher and Steffen is making a compelling case for being the best American goalkeeper in the entire pool.
Weaknesses: Too many errors, still. Center-back Jonathan Mensah can’t stop doing dumb things, like heading the ball into his own net (as he did against NYCFC) or literally passing the ball directly to the opposition like he’s a Cleveland Browns quarterback. As a team, they have to cut down on the individual blunders.
Prediction
Toronto. Too good.