WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: TORONTO FC
Welcome back to What You Need To Know, a preview for Austin FC fans to check in on their next opponent.
Opponent: Toronto FC
Kick Off time: 7:30 PM Eastern Time
Location: BMO Field, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
History vs. Austin FC:
These teams have faced off just once in their history. Austin FC won the only time these two teams have faced off when Gyasi Zardes headed in a goal to secure the 3 points at home in 2023. This will be the first time they meet at BMO Field for a regular season match.
Recent Matches:
Toronto Lost 3-1 to DC United on August 31, giving up two goals after tying the match in the 82’. They currently sit in 8th in the Eastern Conference.
Players to Watch:
Lorenzo Insigne
The Italian international came to Toronto in 2022 from Napoli and is the highest paid player in MLS (besides some Argentinian guy in Miami). He’s currently second on the team in goals and assists, but for a player of his (figurative) stature and salary, he should be doing a lot more than 4 goals in 19 appearances.
Federico Bernadeschi
He’s currently leading the team in goals and assists and is generally the basis of their attack. He is featured on the right wing (likely matching up with Guilherme Biro) and was the key to their Canadian Championship Semifinal win over Forge FC. He came to the club the same offseason as Insigne as part of Toronto’s project to bring in known European names.
Sean Johnson
The sometimes USMNT keeper has been one of the best keepers in MLS during his 15-year MLS career between Chicago, NYCFC, and Toronto. This year has been a different story as he’s been at best replacement level and proof that eventually, Father Time defeats all of us.
Keys to the Match:
Goalkeeping Matters (A small ode to Brad Stuver)
It can be difficult at times to use statistics in a useful way to evaluate individuals. Soccer is the ultimate team sport where 11 players have to work together. HOWEVER, Austin FC is incredibly fortunate to have found Brad Stuver (who was Sean Johnson’s backup at NYCFC) and his performances have kept this club in playoff contention.
A league-average keeper (or in Toronto’s case, below average) would have Austin give up 15-20 more goals this season, a total that would have the club already out of playoff contention.
Soccer can be funny too
For those of you unaware, there’s a Twitter account titled “When Playing it out of the Back Goes Wrong” which likes to highlight when teams all around the world make mistakes in their build up play that result in goals for the other side. Moontower hosts mentioned that Toronto has featured a few times, but since they’re an audio medium they can’t quite show what this means. So here are three times they featured on the twitter account. We may need the laughter if Austin has another poor road performance on Saturday.
Toronto FC II in March
April at Charlotte
Toronto FC II in August
The False Nine Experiment
Per Josh Wolff’s media availability, he mentioned expecting Sebastian Driussi to again start up top at the Striker position. There are advantages to this, including creating space for wingers, getting our best finisher closer to the goal, and being able to load up the Austin FC midfield with more work. Soccer has always had an internal fight between attacking fluidity and defensive structure, even back to the days of Jimmy Hogan. Austin’s problem is that it hasn’t really achieved either. The attacking play hasn’t been as fluid as expected and against Vancouver, their back line was able to mark Driussi from being effective. Against a Toronto defense that is bad, throwing on extra attackers earlier to try and get an early goal (because they change games) would be a welcome change when Austin typically starts slow.
WRITTEN BY: SCOTT SPECHT
