TORONTO – Jonathan Osorio heard the criticism.

The Canadian midfielder has been a very steady hand for Toronto FC in 2016, appearing in 30 Major League Soccer matches (26 as a starter), accumulating 2,440 minutes of playing time during the regular season—the fourth most on the team and a career high.

He’s been routinely lauded by coach Greg Vanney for his creativity on the pitch, and opposing teams know the danger he brings with his dynamic, attacking play. The one thing that was missing from his game this year? Goals.

Not that Osorio, a 24-year-old native of Toronto, has ever been a prolific scorer. He scored five times in his debut MLS season in 2013, which still ranks as his single-season record. But he was mired in a terrible scoring drought this year. Whether it was bad luck (he hit the woodwork a few times) or just spurning chances, Osorio couldn’t find the back of the net, and he didn’t score his first goal until Sept. 10.

Former Canadian national team coach Benito Floro didn’t select Osorio for a pair of crucial World Cup qualifiers in September, stating, in essence, that it wasn’t enough for the TFC midfielder to simply log minutes in MLS—he had to score, too.

Well, the goals are coming now. Osorio scored in the Reds’ regular season finale against the Chicago Fire, and then bagged the goal that held up as the winner in TFC’s 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Union earlier this week in the first round of the playoffs.

Osorio was fully aware of what fans and critics were saying about him during his dry spell. He got it. He understood. The criticism was fair in his mind. Now that he has a taste of goals again, he wants more, starting with Sunday’s first leg of the Eastern Conference semifinals against New York City FC.

“It’s funny, I hear and see people talking, ‘Ohh, Oso is not scoring, and whatever.’ It’s true. In this sport, you have to score goals, especially if you’re an attacking player. That’s what people want you to do and your team wants you to do,” Osorio said.

Even though scoring opportunities often went begging for Osorio earlier in the year, he felt he was directly involved in games, and his five assists and 24 total shots (seven on target) support that claim.

“This year I’ve got a lot of chances, and I’ve created a lot more chances than I’ve had in all other years. It was just a matter of time before it would start falling for me. The last two games I’ve been lucky enough that it has and hopefully it keeps going,” Osorio stated.

His goal against Philadelphia was the most important of his career, as it gave the Reds a two-goal lead and ended up deciding the Reds’ first ever home playoff game (and the their first post-season victory). It was a special moment for the local boy who is the club’s second-longest serving player behind fellow Canadian Ashtone Morgan, and who also holds the team record for most appearances (126) in all competitions.

“It was an amazing moment. It was probably the most important game in the club’s history, the first ever playoff game at home. It was great to score the goal, and me being from here it meant a little bit more to me,” Osorio admitted.

The goal against Philly was not an “Osorio special.” Renowned for his fancy footwork, deft dribbling skills and pace, Osorio’s strike against the Union was pure instinct. He astutely read the play off a Toronto corner kick, anticipating that teammate Nick Hagglund would play the ball with his chest across the box, where he ran onto the end of it and slammed it home.

Coach Vanney’s advice to the young Canadian paid off on that occasion.

“The one thing we’ve said to him over the course of this week was to keep looking for opportunities to get into the box; don’t just look for the ball at your feet,” Vanney explained.

“If there’s a gap between the centre-backs, because teams are getting so focused on defending [Sebastian Giovinco or Jozy Altidore], then there should be a hole for you to run through. You gotta be able to penetrate the lines, get into the box, arrive through some of those runs.”

Vanney is encouraged from what he’s seen in Osorio, and hopes that scoring in back-to-back games will lead to more goals from the Toronto native.

“It’s just about encouraging him to stay aggressive, too look for his opportunities to get into the box, and in the end, once you get there you have to do something with it. That’s up to the player to be composed to get it done and he has the last two games. That bodes well for his confidence as we move forward,” Vanney offered.

As for the public criticism, that appears to be behind Osorio for the moment. But he’ll always be his toughest critic, like he was for most of this season.

“What people say outside of the club doesn’t matter. It was more myself. I’m probably the hardest on myself. Mentally, maybe that was [the problem]. I’ve tried to go back to playing the way I’ve played my whole life, and doing things automatically, instead of thinking too much,” Osorio explained.

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