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“They’re a team that crosses the ball a lot because obviously they have Ibrahimovic in the box and he’s a huge target. So we’ve got to try to prevent as many crosses as possible, but always have numbers and presence around him,” Vanney said. “The difficulty with him is, it doesn’t take many chances or the perfect ball. Somehow he finds a way to get things on goal. So we got have to be smart and have the conviction to keep him off the board.”

The six-foot-five Ibrahimovic is second in the MLS with goals 11 in 14 games. He has been nominated for an ESPY for Best MLS Player, alongside Josef Martinez, Wayne Rooney and Aaron Long. Ibrahimovic has scored 33 goals in 41 games for the club since joining it in 2018.

But even faced with that challenge, the Reds seem to be in a good place, despite giving up an immensely frustrating goal on a Wayne Rooney penalty kick in added time in Washington on Saturday night. But that 1-1 draw, combined with a 3-2 win over Atlanta United last Wednesday, marked what looks to a turnaround for TFC — a squad that went eight games without a victory before the Atlanta match.

“We feel good,” TFC fullback Richie Laryea said. “We know that these past two games have been very good. We played a good brand of soccer. We got our identity across and really got into the grove of things. You start adding guys back from Gold Cup and (injuries) and our team will get right back to what it is.”

The short-handed Reds did welcome Canadian internationals Jonathan Osorio and Ashtone Morgan back from the Gold Cup this week and they’ll also have veteran defenders Chris Mavinga and Auro in the lineup on Thursday after the pair missed recent games with hamstring injuries.