



After a loss to Eastern Conference rivals the New England Revolution on Sunday, Toronto FC were back in action on Wednesday night looking to get back on track against New York City FC. With New England in winning form above them in the battle for home field advantage in the MLS Cup Playoffs, Toronto badly needed to earn all three points against an expansion side that struggled mightily to contain the Atomic Ant in a previous meeting.



TFC Head Coach Greg Vanney made several changes to his starting eleven with Damien Perquis taking a seat on the bench after a shockingly bad game against New England and Marky Delgado getting his first start of the season on the back line at right back.



Midfielders Benoit Cheyrou and Collen Warner also returned to the starting eleven from injury and suspension respectively.



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After holding off Toronto in the early going, New York took the lead on a 20th minute shot from Frank Lampard that beat Chris Konopka and found the bottom right corner.



Toronto had an excellent chance to equalize five minutes later when Marky Delgado made a run down the right flank and cut back a perfect pass to a waiting Michael Bradley inside the New York box. However, the U.S. International shot wide of a net on the type of chance that he scores on nine times out of ten.



TFC came close again in the 27th minute when Jozy Altidore got in on the action with a nice turn and shot that was ultimately stopped by a fine save by New York keeper Josh Saunders.



New York came within inches of doubling their lead just before the half-time whistle when Lampard unleashed a rocket shot that sailed just over the crossbar.



The Second Half



Toronto continued to struggle to deliver any of the type of fine linkup play that characterized the club’s performances earlier on the season.



With Toronto struggling to break down New York at the back and in the midfield, Toronto’s best scoring chances came with two Atomic Ant free kicks that were expertly parried away by Saunders.



TFC came close again in the 70th minute courtesy of two rocket shots by Michael Bradley. However, Saunders continued his performance with back to back big saves.



New York doubled their lead in the 77th minute and sealed the win when Andrea Pirlo delivered a well-placed corner kick that Patrick Mullins headed into the back of the TFC net.



Even though New York was missing their youngest Designated Player, Toronto were clearly outplayed by their expansion team opposition in this game.



Ultimately, this was the type of performance that will have long suffering TFC fans worrying. While the weakness of the teams below them in the Eastern Conference standings likely assures Toronto what is now looking like a very undeserved playoff spot, TFC are clearly stumbling down the stretch once more. This was an aimless and poor performance from a squad that looked utterly rudderless.



While the players on the pitch were poor, Greg Vanney’s coaching and preparation was genuinely shocking with respect to how inadequate they were. While the TFC gaffer seemingly clued into the need to have at least one holding midfielder occupying the vast space between his back line and Toronto’s attacking players, his decision to play Jozy Altidore as a winger was only the cherry on top of a very distasteful Reds sundae.

With infinite possibilities in the universe and multiple dimensions there is a guy who called for a TFC coach to be fired after every game — Ben Rycroft (@BenjaminRycroft) September 17, 2015

Man of the Match



Chris Konopka

On an evening in which none of his outfield teammates distinguished themselves, keeper Chris Konopka made a number of quality saves to keep his team in the game.

Josh Williams also had another solid game in central defense in a losing effort.



Toronto FC Line-up



1 Chris Konopka

2 Justin Morrow

41 Ahmed Kantari

23 Josh Williams

18 Marky Delgado

4 Michael Bradley

8 Benoit Cheyrou

21 Jonathan Osorio

26 Collen Warner

17 Jozy Altidore

10 Sebastian Giovinco



Substitutions: Luke Moore for Jonathan Osorio (74’); Damien Perquis for Collen Warner (78’); Herculez Gomez for Jozy Altidore (83’). Who is your Man of the Match?

