Toronto FC appears to remain undefeated in the MLS season when it hosts the Vancouver Whitecaps on Friday night.
Toronto won a 3-0 win over the Whitecaps on Tuesday.
Veteran midfielder Pablo Piatti scored his first two MLS goals to force Toronto FC (3-0-3, 12 points), who is a Columbus Crew striker, first place in the Eastern Conference, for Thursday’s match.
Piatti, a 31-year-old Argentine, inspired coach Craig Vanney with his performance.
“His movement was good, his timing was good,” Vanney told reporters. “The speed at which the ball moved throughout the night was the key to everything. It was very simple for the boys to be in the right places, to build the time of their careers, because the ball was delivered when needed. do that, everyone becomes more efficient.
“It was part of that for Paul. He does a lot of those races and we didn’t set him up. (But on Tuesday), because of the speed at which the ball moved, the timing of everything was much greater and because of that, it’s more efficient.”
Toronto FC overtakes Ayo Akinola (five goals) is questionable for Friday’s match. He missed Tuesday’s game against Vancouver due to a hamstring injury.
The Whitecaps (2-4-0, six points) will be to fight better after being offside 24-4 in Tuesday’s match. Vancouver placed only one framed shot.
The Whitecaps had only a lousy 24.8% possession of the ball. Coach Marc Dos Santos is well aware that this is the formula to win in football.
“That’s the big challenge,” Dos Santos said after the competition. “The main challenge is that each and every time we got the ball, we did it so smoothly that we couldn’t connect. We didn’t see ourselves dynamic and we didn’t show the power we use regularly or (publish) the week.”
Vancouver allowed the 13 worst goals in MLS on Thursday. The starting goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau is absent with a damaged thumb and Thomas Hasal (five saves on Tuesday) will probably be back in the net for a rematch.
Midfielder Cristian Dajome (two goals) is the Vancouver player to have more than a total.
Cash-level media
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