Jozy Altidore joinedToronto FC’s post-game press conference halfway through an answer by captain Michael Bradley.
The most valuable player in the Reds’ 2-0 win over the Seattle Sounders in Saturday evening’s MLS Cup final was dressed in a T-shirt emblazoned with the word “Champions” and had ski googles resting on his forehead, protection from the champagne- and beer-fuelled celebration in Toronto’s locker room not minutes earlier.
Altidore lifted his hands in celebration as he climbed onto the platform.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said, plunked into his designated chair while receiving slaps on the back from his grinning teammates.
Better late than never — which applies to more than Altidore’s post-game performance.
Eleven years after joining the league and 364 days after a heartbreaking loss in their first trip to the MLS championship game — against the same opponent — TFC had what they desired most: the MLS Cup trophy, to go along with the Canadian championship and their first Supporters’ Shield as regular-season champions, for an unprecedented treble.
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What got them there wasn’t simply a dominant overall performance against Seattle, though they did manage another one of those. Three game-changers stood out: Altidore, Sebastian Giovinco — who assisted on Altidore’s 67th-minute winner — and creative midfielder Victor Vazquez, the missing piece added since last year’s disappointing ending, who put it away with a marker in the 94th minute.
Last time, the Reds offence lacked finish. This year, they came through.
“It’s my job,” Altidore said. “I’m a striker, Seba’s a striker. Our job is to create and try and score goals. Hats off to him. He was superb — Seba — again in terms of probing, looking for spaces, being difficult to play against. The spaces opened up. We have a lot of threats on our team and the spaces, the gaps opened up.”
The trio of Altidore, Giovinco and Vazquez got to play closer together thanks to the 4-4-2 formation coach Greg Vanney employed, one that saw the midfielder push further forward than he would in TFC’s typical 3-5-2 look.
Vazquez couldn’t say enough about his running mates after a championship game in which they made it look easy: “We understand each other.”
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Vazquez was also involved in Altidore’s goal. The ball went from the ever-present Bradley in midfield to wingback Justin Morrow, who had a career-high eight goals in the regular season. He flipped it to Vazquez, who pushed it on to Giovinco — who has had to develop into more of a playmaker in his third year in MLS — before it landed at Altidore’s feet and, ultimately, in the back of the net.
With seconds, nearly all of the Reds’ top attacking players touched the ball, the kind of clockwork display that was lacking in last December’s showdown.
“We did it many times this season,” Vazquez said, speaking particularly to the collaboration with Altidore and Giovinco. “Of course, today is more special because it opens the game and it’s . . . maybe it’s the only goal that we’re going to score.”
The Spaniard’s insurance goal in injury time was a simple tap-in after substitute Armando Cooper banged a shot, set up by Giovinco, off the post.
“Then I said, ‘OK. Now it’s done. We have it here. MLS Cup is staying in Toronto,’ ” Vazquez said of the aftermath of his goal.
Toronto finished the game with 22 shots to Seattle’s seven.
“We just continued to press them. We continued to find good spots. We won the ball high up the field. We played with confidence. We didn’t let them think for a second that they were going to get in the game,” TFC defender Drew Moor said of the difference between this year and last.
Ever the perfectionist, though, Moor added there was room for improvement — perhaps something to work on after the celebrations were done: “It could have been four, five, six to zero on a better day for us, but it was a complete, total team performance and a pretty dominant one.”
