Toronto FC down Tauro FC 2-1

Bob de Klerk- Assistant Coach & Assistant Technical Director, Toronto FC

Thoughts on the game…

First of all I must give the team very big compliments, when you play an away game in this competition it’s not easy and to get a good result. The only thing we have to do is score more and we had opportunities but big compliments to the guys.

Importance of the team working together and battling tonight…

That’s very important, that the team played as a team and the players on the bench, everybody was one team. That’s what we want, for everyone to have the same mentality like we showed tonight and you can see that the nice football we can play along with the right mentality can get good results.

How does the team now prepare for Chicago on Sunday…

First we will have to see what the damage is tomorrow in terms of injuries and sore legs and all those things from the players. But we have a couple of days and Sunday is a totally new game and we will go for the three points again.

Julian de Guzman, Midfielder, Toronto FC

Overall thoughts on the game…

It’s what we expected from this side (Tauro FC) they were playing at home and got off to a slow start which was good for us. Scoring two goals in the first half was very good for us but we knew there were a lot of things we needed to improve. In the second half they came out full pressure and won a penalty kick in their favour. After the penalty we knew from our part we would be able to counter attack which we did, we had a lot of opportunities to score a goal and we had one called back off a free kick. We just had to fight to the end of the game and that’s exactly what we did.

Thoughts on your goal…

It’s a moment as a midfielder where you find space in-front of you and it’s important that you attack it. When you have the right range and the right feeling to take a shot and especially get it on goal, it’s a great risk to take for any midfielder because anything can happen, like a rebound or even better a goal. It’s great to score goals when you don’t do it that often, but moments like this in a Champions League game are nice to look back to. Whatever it takes to help the team win, whether it’s scoring goals or just to fight and break plays, it’s an honour to be a part of it and represent Toronto and Canada at this level.

Thoughts on wearing the captain’s armband…

It’s always a good feeling to wear the armband and it’s every player’s dream to be a captain, but from my perspective as a captain, it takes up to 18 players to do the job. It’s not up to one player to be vocal or one to change the game, it takes everyone and I think it was something we were able to prove tonight.

Milos Kocic- Goalkeeper, Toronto FC

Thoughts on tonight’s game…

It was an experience playing away from home in that environment. We came up big and won away which doesn’t happen that often in CONCACAF, so it’s a huge boost for us to get three points.

How important was it with all the issues during the game…

It’s the strong mentality that we have as a group and that has changed since the beginning of the year. We stick together and found a way to get three points tonight.

Thoughts on your save late in the game…

Ya the ball moved surprisingly, I didn’t think that the Nike ball moved that much but as you saw in the first half when Julian scored, his shot went one way and the keeper went another way. On their shot the ball moved and I was able to get a clean stop on it and it was a difficult shot, and I saw two of their players running right at me so I knew if I dropped that ball it was a goal, so it’s good and it’s good for my confidence as well.

Scoring Summary: 

TOR –Johnson, 22′ 
TOR — De Guzman, 24′ 
TAU — Moreno, 76′ 

Discipline Summary: 

TOR -Iro, 20′ 
TOR – Eckersley, 32′ 
TOR – Stinson, 46′ 
TOR -Kocic, 55′ 
TAU – Moreno, 82′ 
TOR -De Guzman, 91′ 

Lineups: 

TORONTO FC: Milos Kocic; Ty Harden, Andy Iro (Dasan Robinson 37′), Danleigh Borman, Richard Eckersley; Matt Stinson (Ashtone Morgan 45′), Ryan Johnson, Julian de Guzman; Peri Marosevic, Joao Plata , Danny Koevermans (Mikael Yourassowsky 58′) 

TAURO FC: Alvaro Anzola; Gabriel Rios (Manuel Vargas 33′), Reinel Herrera, Luis Moreno, Leonel Parris, Carlos Rodriguez; Marcos Sanchez, Juan Perez, Juan Perrera; Auriel Gallardo (Manuel Vargas 57′), Diego Canali 

Statistics TORONTO TAURO 

Shots on goal 4 2 
Shots wide 3 10 
Fouls 23 15 
Corner Kicks 2 10 
Offsides 2 1