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Here are three things we learned in Toronto FC’s 4-2 aggregate victory over Club América in the Concacaf Champions League semifinals, which was wrapped up with a 1-1 draw at Estadio Azteca on Tuesday.TFC
1. TFC should now be Champions League favorite
“We didn’t sign up for this tournament to get to the final,” Toronto coach Greg Vanney said as the fans in Mexico City headed home, digesting the elimination of their team. “We signed up to this tournament to try to win it.
“We’re not happy with just being in the final. We have another very good team in Chivas Guadalajara that, obviously, is a very popular team in Mexico as well and we have to find our way through that one in order to win the championship. We’re not done and we’re not happy with just being where we are.”
And nor should they be.
Toronto FC has seen off Tigres UANL, arguably the best team in Mexico over the past couple of years. It has seen off Club América, arguably its most prestigious and winners of two of the past three Champions Leagues.
That is proof enough that TFC should now be considered the favorite to win this competition by beating a Chivas team that has won only three of its 14 league games so far this season.
2. Osorio the man for big occasions
At the start of the 2017 season, Jonathan Osorio was having a tough time in front of goal.
It ate away at his confidence and he lost his place in Toronto’s starting lineup.
Now the Canadian can’t stop scoring, and exactly how Vanney is going to fit all of the midfielders at his disposal into a coherent lineup when Victor Vázquez returns to health and new signing Ager Aketxe gets up to speed is a mystery — though hardly a problem the coach will be complaining about.
While consistency has sometimes evaded Osorio, he has a knack for finding his way on to the scoresheet when it matters most. Osorio has scored seven goals in knockout games — between the Champions League, the Canadian Championship and the MLS playoffs — since the start of the 2016 season.
That’s fewer than only Sebastian Giovinco (12) and Jozy Altidore (9) and five more than any other Toronto player.
3. Vanney learned to deal with key absences
It is tempting to feel as if this is destined to be Toronto’s year — that all the chips are falling in their favour as they make their way to the final.
In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. TFC’s path has been as difficult as it gets, with Tigres preceding América and Chivas now waiting. And the Reds have battled through it despite the injuries suffered by three key players in Vázquez, Justin Morrow and Chris Mavinga.
When Altidore came off after just six minutes having rolled his ankle in the warmup, you felt as if Toronto was simply going to have to do its best to withstand a siege.
But Vanney has, over the course of this tournament, repeatedly proven his ability to get the best out of the players at his disposal and find ways to make the pieces fit together.
Few expected that Osorio or Ashtone Morgan would be such key contributors. After a slow start on the right of the defense, Gregory van der Wiel has excelled as a centerback. And with Vázquez out, Giovinco has been tasked with more playmaking than scoring.
To replace Altidore, Vanney simply plugged Tosaint Ricketts in — five minutes later, TFC had the lead.