Toronto FC players make most of break ahead of MLS playoff showdown with Impact

In today’s advanced sports science world, teams can monitor almost every aspect of a player’s physical output to ensure their body is not overloaded.

With the hard work done, the feeling was that of a school break at Toronto FC’s north Toronto training centre as players left for the weekend.

Toronto has played three playoff games in 11 days, defeating the Philadelphia Union 3-1 before dispatching New York City FC 7-0 in a two-legged series that wrapped up Sunday at Yankee Stadium.

The conference finals have been pushed back because of a break for international play. While Vanney would prefer to keep playing to make the most of his team’s momentum, he understands the pressures on his squad.

“It’s been a busy three weeks or so for the group,” said Vanney, sporting an impressive playoff beard. “They’ve had to really lock in, engage and obviously perform. We’ve asked a lot of them physically. So this is the first two days they’ve had off in a long time.

“We pushed them a little bit physically to get what we needed out of these last few days in training. But now what we hope to get is a little bit of a mental recovery period and a physical recovery period. And (have them) come back ready to go, reinvigorated and refocused as we approach next week.

“It’s still a long week going from Monday when we come back to Tuesday the following week (the game in Montreal) but they’ve earned it and they need this weekend to clear their minds so they can come back again really focused and motivated.

“We haven’t spent a minute talking about our opposition this week. It’s just (been) getting guys to stay fit, to stay healthy. Whatever anybody needs individually, that’s what we’ve been focusing on and we’ll now refocus on our opponents next week.”

Interest in the all-Canadian conference final is keen.

The Impact have already sold more than 50,000 tickets for the series opener Nov. 22 indoors at Olympic Stadium. And Toronto, having sold out its regular seating configuration, is looking to use the 6,500 temporary seats installed in the south end of BMO Field for the Nov. 27 Grey Cup for the second leg of the Montreal series on Nov. 30.

The temporary seats bring the Toronto stadium capacity up to 36,000-37,000, which would be a record attendance for TFC.

The Toronto-Montreal matchup means a Canadian team will contest the MLS Cup for the first time, against either the Colorado Rapids or Seattle Sounders.

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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Toronto FC players make most of break ahead of MLS playoff showdown with Impact

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