October 9, 2015 Toronto FC II--Toronto FC II Preparations for 2016 Season Underway (from uslsoccer.com)
TFC II Preparations For 2016 Season Underway Release: 10/09/2015 USL Feature Friday, October 9, 2015 Toronto FC II’s inaugural season came to an end two weeks ago, but the side is getting a head start on preparations for 2016 as players remain in training before departing for the offseason. According to Head Coach Jason Bent, TFC II participated in an intra-squad scrimmage on Thursday with their MLS counterparts, as they looked to continue their development over the course of October. As a whole, TFC II’s season had more downs than ups on the field, but Bent said while there were mixed emotions, he was very pleased overall with the amount of experience his players had gained. “A stat came out that we were the youngest team in the entire league, so I think that bodes well for the future,” Bent said. “It’s part of our club philosophy that we want to give young players a chance, and I’m not just talking just 10-, 15-minute appearances here and there; I’m talking full starts, full games, on the road and at home, so that’s been a very huge plus for us.” TFC II biggest problems came in front of goal, where the side finished the season with only 26 goals. The side showed improvement in the final third in its final six games, scoring multiple goals in three of its final six games of the season, but at times when the team’s defense was performing well, the attack wasn’t able to find the incisiveness to take home all three points. “All-in-all, we’ve shown some good flashes,” Bent said. “We’ve gone through some moments where we’ve been scoring goals. We’ve gone through moments where we weren’t scoring goals and creating chances. We went through times where we were keeping clean sheets, but we couldn’t score goals. That’s not uncommon for young players where you have ups and downs constantly throughout the season.” The progression the side showed over the final quarter of the season was something Bent was pleased with, however, as the side performed well even against the top teams in the USL. TFC II’s final game of the season against the top-seeded team in the 2015 USL Playoffs, the Rochester Rhinos, wasn’t decided until late in the contest, as the Rhinos’ experience pulled them through, but the performance overall gave Bent reason for optimism. “You could see that they matched it up until the 70th minute,” Bent said. “That level of concentration, to maintain it for 90 minutes, is something that we need to improve on individually and collectively. When we can do that, we can match any team in the league, or certainly the Eastern Conference as what we’ve competed against. But knowing Rochester is from the Eastern Conference and they’re the best team in the league, it certainly gives us some confidence.” After a year in which the club has learned a great deal, the pressure will be on in 2016 for a higher level of play on the field, and for players to push themselves to the next level within Toronto’s organization. “Next year is a key year for us,” Bent said. “You’re going into 12, 18 months working into 24 months, and you want to see players progressing. I want to see players knocking on the door of the first team, getting into preseason, possibly getting into MLS games. That’s the pressure that I put myself under, and I hope the players put themselves under that type of pressure as well.”
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