April 26, 2018 Toronto FC II USL--Richmond Kickers VS Toronto FC II review (from uslsoccer.com)

  
Imura’s Strike Keyed Kickers' Turnaround
By NICHOLAS MURRAY - nicholas.murray@uslsoccer.com, 04/26/18, 11:12AM EDT 

Bounce-back win saw hosts solve Toronto’s defensive puzzle in second half

RICHMOND, Va. – During the Richmond Kickers’ drive to reach the USL Cup Playoffs two seasons ago, 
midfielder Yudai Imura’s ability to conjure goals at crucial times was critical to the club’s success.

With his side having gone behind early against Toronto FC II on Wednesday night at City Stadium, 
the Japanese standout produced another such finish with a pin-point curling strike to the top-right 
corner that got the Kickers back on track in a 2-1 victory that saw the side rebound from a tough 
road loss in its previous outing.

“Fantastic goal by Yudai to get us back into the game,” said Kickers Head Coach Leigh Cowlishaw. 
“Certainly, that was a massive boost for us.”

The goal was Imura’s second of the season but proved a bright spot in a first half that saw Toronto 
defend strongly to remain on level terms as the Kickers had difficulty building on the momentum they 
carried from the 11th-minute strike. Imura’s finish was Richmond’s only shot on target in the 
opening 45 minutes as their visitors not only sat deep but also pressed effectively when 
the opportunity arose.

“We struggled to figure out what we needed to do to really hurt them,” said Cowlishaw. “I thought 
they were still really dangerous, looking to turn the ball over in the wrong areas and had a couple 
of great counterattack opportunities. We really didn’t get going until the start of the second half. 
We talked about trying to be more specific to the way we want to play and our DNA, and I think you 
saw the second half was very different.”

Pushing hard down the right side for much of the second half, the Kickers’ emphasis on getting into 
wide positions in the final third quickly paid off. A clever flicked pass by halftime substitute 
Giuseppe Gentile off Imura’s ball upfield released Raul Gonzalez into space, and while 
Brian Shriver’s near-post run to meet the ensuing cross didn’t provide the final finish, it helped 
cause an error by Toronto defender Brandon Onkony, who saw the ball ricochet off him and into 
the net for the decisive goal.

Gonzalez and right back Braeden Troyer continued to press down the right side in the second half, 
and Gonzalez almost put the game away in the 68th minute when he was released on a fine angled ball 
by Shriver only to put his finish too close to Toronto goalkeeper Angelo Cavalluzzo. Emerging with 
the club’s second win of the season at home, though, was all that mattered in the end for 
the Kickers’ players.

“Three points – that’s massive. We needed that,” said Troyer. “It’s early in the season, so that’s 
what we need. We need to show our experience and that we have confidence in our team, so I think 
that’s great for all of us.”

Having gone through an 11-day break between games since its 2-1 loss to Louisville City FC 
on April 14, Richmond is now looking at a similar stint before it heads to face Bethlehem Steel FC 
on May 6 in its next outing. The side will find ways to get live action over that span, but 
the driving motivation for the game will be the memory of Steel FC’s 4-1 victory 
at Goodman Stadium on the opening weekend of the season.

“We’ll be very much up for that to put things right because that was not the performance we were 
expecting,” said Cowlishaw. “Everything is ticking but we don’t want to get too high. The Louisville 
game was disappointment but again, we’re three minutes away and we have to keep it calm and 
understand that these things happen sometimes. We’ll have a training game tomorrow for the guys 
who need it. We’ll have a couple days off. It will give us plenty of time to really push 
on for Bethlehem and the Open Cup run.”  
  
Richmond Kickers vs Toronto FC II

4-2-3-1                   4-1-4-1  
Richmond Kickers   2 - 1  Toronto FC II

April 25, 2018 7:00 PM 
Referee Marcos de Oliveira   
Venue  City Stadium  
Attendance  2,623

Richmond Kickers
48 Worra        GK
31 Troyer       DF
 3 Yearwood     DF    
 5 Shanosky (C) DF     
55 Williams     DF   
14 Imura        MF    11' GOAL  87', subbed out  
27 Gonzalez     MF    
17 Umar         MF    
24 Osei-Wusu    MF    78' YELLOW card    
21 Shriver      MF    90+3' subbed out  
29 Kelly        FW    45' subbed out 

Substitutes
1 Spangenberg   
15 Roberts 
 7 Hlavaty 
71 Luiz Fernando       90+3' subbed in  
 4 Owusu Sekyere   
16 Cordovés            87' subbed in  
92 Gentile             45' subbed in, 81' YELLOW card  

Manager  Cowlishaw

Toronto FC II
80 Cavalluzzo   GK
77 Onkony       DF     55' OWN GOAL
38 Bjornethun   DF     79' subbed out   
61 Romeo        DF     
49 Boskovic     DF  
59 Okello Ayo   MF     66' subbed out  
56 Johnson      MF      
37 Waja         MF      
42 Yeates       MF       
55 Daniels (C)  MF      9' GOAL   
64 Hundal       FW     58' subbed out  

Substitutes
70 Catalano     GK   
35 Eckenrode 
32 Dada-Luke            66'  subbed in  
39 Petrasso             79'  subbed in  
45 Uccello              
20 Akinola 
43 Andrews              58'  subbed in  

Manager  Guyot

Richmond                         Toronto     
 53.4%    Possession              46.6%   
 52.7%    Duels success rate      47.3%
 50.0%    Aerial duels won        50.0%
 16       Interceptions           17 
  6       Offsides                 0   
  5       Corners                  4    
466      Passes                  403    
 80      Long passes              62    
 81.3%   Passing accuracy         79.7%
 68.1%b  Passing acc in opp half  62.7%    
 15      Crosses                  11   
 20.0%   Crossing accuracy         9.1%       
  2      Goals                     1     
 11      Shots                     7    
  3      Shots on target           3       
  3      Blocked shots             1        
  5      Shots outside the box     5     
  6      Shots inside the box      2      
 27.3%   Shooting accuracy        42.9%
 23      Tackles                  13     
 73.9%   Tackles success rate    100.0%   
 11      Clearances               19      
 10      Fouls conceded            8      
  2      Yellow cards              0       
  0      Red cards                 0      

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