August 14, 2018 USL Toronto FC II--Toronto FC II vs Bethlehem Steel FC game preview (from bethlehemsteelfc.com)
Quote Sheet: Previewing Toronto By Bethlehem Steel FC Communications, 08/14/18, 3:30PM EDT Bethlehem Steel FC Head Coach Brendan Burke Looking back on the match against Pittsburgh “We were really disappointed, I was disappointed even looking back at my own comments. I think we expected a lot of ourselves and we knew it was a big opportunity but we just didn’t have the juice in our legs that were needed to play the way we wanted to play and accomplish what we were hoping to accomplish on that day. Really proud of the fact that we dug in and got ourselves back into the game and sorry that it broke down the way it did. Ultimately, we still are where we need to be. These next couple games become critical for us because teams around us have a couple games in hand and we have to keep them in a position where they are chasing us and putting more pressure on them with each week that passes. Overall, we’ve won three of our last four games and we’ve put ourselves in the hunt and in the driver’s seat in a lot of ways but now we need to put our foot down.” On being one of the most potent offenses in the USL “I think a lot of our offense comes from our defending higher up the field and then we have some talented guys mixed in and we’re an unselfish team so I think that’s the recipe for success. It’s a huge accomplishment to and happy to be in the company we are in but the reality is these games do get a little tighter and are more hotly contested, we do need to keep a couple more clean sheets if we want to get ourselves in.” On preparing for Toronto FC II “They’ve won two of their last three games and one of them was against Nashville. They only narrowly lost 1-0 to Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh in between there. They definitely are a dangerous team, a team that has turned the corner in terms of their mentality and in terms of their ability to keep games tight. We are well aware that we are up for a massive battle. Any road game is but especially a team with a belief, they present an entirely different challenge than how they were five or six weeks ago.” On avoiding the team overlooking an opponent low on the table “I great, honest, young group of players so they understand fully what’s at stake and what we are walking into. They aren’t looking past anything at this point.” On playing at a neutral site and the challenges it presents “We’re looking at it as their home game. We have to travel five and a half hours to get there, I don’t think it’s quite as bad for them. It’s on turf which they play on a lot more frequently than we do. In a lot of ways, this is still their home game.” On Jake McGuire earning the 10th USL Team of the Week honor for Steel FC “He’s well deserving of that, his performance at Richmond and again at Charlotte, those are good performances from the team and he’s big when he was called upon in those couple instances. We’re always talking about team success leading to individual success down the line and whatever form that may take. Cory Burke is probably the best example of it for us at this point but that can come in many different forms. We’re really happy for the guys to be recognized league-wide. They work hard for us so I’m glad they are able to get the recognition.”
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