Toronto FC made a huge statement in more ways than one with Sunday's 2-1 Leagues Cup upset win over CF Pachuca at BMO Field.
Beating the newly-crowned Concacaf Champions Cup winners gave the Reds first place in East 6, a massive achievement for John Herdman's side in a group that also featured the New York Red Bulls.
Ironically, the victory deprived Toronto of playing their next match at home. Instead, they'll travel to Florida on Thursday night for a Round-of-32 clash at Inter Miami CF.
For Herdman, purposely throwing a match for home-field advantage was always out of the question.
"You’ve never gone into a game to think you know, let’s not win to get a home match," the English coach said. "The players were so clear [before the game], the leadership group."
Brave performance
And so Toronto not only went toe-to-toe with one of Concacaf's top teams, they were better than Los Tuzos throughout the 90 minutes and got a deserved win.
"It was an enjoyable, brave performance from our players," Herdman said. "We knew what we were coming up against with Pachuca, an aggressive team that can suffocate you, and it needed a bit of bravery."
Beyond their bravery, Toronto FC also got goals from Derrick Etienne Jr. and homegrown Kobe Franklin, who broke a 1-1 deadlock in the 78th minute, just seven minutes after coming on as a substitute for Italian superstar Federico Bernardeschi.
"We deserved the win tonight and I’m really proud, particularly of Kobe Franklin getting that goal," Herdman added. "He’s worked all year, all year for that moment. It’s great to see moments like that happen. It’s what you coach for."
Then there's the satisfaction of proving you can beat an elite LIGA MX side and compete for silverware - which is something Toronto have every intention of doing on all fronts.
"We know that teams like that have championship levels. We just were clear tonight," Herdman said. "We had a big opportunity, for our fans more than anything, to show that we’ve got more in the tank and we think we can keep pushing - whether it’s in this competition or MLS.
"... I think a lot of people were thinking that Pachuca was going to come here and maybe take the result, but we showed our spirit. We wanted it more."
Inter Miami await
That said, Herdman cautioned Toronto must keep their feet on the ground as they enter the elimination phase of Leagues Cup away from home and against the Supporters' Shield leaders, who beat them 3-1 in MLS action less than a month ago.
"We’ve just gotta stay humble, that’s the bottom line," Herdman said. "It’s back to work on Monday. [We've got] a massive game against Miami, which we’re excited about. We know a little bit about them, we’ve played them recently.
"It’s gonna be exciting on Thursday: knockout football.”
