Saturdays draw at BMO Field was definitely a great experience for the TFC faithful: nice weather, exciting football, and controversial refereeing thanks to Uncle Ted! Make sure you watch the highlights to see Brandon Servanias injury-time goal if you missed it, as it was a great team effort to earn Toronto FC the draw in the match.

This weeks instalment of Anatomy of a Goal looks at Richie Laryeas golazo from outside of the box. Laryeas hard work and determination earned him a spot on MLS Team of the Week. Well done, Richie!

Heres the clip of the goal:

Despite the early goal from former Celtic striker Georgios Giakoumakis off of a set piece, Toronto FC was controlling the match and creating goalscoring chances. It was evident that TFC wanted to continue to work the ball down the right side of the pitch where Laryea, Servania, and Federico Bernardeschi occupied during the match.Also, these three players were the best on the pitch for TFC.

Servania is fouled near midfield and Alonso Coello is quick with a pass to Bernardeschi. He spots Laryea, who controls the ball and holds onto it, looking for a pass.

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Laryea sees Servania on the sideline and lays it off to Servania, who picks out an open Bernardeschi with a one-touch pass.

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Laryea takes the pass from Bernardeschi after a nice through ball. He then makes the decision to run past the defenders instead of laying the ball off to Jonathan Osorio or Jordan Perruzza. He uses his speed to split the defenders and hammers a hard shot past Quentin Westberg.

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Quick ball movement and quick decision-making The passing sequence after the foul involved three players Servania, Bernardeschi, and Laryea. There was not a lot of space to dribble, as the Atlanta defense was marking Laryea closely. Heres the moment that Laryea played the ball to Servania:

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Laryea created a bit of space for himself with a quick move, but passed the ball into space, trusting Servania to run to the ball to receive the pass. Servania makes a quick decision to make a one-touch pass to Bernardeschi, creating an open channel to run for Laryea.

When Laryea continues to make his run, he has options to pass with Jordan Perruzza or Jonathan Osorio. In this picture, Peruzza is clearly offside, thus limiting Laryeas options. The right-back could pass to Osorio, which would create a goalscoring chance, or keep it which he chose to do.

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Richie was determined to score The Atlanta defenders were caught off guard a bit, not expecting Laryea to take the through ball and blow right past them.

From this picture, you see four Atlanta defenders near Laryea at the time of his shot. Rather than offload the ball to Osorio or Raoul Petretta, he decides to use his speed and unleash a powerful shot past Westbergs outstretched hand. The sheer joy on Laryeas face after the goal illustrates how much it meant to him.

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Continue to use the short, high-percentage passes As touched upon in last weeks Anatomy of a Goal, short passes through the defense and midfield, instead of the long ball, creates more possession and more control of the match. Its easier to move the ball around the pitch instead of trying longer passes, which often result in turnovers. A lot of coaches employ the high press tactic to try and force a turnover. One way to avoid bad passes is to provide better options for the players. If Toronto continues to employ the combination of Mark-Anthony Kaye, Michael Bradley, Coello, and Servania, there will be lots of reliable options for defenders to play the ball out from the back.

Its okay to be selfish Laryea is demonstrating that he is the best right-back in MLS with his consistently high-energy play. As a result, Laryea should be encouraged to challenge defenders on the right side with his pace and skill. Often, Laryea draws a foul, puts in a cross, or shoots on net. These options are positive outcomes for the team. Putting the ball on the feet of a skilled player like Laryea means more chances created for Toronto FC, and more shots from dangerous areas will result in more goals. Sometimes you have to be a bit selfish to take those shots good things happen!

More goalscorers on a team make it harder to defend Its easy to create an opposition game plan if Toronto FC has only one or two goalscoring threats. After eight matches, Toronto FC has seven different goal scorers. Interestingly enough, only one goal has been scored by a striker Deandre Kerr. With goals being scored by players all over the pitch, it becomes much harder to create a plan to defend this team. While there might be a dearth of goals from the traditional forward position, many Toronto FC players are currently contributing with goals.

While a draw at home is not the result the supporters would have hoped from a lovely Saturday evening on the Lakeshore, there were many instances that provide optimism. Laryeas goal is a great example of the potential of this team.

Excerpt from:
Anatomy of a Goal Richie Laryea vs. Atlanta United - Waking The Red