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[CURLING]Thirdtime’sthecharm
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t’s not often that No. 99 can slip out of
the building completely unnoticed.
But there he was Saturday night, walk-
ing out the door with a couple of
friends – postgame meal in hand – past a
collection of oblivious autograph hunters
and away into the night.
Of course, Wayne Gretzky was nowhere
near BMO Field on the weekend, but Ifu-
nanyachi Achara, the latest Toronto ath-
lete to wear the famous digits – following
in the shirttails of Blue Jays pitcher Hyun-
jin Ryu – did his part to live up to the
transcendent spirit of the Great One.
Not only did Achara score the only goal
of the game in his Major League Soccer
debut to hand Toronto FC victory in its
home opener, but he could quite easily
have had a hat trick. The rookie had an
early goal ruled out for offside and only a
finger-tip save from New York City FC
goalkeeper Sean Johnson prevented an-
other at the end of the first half.
“Tonight he was fantastic,” said TFC
head coach Greg Vanney, who, having had
to wait through the 2019 MLS Cup final
defeat and last week’s season-opening
draw in San Jose, finally got the 99 off his
own back with his 100th win in charge of
Toronto.
Going to the United States from his na-
tive Nigeria as a 16-year-old to play soccer
at Berkshire School in Sheffield, Mass.,
Achara tried his hand at hockey there, but
his choice of uniform number is actually
in homage to Ronaldo – the original, Bra-
zilian one – from his time at AC Milan.
His other choice would have been 14, as
he also grew up idolizing Arsenal and
France legend Thierry Henry – now head
coach at the rival Montreal Impact – but
that had already been claimed by fellow
rookie Noble Okello. And 20, the number
he wore at Georgetown University before
being taken 25th in this year’s MLS draft,
is currently held by Ayo Akinola.
And so he became the first TFC player
to wear No. 99.
It didn’t matter to him, however. The
only number Achara was concerned
about after the game was one, although
he would have preferred it to be two.
“Two goals would have been much bet-
ter, but I’ll take one,” he said, having been
told he was playing only 90 minutes be-
fore game time, once Tsubasa Endoh
failed to recover sufficiently from a knock
he picked up in training.
Although the 22-year-old began his soc-
cer career as a fullback in his native Nige-
ria, and almost made the national team
for the under-17 World Cup, after moving
to Berkshire, he showed a deft goal-scor-
ing touch and quickly moved up the field
as an attacker.
His versatility may prove to be one of
his greatest assets this season. In a salary-
cap league such as the MLS, being able to
adeptly play multiple positions will not
only get the rookie more playing time,
but can prove invaluable, as the team
doesn’t necessarily have a multitude of
replacement options at every position.
Vanney says Achara has a “nose for
goal” and can play as a lead striker, but
ultimately feels his best position is out
wide as a winger.
“I like him on the wings because I think
he can beat you on the outside, he can
beat you on the inside, he’s got great tim-
ing on his runs,” the head coach said, ref-
erencing Achara’s ability to
arrive late on the back post,
just as he did on Saturday to
head home the 81st-minute
game-winner.
“He really is an intelligent
player for a young man who
is just coming out of col-
lege,” Vanney said. “I’ve giv-
en him a bunch of things to
think about; defending in
different ways, showing up
in different pockets, keeping
width ....
“It’s nice to work with him because not
all players who have just come into the
professional environment pick up on
things so easily and he is one who has and
he’s just a good attacking player who can
play in any of the positions.”
Being able to spread goals through the
lineup is one of the things that Vanney
sees as a vital precursor to team success,so having rookies such as Achara show
they can handle that burden from the get-
go is a good sign.
Jozy Altidore, with 71 career MLS goals,
certainly knows a thing or two about find-
ing the back of the net – and getting in
position to score – and was overjoyed at
seeing one of his younger teammates
show an ability to help out
in that department.
“He’s a poacher,” said the
acting captain in Michael
Bradley’s injured-enforced
absence. “... And he was
there. It’s not luck to end up
back there and it won us the
game.”
Game-winning perform-
ances such as Saturday’s
were routine throughout
much of Gretzky’s career,
too, and if Achara can con-
tinue to perform as he did on Saturday, it
won’t be the last time he’s reminded of
the connection. He may even begin to
remember the name of the other chap.
“We talked about it a little bit,” he said
of the 99 connection. “I’m not a big hock-
ey fan, but I know now. [Somebody] told
me, but I’ve forgotten his name. Great
hockey player.”AcharahasagreatoneindebutwithTFC
PAULATTFIELDTORONTO
NewYorkCityFC’sAntonTinnerholmslidespastTorontoFC’sIfunanyachiAcharaduring
theirmatchinTorontoonSaturday.Acharanettedthegame’sonlygoal.‘Twogoalswould
havebeenmuchbetter,butI’lltakeone,’hesaid.DANHAMILTON/USATODAYSPORTS[IfunanyachiAchara]
reallyisanintelligent
playerfora
youngmanwho
isjustcomingout
ofcollege.GREGVANNEY
TFCHEADCOACHThe euphoric roars as fans leaped
fromtheirOldTraffordseatstook
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer back to the
Alex Ferguson era.
BacktowhenManchesterUnit-
ed’s supremacy over its neigh-
bour was undisputed. Back to
when Solskjaer was playing un-
der the managerial great, rather
than being the latest coach trying
to recapture those glory days.
It’s been 15 challenging
months at the helm, from the
early highs to growing dissent.
All the gloom seemed to wash
away in Sunday’s Manchester
downpour as Scott McTominay
seized on the City goalkeeper’s
second blunder of the derby in
stoppage time to put the ball into
an empty net and complete Unit-
ed’s 2-0 victory.
For the first time in a decade,
Unitedhadcompletedthedouble
over its neighbour, by beating
City home and away in the Pre-
mier League. Ferguson, still in the
dugout the last time that hap-
pened, was beaming in the direc-
tors’ box this time.
“The desire and work rate,
that’s what I think the fans love
about these players,” Solskjaer
said. “To see the connections be-
tween the players, the team and
the fans today. What an atmo-
sphere. At the end, seeing every-
one in the stands. You turn
around and you see Sir Alex up
there, he is proud and it’s a big
moment for every one of us.”
But this is only one step on a
longer journey back to turning
United into Premier League
championsforthefirsttimesince
Ferguson’s retirement. Victory
over City only took United into
fifth place, three points behind
Chelsea, which beat Everton 4-0
inSunday’sothergame,thanksto
goals from Mason Mount, Pedro,
Willian and Olivier Giroud.
Cityis12pointsinfrontofUnit-
edinsecondplace,butnowcloser
to surrendering the title to Liver-
pool. With a 25-point lead, Liver-
pool only needs two more victo-
ries from nine games to end its
30-year title drought.
City has now lost seven games
in its title defence – the most in a
season since 2015-16 when it was
defeated 10 times before Pep
Guardiola arrived.THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFanserupt
asUnited
completes
derbydouble
ROBHARRIS
MANCHESTER,ENGLANDWHITECAPS1,GALAXY0CARSON,CALIF.TosaintRickettsscoredin
the74thminutetogiveVancouverthe
victoryoverLosAngeles,spoilingJavier
(Chicharito)Hernandez’shomedebut.
WhitecapsdefenderAliAdnangotanice
runuptherightsideoftheboxandmade
aperfectcentringpasstoRicketts,who
putitpastgoalkeeperDavidBingham.The
Mexicanstarhasonlytwoshotsinhisfirst
twogames,withnoneongoal.Vancouver
improvedto1-1-0,andL.A.fellto0-1-1.IMPACT2,FCDALLAS2FRISCO,TEX.RicardoPepiscoredin
stoppage-timegoaltohelpFCDallastie
Montreal.ZdenekOndrasekpulledDallas
(1-0-1)withinoneinthe83rdminute.
MaximilianoUrrutiscoredtwiceforMon-
treal(1-0-1).
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