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This has been another year of super-goals from Andrew Wiedeman.
The American forward has made a name for himself when it comes to scoring crucial, point-winning goals. This season, Wiedeman did just that, when he brought Columbus to its knees and scored in the final minute of the game. It was a thrilling encounter, one that saw Toronto FC down 1-0 in the 87th minute before Jonathan Osorio popped in an equalizer.
Then, Wiedeman, having been subbed on, got on the end of a cross, put it into the net, and gave Toronto a 2-1 win over its rivals, the Columbus Crew. Wiedeman played in 14 games this season, nine as a starter. He shared the forward line alongside Robert Earnshaw, Bright Dike and Justin Braun. In those 14 games, Wiedeman managed to score twice and recorded one assist.
RedNation Online spoke with the goalscorer, and first asked him what moment stood out the most for him when looking back at the year that was for Toronto FC?
“Okay, let’s see, stands out the most for me: well, New York at home, subbing on and subbing off was definitely a highlight!” joked Wiedeman. “No, I don’t know, the whole season was good, it was a good learning experience. Team-wise, I think we’ve really grown a lot and I think it’s really going to show next year.”
“Obviously the results weren’t what we wanted this year but we ended on our own positive note tonight and hopefully we can carry it over to next year,” Wiedeman continued.
While Toronto FC continued to change and evolve throughout the year, Wiedeman was pleased with one change that Ryan Nelsen implemented this season.
“Playing forward! That’s the one!” said Wiedeman, when asked which part of his season he most enjoyed. “I was a forward coming out of college and this was probably the first year that I’ve actually played it. Even in preseason, I was more of a wide mid, so that was good. I would have liked a little more production but going from the first half of the season to how it ended, I wouldn’t have expected that so I’m happy with that.”
Wiedeman sees plenty of quality in the current Toronto FC line up. He summed up the club’s problems this season and offered a solution, moving forward.
“I think we just need to have self-confidence,” said Wiedeman. “We’re a good squad. There’s a lot of good talent here. There’s going to be more pieces coming in, you can never be complacent, you need to always be changing parts of the puzzle.”
“We need to believe in our ability,” continued Wiedeman. “We showed it today. The whole season, we really played well. A lot of times we’d give up an early goal and that would be the difference, then we’d come back and play well. So I think we need to have that confidence to come out and play well at the beginning of the game.”
So, what’s Wiedeman planning for the offseason? His friend and fellow former-F.C. Dallas teammate, Jeremy Hall, is heading to Tampa Bay to train and escape the Toronto cold, something Wiedeman joked about.
“Yeah, Jeremy’s leaving me so I’m gonna have to see where he’s going and then maybe I’ll hang out with him, because I don’t know if I could go two months without him!” said Wiedeman, with a cheeky smile painted on his face. “I might go back to Scotland and see Darren [O’Dea], actually!”
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