One year ago, nothing could go wrong for Toronto FC. Now, with its playoff hopes in Major League Soccer likely coming to an end on Saturday, the Reds are a team on the wrong side of a domino run, buried under a tide of collapsing tiles.
The falling dominoes exposed a hard truth about TFC this season – its vaunted depth was a mirage. While the team was probably as deep as any in MLS, and carries the league’s highest payroll at just less than US$26.2-million, the league’s complicated salary structure means if the wrong players get hurt, the damage to a team can be catastrophic.
When the best players on the roster are lost to injury it is not easy to replace them in the MLS system. It was bad enough when striker Jozy Altidore, one of TFC’s three designated players, along with Sebastian Giovinco and Michael Bradley, was lost for a significant part of the season to injury. But it was a string of injuries to the Reds’ second tier of players, all of whom were defenders, that was the killer. Throw in the fact midfielder Victor Vazquez, their master playmaker, was rarely 100 per cent and any pretense of depth was lost.
With defenders Drew Moor and Chris Mavinga out for most of the season, the back line was crippled. Bradley had to drop back and play centreback much of the time, mostly with terrible results. The TFC defenders, among the best in MLS a year ago, became known for surrendering early and terrible goals.
Another domino fell on this unit this week when goalkeeper Alex Bono, whose play has been nothing like his 10-shutout season in 2017, confessed he is labouring through a crisis of confidence.
Add it all up and the Reds’ playoff hopes are hanging by a thread. They have an 8-15-6 record, sit ninth in the Eastern Conference, 10 points out of the sixth and final playoff spot, which is held by the Montreal Impact. If Montreal gets an away win over D.C. United, a loss or draw on Saturday at BMO Field against the New England Revolution will officially eliminate TFC from the playoffs.
The Revolution resemble nothing so much as a giant pair of scissors, poised to snip away the TFC season. Not only is the Revolution between the Reds and the Impact, sitting eighth in the Eastern Conference, just five points out of the playoffs, but the New Englanders are coming into Toronto with a four-game unbeaten streak.
Even worse, the Revolution switched to a press game this season under new head coach Brad Friedel. They turn up the heat on the defence and pounce on mistakes, something the threadbare TFC backline has served up steadily this season.
“At this point we’re relying a lot on other results,” TFC head coach Greg Vanney said. “We’ve got to take care of our business and finish, whatever’s left of the season we have, on a positive note.
“It’s managing [the Revolution’s] press, their athleticism, their directness as a group, trying to play well at home and getting a result at home. We’ve got to try to play wise, take care of the ball when we have it. They press fast and they also counter-attack fast.”
Vanney is still getting no help on the injury front. Moor and Mavinga played only a few games together this season and it looks as though Moor (calf strain) will miss the New England game. Neither Altidore (ankle) nor Giovinco (calf) could practise full out this week, but Vanney hopes both will be available for at least part of the game.
The only positive is that Bono thinks his recent international call-up to the U.S. national team was the break he needed to restore his confidence. Even though the Reds lost 2-0 to the New York Red Bulls last weekend, Bono said he felt much better during that game.
“A million per cent. A million per cent,” he said. “I’m in a far better place now, and I feel close to being back to where I know I can be.”
But unless the TFC back line can hold off the New England pressure, that good feeling won’t last long.
“They’re going to come out with a press so we’ll see how we can deal with that,” defender Nick Hagglund said. “Honestly, the sloppy give-overs in our half [of the pitch] are what’s going to hurt us. That’s what they’re looking for. We need to be sound in the back when we’re passing out.”