Toronto FC is on the road in Colorado Saturday night for their first game outside of the Eastern Time Zone since the season opener in Vancouver back at the start of the March. 9 dropped points from their last 12 available at home mean that the Reds will have to start finding some unlikely road wins if they want to avoid slipping into early irrelevance in the MLS playoff hunt.
Granted, getting very excited for a game from Dick’s Sporting Goods Park has never been particularly easy. Even more since it now sometimes seems like the Colorado Rapids inhabit a parallel universe to Toronto FC’s.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
A consequence of Major League Soccer’s move to a more conference based unbalanced schedule in 2012 has been the slow erosion of the relevance of intra-conference games in the opposite conference from the team you support. It’s not just that Toronto FC will only play the Rapids once in 2013 it’s that in 24 of their 34 games the Rapids are playing other Western Conference sides that TFC will also only play once. So the Reds themselves are rarely playing the teams that Rapids most often play.
Over time it’s quite easy to lose contact with the storylines and become only vaguely aware of a team like Colorado. While they may have won the 2010 MLS Cup Championship it’s probably not a stretch to suggest that a not insignificant number of Toronto FC supporters only fuzzily recall that fact even if the final was staged in front of them at BMO Field. With the absence of the glamour of the LA Galaxy, consistency of Real Salt Lake, rivalry with Vancouver, or passionate atmosphere of Portland and Seattle there is too often very little reason, from a Toronto perspective, for making the effort to know what’s going on with the Rapids.
Even a number of the more recognizable faces from their championship side no longer wear the Rapids’ burgundy: midfielder Jeff Larentowicz and the iconic strike partnership of Conor Casey and Omar Cummings have all been moved on to different teams around the league. Colorado head coach Oscar Pareja has continued his attempt at rebuilding former coach Gary Smith’s team into a side more comfortable with the possession tactics he favours.
While a disappointing 2012 campaign meant that Pareja started the season under some pressure to deliver results that project has been hampered by an injury list that puts even Toronto FC’s to shame. Regular goalkeeper Matt Pickens is shelved with a broken arm while outfielders Diego Calderon and Jaime Castrillon are both out after requiring knee surgery. Veteran midfielder Pablo Mastroeni has been attempting to work his way back into a regular role with the team but still sees his minutes limited due to post-concussion symptoms.
Former Red Edson Buddle was expected to lead the line for the Rapids as their main offensive threat in 2012 but has been sidelined by knee pain and only managed 191 minutes and three starts. Another major offseason Rapids signing, Chilean Kevin Harbottle, is currently listed as having a knee sprain.
In spite of all of that somehow Colorado started picking up points with some consistency in April after a very poor March. Wins over Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA are a few games back now but the Rapids will take confidence that they’re remaining more competitive after a hard fought draw in Houston last weekend.
On the other hand, home losses to mediocre sides like Philadelphia and Seattle reveal that the Rapids are far from invincible at DSG Park and should give Toronto encouragement. Further to that, all indications are that Young Designated Player Matias Laba has been cleared to play and is set to debut for the Reds.
After the disaster in Montreal in midweek Toronto now have no distractions from their league campaign. For the first time since 2008 there will be no extra CONCACAF Champions League games played in the summer at BMO Field. If the games that do remain are to be meaningful however the Reds will have to bounce back soon and one win from eight pace will not be enough to keep them relevant.