In terms of player availability, there’s a certain degree of parallel with Toronto’s last visit to the Ohio capital but it’s interesting to juxtapose the reaction that has created. Then, Reds fans fretted over the lack of Jermain Defoe and Steven Caldwell and questioned if the team would be capable of dealing with their absence. Now, with both players once again sidelined, there is far less angst. TFC has finally started finding secondary scoring to supplement Defoe’s disproportionate share of the team’s goals and Doneil Henry seems to have gotten over his early season propensity to commit game changing errors in central defence. There’s little argument that Toronto is still a better team with Defoe and Caldwell, but their absence no longer seems catastrophic.
That victory in Ohio back in April was memorable for another reason: the emergence of Michael Bradley as a bona fide match winner himself, capable, even without Defoe, of powering the team to victory. Some might argue that it was his best game in red, and there has been much disappointment ever since as he has not been able to recapture that level of influence. Bradley had a strong game in Montreal last weekend – including a spectacular pass that lead to Luke Moore’s goal – and with the American World Cup campaign fading in the rear view mirror the hope will be that Bradley is finally rounding back into the form he exhibited in the opening weeks of 2014.
Of course, Dominic Oduro, the player who actually squared the ball for Moore’s goal in Montreal (and for Gilberto’s) will be relishing his return to Columbus. Traded to Toronto by the Crew for Alvaro Rey back in early June, the Ghanaian has been providing consistently dynamic attacking performances on the right flank for the Reds since joining the team, and highlights a welcome evolution in TFC’s approach to team building under the management of Tim Bezbatchenko.
Some Reds fans expressed disappointment when MLS’s secondary transfer window closed Wednesday evening that Toronto had been more or less completely quiet during the summer transfer season. More than not even announcing a signing, TFC was barely even linked with a credible rumor of an incoming player. In 2014 there was to be no Diego Forlan, Danny Koevermans, Mista, Ali Gerba*, or (brace yourself) Paul Dickov riding over the hills with the cavalry to rescue a beleaguered Reds attack.
What that attitude ignores is the slow, unglamorous evolution in Toronto’s line-up that has been happening in increments already. Last weekend in Montreal the quartet of Luke Moore, Collen Warner, Oduro, and Warren Creavalle all started, and all contributed to a comprehensive victory for the Reds. All were acquired in-season from other MLS teams and have added to the core of MLS experience Bezbatchenko starting accumulating in the off-season in the form of Jackson and Justin Morrow. It didn’t happened until their eighth season, but Toronto FC seems to have finally gotten past the expectation that answers must be found outside MLS.
The Crew of the other hand can be legitimately disappointed by their lack of success in finding upgrades during the summer window. Turned down by their major target American international Mix Diskerud, who had occupied a disproportionate share of their attention, Columbus leave the summer without addressing the need for a consistent goal scorer who can convert the service from Federico Higuain.
MLS teams still have the opportunity to add players who are out of contract, or make deals inside the league, but any reinforcements brought in by those methods won’t be in time to help the Crew versus Toronto on the weekend. If the Reds can take advantage, and complete a season sweep, they’ll have reopened a healthy gap between themselves and the Crew while still enjoying a games-in-hand advantage.
*Admittedly, acquired from an MLS team, but too memorable and reflective of the trend to pass up.