Toronto FC is set for a visit to Frisco, Texas Saturday evening for a match against table-topping FC Dallas and, as has been the case since the loss to Real Salt Lake in late March, injuries remain the major dilemma.
Jermain Defoe has, to date, still scored more than half the team’s goals but, for the third straight game, will be unavailable. Now Dwayne De Rosario, who had become a virtual starter-by-default in Defoe’s absence, has joined the Englishman on the injured list.
While Reds fans will be less concerned, some degree of reshuffling will also be necessary in the midfield.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Jeremy Hall has picked up a calf strain though, with luck, Toronto will hope to see the return of at least one of Michael Bradley or Jonathan Osorio to their regular starting role even if both remain listed as questionable.
Away from home and facing the highest-scoring team in the league, it will be interesting to see if Ryan Nelsen opts for anything different formationally in the absence of three of his four (remembering Bright Dike) top attacking threats. Should Andrew Wiedeman be handed the start alongside Gilberto in any sort of two-forward system, it’s hard to see what options Nelsen could leave himself on the bench short of another unexpected appearance from Jordan Hamilton.
While the Reds have surprised so far in 2014 to some degree, figuring out FC Dallas might be even trickier. As mentioned the Toros sit top of the entire league with 13 points from their first six matches. With 15 goals for they’ve actually tripled Toronto FC’s offensive production so far!
On the other hand, there has been the suggestion that they’ve been luckier than a team should expect to be over the course of a season and that their free-scoring results are more likely an early season aberration. Last weekend they lost their first match of the season to Seattle – a team TFC has already defeated away from home – as a re-energized Clint Dempsey lead the Sounders to a win in his home state of Texas.
So, while new head coach Oscar Pareja has Dallas playing exciting football, there shouldn’t be any suggestion that getting a result is beyond Toronto FC. Too many of the Reds results have gone against expectations – now both positively and negatively – and already reflected what might be an even more pronounced level of parity and openness in MLS than usual.
Pareja always preached the merits of the possession style during his time in Colorado so Toronto supporters shouldn’t be surprised to see another game where their team cedes the majority of the ball to their opponent. Ryan Nelsen’s contain-and-counter tactics failed in Salt Lake City against a similarly possession oriented opponent as Javi Morales continuously found space behind Toronto’s central midfielders. That was with two forwards ahead of him, however, and, in comparison, against Columbus’ 4-4-1-1 the Reds produced their best display of the season.
The 4-2-3-1 formation that Pareja has favoured so far shares more affinity with Columbus’ 4-4-1-1 than RSL’s diamond 4-4-2 so there’s the chance that Toronto’s regular defensive alignment may likewise match-up better against Dallas.
A week ago, before TFC’s loss to Colorado, I suggested that the team was entering a second, more home-game heavy, phase of their season. Incongruously, the match against Dallas is best viewed as the end of the challenging opening phase of their season. With a break approaching next weekend Toronto will have the opportunity to rest and recuperate and hopefully return some of their walking wounded to the line-up ahead of a heavier May schedule.
But the best news for the Reds? It’s that, in many ways, the worst will already be over. By the end of the weekend Toronto will have completed three of their four Western Conference road trips with only a late season visit to Los Angeles still to come. With a more than creditable nine points already in the bag anything from the match in Frisco is a bonus, and even sliding into their first back-to-back losses of 2014 wouldn’t be catastrophic.