Toronto FC finish up their Western Conference road trip Wednesday night with a game versus TFC West, otherwise known as the San Jose Earthquakes.
The reigning Supporter’s Shield champions made waves in the TFC fan community earlier in the season by starting a backline that included Dan Gargan, Nana Attakora, and Ty Harden in a 1-0 victory over the Seattle Sounders. Add in Sam Cronin in central midfield and Alan Gordon up top and it’s possible for San Jose to dress a solid contingent of one time Reds running right through the spine of their team.
Fortunately for Toronto Gordon, along with the Quakes’ other big target forward Steven Lehnart, will be out of action due to suspension. In their absence young draftee Adam Jahn, picked up in the Supplemental Draft, has been paired with runaway 2012 Golden Boot winner Chris Wondolowski and has already chipped in three goals. Wondolowski meanwhile is nowhere near his record tying pace of last season but, as he consistently has, already leads the team with four goals.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
The Earthquakes’ season has gone more than a bit off the boil over the past few weeks. They’re currently mired in a six game winless run and have only managed to keep a clean sheet in the aforementioned match versus Seattle all season. San Jose were a surprise last season, probably even to their own supporters, but any ambitions of repeating as Shield champions have already been put aside. Simply keeping pace with the playoff pack in the Western Conference will likely be challenge enough for the remainder of 2013.
One thing that hasn’t changed is the Quakes’ propensity for late game theatrics. On the weekend versus Montreal it was Sam Cronin getting in on the act with an injury time goal that rescued a 2-2 draw from an incident filled game. That was already the third time this season that San Jose has changed the outcome of a match by scoring in second half injury time and it was only a series of improbable saves, posts, and goal line clearances that prevented them from pulling off the same trick versus Vancouver.
The Quakes are a side filled with belief in their ability to find goals at the end of matches and facing a Toronto team that can’t seem to find a way to stop letting them in will know that, if they need it, pushing for a late goal has every chance of being rewarded.
With the Reds’ winless run in the league now extended to seven games a slow slide down the table has been the consequence and Toronto find themselves barely off bottom of the Eastern Conference with the playoff positions starting to disappear over the horizon. It’s a busy mid-week night in MLS with five other games and a failure to pick up maximum points in San Jose could easily leave TFC in last overall by the time they take the field to face Columbus next weekend.
According to TFC’s new management 2013 wasn’t supposed to be a year about positions or playoffs but rather about staying competitive and working towards their vision of where they want to take the club. To their credit, for all the pain of late collapses, Ryan Nelsen’s team is yet to lose a league game by more than one goal. It’s even been argued in the past that the “Tobias” syndrome has actually been the sign of an improving Toronto FC: to drop points late they had to at least be in a position to win or draw.
Regardless, the idea of entering summer already well back of meaningful participation in the hunt for a playoff position has become all too common in Toronto since 2011. The fans who are still around seem prepared to extend patience through yet another rebuild but to enjoy the process more than one win in ten is likely to be required. Even if it were to ultimately prove illusory at least remaining in the playoff conversation into late summer was not an unreasonable goal.
For that to remain possible TFC is going to have to occasionally pick up points where not expected, including on the road. A winless in six San Jose, missing two of their regular forwards, is an opportunity for Nelsen’s Reds even if surviving the last 10 minutes with any sort of stake in the game will very likely be the sort of test of character they’ve so far been failing at.