The first half of Toronto’s 4-2 loss to the Galaxy was the third worst half TFC has ever played. The 5-0 loss to New York to end the 2009 season tops it – the Reds would have made the playoffs with just a draw that day – but nothing else comes close.
They were listless, confused and hopeless. It was terrible. Thank God it wasn’t at BMO Field. There might have been riots in the stands.
Blame the coach, blame management, blame Terry Dunfield, blame me, blame whoever you want. It doesn’t change the core underlying point. This team, and the community’s frustration with it, has sucked every last bit of joy out of things.
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Watching TFC has become a chore. A soul sucking, humourless obligation. And I’m not sure it can be fixed. At least not easily or quickly. Even a hot start to 2013 would be viewed with a cynical eye by most – the fan remembers that 2009 season ender, after all.
That Vancouver is in a playoff position (for now anyway. Toronto isn’t the only city in Canada with a football team circling the bowl right now) makes it even worse. Thrown in the fact that Impact have been one of the best teams in the East since July and, well...
Hide the sharp objects. That is if you still care enough to be a danger to yourself.
This season can’t end soon enough. The only worthwhile thing to come out of it will be the first overall pick and top allocation spot in January. About 95 percent of TFC fans will likely suggest that they’ll screw both up, but they are assets that should provide two starters for next year.
But no one is in the mood for any talk of hope. Gloom is all that flies. Any attempt to frame the season in anything other than highly critical terms is met with not just skepticism, but anger.
So, cynicism it is.
Toronto was vastly outplayed in all aspects of the game. They were unable to deal with the Galaxy’s speed – the Galaxy were closing space effectively, overwhelming the Toronto midfield -- and skill. They gave up the ball too often and looked like an, at best, D2 side. The second half was better, largely because LA changed its tactics to allow TFC possession with the belief that they would not be able to break them down.
Luis Silva, maybe the one bright spot from 2012, proved them somewhat wrong so the Galaxy shifted gears and caught Toronto out for a late goal. It was the 1,587,456th time TFC has allowed in the final five minutes this year.
In short, they sucked. They’ve sucked all year. With the loss, they have less points in 30 games than they did in 2007 (the season was 30 games long in TFC’s expansion season). They’ve sucked more than not since the start.
And that sucks.