By Mike Crampton
Hope and hype, two dangerous sentiments intimately associated with the early days of Toronto FC, have the opportunity to return to BMO Field this Saturday evening. The hype however is in the form of the visitors and as for hope? Well, there’s nothing Reds supporters are more used to than a letdown! On the back of the club’s best ever result in an away league game but facing one of the Eastern Conference’s better teams only three days later the danger of Toronto following their usual script is pronounced.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Starting to believe that Paul Mariner has turned the side around is surely premature. Granted, TFC have continued their improved form from before the international break and picked up points in three consecutive games. Most importantly they’ve finally started putting themselves in a position to win and never trailed at any point in those three matches. They are, without doubt, scoring goals: 8 goals in four games under Mariner have doubled the team’s offensive production compared to Aron Winter’s 10 league games in charge in 2012. Say what you will about attacking football or clashing ideologies that’s a tangible improvement that cannot be ignored.
On the other hand, news since Wednesday evening should make it clear that the Reds remain, very much, a work in progress. Indications, as reported on CSN, of a big ticket move for Italian international Alessandro Nesta and a public declaration from Mariner about the position after the draw with New England highlight the desperate need for a capable and experienced centre back. Further, the release of 2011 draft pick Efrain Burgos Jr. and the return of Joao Plata to his Ecuadorian club LDU Quito show that Mariner is only beginning to put his stamp on the side. In addition to centre back, one place that his team will certainly need strengthening is at forward. The move to a two striker system has seen Mariner consistently rely on getting 90 minute performances from both Danny Koevermans and Ryan Johnson and that cannot be expected to last an entire season. Presumably Plata’s departure will make space for a new signing at that position as well but it’s hard to see how the Reds will have the budget space to afford that and a player of Nesta’s calibre at the back.
While Johnson and Koevermans have been working as an extremely effective strike tandem Toronto’s opponent Saturday night, the New York Red Bulls, can boast an even more impressive one in the form of Thierry Henry and Kenny Cooper. While the media attention and hype will undoubtedly (and not unreasonably) focus on the French superstar Henry, Toronto would be well advised to not ignore the danger presented by Cooper. The MLS veteran has been a problem for past incarnations of the Reds on multiple occasions before and currently leads the Red Bulls with 11 goals to Henry’s 9. Supported by the hard running box to box play of Joel Lindpere and Dax McCarty, the speed of Dane Richards on the flank, and the occasional creativity of regular substitute Mehdi Ballouchy it’s not hard to see why the Red Bulls are tied for the league lead in goals for.
The last time the Reds faced an offense as productive as New York’s at home they were forced into a defensive shell for 90 minutes by DC United and still ultimately conceded two goals during an insipid performance where they barely looked interested. That match dropped Toronto to 0-0-8 in the league and may have sounded the death knell for Aron Winter’s time in charge of the team. To avoid a similar fate on Saturday evening Toronto will have to offer more going forward than they could against United. Fortunately, for all their goal scoring prowess, the Red Bulls are susceptible at the back themselves and have conceded nearly as many goals as TFC (though admittedly over two more games). New York’s other famous designated player, Mexican international Rafa Marquez, is listed as out with a calf injury and will thus be unavailable to organize the Red Bull’s defense or repeat his wonder strike of 2010 against Toronto at BMO Field.
In the end, the story remains the same for Toronto FC: their young and inexperienced makeshift defense is likely to concede. If the change that has occurred under Paul Mariner continues however and the Reds can continue to find goals they’ll have a chance to earn at least a point. Hope for the season or even for the direction of the club might be beyond reach for many but hope for one evening? Even in Toronto that’s not too much to ask.