Saturday, springtime and, on the back of a statement win in Columbus, the sense that maybe, just maybe, the long winter of Toronto FC has finally come to an end. Visits by the Colorado Rapids have regularly brought joy before, even in seasons where the most minute traces of joy were hard to find. Should that pattern continue TFC will have begun an important second phase to their season in the same way they began (and completed) the first.
Yes, mark it down: weather included, Reds supporters should be fully looking forward to attending a match at BMO Field!
Not that Colorado can be discounted or taken for granted.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] A win in Vancouver last weekend -- handing the ‘Caps their first loss of the season in the process -- moved the Rapids up to fourth in the West. With seven points from four games Colorado is a mere two points behind Toronto and their only loss was at the death of a wild game versus Sporting Kansas City where they were behind, then ahead (for an instant), and ultimately lost in stoppage time while down a man.
The red card culprit in the loss to SKC was a player closely identified with the first version of TFC: Marvell Wynne. As with so many teams around MLS, the Rapids have taken some of the many players churned through Toronto over the years and made them useful parts of a team better than any Reds outfit seen prior to 2014. Wynne won an MLS Cup title with the Rapids back in 2010 and is now part of a quartet of onetime TFCers alongside Edson Buddle, Nick LaBrocca, and Nathan Sturgis.
None of those players are outright stars, and they regularly find themselves fighting for playing time, but their contributions to a playoff team in 2013 should, once again, remind Toronto fans to not undervalue the importance of role players in MLS. The Reds big signings have, by and large, been working out almost better than could be expected, but success in MLS takes more than a few big signings.
As mentioned the Rapids were a playoff team in 2013, but underwent an unwanted leadership shake-up in the offseason with the departure of head coach Oscar Pareja to FC Dallas. While the poaching of Pareja had been widely rumored at the conclusion of 2013 there was the perception that the Rapids front office was somehow caught unprepared for such an eventuality. Colorado supporters didn’t seem to be too impressed by a, frankly, TFC-like search for a replacement that ultimately resulted in the already in-house Pablo Mastroeni being formally announced the morning of opening day.
Mastroeni is a club legend in Colorado and consequently enjoys a considerable degree of goodwill. There was definitely a feel-good factor to his appointment and, to his credit, a respectably strong start to the season has probably assuaged what doubts existed over the process through which he was installed.
For TFC the match is the first of an important sequence of five home games from their next seven league matches leading up to the June World Cup break. The Reds have gotten out of the blocks in remarkable fashion with nine points from the first four games of the season, three of which were played away. Adding at least another 10 to 12 points to that total -- not that more couldn’t be achieved -- should be the objective over the next two months and would leave the team in excellent position to attack the rest of the season.
That’s the real advantage TFC have already earned themselves from their quick start: games can be approached as opportunities to gain points rather than with the fear of dropping further back. They don’t have to be perfect.
Even good MLS teams will regularly lose a few games at home over the course of a season. The ones that don’t, like Houston or Salt Lake’s long streaks, stand out in our memory and very often enjoy some particular climate or geographic advantage over most visitors.
So while Reds supporters should be hopeful, optimistic even, about the team’s chance for victory, the reality is that a draw, or even an unfortunate loss, wouldn’t be catastrophic or reason for panic. That’s different, and exciting, and another sign that 2014 is already a season like no other in Toronto.