If the schedule makers of MLS had any idea of trying to be easy on a TFC side in an obvious rebuild mode they probably could not have gone about it in a less competent fashion.
Not all fans will be quite aware of it but for the second time in just three outings Toronto FC will be taking on the first placed team in all of Major League Soccer. Three weeks ago it was the then undefeated Montreal Impact and this time it is Western Conference leading FC Dallas. Wedged in between were the reigning league champions. In fact, so far in 2013, the Reds are yet to face a team currently sitting in the lower half of the table.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Many would argue that Dallas’ ascent to the top of the league is as surprising as Toronto’s four points before the end of March. Admittedly, there has been more than a whiff of good fortune so far in FCD’s season but, on closer examination, there are plenty of reasons to be wary of this side even beyond the 4W-0D-1L record they’ve posted to date.
Flush with allocation cash from the sale of American phenom Brek Shea to Stoke City of the English Premier League Dallas went out of their way to solve their problems at the striker position by picking up Kenny Cooper from the New York Red Bulls. It’s Cooper’s second spell at the Texan club and in his first he was regular thorn in the side of Toronto FC.
While early returns from Cooper have been good it’s really the depth of attacking options that should give Toronto supporters pause. Blas Perez, Fabian Castillo, Jackson, and the all important David Ferreira have been deployed in a variety of arrangements by head coach Schellas Hyndman as he searches for the best way to regularly accommodate four of the five attack minded players. So far, it’s been enough to keep short lived former Red Eric Hassli predominantly consigned to the bench.
It’s difficult to overstate the influence that David Ferreira has on the side. The tired and seemingly defeated FC Dallas’ team that Aron Winter’s TFC defeated in the fall of 2011 to secure advancement from the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League was a far cry from the team Ferreira lead to the MLS Cup final in Toronto only a year earlier.
Ferreira’s injury in the spring of 2011 wasn’t enough to prevent Dallas from making the playoffs that year but was probably the difference between them making and not making the playoffs in 2012. After the Colombian finally returned for a match against Toronto FC in July, over a full year after being sidelined, the Toros proceeded to resurrect their season and nearly succeeded in reeling in the Vancouver Whitecaps for the final Western Conference playoff position.
For Toronto to be successful against Dallas on Saturday afternoon keeping Ferreira quiet and preventing him from taking over the game will have to be a first priority. Exactly who that duty falls to is now in some doubt as Terry Dunfield is listed as “out” with a knee sprain only weeks after the release of both Julio Cesar and Matt Stinson: two of the only other specialist defensive midfielders on the roster.
Fans, and now some in the Toronto media, had been clamouring for head coach Ryan Nelsen to break up the central midfield pairing of Dunfield and Jeremy Hall, that has so far started every game, in favour of at least one more creative player. Now, it seems he’ll be forced to.
Youngster Jonathon Osorio not only impressed with his goal in the match against the LA Galaxy but also exhibited a refreshing comfort and confidence on the ball combined with a willingness to play more ambitious passes. There will be many hoping to see either him, or TFC’s other young Canadian midfield prospect Kyle Bekker, given an opportunity to start alongside Hall.
All of that is before even considering how to accommodate the return to fitness of Luis Silva who seemed to be preferred as the regular attacking mid/second striker underneath a lone forward in preseason.
Given Nelsen’s stated predilection towards defensive stability first however it would not be surprising if he still feels the need for starting two more primarily defensive midfielders shielding in front of Toronto’s back four. Particularly when faced by an attacking quartet as dangerous as Dallas’.
Where exactly he finds those players remains to be seen.