Toronto FC return to action after a two-week layoff, in the first game of the MLS weekend, this Saturday afternoon in a match versus the New England Revolution. Toronto is looking to get back to winning ways after back-to-back losses sucked some of the momentum out of a surprisingly strong start to the season and, for the first time, find themselves below the majority of teams in the Eastern Conference standings. With their next four games all against Eastern Conference opponents, all of whom are currently above the Reds in the table, a solid accumulation of points during this stretch of games will be essential if TFC wants to stay in-touch with the playoff positions.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Since they were one of the few teams that last year’s Toronto FC enjoyed success against it’s easy to forget that New England ended the 2013 season as a solid playoff team who nearly eliminated the eventual champions Sporting Kansas City in a thrilling Conference Semifinal series.
The Revs endured a slow start to the new season but have started to find form in their last few games and are currently undefeated in three games with three wins from their last five. The goals came really, really late, and they were aided by a red card to perennial line-toer Aurelien Collin, but a 2-0 win over the defending champions sees New England head to Toronto building up a momentum of their own and probably confident that they can beat just about any team in the league.
Jay Heaps’ cadre of exciting young attacking players that powered last year’s team has been kept together. Diego Fagundez, Lee Nguyen, and Kelyn Rowe were capable of playing fast, exciting on-the-deck football and now have Teal Bunbury, picked up in the offseason from Kansas City, to serve the ball to along with former Whitecap Daigo Kobayashi adding further creativity to their midfield. While Rowe is listed as questionable due to a hamstring strain, and hasn’t featured during New England’s recent strong run, the veteran presence of Andy Dorman has more than made up for his absence.
Unlike some of the teams that Toronto has faced to-date in 2014 Heaps’ New England don’t rely as much on one central attacking player to be the fulcrum of their attack. While Nguyen normally operates centrally and continually looks to get on the ball the Revolution have creative players who like to get forward right across their midfield, particularly in the wide positions, making it difficult to mark any one player out of the game. While that tendency makes them harder to defend, it also implies that they could be vulnerable to a side set-up to draw their midfielders forward and look for opportunities to launch quick counterattacks.
Thankfully for Toronto FC, if it is to be a counterattacking style that they attempt to implement, it appears that Jermain Defoe will once again be looking to get on the end of those attacks. The word all week has been that the Englishman is back to full fitness and is expected to be back in the starting line-up.
Even though they only managed one goal, TFC looked more dangerous against DC United than against any other opponent when Defoe was able to combine with Gilberto. Hopefully that partnership has been enhanced by another few weeks of familiarity created by at least training with each other. Gilberto has been isolated in matches during Defoe’s absence and his attempt to score his first goal in the colours of Toronto should benefit greatly from Defoe’s return.
For Toronto, the time for excuses is over. They are at home, the Designated Players are back, the team has had two weeks to prepare, and New England are, very likely, one of the teams Toronto will be directly competing with for a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. If this Reds side intends to be the one to end the club’s woeful record of league futility these are the sort matches they need to win, and win consistently. Lose, and the old doubts will surely start swirling.