By: Michael Crampton
Don’t look now, whisper it quietly, blink and you’ll miss it but, believe it or not, Toronto FC has only lost one of their last four games. Of course, that loss came in league play against this weekend’s opponent and cemented the club’s newest record of infamy so it doesn’t exactly feel like this is a team that has turned the corner. Zero wins, zero draws, and zero points in the league is a tough reality to swallow regardless of how well the team has been doing in the Canadian Championship. Even if the recent good results came against MLS opponents, until Toronto isn’t doing worse in the league than any MLS team ever, cup success will feel fairly hollow.
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Heading into Washington to face DC United for the second straight time in league play it’s hard to know where this match fits in the Red’s season or what it means for the future of Aron Winter. Traditionally this has been a game with goals and with DC’s attack minded squad looking to entertain their home crowd there’s no reason to expect that to change. On the positive side, United has been inconsistent so far this season with only one sequence of back to back wins so maybe it’s actually a good omen that they defeated Colorado in mid-week?
Toronto on the other hand needs wins and needs them desperately to avoid the rest of 2012’s league season quickly becoming completely meaningless. Logic dictates that they have to go for the win and can’t satisfy themselves with simply trying to cancel United for the 90 minutes. In these respect it has the makings of an entertaining game.
Meanwhile, divining the meaning of the kabuki theatre that is TFC’s on field leadership and where this game fits into the alleged power struggle inside the front office is virtually impossible. Notwithstanding the more outlandish fan theories floating around TFC internet culture – “Winter wants to be fired”; no, “MLSE wants him to resign!” – it might seem reasonable to assume that no second year head coach could endure an 0-0-9 start. That ignores the CONCACAF Champions League and Canadian Championship success TFC has enjoyed this season though and that the Reds will be playing a decisive second leg in their national championship just four days after facing DC. It’s entirely possible that the worst team in MLS (so far this season) will once again be setting off on a grand continental adventure later this summer.
One thing that is certain is that Toronto FC will be facing a long layoff in league play after their match against the Philadelphia Union on May 26th. Not only that but, barring another act of God on the weather front, the Voyageurs Cup will be awarded by that point as well. If TFC’s senior management is serious about making a change and replacing Aron Winter then that stretch looks like a reasonable time to effect their decision and bring in someone else with enough time to prepare for the match in Kansas City in mid-June. Would winning back to back games in the league with another Canadian Championship sandwiched in between be enough to save Aron Winter’s job? 2-0-8 is still a very ugly record but firing a coach after back to back wins and a national cup championship seems equally absurd.
Regardless, the other thing that is certain is that, independent of how he views his future at the club, Aron Winter will put out the best available line-up he can in DC this weekend. His consistent philosophy of “every game is important” has occasionally proved frustrating when supporters wanted him to prioritize one competition over another but, with the team finally showing an indication of finding form, it’s possible that it will serve him well in this instance by allowing a degree of confidence in each other to emerge amongst teammates. News that the team will have to try to win their first league game of the season without injured captain Torsten Frings would normally be disheartening but it’s no different than the situation the same group of players faced in Vancouver on Wednesday night.
Under more regular circumstances, facing the offensive fire power of Dwayne De Rosario and company, a draw away against DC United would be a suitably good result. At least in terms of stopping the bleeding it’d be hard to call any non-loss a bad result. However, winning really is the only option for this team at this point. Anything less and the math only gets worse from this point forward and Toronto fans might have as few as five meaningful nights left in the entire 2012 season. That’s hard to think about but none the less the reality Toronto FC supporters face; whether Aron Winter is there to face it with them might in part be determined by what happens in DC tonight.