To call the mood amongst soccer fans in Toronto "subdued" these days would be a supreme understatement.
Sure, Toronto FC could clinch its fourth consecutive Voyageurs Cup on Wednesday, but the numbers seared into the minds of the city's sports fans are 0 and 9. The squad's MLS campaign has gone from surprising, to frustrating, to infuriating to almost unreal.
You sense it everywhere, at all times, in snippets of text on the 24-hour TV news stations, in overheard conversations at coffee shops and in transit -- even people who've never been to BMO Field (and couldn't point it out on a map) are keenly aware of the fact that Toronto FC really sucks.*
That, of course, means trouble for another team in red that calls BMO Field home with some frequency these days: the Canadian men's national team. Despite the fact Canada is about to play its most important games in the last four years, an apt word to describe the mood around that squad's chances would also be "subdued".
Coincidence?
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Perhaps, perhaps not. It would be unfair to heap too much more scorn and ignominy upon Toronto FC by suggesting that relatively sluggish ticket sales for Canada v. USA (June 3) and Canada v. Honduras (June 12) are the fault or responsibility of the MLS cellar dwellers.
But let's go back, for a moment, to August 20, 2008. Canada v. Jamaica at BMO Field. The grotesque fake turf still in place, no north stands to be seen, and yet, the enthusiasm was palpable. The concept of "supporter culture" in the city was still fresh and vibrant, with footie fans itching to get involved, in person. All four corners of the stadium (not to mention the entire south end) filled with red-clad flag-wavers, proudly touting their affiliation with some group or another -- the Voyageurs, U-Sector, the Red Patch Boys, North End Elite -- along with thousands just happy to be seeing a big game in a new stadium.
The Jamaican presence at the game was sizable, but scattered. For the first time in... well, who even knows... Canada had a true, noticeable home-field advantage for a World Cup qualifier. There was buzz aplenty around Canada's best player at the time, Julian de Guzman, who scored Canada's goal and came agonizingly close to potting a winner late in the second half.
Four years hence? JDG's level of play, and reputation, have taken a severe hit during his years of service with his hometown club. Indeed, the reputation of the club itself has continued to erode, as years of league non-success have chipped away at the ranks of the supporters groups, and the team's general fanbase. BMO Field is no longer a sellout (hasn't been in a while), no longer a fortress, no longer a beacon of excitement for local soccer fans.
And that brings us to Canada in next month's games. BMO Field has been open for six years now. The "new stadium" bump is gone. Toronto FC is in its sixth -- and worst -- MLS season; the "wow, local soccer is new and exciting!" bump is gone. And the hopes that were raised last winter, when it was suggested that a couple of Canadian holdouts might finally pledge their allegiance to the red and white, have also been dashed against the rocks, as their names still remain absent from Canada's roster.
So for those not already committed to watching the Canadian national team play, what's the hook? You could say that "your country is trying to qualify for the biggest soccer tournament in the world" should be a sufficiently convincing hook... but as history has taught us time and again, it isn't. Not in Canada. Not yet, anyway.
You could say that individual players are the marketing hook, but who? Julian de Guzman and Dwayne De Rosario remain polarizing figures in Toronto; using their faces in marketing material could do as much harm as good. And the Canadians who've had the most success overseas in recent years -- Simeon Jackson, Atiba Hutchinson, Josh Simpson, Olivier Occean -- remain utterly unrecognizable to most Canadians, unless you happen to regularly read a site like CSN (which, tragically, the vast majority of Canadians don't.)
The CSA has attempted to split the difference by doing what TFC did in its early years: focusing the marketing efforts on the fans, with the "See Thee Rise" campaign. While some folks will crow that "the CSA should do more to promote the games!" at every opportunity (usually without providing specific examples of what isn't being done, or what should be done), the official marketing push has been good, given the budgetary and logistical realities of the organization.
Unfortunately, the phrase "See Thee Rise" has zero meaning in a soccer context to anyone outside of the already-converted hardcore. The ads that have appeared in newspapers and on buses and subways in Toronto don't really make clear what's being promoted, to someone who'll be glancing at them for a few seconds at most. Perhaps a black-and-white poster saying "Canada v. U.S.A., BMO Field, June 3" would have been too simplistic -- but it would have riled up some nationalistic sporting passion, don't you think?
The more pressing point, though, is that the CSA took a gamble in putting all of its eggs in the BMO Field basket. The belief was that momentum from last year's set of World Cup qualifiers (and, hopefully, some long-awaited on-field good news for TFC) would help build and sustain a national-team fanbase in the Toronto area. And while Canada went undefeated in 2011's minnow group, 0-0 draws against the likes of Puerto Rico and St. Kitts and Nevis couldn't have helped build that momentum.
So in the end, it's not Toronto FC's fault. It's not the CSA's fault. It's not the team's fault. The responsibility is shared. Would TFC doing better help give Canada a bump? Yep. Would better marketing help move a few more tickets? Yep. If the team had put on some inspiring recent performances, giving fans more of a reason to believe that World Cup qualification is possible, would that have helped? Yep.
And, of course, the requisite nod of the head must go to the argument, made often and loudly by fans across the country, that spreading games around -- perhaps to Vancouver and Montreal, where the new-MLS-team excitement is still in full effect -- would help alleviate many of these issues.
But we are where we are. It is what it is. The games are all in Toronto. TFC's start to the MLS season has been awful. The team, and the official marketing, could be better. We've got mere weeks until the games, and none of those facts are going to change.
So, what happens next? One of two things.
Either this unfortunate combination of factors conspires to create less-than-sold out (or, even worse, sold-out-and-overwhelmingly-filled-with-away-fans) atmospheres at Canada's two games in June, lending a whole bunch of credibility to the arguments about Toronto's lack of suitability as a regular home venue for the men's national team.
Or, the tickets move. They get in the hands of Canadians. And we get a little glimpse, a little reminder, of what we saw at BMO Field back in 2008 -- and maybe, get a little bit of hope back about the prospects of local soccer in the city of Toronto.
That latter one won't be accomplished by complaining about TFC, the CSA or the team. It'll only be accomplished by tickets getting into the hands of Canadians who then head through the BMO Field turnstiles on June 3 and 12.
So, which is it going to be?
* When it comes to results in MLS play, anyway. The non-soccer fan has no interest in how well the team played before conceding a late winner. Nine losses are nine losses.