Like most members of my generation, I frequently use irony as a means of deflecting/ignoring uncomfortable emotional truths. And after Toronto FC gifted the Impact with their first MLS win on Saturday afternoon, Reds supporters were facing the uncomfortable emotional truth that their squad has dug itself a deep hole to start off the 2012 campaign.
So in the game's immediate aftermath, I took inspiration from a fellow TFC supporter and began looking for reasons to still find hope in season six, despite the emotional "derby" loss and 0-4 record overall. My (yes, ironic) suggestion that a guaranteed top-three finish among Canadian MLS teams was a source of optimism seemed to particularly delight fans in Montreal and Vancouver.
But a day removed from the Misfire in Montreal ('cause every important game needs a pithy title), legitimate reasons for continued belief about Toronto begin to emerge. Perhaps my newfound status as ardent optimist is the latest manifestation of a predisposition towards irony so deeply ingrained that even I can't tell the difference anymore. Or, perhaps, TFC's start, however ugly, truly isn't cause to unreservedly smash the "panic! for the love of God, panic!" button.
Either way, here are a few honest reasons why all is not lost just yet.
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It's a long season. It's true, this statement is the clarion call of teams that get off to crappy starts, most often used in a desperate (often futile) attempt to convince fans to continue purchasing tickets and merchandise. But whatever associations one may have with the phrase, it's indisputably accurate. Four games do not a season make. And while MLS history is certainly not on TFC's side as it relates to their playoff chances, if an NFL team with a 16-game schedule can start 0-4 and make the post-season (1992 San Diego Chargers), then an MLS squad in the weaker conference can surely (theoretically) recover from that deficit.
Oh, and for what it's worth, that turnaround by the Chargers was their first playoff appearance in 10 years.
Torsten Frings will come back. Is it worrisome that TFC is largely dependent on Frings in order to look like a cohesive team? Yep. Is it especially worrisome that he's 35 years old, and has already injured himself this year on a seemingly innocuous play? Yep. But one way or another, the team is demonstrably better with Frings in the lineup. No one's pretending that he is a long-term solution, or that his ability to compensate for other players' shortcomings is, in and of itself, a positive thing.
But this roster is better when Frings is active. And he will be, once again, in a number of weeks.
The team has shown itself capable of good things in attack. Sure, a -7 goal differential after four MLS games would suggest otherwise. But this squad, when they're ready and motivated, can move the ball around the park in ways that few TFC squads (to this point in the franchise's history) have been able to do on a sustained basis. The 1-0 loss to Columbus could easily have been a victory, had a few bounces and opportunities gone one way instead of the other. Which brings us to...
Koevermans and Plata opening their scoring accounts. While Joao Plata and Danny Koevermans have yet to recapture the individual magic that made them such fan favourites in 2011, both got their names on the score sheet last week, with Plata potting a brace against Santos Laguna and Koevermans tallying the late consolation goal against Montreal.
Momentum can help drive a player, particularly a striker, so one could hope that breaking the 2012 goose-egg is a harbinger of better days ahead for the pair of Toronto forwards.
Roster congestion has eased... a bit... for now. TFC has just three league games to worry about in the next three weeks, with two of them (home games against Chivas and Chicago) looking winnable -- or at least, much more winnable than a visit to Salt Lake at month's end. A pair of victories and, maybe, a scraped-out draw at Rio Tinto would bump their record to 2-4-1: not inspiring, exactly, but less fatalism-inducing than the current mark.
Aron Winter isn't Mo Johnston. Say what you will about draft picks and acquisitions that didn't work out as planned (and yeah, Winter has had a few of those). But Winter is the man who brought Torsten Frings and Danny Koevermans to play in Toronto. He's the man who checked both items off of most fans' off-season wish list by successfully re-signing Joao Plata and Richard Eckersley. And he's also a man that has Paul Mariner's knowledge and experience at his immediate disposal.
The days of "In ____ We Trust" banners being hoisted at BMO Field are gone; well-earned cynicism among supporters has ensured that. Still, when Winter admits that personnel changes are necessary to address TFC's deficiencies (something he's suggested the past two weeks), you can be reasonably assured he's not going to randomly throw players at the wall to see who sticks.
The defence might not be as bad as some people think. A tough one to explain, but here goes. When people complain about "the Toronto defence", it's really just the central defence they mean, as Ashtone Morgan and Richard Eckersley are widely regarded as dependable pieces of the puzzle. And in the centre of defence, it's usually Ty Harden (a favourite whipping boy) sharing the blame with whatever newly-acquired player he's paired up with.
And it's true, central defence has been TFC's Achilles heel since its inception, with the team seemingly never able to find a decent pairing for any extended period of time. That constant turnover has created an ever-present sense of uncertainty and dread, meaning that any new centre-back is immediately subjected to intense scrutiny, with the hope that they, finally, are "the answer". Paradoxically, this magnification of every error due to the pent-up CB anxiety can just serve to exacerbate the revolving-door syndrome, as fans clamour and hoot and holler for the mythical "world-class centre-back" that will cure all of TFC's ills.
The point here is that, yeah, we pretty much know what Ty Harden is at this point. And newcomers Miguel Aceval and Logan Emory have already had some cringe-worthy moments. No one from that list is the "world-class centre-back" that some fans crave. But given time, and separated from the burden of five years of accumulated dashed dreams, perhaps someone currently on the TFC roster could develop into a solid contributor. Not a world-beater, by any stretch, but guess what, folks? There's only so much professional talent you can attract with a five-figure salary.
Some of these suggestions may seem unlikely to come to fruition. But then, unlikely things happen all the time in sports. If they didn't, there'd be no reason to watch.
A huge banner at TFC's season-opening CCL showdown with L.A. claimed that the supporters and team should "dream together and make history".
The dream may be flickering a bit after the team's shaky start. But there's still history to be made... and 2012 could yet be the year in which it is.
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