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TORONTO — Once again, all the familiar problems afflicting Toronto FC surfaced — from injuries to video review and the state of the pitch at BMO Field.
But while TFC certainly has legitimate gripes, this team once found pride in its ability to find a way to win under any circumstances. Lately, we haven’t seen too much of that — outside of the Concacaf Champions League, at least.
Toronto passed up the chance to take control of Wednesday night’s game long before Handwalla Bwana’s controversial final goal for a 2-1 Seattle Sounders victory. And once the VAR-related preamble to his press conference was out of the way, Reds coach Greg Vanney acknowledged as much.
“I thought we had some pretty good actions that we actually broke them down and got into some good areas,” Vanney said. “When we get into those good areas, we need to be more efficient about our shooting, about getting our shots off, about the quality of our finishes. Especially when a team is willing to put that much energy to sitting on the defensive half and sitting deep — you’ve got to be efficient.
“There’s a reason why teams do that against Barcelona, against Man City. There’s a reason why teams do that. Not to say that we are either of those teams, but it’s a strategy because it’s very difficult to break down two blocks of players that are sitting that close to their goal. It minimizes the amount of space behind their back line, which is ultimately where you want to get. So then a lot of things happen in front of them.
“In the end, I think when we get into these little dangerous pockets with so many guys in a tight area, you don’t have a lot of time,” he added. “The windows are really small to try to get things on goal. We just have to be quicker, we have to be more efficient… this is why I say goals change games, because if you can get ahead of a team like that then they have to come out of that shell and they have to play.”
LISTEN: Greg Vanney’s postgame press conference in full
Jay Chapman, in for the injured Nicolas Hasler, missed two excellent first-half chances. Sebastian Giovinco is playing well, but has only been rewarded with one goal in six MLS games. Giovinco attempted 10 shots and created five chances for others, but only two of his own efforts tested Stefan Frei.
The Italian often scores in bunches. With Jozy Altidore sidelined, TFC could really do with a Giovinco hot streak.
Role reversal
Profligacy in front of goal against a defensive bunker isn’t all that uncommon at this time of year. Just ask Seattle, the victims of exactly this type of game at CenturyLink Field a year ago when Toronto visited.
TFC didn’t bring Giovinco or Victor Vàzquez, among others, on its own road trip across the continent for a May 6, 2017 game sandwiched tightly in between two intra-conference matches. The Reds sat deep, repelled everything the Sounders threw at them and rode an Altidore penalty to an unexpected 1-0 win.
The good news as far as Toronto’s prospects in the coming weeks go is that it proved an early-season anomaly. Seattle didn’t lose another home game all year.
Watch: Highlights from Seattle’s win over Toronto
The reality is that teams are still working things out at this time of year. New signings are being integrated and any nagging injuries or fitness problems from the previous season are still being shaken off. That can create situations in which defensive tactics are highly effective, because teams are just not as sharp in their attacking play as might be expected by the time the playoffs arrive.
“Nobody’s just writing these games off as meaningless, that’s for sure,” TFC captain Michael Bradley said. “The reality is we’ve had a pretty unique start to the season. We’ve dealt with a lot. The mentality just has to continue to be strong. We’ve got to continue to find different ways to win games. I still feel like as we grow into the season, as we get more and more guys healthy, as the field gets better, as all these things start to come together, then we feel like that we’re going to be in a good spot.”
Things did not get better immediately for the Sounders after their defeat in this matchup last year. But they did grind out one-goal wins in each of their next four home games to keep themselves on course.
Injuries mounting for TFC
The biggest obstacle in the way of TFC’s bid to get back on track is the length of its injury list.
Altidore and Drew Moor are out in the medium-to-long-term. Chris Mavinga is training but still yet to make his return. Nick Hagglund and Eriq Zavaleta are also on the field doing lighter work, but Justin Morrow’s calf injury seems to be lingering.
Now Toronto has Nicolas Hasler — facing a few weeks out with a quad strain — and potentially Vázquez, who came off at halftime with an as yet unspecified knock, on the sidelines too.
TFC’s depth allows them to cope with a crisis like this better than most. But the real problem is it becomes a vicious cycle: the remaining available players risk being overworked, creating yet more absences.
“We have no choice but to turn it around quickly and get ready for another big game on Saturday,” said Bradley.