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Toronto FC's half term report

July 3, 2009 11:07 AM | Posted by   Nigel Reed  

In all honesty I was never a great student. From French to history, my parents got used to a similar tone running through my invariably disappointing report cards. Sometimes I wondered if my teachers were ganging up on me – ready to send me home to face the music I didn’t want to hear.

With the odd exception, the remark most often used was: “Tries hard - could do better”.

Ultimately, I didn’t try hard enough; I didn’t get better and left school, without remorse, at 17 after failing to fulfill any potential there might have been, but with enough passes to secure a clerical post with the Civil Service.

My sentence began immediately. For the next two years I stamped export documents for HM Customs & Excise – almost certainly the most tedious job in the world. The excruciating boredom was temporarily relieved only by an ability to play table-tennis each lunchtime in the games room where the lunch-hour regularly overran by 15-20 minutes to the chagrin of my line manager.

While my top-spin smash improved in leaps and bounds, my job prospects did not. It was not until my early-20s, when I stumbled into the broadcasting industry with the British Forces network that I finally understood what my tutors had been getting at.

I did try hard. I did get better and finally I knew why. At last I was doing something I enjoyed and for which I showed some aptitude. I wanted to be the best I could be and was prepared to get my head down and do some homework. My work ethic has not changed to this day.

Toronto FC's final stretch

I have to assume the current Toronto FC roster also enjoys its work and strives to improve.

As individuals they live the dream – getting paid to kick a piece of leather around a soccer field is the fantasy we all harbour. The vast majority of us, me included, was never going to be anywhere near good enough, so we play for fun and flock to the stadium to be entertained.

At face value the entertainment has been plentiful thus far in 2009. Toronto FC, after two years propping up the Eastern Conference, has reached the halfway stage of the regular season just a point out of top spot. Add to that the dramatic rollercoaster which was the Nutrilite Canadian Championship where TFC pulled off soccer’s equivalent of Mission Impossible.

The promise of Champions League competition beckons in the fall and if the regular season ended today, Chris Cummins’ team would make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

Sadly it doesn’t and I can feel the first stirrings of doubt about this team’s ability to stay the course. Like you, I have glanced at the forthcoming schedule and the omens are not favourable. When the mini-break is over, nine of the remaining 14 games are on the road. Based on what we saw most recently in Salt Lake and what this team has achieved away from home in this and previous seasons, frankly, I’m concerned.

Looming road schedule a true test

Toronto FC has won only five MLS road games in its entire history and just one this year – Kansas City in March is beginning to feel like a long time ago. More worryingly, TFC has failed to get out of first gear either at Houston or in Salt Lake during its last two trips, leaking six goals in the process.

Cummins, his predecessor John Carver, and several senior players have highlighted the urgent need for improvement away from home but the admissions are beginning to sound like a broken record. No one expects this team to become an unbeatable force overnight, but it should, at the very least, be competitive in its travels. A trip to San Jose next weekend should tell us plenty about Toronto FC’s stomach for the fight.

At the midway point of the campaign, my glass remains half full. Players like Dwayne De Rosario, Amado Guevara, Stefan Frei and the-soon-to-arrive Ali Gerba lead me to believe there is genuine talent and a genuine desire to succeed. There is still all to play for and only a fool or a downright pessimist would give up on the team at this stage.

The writing, however, is most certainly on the wall in capital letters. We can only hope Toronto FC will read the message and act on its warning.

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