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Toronto FC has a split personality. 

 

Winless on the road and unbeaten at home, that trend continued on Saturday as Toronto thumped the Chicago Fire by a score of 4-1. Goals from Nick LaBrocca, O'Brian White and a pair of Chad Barrett strikes gave Toronto as comfortable a victory as they've had in their short history. 

 

Toronto went into the half-time break leading 1-0, thanks to the wind more than anything else.

 

A Nick LaBrocca cross was caught by the gale-force wind and carried over the head of Andrew Dykstra in the Fire goal. LaBrocca was honest enough to admit afterwards that it wasn't meant as a strike on goal, but if you put the ball into dangerous areas, good things tend to happen. 

 

An early second-half goal from O'Brian White put Toronto in the driver's seat, only for a wind assisted wonder-strike from Chicago midfielder Logan Pause to reduce the deficit to 2-1. 

 

Away from home, Toronto would likely have crumbled from then on in.  

 

Fortress BMO Field

 

That is not the case at BMO Field this season, and rather than sink back into a defensive posture, Toronto took the game to Chicago. 

 

They passed the ball on the ground to reduce the influence of the wind, and the strike partnership of White and Barrett gave Chicago's back line nightmares.  

 

While he didn't find the back of the net - surprising as that may be given he had scored all but one of Toronto's goals this season up to that point - skipper Dwayne De Rosario did set up both strikers for goals with sublime passes. The first was a clever give-and-go with White, and the second was a wonderful defence splitting pass for Barrett to run on to. 

 

At the back, Adrian Cann and Nana Attakora dealt with the threat of former U.S. international Brian McBride with relative ease. Toronto's central defensive partnership won everything in the air, and when they got the ball down, they looked to find the feet of Julian de Guzman and Amadou Sanyang. More of the same from Cann and Attakora will provide Toronto with a platform for success on the road. 

 

Dan Gargan came into the line-up at left back, largely to nullify the threat of Patrick Nyarko, who has been Chicago's most dangerous player of late. Nyarko had a strong game for the Fire, but his final ball let him down too often, reducing his influence. 

 

While the players always take the plaudits for a big win, head coach Preki deserves some praise as well. 

 

Before the game, I had a chance to talk with Preki about his decision to rest De Rosario and de Guzman for the first half of last weekend's 2-1 loss away to Real Salt Lake. He said that both players were fatigued after the Nutrilite Canadian Championship game against Montreal, and he took the decision to leave them out in Salt Lake City. 

 

I asked him if, in hindsight, he would do things differently, and his response was a simple, "No."  

 

In Preki's opinion, the goals they conceded in the first half in Salt Lake were down to individual errors more than anything else. No coach can legislate for those kinds of mistakes, and one can only hope that Toronto's players will show the same defensive fortitude on the road that they exhibit in the confines of BMO Field. 

 

Preki gets it right against the Fire

 

While I was critical of Preki's decision to rest his star players last week, I thought his tactics and substitutions were superb against Chicago, especially in the second half. 

 

Bringing White on to start the half forced Toronto to get the ball down and pass it - something they did very well. Barrett and White linked up well and, with De Rosario pushing forward from wide right, gave Toronto a real threat going forward. 

 

The two central midfielders, de Guzman and Sanyang, balanced each other well - more so than the former partnership of de Guzman and Martin Saric. De Guzman is not a goal scoring midfielder, but he is superb at keeping possession under pressure. Time and time again he demonstrated his ability to wriggle out of sticky situations with the ball at his feet. 

 

Toronto FC is still a work in progress, and if they are to make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, they must find a way to take their home form on the road. But if their post-game interviews are anything to go by, their team spirit is growing with every win.

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