Beginning of Story Content

Here is the good news: Adrian Cann is a keeper and Toronto FC sits just three points off a playoff place. End of good news - except to say Preki and his players have 26 games to get their act together.

 

The new coach wants to make his team tough to play against and hard to beat. As of right now it isn't close to being either, as was clearly demonstrated in the morale sapping 3-1 defeat to the Colorado Rapids on Sunday. It's hard to legislate for individual errors but Toronto FC is fast turning them into an art form.

 

Silly mistakes

 

No need to detail the entire catalogue here. Since you and I have been watching the same games, we know we've been wincing and shaking our heads once too often already this year. Players never mean to make mistakes but the list of culprits is growing on a weekly basis.

 

However there is a bigger crime being committed. It is a cold case. It has remained unsolved for the majority of this franchise's 94 games and it is still being perpetrated. This team, through all its personnel changes, its leaders and its coaches, cannot keep possession of the football.

 

This is a league where possession really is nine-tenths of the law. This is a league where physical endeavour and doing the simple things consistently will lead to success. Yet this has been and remains a team that seems to struggle with such fundamentals.

 

Giveaways, turnovers, needless fouls, and aimless long balls are still a regular feature of the way this team goes about its business. Once in a while it will string a series of accurate passes together that will lead to a goal scoring opportunity. Those opportunities are worryingly few and far between.

 

So what's the problem? Are the players simply not good enough? Do they not trust each other? Does a collective brain cramp set in? Or are they just not working hard enough as a group?

 

Four games into the new season I believe the work rate has improved. More players are making real tackles - albeit some have been rash or simply mistimed. But there is still precious little creativity going forward. The sole shot on target against the Rapids was Dwayne de Rosario's penalty kick.

 

Parity is king

 

By definition, Major League Soccer is an organisation where parity is king. MLS franchises are all given the same chance to make a go of it, create a buzz, and find success. Toronto FC created a buzz before its birth. It is profitable in a league that doesn't make money, but on-field success remains elusive.

 

Unless, of course, you count 2009's 'Miracle in Montreal' which, under the circumstances, I'm still not sure I do. The Nutrilite Canadian Champions were presented with a clear platform from which to dive into the CONCACAF Champions League. Unlike Montreal in 2008, TFC hit the water with a belly flop.

 

As the current holders of the Voyageurs Cup, Toronto FC opens the 2010 edition next week against the Impact. For Preki the timing is perfect. His travel weary troops will need no motivation to get stuck in against their Canadian rivals and restore some battered pride.

 

Montreal, of course, will arrive equally motivated and hungry for success. From the Impact's viewpoint it is time to avenge the mauling and further demonstrate to their fans and MLS boss Don Garber this team has to be awarded the next available franchise.

 

The Nutrilite Championship has quickly been embraced by fans of Canadian soccer. The new uniformity of successive Wednesday matches over a six-week period will help to establish good habits and, I hope, a spring tradition to be savoured for years to come.

 

All three participants have good reason to take it seriously. Toronto FC want to show last year's victory was, indeed, no fluke; Montreal crave another taste of Champions League heroics and the Whitecaps want to erase the memory of seeing the trophy snatched from their grasp in 2009.

 

I'll be happy to see three committed teams battling tooth and nail for their fans, for pride and for the chance to make a statement for Canadian soccer across the CONCACAF region. Bring it on!

End of Story Content

Back to accessibility links