Toronto FC's Dwayne De Rosario has four goals in his last two games and will be a major factor in his team's run at a playoff spot. (Chris Young/Canadian Press)Sitting on a three-match winning streak in all competitions and still glowing from its Canadian championship title, Toronto FC looks poised to make a run in the Major League Soccer standings.
A win over Real Salt Lake on Saturday would vault the Reds (6-5-4) into first place in the Eastern Conference. Toronto is currently in second spot, one point behind table leaders DC United.
Toronto is coming off two straight home wins over the bottom-feeding New York Red Bulls in MLS. Sandwiched between those results was the dramatic 6-1 victory over the Montreal Impact to snatch the Canadian club championship.
"We're bound to catch a little streak," Toronto FC defender Adrian Serioux said this week. "We're going to take this ball and keep on running."
Pablo Vitti and Dwayne De Rosario scored the goals for TFC during the team's latest victory over New York, a 2-0 win Wednesday.
"I thought it was a very good professional performance from the lads," Toronto interim head coach Chris Cummins said.
All those good vibes could be dashed if the Reds' historic road woes continue to haunt them. TFC is embarking on a stretch that will see the squad play four of the next five matches away from BMO Field.
It looked like Toronto had its road problems solved at the start of the year, going 1-0-1 away from home to begin the campaign. But the Reds now have two losses and a draw in their last three away games, reviving all the old questions.
And with three teams within three points of TFC in the standings coming into Saturday's game, this road trip will be crucial to Toronto's chances of making the playoffs.
Toronto's fortunes could be helped by the CONCACAF Gold Cup — many MLS players will be called into international duty when the tournament kicks off in July.
Key starters staying
But key players De Rosario, Amado Guevara and Serioux are staying with the team, meaning Toronto could take advantage of some weaker MLS sides that have crucial members committed to Gold Cup play.
De Rosario and Guevara have scored almost half the team's 21 goals this season in league play. De Rosario, who notched a hat-trick against Montreal, now has four goals in his last two games.
Toronto defender Marvell Wynne is still away on international duty, as he and the United States gear up to play Brazil in Sunday's Confederations Cup final in South Africa (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 2 p.m. ET).
On the other side, Real Salt Lake (4-6-4) is also on a little run. The team is unbeaten in three games, with one win and two draws to its credit.
Salt Lake's most recent result saw the team hold the MLS-leading Houston Dynamo to a 1-1 tie last week, despite being down a man for the last half hour of play.
Real sits in fifth place in the Western Conference. American striker Robbie Findley leads Salt Lake with six goals, good for a tie for fifth in the MLS scoring race.
