Big moments measure Bradley’s value to TFC
Yet captain will have to take a big pay cut to stay with Reds after six stellar seasons
Michael Bradley walked off the Toronto practice field in the early afternoon, maybe for the last time, without an ounce of emotion. Without a look back, without any personal feelings he said, just another day of practice with another game to play.
Only this wasn’t just another day of practice and this isn’t just another game to play.
Wednesday night in Atlanta, Toronto FC plays Atlanta United and the winner advances to the MLS Cup. A win would be the team’s third trip in four seasons with Bradley as captain.
This time it’s different. It’s personal, even if he won’t admit it. His contract expires at the end of this season. And if he knows what next year will bring, he isn’t sharing the information.
This is Bradley’s sixth season with the Reds. The team was an embarrassment when he arrived. And now he has the opportunity to get to a championship match for the third time in four years. That’s not, by definition, a dynasty, but in the 24-team MLS, it’s close.
It’s always about team for Bradley and not about him. And in a city obsessed with contract chases — see Kawhi Leonard, Mitch Marner, William Nylander — he’s kept his personal business as quiet as possible.
“It’s simple,” he said. “You can’t be captain and you can’t challenge guys every day to come in here and commit to the team and give everything they have to the group ... and be the first guy worried about your own contract, your own situation.
“If I did that, every single guy in that locker-room would be looking at me and saying, ‘Who the hell are you? You’re talking out of both sides of your mouth.’
“For me, the focus since I got here has always been the success of the team. In a lot of ways, I was always going to be judged on whether we won or lost. The reality is the position I play (midfielder), I’ll never be the guy to rack up a ton of goals and assists. It takes people who really know the game and understand the game to be able to watch and know what I do and that’s fine.
“But ultimately, when I got here, I always knew my time here was going to be judged on whether we won trophies and on the biggest days, what the team was about. So for me, I genuinely don’t care about next year right now. I want to go to Atlanta, beat them, get ready for another MLS Cup. When all is said and done, there will be plenty of time to sort through this stuff.”
It’s still complicated, whether or not Bradley wants to address his future. He’s currently among the highest paid players in MLS as one of three designated players on TFC. It seems unlikely that, at age 32, the team will want to pay him mega-dollars next years. The next level of salary is called targeted allocation money (TAM). It would be great money for most players, a big drop in salary for him.
The question for Bradley, the challenge really, is whether he’ll consider playing for less money next year, whether he can make more money in other places and whether he wants to leave Toronto. The city is now home for the American. His daughter was born here. His kids are in school here.
“We live here year round,” said Bradley. “We love this city, we love the people.”
All that will be answered once the TFC season ends and Bradley and friends are looking at the enormity of Wednesday night in a packed Mercedes-benz Stadium and, hopefully after that, another championship opportunity.
“When you do it once, when you have a taste of it, you want more,” said Bradley. “That part becomes an obsession ... For as long as I’m here, the commitment and the focus will always be giving ourselves as many opportunities as possible.
“This time of year, you understand that nothing is going to come easy. Every guy has to step on the field understanding what the challenges are. The margin for error goes away. You have to have a group that understands that and embraces that.
“I think we have a group that’s been together on a lot of big days. When you look back to the playoffs in 2016, playoffs in 2017, Champions League last year, there are a lot of guys in this locker-room who have been through a lot of big experiences together.
“They’ve not all gone perfectly. But we’ve always understood there’s such a pride when you step on the field for these big moments.
“I think we love the competition. I think we love when those lights come on. The opportunity to play in big games. That’s what you play for. To have a group of guys who embraces that in every way. Not one guys blinks. Not one guy is phased by it.”
Not Bradley.
Last game or not.