Reds reminded of MLS Cup curse
For Greg Vanney and Toronto FC, the plight of the Portland Timbers over the 2016 season is something of a cautionary tale.
After finishing third in the Western Conference a year earlier and embarking on a playoff run that ended with the Timbers hoisting the 2015 MLS Cup, Portland failed to even contend to defend their title, ending the regular season last fall one spot below the decisive post-season red line.
While the Reds did not fulfil that same prophecy this past December — TFC was on the losing end of a heartbreaking MLS Cup against the Seattle Sounders — the Timbers’ post-championship struggle was still a clear warning sign.
“There are no guarantees in this league that you can get back to the playoffs next year,” said Vanney, Toronto’s coach. “That’s how this league is set up. With the parity, the teams that don’t make the playoffs tend to get more resources to try to build their teams. Teams can flip quickly.”
Portland wasn’t the only victim of the MLS Cup curse in 2016. The Columbus Crew, who finished in second place in the Eastern Conference in 2015 before falling to the Timbers in the final, also failed to make the playoffs a year later, dropping to ninth out of 10 teams in their division.
“I always thought last year, specifically Columbus, was going to start to find their rhythm and they were going to make up the points and they would get in the playoffs,” Vanney said.
“They never did. Certainly for us that was a talking point. We used some other sports, too, that have had similar circumstances, where a Super Bowl team or a Super Bowl champion doesn’t make the playoffs the next year.”
He continued: “You can’t take those things for granted. It was definitely something we talked about.”
Defender Nick Hagglund, who featured in all six of Toronto’s playoff games last season, said the Reds saw complacency in Portland’s squad following its cup run and knew that was something they did not want to replicate.
“I think at the beginning of this year we knew that we wanted to be back there and we didn’t want to take a slump and sit on what we’d done,” he said.
There was also the matter of not actually capturing the ultimate prize, as Portland did in 2015.
But Hagglund chooses to believe Toronto would have returned with that same resolve even if it had lifted the trophy. “We want more; even when we win a game, we want more,” he said. “Obviously not having the cup plays a part but I think the culture that we’ve created in the locker room and within the team is one that’s striving for more always, even though we’ve won the Canadian Championship and we’ve had success.
“I think there’s still more to look forward to.”
For now, the focus is on the visiting Timbers, who have a 1-0-3 record at BMO Field. They’re not the same team that they were a year ago, sitting about the playoff line heading into Saturday’s game.
The likes of attackers Fanendo Adi, Darlington Nagbe and Diego Valeri are all still with the squad but getting some extra help this year from midfielder Sebastian Blanco, who is behind just Valeri in providing assists for Portland. The four interchangeable attackers have combined for 29 goals.
Coming off a lacklustre tie at D.C. United last weekend coupled with the threat of those dangerous players and the excitement of returning home, where Toronto remains unbeaten, Vanney said TFC is not overlooking this weekend’s contest, despite a looming game against Eastern Conference No. 2 Chicago Fire on deck.
“All of those things tend to refocus you,” he said.