Reds are in a rush to get going
MLS champions have already been working out, motivated by the success of 2017 season
Monday was officially the first day of the Toronto FC pre-season. Unofficially? The players have been here awhile.
Many of the Reds have been making the trip up to the BMO Training Ground over the past few weeks for captain’s practices, voluntary workouts that don’t violate the collective bargaining agreement between Major League Soccer and its players’ union.
“We have a big, big group of guys who have been at it already for two weeks and have been working to make sure that there’s a real foundation and a real base so that, tomorrow morning in L.A., we can walk out on the field and we can feel like we’re ready to get to work,” said captain Michael Bradley, who was responsible for corralling his teammates.
Not that they needed arm-twisting. Of the seven players who spoke at the team’s first media availability Monday, all talked of an infectious desire to get back to work, buoyed by the winning feeling they experienced so frequently in 2017.
The Reds’ MLS Cup win over Seattle set a new standard for the club, and a level they will need to return to quickly, coach Greg Vanney said. The regular season doesn’t begin until March 3 but the CONCACAF Champions League begins in less than a month, with a home-and-home series against Colorado.
“We use that performance (in the MLS Cup) and we use the (2017) season as confidence-building and as further lessons of what we can continue to do as a team to push ourselves forward,” Vanney said.
But how do you improve on 2017? Reach 70 points instead of the league-record 69 TFC earned during the regular season? Win the Champions League as well as the three domestic trophies the Reds claimed?
It’s more about perfecting the little things right now as they set their sets on new milestones.
“I don’t think there’s a spot where we can’t improve,” striker Jozy Altidore said. “We’ve all played well but I think there’s still areas for everybody to improve, from (goalkeeper Alex) Bono to me and Seba (Sebastian Giovinco). That’s what preseason’s for. That’s why I say sometimes it’s difficult, because those are the times where you really have those honest conversations and you have all the time in the world to work on things.”
Thirty-nine players, from the MLS club to the TFC academy, travelled to Los Angeles on Monday afternoon for the first part of the pre-season. Nineteen are under contract with the first team, with deals for defender Eriq Zavaleta and striker Ben Spencer expected soon. Midfielder Tsubasa Endoh is playing for a contract, as are TFC’s four Super Draft picks.
Gone are midfielders Armando Cooper and Sergio Camargo, goalkeeper Mark Pais and defender Brandon Aubrey.
Vanney would like to add another two or three names to the first team — the club is talking to veteran freeagent defender Jason Hernandez — but isn’t feeling pressured.
“I don’t feel like we’re in a rush to have to do that,” he said. “I think it’s about finding the right pieces and the right players. Yes, we have Champions League coming up but, in the grand scheme of things, I think we have a very good team.”
The Champions League games will offer a departure from the usual slow build of the pre-season. But as eager as the players are to get going, Giovinco said they know have their work cut out for them.
“When you win it’s always difficult,” he said. “But (to) win again is more difficult.”