Reds search for first win streak
TFC getting healthy as the league takes a break for the World Cup
Toronto FC is closing in on a much anticipated World Cup break but there will be no looking past Wednesday night’s opponents, DC United, despite the visitors bringing up the rear of the Eastern Conference and the lure of a few days off on the horizon.
The Reds don’t have the luxury to turn off right now; they sit just two places ahead of DC in the East standings, ninth of 11 teams.
“Have you seen where we are in the table?” captain Michael Bradley said when asked if maintaining focus for the match would be a challenge. “No. Not hard at all.”
Toronto has 14 points in 13 matches and, in Bradley’s view, each of the 21 league matches remaining is big.
“I don’t say that in a way that means we have to be scared of anything or scared of anyone,” the captain said, “but the reality is, given where we are, given the situation in terms of how many games are left and the points that we’re going to need, we’re at a point where we’ve got to step on the field every single weekend ready to treat the game like it’s a final.”
The Reds, coming off a win over the Philadelphia Union on Friday, are looking for their first back-to-back league wins of 2018. They will have a healthier squad, with midfielder Marky Delgado and defenders Justin Morrow and Eriq Zavaleta all part of the preparations.
“Obviously we went through a stretch where we were so thin and we were just trying to piece ourselves together for each game,” Bradley said. “To start to see more guys back on the training field, to start to have more options, to start to be able to put teams on the field that have balance and structure and all the things that we feel are important, that part’s great.”
TFC coach Greg Vanney believes United is better than the record suggests. The team has played nine of its 11 games on the road as it waits for construction to finish on its new home. Even the two “home” games haven’t really been at home; United has played out of the Maryland Soccerplex and the Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. “That’s a difficult task,” Vanney said.
Toronto will go on the road for five of its next six league games, and the break to accommodate Major League Soccer players going to the World Cup comes at an opportune time. The team doesn’t play again until June 24 at New York City FC.
This will be the first time the Reds have had something of an extended break since kicking off the CONCACAF Champions League campaign in late February.
“If we can go into this in a positive way with a good result (Wednesday), I think the break will serve us really well,” Vanney said. “(It will) just help us to focus and refresh as we come into the summer phase, which is always a challenge because you start to go places that are really hot, the weather starts to play a little bit of a role and that’s always an important time in MLS.”