Pro teams in spotlight
Hartford Athletic, Toronto FC are taking center stage
Whether it is UConn ranking near the top of the annual attendance rankings or Southern Connecticut State winning six Division II national titles in a 13-year span, elite soccer is nothing new to the state of Connecticut.
Major League Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League have held games in the state. There have been some international friendlies held here as well, most notably the final U.S. national team appearance for Landon Donovan.
Over the next five days, a new chapter will be written in Connecticut’s soccer history.
It starts Wednesday with Hartford Athletic playing its final home game of the regular season. Hartford Athletic recently completed an improbable rise from being near the bottom of the USL Championship standings to securing a postseason berth.
Hartford Athletic is 7-1-1 at Hartford’s Dillon Stadium heading into Wednesday’s 7 p.m. match against Philadelphia Union II.
Team captain and midfielder Danny Barrera, one of the few returning players from the 8-21-5 squad in Hartford’s inaugural season, is quick to credit the Hartford fans for helping the team post a gaudy home record, even if COVID-19 has forced franchise officials to limit the number of spectators at the home games.
“Since I stepped foot in Hartford, I realized that this is a soccer city,” Barrera said. “The fans are amazing, they’re behind us and the club is only learning and gaining experience. I think it was a big moment for the club to make the playoffs and for all the staff, we have staff doing multiple jobs and coaches and for us to fight through all the challenges with COVID as
well, I couldn’t be happier.”
The Sounders FC 2 were the only USL Championship team to surrender more goals during the 2019 season than the 80 given up by Hartford.
Hartford has allowed just 21 goals in 12 matches after allowing 2.4 goals per game a season ago. It has been a whole new group in the back leading the way.
Goalkeeper Parfait Mandanda and defender Matheus Silva have played every minute this season, Kevin Politz has solidified things in the middle of the defense while Sam Strong has started all nine games he appeared in.
That quartet is part of a new-look roster. Eight of the top 10 players in terms of minutes played weren’t members of the 2019 Hartford squad.
“From day one, I knew that I had [players] with some individual characteristics that I needed to get a good unit,” first-year Hartford Athletic coach Radhi Jaidi said. “Start with Parfait Mandanda who is experienced, who played at a different level and who can definitely be a good leader in the back and we can rely on him. Having Parfait in the back as an experienced GK definitely helped at least by communication and by leadership.”
While players have moved in and out of the lineup in the midfield and up front, Mandanda, Politz, Silva and Strong have combined to play nearly 85 percent of the minutes in the back for 8-3-1 Hartford, which currently sits in second place in the USL Championship’s Group F standings but could still beat out Pittsburgh for the top spot.
“I think you can see with our best performances, it was when these three — these four including Parfait — when these four are in a good state of mind, the team is in a good spot,” Jaidi said.
The team is hosting a watch party at The Shops at Farmington Valley in Canton on Saturday at 7 p.m. to watch Hartford play Pittsburgh in a game that could have major postseason seeding implications.
The next night, Rentschler Field will be the site when Toronto FC hosts Columbus Crew SC at 7:30. Columbus currently sits atop the Eastern Conference standings. Toronto is currently in fourth but, depending on Wednesday’s results, it could match second-place Philadelphia with 24 points. It is the first home game since it was announced that Toronto would be playing the rest of its home matches in Connecticut due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions that resulted in three Canadian teams finding home bases in the United States.
No fans will be allowed at Sunday’s match. There is a possibility future Toronto games played in East Hartford could allow a small number of fans.