TFC takes to road without Bradley
Captain with U.S. team as teammates look for rare win at D.C.’s RFK Stadium
After last Saturday’s exciting and smartly-played win over San Jose, TFC players declared that the club finally had identity.
But Saturday they face their toughest road game of the season, visiting first-place D.C. United. And they do it without team captain Michael Bradley, who is with the U.S. national team this week.
Minus a tireless two-way midfielder — and a veteran who leads by example with play that is equal parts intense and cerebral — will TFC undergo an identity crisis?
Head coach Greg Vanney says his team can ensure a smooth transition to life without Bradley if they realize replacing him isn’t any single player’s responsibility.
“It’s just important that within what we do guys step up and fulfill their roles,” Vanney said after Thursday’s practice. “If everybody does their part we’ll be OK. We just have to step up a little bit more and make up for a few of those moments in the game that really only Michael does.”
The club signed Bradley last year to form the cornerstone of its $220million makeover, and he quickly left his imprint on the team. In 2014 he was voted into the MLS All-Star Game, and this winter Vanney named him captain. He has played 90 minutes in 10 matches this season. Among TFC players, only Sebastian Giovinco, who has suited up in 11 regular-season games, has logged more minutes.
Bradley has scored once and recorded two assists, but teammates say his contributions to the team’s success are essential, even if they don’t show up on the stat sheet.
“Michael covers a lot of ground for us,” said fullback Eriq Zavaleta. “We’re going away to the best team in the East, so we need to be organized defensively behind the ball and make sure that guys step up and cover the spots that maybe Michael covers more than any other player.”
Bradley’s veteran presence would have helped TFC manage a D.C. United squad that has gone unbeaten in its last 20 matches at RFK stadium.
United leads MLS’s Eastern Conference, winning a league-high eight games and collecting 28 points without an overpowering offence. The club doesn’t have a player ranked in the league’s top five in goals, assists or shots. D.C. has scored an average of 1.27 goals a game, a rate that trails five MLS teams. Toronto ranks third with 1.55 goals per contest.
But United is a tough defensive club that ranks second in goal differential (plus-6) and leads MLS in goals conceded per game (0.87).
Regardless of Saturday’s result, D.C. will leave the game leading the conference, but the marginal value of a win is higher for TFC. If the New York Red Bulls lose in Houston Friday nigh,t TFC can jump to third place in the conference with a victory.
With stakes that high, Vanney says the club will play the same aggressive style they’ve employed at home — even in a stadium where visitors rarely win, and even without the team’s on-field leader.
“We go always with the intention to get a win, to try to play for three points,” Vanney said. “Only game will dictate, as we get closer to the end, whether we alter our ambition to get three points and go into locking down a draw.”