Reds hit season’s halfway point hungry for more

Sitting on playoff bubble not where pre-season favourites expected to be at this stage

When the final whistle blows on the Chicago Fire’s visit Saturday night to BMO Field, it will signal not only the end of Toronto FC’s 17th match, but the midway point of its regular season.

In the week leading up to the game, the Reds hovered around the Eastern Conference’s playoff line.

While putting distance between itself and that post-season cut off rests in Toronto’s hands — the Reds have at least one game in hand on four of the conference’s top six teams — it still isn’t an ideal position for a club lauded as both a Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup contender at the outset of the year.

“We’re not where we want to be yet; this is a hungry organization and a hungry group of players in the locker room that want to win every game that we play in,” defender Drew Moor said.

The Reds have two fewer victories and two fewer points now than they did at this point last year, the club’s most successful season in history.

It’s not losses affecting Toronto’s point tally; that count is down, too, by one defeat. It’s this year’s five ties in 16 games, compared to last year’s two, which hurt.

Coach Greg Vanney believes his team is very much within reach of the front pack. But some should haves, could haves and would haves — which largely amount to a mix of better defending, better finishing and better refereeing — leave him optimistic.

“I would like us to be sitting on more points right now, but, at the same time, I think we’ve gone through a season’s worth of adversity in a half of a season.”

Hardships the team has navigated already this season include the extended road trip to start the season and a seemingly endless long-term injury list, which currently includes goalkeeper Clint Irwin, defender Ashtone Morgan and midfielders Michael Bradley, Will Johnson and Daniel Lovitz.

Striker Jozy Altidore only returned to training this week. He was out with his second hamstring injury of the season from May 14.

“I think we’ve gone through what I hope is the roughest patch that we’ll go through with some of those things,” Vanney said.

Still, some aspects the Reds identified as needing work at the beginning of the season are yet to be fixed.

While it has solidified what was once a shaky backline, now boasting one of the best defensive records in the league, Toronto remains reliant on striker Sebastian Giovinco in attack. The Italian has not scored in his last six league appearances; the Reds won just one of those games.

It’s a frustrating time for last year’s Most Valuable Player, who admitted he wasn’t playing his best after last weekend’s 1-1 tie with Seattle Sounders.

That’s partially because of a tactic employed by nearly every team Toronto has faced this season: surround Giovinco. It’s also a harsh personal assessment for a player who remains the best of the Reds despite his recent slump.

“He’s an incredible player, we’ve all seen it. Players like that have high standards for themselves, they have high standards for the guys that they play with. That’s what makes them great, is that they expect more from themselves,” Vanney said.

Expecting more is a mutual feeling at the moment, Moor said. But he and the Reds remain confident their season-long goals are within reach.

“Nobody wins the MLS Cup in July, by any means. We’ve got to be sure that we refocus and keep ourselves energized and that we’re doing everything we can to prepare for every single match we step into.