TFC is back to worrying about its back line

Reds are leaking with playoffs looming, with eight goals allowed in last five games

Toronto FC may have the secondbest defensive record in Major League Soccer but the Reds still need to focus on their back line heading into the final game of the regular season.

Awin Sunday afternoon against the Chicago Fire, the Eastern Conference’s last-place team, could give Toronto a bye through the post-sea- son’s first one-and-done round and into the two-leg conference semifinal, provided New York City FC ties or loses to the Columbus Crew.

But if the Reds tie or lose to the Fire, they will host a knockout-round game either next Wednesday or Thursday.

To get the three points and some rest before the semifinals, the Reds know they’ll have to clean up at the back. The team has allowed eight goals in the past five games, or a little more than a fifth of its season total. In those games — a loss and four draws — the team has allowed the first goal on three occasions.

“It’s something we need to fix or it’s going to be a quick playoffs and we don’t want that,” striker Jozy Altidore said after Toronto tied the Montreal Impact last Sunday.

Coach Greg Vanney points to his defenders being too spread out as part of the problem. Those spaces allow quick, creative players like Montreal’s Ignacio Piatti — or, potentially, Chicago’s David Accam — to get in behind Toronto’s defence.

“We’ve got to be more attentive to our shape behind the ball and we’ve got to recover quicker and make sure we get support to that first defender, whoever is having to pick up some of these guys,” Vanney said.

Centre back Drew Moor, a constant in defence for the Reds who is likely to be in the conversation for MLS’s defender of the year award, says the devil has been in the details for Toronto’s back line the last six weeks. Improving concentration and communication is a priority, he said. Too often recently, the Reds have allowed goals soon after scoring themselves.

“Small things can certainly turn into big things very quickly,” Moor said, “and it’s important that right now we’re locked in for ninety-plus minutes and we’re communicating and we’re organizing and, at the end of the day, we’re just doing everything we can to help this team.”

The defender said none of the Reds has been overjoyed with the way the team has played since its last win Sept. 10, a 1-0 victory against the Fire.

“We need to go turn in a performance and get ourselves ready and get ourselves going.”