Cancelled flight adds to TFC’s plight
Giovinco also hurting as must-win matchup against Impact looms
Given Toronto FC’s up-anddown season, perhaps it’s no surprise that the team’s flight home from San Francisco was cancelled Sunday.
The team had been scheduled to land in Toronto at 8:30 p.m. local time. Instead, due to mechanical issues, it got home at 6:30 Monday morning after taking the red-eye following a disappointing 1-1 draw Saturday night with the league-worst San Jose Earthquakes.
“Even the plane got hurt,” quipped star striker Sebastian Giovinco, who is nursing a groin issue himself.
Time is running out for the defending MLS champions, who sit nine points out of a playoff spot with 10 games remaining. Injuries, a brutal schedule and costly errors have made for a death by a thousand cuts.
Toronto (6-12-6) has a crucial game Saturday with visiting Montreal (10-13-3), which occupies the sixth and last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The flight from hell — the team got rooms at a nearby airport hotel to kill time with some players opting to act as tourists in San Francisco — capped a two-week, five-game stretch that saw TFC visit Atlanta, Vancouver and San Jose.
The marathon continues. After hosting Montreal, ninthplace Toronto heads back west for a midweek game in Port- land.
“You’re trying to win these games — they’re vital for us to win — but you’re also trying to get guys out of it healthy,” TFC coach Greg Vanney said. “It’s been challenging, for sure, from a scheduling standpoint.”
Toronto was without playmaker Victor Vazquez (knee) and wingback Auro (hamstring) in San Jose. Defender Eriq Zavaleta (hamstring) made the trip but was deemed too “tender” to play. A sore Giovinco came off the bench.
The Reds were facing a team that ranks 18th in the league in goals against at 1.83 a game, but Toronto is 19th in goals against, at 1.88 conceded per game.
It took less than two minutes for Toronto to find the back of the net after Giovinco and Gregory van der Wiel were introduced in the 58th minute. Six passes after fullback Nick Hagglund dispossessed a San Jose player on a throw-in, Argentine newcomer Lucas Jansson capped a seemingly effortless attack with a tap-in for his first goal in TFC colours.
But in the 77th minute, a Hagglund pass found a Quake player inside the San Jose half. And with Hagglund out of position, a pass deep into the Toronto end found Chris Wondolowski racing in alone. Goalkeeper Alex Bono bobbled his relatively tame shot and Wondolowski beat Jason Hernandez to the ball for the tying goal.
That has been the two faces of TFC: flashes of brilliance matched by mistake on mistake on mistake.
Even Vanney, about as evenkeeled as they come, might be struggling to stay positive with 10 games left against teams above TFC in the standings.
“I don’t think we need to win 10 games to get ourselves into the playoffs,” Vanney said Tuesday. “I still think the minimum number is probably seven that we’ve got to win. There’s your margin right there. It’s slim. Very slim.”
It was slim a month ago. In late July, with 14 games remaining and Toronto nine points out of the playoffs, Vanney suggested nine wins were needed. TFC has gone 1-1-2 since.