Can TFC finally stop the bleeding?

It has been an almost weekly occurrence this season. Rival coaches kill Toronto FC with kindness ahead of games and then watch their team hand TFC more heartache on the soccer field.

This Saturday, it’s Nashville SC’s turn.

Nashville coach Gary Smith calls the trip to Toronto “fraught with problems and difficulties, mostly based on the quality of our opponent.”

“I would put this Toronto group, technically, in the top four or five in this league,” he said. “They’re a very, very welldrilled group and very, very capable group. And they’re a very dangerous group that, if given the opportunity, can make any team look absolutely stupid.”

The praise is directed at a Toronto team that has gone from runner-up in the regular-season standings last campaign to the league basement this year. Toronto, now 3-16-5, has lost six straight and is winless in eight (0-7-1) since holding Nashville to a 1-1 draw Aug. 1 at BMO Field.

While Toronto can point to injuries and another extended pandemic-prompted stay south of the border, the fall from grace has been precipitous and hard to explain.

Giving up 50 goals with 18 of those coming in the first 30 minutes of games — both league worsts — has helped grease the slide. TFC is 0-14-3 when conceding first. And, while having 18 different players score is impressive, the lustre is less when 13 of those have just one goal and only Jonathan Osorio (four) and Ayo Akinola (three) have more than two.

TFC was 13 points behind Nashville when the teams met in early August. Today that gap is 26, with Toronto having picked up just one of 24 points available in the eight matches (0-7-1) since — while being outscored 17-5. In contrast, Nashville, at 10-2-11, has collected 14 of 21 available points in its seven subsequent matches (4-1-2).

Second-year Nashville is unbeaten in three career meetings (2-0-1) with Toronto, starting with a 1-0 first-round playoff win after extra time that ended TFC’s 2020 season. This season, the Tennessee team won 3-2 at home on June 23 prior to the August draw at BMO Field. Substitute Luke Haakenson scored goals in the 83rd and 92 minutes to sink TFC in June.

“Toronto have got their own issues and questions to answer on Saturday,” said Smith. “And I’m sure, with the group of players that they have, they’re very capable of answering some of those questions from their run so far this year if we allow them to.”

The last time Toronto FC lost six straight, it cost Chris Armas his coaching job.

Now his replacement, Javier Perez, is struggling to control the slide. Perez’s elevation from assistant coach July 4 gave Toronto an immediate bump with the team going 2-0-3 in his first five games before the bottom fell out.

Toronto’s list of absentees continues to grow with league MVP Alejandro Pozuelo out a third straight game with a lower-body injury. Tsubasa Endoh (lower body) joins long-term injured Jozy Altidore, Ralph Priso and Akinola on the sideline. Jayden Nelson and Nick DeLeon are out due to COVID health and safety protocols.