Team unafraid of big-budget Reds
Underdogs will bare their teeth in pursuit of Champions League berth, says J.J. Adams.
The Vancouver Whitecaps would like nothing more than to turn a silk purse into a sow’s ear.
Major League Soccer’s big spenders, Toronto FC, will swing their heavy purse into B.C. Place Stadium tonight for the first leg of the Canadian Championship.
The Reds have a massive payroll of over US$26 million a year — more than $10 million (all figures in U.S. dollars) higher than the next biggest-spending team, the L.A. Galaxy.
Vancouver, by comparison, has $8.2 million in payroll on the books.
TFC striker Sebastian Giovinco makes $7.1 million, followed by midfielder Michael Bradley ($6.5 million) and forward Jozy Altidore ($5 million). The Caps’ big-ticket player is Kei Kamara, who’s on a cool million per, with no other player cracking $745,000. This year, all that spending has bought Toronto a 6-11-5 record in MLS play.
“Money doesn’t buy you points, it buys you jerseys,” joked Caps fullback Marcel De Jong, who, despite ranking 15th on the Caps’ payroll, has been one of their best players this season.
It would be a gross oversimplification to make a correlation to the Reds’ glitzy roster and their grim results. They were devastated by injuries early in the season and spent much of their energy on the CONCACAF Championship, where they beat two of Liga MX’s best sides in Tigres and Club America before losing a heartbreaking final against Chivas de Guadalajara. Tied 3-3 on aggregate, Toronto fell 4-2 in a shootout, falling just short of becoming the first MLS team to win the tournament since its inauguration in 2008-09.
But last year’s triple-crown winners — regular season, playoff and Canadian Championship victors — are rounding into form. Finally nearly completely healthy, Toronto is unbeaten in their last three league games, including a 2-2 tie against MLS leader Atlanta on Saturday.
“We know we are the clear underdogs. They’re a very good team. We have to be at our maximum levels,” said Whitecaps coach Carl Robinson. “We’ll go out there and we’ll try and surprise them, because no doubt everyone will assume that they’ll win … over two legs, but that’s not the mentality that we’ve got.
“They’ve won the last three tournaments in a row … so they’re clear favourites, but sometimes people like an underdog.”
The underdog Caps will bare their teeth come game time, most likely fielding a fullstrength squad as they push for bragging rights in Canada, and the Champions League berth that comes with it.
The Caps also have their own impressive road result from the weekend, tying New York City FC 2-2, a team that’s 10-0-2 at home and whose 44 points trail only Atlanta (48) in the East.
Centreback Doneil Henry started his career with Toronto, with his first professional game ironically coming against the Whitecaps in the 2010 Canadian Championship final. Then a round robin tournament, the Reds had already clinched the title, and Henry — a 17-year-old residency player — was called up to play at left back. He received a taste of how physical and feisty the games could be when then Caps striker Marcus Haber was red-carded for a cleats-up tackle on him shortly into the 0-0 tie.
“Now I’m on the other side,” said Henry, who won three Canadian titles with Toronto. “We want to win. We want the Cup. We’re playing at home … we’re not going to make it easy for them.”
Giovinco and Altidore, after scoring 16 and 15 goals respectively in 2017, have seven and three goals this year. But Altidore has missed most of the season, playing just six games after breaking his foot in the final against Chivas. It’s no coincidence TFC’s recent three-game unbeaten streak coincided with his return; he has a goal and an assist in that three-game span.
Juggling the lineup to give weight to both the Canadian Championship and league play is difficult, especially as a showdown with the Portland Timbers comes three days later.
In seventh place in the Western Conference, Vancouver (8-9-6) is four points behind Real Salt Lake for the final playoff berth, but just seven points separate the Whitecaps from second-place Portland.
“I was just talking to coach … about how he’s a genius maintaining the squad and knowing who to play … and who not to play,” said Kamara. “Because I’m fighting with him every game that I want to play. (Games like today’s), this is what you live for, what you train for every day.”