TORONTO – If all goes well over the next week or so, Alex Bono will write his name into the Toronto FC record book.
The 23-year-old is on the verge of setting a new club mark for all-time victories by a goalkeeper. Currently at 19, Bono can break Stefan Frei’s record with a win on Saturday away to D.C. United and in next weekend’s home match against the Portland Timbers.
But don’t expect Bono, now in his second Major League Soccer season, to puff out his chest over eclipsing Frei’s mark.
“It’s obviously getting close to the record, but to me there’s no way you can put down wins as a goalkeeper stat. You can’t just pin a win on a goalkeeper. To me, there’s no way you can put a win on a goalkeeper’s stat line just based on the goalkeeper alone,” Bono told Sportsnet ahead of Saturday’s visit to D.C.
“If you look at the [4-0 win over NYCFC last Sunday], that was an amazing team performance for a win, and I had very little to do in that game. People congratulate me after a win or a clean sheet, but no personal success can come without the success of the team overall.”
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Bono is quite right. You have to take the record with a silo of salt, never mind a mere grain. It took Frei 82 games to reach 20 wins for the Reds, but keep in mind he played on some terrible TFC teams. Bono, meanwhile, will reach the 20-win plateau in half the time it took Frei, but he’s had the benefit for playing for a Toronto side that has been one of the best teams in MLS the past two years.
Still, the record says a lot about Bono’s amazing ascent in a short period of time.
A first-round pick in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft out of Syracuse, Bono spent much of that year with Toronto’s farm club, TFC 2, while Joe Bendik and Chris Konopka battled it out for the starting job on the senior team. Bono started the 2016 campaign with Toronto FC, but was stuck in the role of backup after the club went out and brought in veteran goalkeeper Clint Irwin.
When Irwin went down with an injury last June, it paved the way for Bono to make his MLS debut. He ended up making 16 appearances before Irwin returned from injury and was re-installed as the No. 1 goalkeeper for the remainder of the regular season and the team’s run to the MLS Cup final. This year, Bono has climbed to the top of the depth chart, supplanting the more experienced Irwin as the starter.
Bono called the past 12 months “an amazing ride and a dream come true,” but said it wouldn’t have come about without the friendly competition for playing time with Irwin.
“There’s a mutual respect there,” Bono said of his relationship with Irwin.
He also credits Bendik, now with Orlando City, for helping him out during that first year with TFC 2.
“I was a regular starter in college, so it was the first time in my life when I was part of a team and I had to play second fiddle, and third or fourth fiddle at times. To me, it was a huge adjustment from being able to step on the field with the confidence that I was going to play and be a leader on the team, to where I had to learn and take from what the older guys were giving me,” Bono explained.
“For me, Joe was a huge mentor to me. When I’d come up from TFC 2 to train with the first team, he’d give me pointers and tips, and I looked up to him a lot that first year. For me, that was the one thing in my first year that stood out. I was down with TFC 2, getting minutes as young goalkeeper, and I had a guy in front of me in Joe who I admired and who I believed liked me and helped bring me along.”
Bono has shown great growth as a goalkeeper on the pitch over the last year. It’s not the only area of his life where he’s grown, though.
“It’s been a maturing experience. As I’ve matured on the field, I’ve also found that I’ve matured away from the game. Even in the small things like making my bed in the morning, keeping my [apartment] clean. This is only my third year living away from home on my own, so the maturation process has been the same in both facets of my life. From moving here and being a kid, to playing with a bunch of pros, to getting some minutes and playing time, to being a starter, I find myself at a mature point in my life,” Bono offered.
TFC defender Drew Moor, a veteran of 13 MLS seasons, has witnessed the growth in Bono first hand from playing in front of the young goalkeeper.
“I think he’s grown a lot. I have a lot of trust in him, just like I do with Clint. He talks a lot, he organizes the defence, we always know where he is and what he’s thinking; he makes that very clear,” Moor told Sportsnet.
“Bones brings a lot of confidence into the group, and lot of times it’s those intangibles that are the difference. He’s grown leaps and bounds since I’ve come here.”
What’s especially impressive about Bono is that he remains so down to earth and humble. There’s very little ego for someone who’s quickly established himself as one of the better goalkeepers in MLS. Through it all, he’s remained the same kid that grew up in Baldwinsville, a small village of about 7,300 people in upstate New York.
“Just last weekend, I had some of my closest friends from high school come up to Toronto for the game; they stayed with me and we hung out and it was the same as it always was when we were younger. I think I’m the same person. You don’t want to forget who you are at any point. Remembering where you come from is something that’s very big for me. It’s something my dad would drill into me when I was a kid – that no matter how high I get, never forget where you come from and the way you were brought up,” Bono said.
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