TORONTO – Is it safe to panic now?
Not according to Toronto FC.
Dominic Oduro’s goal in the 42nd minute was all the Columbus Crew needed to earn a 1-0 win over an anemic TFC before 18,278 spectators at BMO Field on Saturday evening.
Toronto (1-6-4) has now lost four straight, is winless in nine (five losses and four draws), and has just one win in their previous 25 MLS matches dating back to last season. The Reds have conceded a goal in all 11 league games this campaign and have not kept a clean sheet in MLS since last October, a run of 12 consecutive matches.
Little surprise, then, that TFC sits ninth in the 10-team Eastern Conference with the gap between the Reds and the mid-table playoff contenders widening at an alarming rate.
On Friday, coach Ryan Nelsen downplayed how dire the situation was, saying it’s nowhere near close to panic time because he felt Toronto has been competitive in most games.
But Saturday’s loss dropped Toronto 11 points back of the Philadelphia Union for the fifth and final playoff spot in the East. Simply put, TFC isn’t earning results, regardless of how competitive Nelsen thinks they’ve looked. If the Reds don’t start picking up points on a regular basis and soon, this troubled franchise will be out of the playoff picture by mid-season or even sooner.
“We’re competing every week, which is the bare minimum. Any football team (should do that). Now we need to step up to the next level because we’re obviously not getting any results,” captain Darren O’Dea said.
Nelsen lost his voice earlier this week and couldn’t talk to reporters after Saturday’s game. Instead, assistant coach Fran O’Leary spoke on his behalf, and deftly toed the company line, saying the team’s rebuild project is going to take time and results will eventually come.
“No, it’s not panic time,” O’Leary said dismissively. “I wouldn’t characterize it (as panic time) at all. I know there’s no panic in our dressing room and there’s no panic with our group.”
So it’s all good, then. There’s nothing to see here. Just move along. Don’t make such a big deal about it.
O’Dea also said it wasn’t panic time, but instead of trying to paint a false picture of the situation, he at least identified the team’s big problem: finding a way to win games instead of playing simply not to lose them.
“We’ve learned how to compete in games and how to match teams. … We need to take that next step now,” O’Dea stated.
Exactly. O’Dea gets it. He might want to have a quick word with Nelsen and O’Leary and explain it to them.
Nelsen made only one roster change from the team’s last outing, a 2-1 loss in San Jose on May 8. Newcomer Steve Caldwell started in the centre of defence alongside Doneil Henry, while Logan Emory missed out due to injury. O’Dea shifted from central defence over to left back to cover for Emory.
Aside from Emory, TFC was also missing through injury winger Hogan Ephraim, midfielder Terry Dunfield and defenders Darrel Russell, Richard Eckersley and Gale Agbossoumonde. Ruled out for Columbus were star centre back Chad Marshall (injury) and forward Jairo Arrieta (suspension), which means the team from Ohio was there for the taking. But TFC could not take advantage.
Despite the absence of the dangerous Arrieta, Columbus threatened through the sublime Federico Higuain, who had far too much room to operate. Quite why Nelsen did not instruct one his centre backs or either Jeremy Hall or Matias Laba to stay close to Higuain was a mystery, with O’Leary explaining that good players are going to carve out good chances. True enough, but TFC didn’t have to make it so easy for the Argentine.
Scrappy and disjointed team performances saw both sides struggle to take control in the first half. TFC’s Robert Earnshaw was limited to half-chances and Luis Silva wasted a scoring opportunity, while Higuain hit the post and crossbar on long-range efforts.
The game turned late in the half when Earnshaw won possession on the left flank and delivered a perfect cross into the box. Silva beat two Crew players to the ball and nodded it back into the middle for a wide-open Justin Braun, but the forward hurried his shot, corkscrewing wide of the far post.
Really, Braun should have buried it, and it will easily go down as one of the most egregious misses of the season.
But the ignominy didn’t end there for Braun, who moments later lost possession, leading to a Columbus counter-attack. Higuain fed a through ball for Oduro who easily split between Caldwell and Henry before slotting it past goalkeeper Joe Bendik inside the post.
It was a punch to the stomach for TFC, especially in light of Braun’s inexcusable miss just minutes earlier. Nelsen addressed the situation when he replaced Braun with Bobby Convey, acquired in a trade earlier this week, at the start of the second half.
Columbus dropped back more and more as the half progressed, but while Toronto put their opponents under pressure it never really threatened to score, even with the introduction of attacker Jeremy Brockie, another newcomer recently brought in on loan by Toronto.
Columbus continues to dominate this rivalry, if you can even honestly call it that. A rivalry implies competitive parity, and in 17 all-time meetings, Toronto has just one win – a 4-2 decision on Sept. 10, 2011. The Crew have never lost at BMO Field, having earned five consecutive draws in Toronto before winning their only meeting there last season.
NOTES: Toronto FC returns to action on May 25 when it visits the New England Revolution… Saturday was the first of three meetings between these clubs this season. They play again on July 27 in Toronto and Aug. 17 in Columbus…
