TORONTO—It wasn’t for lack of trying that Toronto FC didn’t make any roster additions before the recent Major League Soccer second transfer window closed.
MLS teams had until Wednesday night’s deadline to complete trades within the league or splash out cash on a transfer fee on new recruits. Sources told Sportsnet that TFC general manager Tim Bezbatchenko was working the phones the past few weeks, looking to bolster his squad with an attacking midfielder via a trade. He also cast his net in international waters, having indentified a list of potential transfer targets both in Europe and South America.
In the end, the deadline came and went with no deal getting done, although MLS clubs are still allowed to sign players who are unattached and out of contract. But barring any late-season, free-agent additions—which seems unlikely at this point—TFC’s roster is set for the rest of the way.
Saturday programming alert: Watch New England Revolution vs. Toronto FC on Sportsnet 360 on Saturday, August 6 at 7:30 pm ET. You can also watch the game online at Sportsnet NOW || Broadcast schedule
And that’s perfectly fine with Drew Moor. The veteran defender has faith in this current TFC team, a side that currently sits second in the Eastern Conference after surviving an eight-game road spell to begin the campaign and rash of major injury problems for the past several months.
Toronto (9-7-6) can make it four wins in a row and keep the pressure on Eastern Conference-leading New York City FC with a win against the New England Revolution on Saturday night at BMO Field.
A free-agent signing himself in the off-season, Moor believes TFC’s squad as it currently stands has the depth and talent to contend for the MLS Cup.
“This should be the group that’s going to push for everything. It’s the group that started it back in pre-season. We went through the tough road spell at the start of the year, and now we’re in a good position,” Moor said.
“We’re getting some players back and healthy… and everyone continues to push each other day in and day out on the training ground, and right now it’s translating into very good results on the field.”
No doubt that TFC could have benefited from having another experienced, attacking midfielder as the regular season enters the home stretch. However, the recent standout play from the Reds’ crop of young midfielders—Canadians Jay Chapman and Jonathan Osorio, Marky Delgado and Japanese rookie Tsubasa Endoh—has shown that, perhaps, Toronto has more midfield depth than it gets credit for from most critics.
“Their emergence and showing that they’re maturing quickly helps us. We’ve been able to, for various reasons, give the guys a lot of minutes and they’re showing maturity in each of these matches, which is important,” coach Greg Vanney said ahead of Saturday’s game.
Another reason why the failure to procure a new recruit stings a lot less is because TFC will soon be getting several key starters back. Captain Michael Bradley and fellow midfielder Will Johnson, and goalkeeper Clint Irwin, as well as backups Daniel Lovitz and Ashtone Morgan should all be returning from lengthy injury layoffs over the course of the next two weeks.
Vanney feels that when they do return that it’ll feel like the team is getting new players. Making a roster addition before the deadline, in one sense, would have made things more difficult in the short-term, and it wouldn’t have made much sense unless it was the right thing to do in the long-term.
“As we get guys back [from injury] we’re going to be integrating a lot of them back into the group, and to add another person that we need to integrate into the group, it really had to be the right person, the right situation, the right personality,” Vanney offered.
“We looked and we searched for the right guy and had a lot of conversations going, but in the end it didn’t necessarily make sense for the moment.”
NOTES: Michael Bradley (knee strain) was back in full training this week, but he is questionable for Saturday. The American international has missed TFC’s last 10 MLS games due to international commitments and injury…. Midfielder Benoit Cheyrou is ruled out this weekend, which means he’ll sit out his third straight match because of a hamstring problem… New England is riding an eight-game undefeated streak vs. TFC, dating back to 2013, with five wins and three draws… Saturday is the second and final meeting between Toronto and New England this season—they battled to a 1-1 draw on April 9 in Foxborough… TFC begins a three-game road trip after this weekend: Houston (Aug. 13), Philadelphia (Aug. 20) and Orlando (Aug. 24).
Sportsnet’s Soccer Central podcast (featuring Thomas Dobby, Brendan Dunlop, John Molinaro and James Sharman) takes an in-depth look at the beautiful game and offers timely and thoughtful analysis on the sport’s biggest issues.
