TORONTO — If Michael Bradley is worried, he sure isn’t showing it.
Toronto FC’s captain was his usual calm and collected self as he was grilled by the media ahead of the Reds’ home game against Orlando City on Saturday.
TFC sits fifth in Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference (the top six qualify for the post-season), three points ahead of Orlando and New York City FC, who are just outside of the playoff zone. Toronto has games in hand on all but three teams in the East and, crucially, eight of their remaining 11 matches this season are at BMO Field. Taking all these factors into account, things are looking pretty rosy for the Reds.
So, why then is there a sense of foreboding hanging over this franchise? Maybe because we’ve seen this horror show before, as far back as last August when a TFC was in a free fall after a disastrous summer and eventually failed to clinch a playoff spot.
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There’s also the team’s underlying defensive issues which have especially pronounced in recent weeks—Toronto hasn’t kept a clean sheet since a 0-0 draw on June 27 vs. D.C. United, and has conceded a whopping 22 goals in the eight games since.
Losers of two straight by a combined score of 6-1, TFC is also tied for the second-worst defensive record in the league with 41 goals against, and is well on pace to “best” last season’s record of 54 goals conceded. Shockingly, Toronto has given up three or more goals in eight games this season.
Despite all of the team’s defensive woes, Bradley sees no reason to panic, and is happy about the position TFC currently finds itself in headed into the season stretch.
“We’ve played all year to arrive at this point in the season (where there’s) a lot to play for, with everything still on the line—that’s certainly the case,” Bradley told reporters after Friday’s practice.
“We have 11 games to go—eight at home—and there’s still plenty of twist and turns to come still.”
Don’t mistake Bradley’s confidence for him not understanding the gravity of the situation. He’s fully aware about the team’s defensive deficiencies and knows TFC has to be much tougher team to play against if it’s going to comfortably secure its first-ever playoff berth.
“We’ve talked about how there has to be some urgency, there has to be an understanding that as the games get bigger and more important that our performances get better.”
That’s also not to say Bradley expects it to be all smooth sailing from here on in. He’s not that naive. He does, however, see the potential road blocks ahead merely as a challenge that TFC have to overcome—for the Reds’ captain, it’s just as much about the journey as it is the final destination.
“We still have to understand that there will be good moments, there will be bad moments. But our ability to deal with it all as the season winds down will play a big part in where we finish,” Bradley offered.
The first road block is Orlando, a team that Toronto has already beaten twice this season, including a 4-1 drubbing earlier this month at BMO Field when Sebastian Giovinco scored a hat trick.
However, the Florida side didn’t have Kaka for that game as he was ruled out due to injury. This time the former FIFA World Player of Year is expected to play, and that’ll be good news for Canadian Cyle Larin, who has 11 goals this season but was kept pretty quiet in the last game against Toronto—maybe because he couldn’t rely on Kaka’s sublime service.
“Our mentality is that we don’t really care that we beat them twice,” Toronto coach Greg Vanney stated. “We know the importance of this game. Our mindset is it doesn’t matter who’s across from us. We’re stepping up to play a certain way and that’s going to be our expectation (Saturday).”
It’s far from a must-win game for Toronto. But a victory would give them a bit of momentum and calm some of the growing panic over the team’s defensive record. A win would also be huge in that it would secure three points, and give the Reds a bigger gap over Orlando and the rest of the trailing pack in the East.
“It’s important to create separation from that playoff line if you will, and give yourself some cushion,” Vanney stated. “The cushion for us is really more about our performance and assessment of things then moving forward. But of course we’d be silly to say we’re not looking at standings and recognizing who’s where.
“This is a team that for sure we want to keep behind us, as many points as possible, to create that separation. Meanwhile, we still have our eyes on the teams in front of us and we just know that this stretch of games at home is vital.”