With just two days before the MLS roster freeze, Toronto FC coach Mo Johnston has been busy trying to make a final few moves to prop up his injury-plagued squad. A major addition to the team, however, could come from within.
Jeff Cunningham trained on Thursday and might see limited action on Saturday in Toronto's match with Real Salt Lake. It is a remarkable turnaround for the striker, who was thought to be gone for the season after undergoing surgery for a sports hernia in early September.
"The scar has healed, he's looking great," Johnston said. "It's a wonderful procedure [the doctor] has over there. Normally ... you're anywhere between six to eight weeks. This woman in Germany can get you back in 10 days. It's incredible."
Cunningham was first bothered by the hernia in TFC's last match with Real, on July 4. Since then, the forward has played just 27 minutes and missed seven full games. After playing 20 minutes in a 2-0 loss to Chivas USA on August 18, Cunningham said he didn't think his fitness was "going to be good enough to play at this level."
The key to Cunningham's recovery was that he was able to schedule his surgery in Germany earlier than expected. Teammate Marvell Wynne had a similar procedure for a sports hernia last season and was back on the field in a little over a week, but Johnston said that Cunningham's long layoff would require a bit more time to regain match fitness.
"Jeff showed a great interest in terms of playing 15-20 minutes on Saturday," Johnston said. "But we're evaluating him because he's been out a long time. There's no pressure here. We won't start him but hopefully we can get him coming off the bench. If it doesn't mean for this week, then certainly for next week."
The return of the fourth-highest scorer in MLS history is a huge boon to a club stuck in the midst of a record 732-minute goal drought. Toronto FC's is winless in their last nine matches -- in fact, ever since that fateful game in Utah when Cunningham was hurt.
Goalkeeper Kenny Stamatopoulos is still looking to pick up his first win since joining the Reds on August 3. He said the most frustrating part of Toronto's scoreless streak is that the team has been staying close in games, but has been unable to break through.
"In every game since I've been here, we've created our fair share of chances," Stamatopoulos said. "It's not like we're playing badly, we're playing pretty well. It's just that last step of getting the ball in the net that's been giving us problems. I just believe that once we get the monkey off our back and I think everything will be OK."
TFC can take some solace in the fact that they will be welcoming a Salt Lake squad that is two points behind Toronto in the overall league table. But even RSL have had better results lately than the Reds -- three of Salt Lake's four wins have come in their last seven matches.
"They've improved as the season has gone on," Johnston said. "[Coach Jason Kreis] has done a good job. You've got [former TFC striker Alecko] Eskandarian, Eddie Pope, they picked up Kyle Beckerman. The Argentine kids [Matias Mantilla, Javier Morales, Fabian Espindola] look good. They're fairly stacked.
Johnston is hoping that his own roster can be boosted by a returning Cunningham, as well as Carl Robinson. The midfielder missed last Saturday's game in Dallas due to international duty with the Welsh national team. Robinson is scheduled to arrive in Toronto on Thursday night and be ready for Saturday's match with RSL.
The moves may not be over yet for the Toronto roster. Sept. 15 is the last day teams can make adjustments before the rosters are frozen until the day after the MLS Cup Final. Johnston said he and his staff have been "under the gun" during the week in pursuit of one or two players, including a 23-year-old Brazilian player to fill the youth international spot left vacant by the recently released Andy Welsh.
TFC is also looking for a senior international to fill the spot of Ronnie O'Brien, who recently underwent season-ending knee surgery. Jody Morris, an English midfielder who played for Chelsea from 1995 to 2003, trained with the Reds this week but it was announced Thursday that a deal could not be reached.
With seven games left and Toronto nine points out of the final playoff spot, Johnston isn't prepared to hurt the team's future in a long-shot effort at the postseason. This means that the Reds' most attractive trade bait -- two first-round picks in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft -- aren't for sale.
"I could've gone into the market in America and got players easily, but I'm not going to panic here," Johnston said. "I'm not giving up our first-round draft picks. Everyone's asked for them, there's a lot of teams looking at trading for guys ... there's a lot of movement but I'm not willing to do that. here's a lot of teams [that] want six or seven of our players, but there's no chance of any one of them leaving. I want to add here, not subtract."
Mark Polishuk is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
