Mired in a miserable 462-minute goal-scoring drought and having now gone six games without a win, you might expect Toronto FC boss Mo Johnston to be miserable himself. After all, his team was completely punchless during its latest setback, a 3-0 shellacking Sunday at the feet of a New York Red Bulls club he coached for parts of the last two seasons.
But while the Scottish legend clearly is concerned that his hobbled team sits in the basement of the Eastern Conference 20 games into its maiden season, he remained optimistic, even upbeat, after Juan Pablo Angel (one goal) and Jozy Altidore (two) handed his side another loss.
"Are we disappointed? Yes. Are we down? No," insisted Johnston in the visitors' locker room at Giants Stadium. "We know we're a better team than this.
"With the injuries it's just impossible. Then we had to play 30 minutes with 10 men. We need to get everyone healthy."
Midfielder Chris Pozniak was sent off in the 65th minute for a taking down Red Bulls rookie winger Dane Richards on a hard tackle from behind. The team was missing injured strikers Danny Dichio (hip flexor) and Jeff Cunningham (hernia), midfielder Ronnie O'Brien (knee) and defender Marvell Wynne (hamstring). They also were without MLS Rookie of the Year candidate Maurice Edu, who was serving a one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation.
To make matters worse, Trinidad and Tobago international forward Collin Samuel left the game in the 49th minute with a bone bruise. Pozniak's red card rules him out of TFC's next game, at home against Chivas USA next Saturday afternoon.
"This team needs Ronnie back in there," said Johnston. "It needs Danny and the presence of Cunningham. We just don't have it."
And with so many players out, the coach has been forced to play his healthy charges out of position, which he said has contributed to the recent slide.
"We have to keep moving guys around," Johnston said. "We had [defender] Jimmy [Brennan] on the left side of midfield because of the injuries, and now we think he broke his hand in the first half. He couldn't take any throw-ins. We're playing [another defender, Todd] Dunivant in the midfield, higher up. This squad is getting down to bare bones."
But despite the losses on and off the field, it's not all bad news for the league's newest club. Goalkeeper Kenny Stamatopoulos, signed on loan from Norway's Tromso to replace Greg Sutton (who suffered a season-ending concussion playing for Canada in June's CONCACAF Gold Cup), impressed again after shutting out the LA Galaxy in his debut last weekend. And, there might even be some light at the end of the tunnel for at least two of the club's walking wounded: Dichio and Wynne could return against Chivas.
But to have any hope of making a late-season push for the playoffs, TFC will need to get the free-scoring Cunningham (nine goals) back as well.
"He can make a chance out of nothing," said Pozniak. "Even when we're struggling, Jeff gives us something because of his speed. Danny is a very smart player and knows how to combine with him. Without those two we need to find a way to create chances. We just couldn't do that today."
Doug McIntyre is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
