In lieu of Toronto FC head coach Chris Cummins calling for his club to deliver 12 points from the remaining 8 matches on way to landing a playoff berth, it's worth taking a closer look at a couple of lesser known statistics that explain some of the Reds' road frustrations.
The biggest obstacle to achieving this 12-point target is that Toronto has 5 of these 8 remaining matches on the road mostly against clubs that are in the thick of the playoff race themselves. These clubs will not be in a position to cede any ground to Toronto, lest they injure their own playoff ambitions, so the Reds must be prepared to outsmart these opponents.
It should be noted that when Toronto scores first, they have an unbeaten record this season of 7 wins and 3 draws (identical to next opponent, Seattle). But more importantly, and quite dismally, when Toronto concedes first the club has a record of 1 win, 8 losses and 3 draws after the final whistle.
One may argue that in light of this Toronto should come out attacking, establish the early lead and hold on from there. But it's not that simple. It's precisely when Toronto comes out strong on the road is when it gets into trouble through the latter stages of the match. Cummins touched on the issue of his players being "physically shattered" late against Chivas last Saturday. This may be because they tried to outrun their Hispanic Home Depot Center opponents rather than play a controlled and organized defensive game that would have frustrated Sacha Kljestan and company, forcing them to do more work.
A lack of defensive organization is what created the hole that Kljestan exploited on way to scoring his dagger goal in Chivas' 2-0 victory over Toronto. Fast forward to Seattle this upcoming Saturday, and last weekend's performance brings about an ominous feeling. Toronto will be going into the league's most hostile ground (sorry TFC supporters, we lost that title when they started packing 30,000 into Qwest Field each game), up against a three-headed attack featuring Freddie Ljungberg, Fredy Montero and Nate Jaqua.
Ljungberg and Montero possess an incredible amount of pace, guile and energy about them. Toronto will require an innovative containment option against these two players. Anytime they are allowed to penetrate into the middle and anywhere around the 18-yard box squared to the goal, the moderator on the TorontoFC.ca live game blog may be forced to delete many expletives from participating Reds supporters in the online forum.
Jaqua - a big, physical player - has an uncharacteristically decent touch for a forward his size. Montero and Ljungberg absolutely adore his hold-up play on the ball, allowing them to slice through opposition defences while Jaqua looks to make the ideal return pass. It's not a coincidence that Jaqua has 7 assists to compliment his 7 goals this season.
The one blight in the Seattle attack in this their inaugural year, is first-overall MLS SuperDraft pick Steve Zakuani. He has pace and gets into position to create chances and yes, he scored against Toronto earlier this year. But his finishing usually leaves so much to be desired that one wonders if he studies DVDs of Jeff Cunningham's greatest chances. If Toronto can successfully isolate Ljungberg, Montero and Jaqua, the moans and groans of 30,000 emerald clad specialty coffee drinkers could soon fill the Seattle air as Zakuani stumbles all over the park.
There was a call last week in this space for Toronto to play a scrappy, defensive game that frustrates the skilled opposition. The need for negative football is more dire than ever against a free-flowing Seattle this week, and an equally attack minded Colorado next week in high altitude. Cummins also marked out a goal of "three points out of the next two road games" as a way to bolster playoff chances. But it wouldn't be a bad thing if the target was slightly lower. Toronto may be better off to aim for two points from the next two matches, rather than get zero by taking a chance at three.
