Two long-standing problems for Toronto FC -- goal scoring and getting results on the road -- have reared their ugly head at a particularly inopportune time for the club over the last two months. The Reds have taken just two points from their last six matches, and perhaps more worryingly for TFC, lately the team hasn't even been able to find the back of the net away from BMO Field.
Since Dwayne De Rosario's goal in the 34th minute at New England on Aug. 1, Toronto has played 416 minutes of league soccer on the road without scoring. That total can be stretched to 506 minutes if you count the 0-0 draw at Puerto Rico in TFC's Champions League qualifying match on Aug. 4.
The scoring drought has manifested itself in several different forms. The Reds have looked crisp but unable to finish (a dominant first half in an eventual 0-0 draw with Seattle), unable to find the target altogether (a total of one shot on goal in losses in Chivas and Colorado), and most recently against Los Angeles, just plain unlucky.
In TFC's 2-0 loss to the Galaxy last Saturday, the Reds were down 1-0 after 48 minutes when striker Ali Gerba had a great chance from inside the penalty area. Gerba's shot went over the outstretched arms of L.A. goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, but the ball bounced off of the crossbar and stayed out.
It was a tough break for Gerba, still looking for his second goal since joining TFC in late July.
"I have to try to make sure I can make it count when the time comes," Gerba said. "It goes that way -- sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn't. I just have to keep working hard to get some goals and we all have to work hard to get points."
Though the Reds only managed one shot on goal besides Gerba's attempt off the crossbar, De Rosario was heartened by what he felt was an improvement over TFC's other recent shutout performances.
"We kept a lot of possession, had two quality chances that we should've finished but it didn't go that way," De Rosario said. "Hopefully we continue to play the way we did, but more aggressively going forward and in front of the net being a little more clinical.
"Hopefully next time we get some just reward for ourselves with some hard work."
The defeat in Los Angeles dropped the Reds' road record to 2-7-4 for the season, with this current run of poor road form erasing what had been an improved away showing over the past two seasons. TFC were 4-21-5 on the road heading into 2009, and had been outscored 62-25 away from BMO Field in their first two seasons.
Before the 2-0 loss to Chivas on Aug. 22, Toronto was 2-4-3 on the road and were only being outscored 20-15. While the results weren't quite up to par, the Reds had been at least able to score away goals. Even with this goal drought, the team is tied for the sixth-most road goals in MLS.
TFC interim head coach Chris Cummins said that he is trying to prevent the road scoreless streak from becoming a mental issue to the players, reminding them that trying to push too hard for a goal can open up the opposing team for a chance on the counter-attack. The coach noted that giving away the opening goal, like the Reds did in L.A., is deadly; Toronto is just 1-10-3 this season when conceding the first goal of a match.
"We went in there with the game plan of being aggressive and on the front foot, and for the majority of the game it was like that," Cummins said. "The frustrating thing is conceding the goal as early as we did since L.A. dropped off and we had to come up with something else. ... We don't have to win the game in the first 15 minutes. The longer the game goes 0-0 we're happy with that.
"It's not going to be a case of where we go gung-ho and run all over the field since we can't give that early goal away. Once we tend to give those early goals away, we struggle to come back."
TFC has another road game coming on Saturday in Chicago against the Fire, but for a team which has been near the top of the league table all season, the Fire's home form has been surprisingly average. Chicago is 4-4-5 at home with just one win in their last four matches on their home pitch, and they've allowed 15 goals at Toyota Park --- tied for the fifth-most home goals conceded of any team in the league.
With the Fire just six points ahead of TFC in the Eastern Conference standings and only four games remaining in the season, Saturday's match is a massive chance for the Reds to both end their scoring drought and pick up critical points. With so few games left, Toronto badly needs to find that long-sought after consistency in road games.
"We were terrible in Chivas, great in Seattle, then great in possession but poor at shooting in L.A.," said forward Chad Barrett. "Hopefully this week we're bad at possession but have great shooting. Who knows what's going to happen with us on the road."
Mark Polishuk is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
