Throughout Toronto FC's goal drought, the light at the end of the tunnel has been the hope that once the team gets its injured stars back, the attack will return to normal.
Saturday's match with Chivas USA saw Jeff Cunningham, Marvell Wynne and Danny Dichio return to the field for Toronto in the second half, but it still wasn't enough to put the ball in the net. TFC dropped a 2-0 decision to Chivas that extended their winless streak to seven games and the scoreless streak to 552 minutes.
Unless Toronto scores in the first five minutes against D.C. United next Saturday, the club will break Real Salt Lake's dubious record of 557 minutes without a goal, set in 2005. Needless to say, nobody on the TFC sideline will be holding a stopwatch next week.
"We're not coming in every day saying 'OK guys, it's been however many minutes without a goal,'" said Wynne. "We play each game just like another game. We're not thinking there's pressure on us. We always play to win the game."
Wynne missed three games with a strained hamstring before coming on in the 63rd minute with Toronto down 1-0. The defender was apparently none the worse for wear, as he tried to spark the attack with several quick runs down the right side of the field.
It was on one of these rushes that Wynne nearly put TFC back on the scoresheet. Wynne took a pass from Cunningham on the edge of the goal area and launched a quick shot directly at Chivas goalkeeper Brad Guzan. The 'keeper was able to react in time, however, and deflected Wynne's point-blank attempt.
"Cunningham hit it up about as good you can," Wynne said. "[He] gave me the ball on a platter. And the keeper came out, blocked my entire vision of the goal and made a great save."
Perhaps more importantly for Toronto's faint playoff hopes, Wynne said his hamstring didn't suffer any more dangerous tweaks.
"If it did, I didn't feel it all," he said. "And if it was being a nuisance, I didn't care. I wanted to play and try to get us a point."
Dichio came on as a half-time substitute to see his first game action since July 29. The forward has been bothered by a hip flexor and a sore back for a number of weeks, and hasn't played a full 90 minutes since TFC's 1-1 draw with Chicago on July 7.
It has been an even longer wait for Cunningham, who has played just seven minutes since injuring his abdominal area on July 4 in Salt Lake City. Cunningham's injury, which was only recently diagnosed as a growing hernia, has left the striker unable to properly train with the club.
While Cunningham nearly got an assist on Wynne's near-miss and created some disruption in the Chivas end during his 20 minutes of action, the forward was dissatisfied with his performance.
"I didn't feel like I had a step on the defense in a couple of situations out there," Cunningham said. "If I was my normal self I could've gotten behind them and I just wasn't able to do it tonight. It's frustrating that four weeks, five weeks out and still not where I feel I'm able to help the team. Physically I wasn't able to push myself enough to be effective."
Cunningham said he was only at around "60 percent" capability, and was clearly troubled by how he felt his injury limited his play.
"Now it's a matter of accessing the 60 percent ... and seeing in a game situation whether or not it's beneficial for the team," Cunningham said. "Right now I'm just trying to push through and see if I can be helpful in the next few games. I'm a little hard on myself at a moment, but ... I don't think it's going to be good enough to play at this level."
These aren't the words Toronto FC fans want to hear from their star striker when the club has gone more than nine hours without a goal. Head coach Mo Johnston feels that even a limited Cunningham can still provide a boost to his struggling attack.
"Especially when the game opens up, that's when you're looking for Cunningham," Johnston said. "You need to strain the defense."
On the bright side for Toronto, the game was a marked improvement over their 3-0 loss in New York last Sunday. Against the Red Bulls, TFC managed just three shots, none of which were on goal. Against Chivas, Toronto had three shots on goal and 11 shots overall. All that was lacking was the finishing touch that Toronto has missed for the last 552 minutes.
"There's no point in saying we didn't create any chances today," Johnston said. "We created a bunch of chances ... [but] they fell to the wrong guys.
"Records don't matter too much to me. As long as we can get our guys back and we can get back healthy and get back playing again ... then it'll be better for TFC."
Mark Polishuk is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
