TORONTO – It’s been four losses in a row now for Toronto FC in the first five games of 2015, a start that has seen the Reds cross the continent on a seven-game, season-opening road trip.
Results haven’t gone Toronto FC’s way, head coach Greg Vanney admits, but with another away trip this weekend – this time to Orlando City SC (Sunday, 7 pm ET; FoxSports 1) – Vanney sees a chance to not only right the ship but learn some lessons along the way.
“In this league, everybody has their good moments and their bad moments,” Vanney told reporters at training Wednesday. “It’s a league of streaks in a lot of ways. Every team that has started on the road has ended up having a reasonably successful season. For us, it’s a real opportunity to look at ourselves and find out what we’re made of or what our deficiency is. Teams that don’t take a good look at themselves are teams that won’t come out of this.
“Three teams prior to us have started on the road with seven or more games; none of those teams came home with successful starts to the season,” Vanney pointed out. “But in every one of those situations, they were able to find out about themselves early on and address some things.”
Those teams include the 2011 Sporting Kansas City side that spent its first 10 games on the road, going 1-6-3; the 2006 Chicago Fire side that grabbed 10 points in the first nine games of the season, all away from home; and the 2012 Houston Dynamo that faced a seven-game extended road trip that saw them pick up only two wins.
All three of those sides, however, turned their seasons around: the Dynamo finished MLS Cup runners up in 2012; the Fire went on to make the playoffs in 2006; Sporting KC finished first in the Eastern Conference in 2011.
The 2003 LA Galaxy also deserve a mention. The then-defending champs started the season winless on an eight-game road trip, then clawed their way back into the playoff race and made the postseason before flaming out in the first round against rivals San Jose Earthquakes in what remains the most memorable comeback in league history.
The common denominator for all four teams is that there was a postseason for each of them. It’s that precedent, coupled with a few other factors that has Vanney feeling optimistic. One area Vanney identified was the fact that Toronto FC currently lead the league in goals per game, having hit the back of the net eight times in five games.
“The hardest thing to do in a game though is to score goals,” Vanney said. “We know we have an attacking group that has a lot of ability and that is special. What’s unfortunate is that, since the foundation of a team is the backline, we haven’t really been able to start the same backline in any two games. We’ve had to plug different holes because of injuries.”
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That injury list is getting lighter each week, though, as Mark Bloom and Steven Caldwell get nearer and nearer to returning. While Bloom is closer to return, Caldwell’s exact date of return is not yet clear. But, Vanney says, once the pieces are in place, he’ll be able to field a consistent back four and build something special.
“We will absolutely get [the defending] right and when we do, we will be a championship-calibre team,” Vanney continued. “There’s no question in my mind, and that’s what the group believes.
“We will be there in the end having a say at who the championship-winning team [is].”
