TORONTO – Toronto FC are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Facing just three more away games – starting Sunday at Orlando City SC (7 pm ET; Fox Sports 1) – in their eight-game road trip to start the season as the expansion and renovation at their home grounds at BMO Field are completed, TFC’s big guns are saying now is the time to turn their fortunes around.
TFC’s US international veteran Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley reflected on their club’s slow start in the first five games of the season – a stretch that resulted in just one win and four losses – when they met with reporters Friday at training.
“It’s been tough early on, that’s no secret, but now is a real test for us,” Altidore said. “We have to come together now as a team and get out of this rut. The talent is there. Everybody knows that. But it’s about the mentality now.”
Team captain Bradley said it’s time for TFC to “look at ourselves in a hard, honest way.”
“Even though it’s been less than an ideal stretch in terms of results, we still have to have a mentality of fearlessness and excitement,” he said. “We’re going to tweak the things that need to be tweaked, but that mentality, that commitment, that aggression to go for it has to be there. You don’t get anywhere stepping onto the field being nervous.”
The bulk of Toronto FC’s woes have come from soft concessions and poor defending, a responsibility that Bradley says falls on the shoulders of the collective group, not just the backline.
“There have been moments that have been good, but by and large we’ve been a little bit too easy to play against,” Bradley said. “That falls on everybody. We’re able to play and find our moments football-wise, but in order to position ourselves to consistently win games, we’ve got to be harder to play against. We’ve got to find a way to make the game more difficult on the other team consistently.”
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TFC will be looking to do just that against a team in Orlando that features another US international, Brek Shea. Altidore says he’s looking forward to the challenge, adding that “there’s always bragging rights” on the line when he faces off against a fellow national teamer. But he warned that he and his teammates will need to work with one goal in mind: taking home three points.
He’s also hoping this game is a normal one, too.
“Adversity is one thing, but if you look at the five games we’ve played and the things that have come up from them, the red cards, giving up goals in 20 seconds – it’s a lot of circumstances that don’t happen all the time,” Altidore said. “I think we’ve cut those out, and we can hopefully play a normal game in Orlando. And I like to think we’ll come out winners.”
Said Bradley: “We’re going through a stretch where, there’s no doubt, we’re having to learn a lot about ourselves and having to ask a lot of questions. But there’s a general feeling amongst us that we’re going to come out of it much better and stronger for it.”
