MONTREAL – Play, rinse, repeat.
Less than 48 hours after finishing their 1-1 draw against the Montreal Impact972784745" tabindex="0">on Wednesday in the opening leg of the Canadian Championship, Toronto FC will return to action 972784746" tabindex="0">on Friday night when they face the New England Revolution at BMO Field for the third of six matches in a condensed period (8 pm ET | TSN in Canada, MLS LIVE in the US).
Toronto are no strangers to fixture congestion. In response, they've leaned on a well-worn mantra: “one game at a time,” as reiterated by Greg Vanney after the match in Montreal.
Vanney caught some off-guard with his strong XI against the Impact, making just four changes from the side that beat D.C. United972784747" tabindex="0">on Saturday, and holding only goalkeeper Alex Bono out completely from the team that beat the Black-and-Red. Vanney doesn't see that decision as detrimental to his options for 972784748" tabindex="0">Friday, however.
“We've got a lot of guys who are ready to play,” said Vanney. “We left some guys home who are preparing; got a group here who are ready to turn it around as well. It's one of those unprecedented moments where you've got to come up with something. We've got a lot of guys who are hungry.”
Three days rest is standard for short turnarounds. Two isn’t unprecedented, but it does pose a challenge.
“It's tough,” admitted defender Eriq Zavaleta. “It's going to take some different guys and some that recover very quickly. We're focused on New England now. And not making any excuses. We're at home, we want to defend BMO Field. We fancy ourselves to win every game, no matter who is out there. We've said it; many people have said it, we have the deepest team in the league. It's our chance to go out again and prove it.”
The ability to plan helps. TFC have known about this speed bump since advancing to the Canadian Championship final by defeating Ottawa Fury in the semis last month.
But Vanney did concede that at least one aspect of the busy run of matches cannot be reasoned out in advance.
“The toughest challenge is emotionally,” he said. “When you come off a game [like] this, to recover emotionally and put a similar competitive spirit out in 48 hours... that's one of the toughest things in professional sports.
“We'll have a mixed group, some who played 972784750" tabindex="0">tonight and some who didn't. They'll give everything they have. I'm confident in our group. I've said it before, and I keep hearing that I talked about our depth, but I believe in our group, the guys will step out 972784751" tabindex="0">on Friday to win the game.”
Toronto returned home immediately following Wednesday's game, so as to have at least two nights sleep in their own beds, prompting midfielder Raheem Edwards to “thank god” for the mercy of a quick return flight.
“Prep right, make sure everything is fine,” Edwards said of managing the crunch. “The schedule is against us a little bit, but we've got to go out there with the same mentality.”
