Fansided

Toronto FC A Bigger MLS Flop Than Chivas USA

By Zac Wassink

Oct 4, 2014; Carson, CA, USA; Los Angeles Galaxy forward Landon Donovan (10) moves the ball in front of Toronto FC midfielder Michael Bradley (4) during the second half at StubHub Center. The Los Angeles Galaxy defeated Toronto FC with a final score of 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 4, 2014; Carson, CA, USA; Los Angeles Galaxy forward Landon Donovan (10) moves the ball in front of Toronto FC midfielder Michael Bradley (4) during the second half at StubHub Center. The Los Angeles Galaxy defeated Toronto FC with a final score of 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Toronto FC are a disaster in the MLS — again.

Things weren’t supposed to be this way for Major League Soccer team Toronto FC.

The Canadian club that joined the North American top-flight roughly a decade ago was supposed to be yearly title contenders. TFC have a devoted and loyal fan base. The team plays home contests at BMO Field, one of the more beautiful sports arenas on the continent. Toronto ownership proved this past winter that the team has money to spend on talented big-name players.

Toronto haven’t failed to disappoint season after season, and that will again be the case in 2014.

The year started out brightly for the club. MLS legend Dwayne De Rosario rejoined Toronto. 25-year old Brazilian forward Gilberto and United States Men’s National Team midfielder Michael Bradley were brought in. Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar joined the team on a loan deal. Toronto managed to make international headlines by acquiring England forward Jermain Defoe from Tottenham Hotspur.

It’s all, as is the Toronto tradition, gone terribly wrong for the club.

Their most recent defeat, a 3-1 loss at the New York Red Bulls this past Saturday evening, essentially ended TFC’s playoff hopes. Toronto sit six points behind Columbus Crew in pursuit of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Both teams have two regular season fixtures remaining on their schedules.

Talented rosters have bad seasons. It happens in professional sports all the time. How Toronto shrunk away and collapsed and not just that they did so is what makes this edition of the team the biggest flop of the campaign and perhaps in the history of MLS.

It took less than half a season for Defoe to become so disenchanted with Toronto and MLS that he was being linked with returns to the English Premier League over the summer. The worst-kept secret in the league is that Defoe wants to play under former Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp at Queens Park Rangers, and the perception is that it’s a matter of “when” and not “if” Defoe completes that switch in January.

Oct 11, 2014; Harrison, NJ, USA; Toronto FC midfielder Michael Bradley (4) and New York Red Bulls midfielder Dax McCarty (11) battle for the ball during the second half at Red Bull Arena. The Red Bulls defeated Toronto 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

QPR recalled Cesar after the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He later signed with Benfica.

Bradley was largely lackluster for the US at the World Cup, and his national team form has continued during MLS play. Both Bradley and Defoe, players who had opportunities to sign for top-flight European clubs last January, have been booed and heckled by home Toronto supporters.

It is widely believed that Toronto are on the verge of yet another reset. Defoe, Bradley and Gilberto may all exit the club this coming winter. Head coach Greg Vanney is practically begging to keep his job past October during press obligations. A team that has never played in a MLS postseason contest will again be on the outside looking in come November.

Is the problem with Toronto that the roster isn’t as good as originally believed, or that the team hasn’t yet found the right manager to lead the way? Will Toronto be able to adequately replace Defoe and others if talented players choose to head elsewhere in 2015? If splashing cash wasn’t the answer for Toronto’s woes, what is?

General manager Tim Bezbatchenko had better find the solution and quick; assuming that he is allowed to keep his post heading into 2015, that is.

People see banners, flags and flares, they hear songs and chants during matches, and they forget that professional soccer is no different than any other sport in that it is an entertainment business. Toronto ownership would do well to note that BMO seats that were filled in March and in April have been empty as of late.

Toronto fans have few reasons to watch this team live and in-person, nor should they have blind faith that Bezbatchenko and company can turn things around. Nobody could blame a single member of a fan base that has been owed better for years if any person decided that spending money on TFC just wasn’t worth it anymore.

Some would point to Chivas USA as being the biggest failure MLS has ever seen. A league laughingstock responsible for losing seasons and downright embarrassing home attendance numbers, Chivas are on the verge of folding following another year that will see them finish in the bottom half of the standings.

Here’s what you have to remember about Chivas USA: They were, from the very beginning, a swing-for-the-fences business decision, an idea that was always going to be big hit or massive failure. That the club will likely be no more after 2014 isn’t a surprise to anybody who has followed MLS for any significant amount of time.

Go back and re-live the events of March 15 of this year. Watch the highlights and remember Defoe twice hitting the back of the net to stun the Seattle Sounders and silence what was a raucous CenturyLink Field crowd. TFC arrived on that afternoon, and the days of Toronto being a MLS punchline were about to become a thing of the past.

That Toronto squad and the one taking the pitch this fall are not one and the same, and that represents an inexcusable failure that could set the club back for years.

More from FanSided

Home/MLS