TFC Republic Weekly: April 21-27
With its first win of the season under its belt, Toronto FC will try to make it two in a row this weekend when it hosts New York City FC.
Welcome to the latest edition of TFC Republic Weekly, an email newsletter that will land in the inbox of both paid subscribers and free members of TFC Republic every Monday.
This newsletter will look at what's in store over the next seven days for Toronto FC, and also get a glimpse of what to expect at TFC Republic in the coming days.
So, without further ado...
Toronto FC records 1st win of the season
It took nine attempts, but Toronto FC is finally on the board. Theo Corbeanu’s early goal was the difference as TFC earned a hard-fought 1-0 win over Real Salt Lake on Saturday at America First Field. The home side played the final 29 minutes a man down after U.S. international Diego Luna was controversially sent off.
The victory was TFC's first under new coach Robin Fraser and represented their third shutout in four games after conceding 12 times through their opening five contests of the MLS campaign. CF Montreal and the LA Galaxy (both 0-6-3) are now the only two winless teams remaining in MLS this season.
Toronto (1-4-4) was winless in its previous 13 league games (with eight losses) dating back to its last victory, a 2-1 home decision over Austin FC on Sept. 14 when John Herdman was still in charge.
"I think the team feels a huge sigh of relief and a good deal of pride. This game was not pretty, and sometimes you have to win those games … I think it was maybe four games ago that we talked about this bend but not break mentality," Fraser told reporters afterwards.
"And I felt like that was really indicative of what happened today, and [I'm] really proud of the fact that we gave up 12 goals in our first five games, and in our last four we've given up one. It just speaks to the level of commitment and engagement that the players are now playing with. And if you continue to do that, you give yourselves chances to win games.
John Molinaro
TFC still dealing with injuries
Injury issues continue to dog Toronto FC as Robin Fraser was missing five players for Saturday's trip to Salt Lake.
Fullback Richie Laryea missed his seventh straight game with a hamstring injury. Also unavailable for Toronto were forward Deandre Kerr (high ankle strain), and defenders Henry Wingo, Zane Monlouis and Nicksoen Gomis (lower body injuries).
Laryea isn't expected to come back until next month. Fraser didn't have a specific timeline as to when Kerr might return, saying only, "I don't think he's close" when asked about it last week.
With seven games on the schedule for the month of may, TFC will need all hands on deck, so it'll be interesting to monitor the progress of Wingo, Monlouis and Gomis, and to see if other players can avoid picking up injuries.
John Molinaro
No transfer deadline deals in the works for Toronto
Fans hoping that Toronto FC would make additional roster moves prior to this week’s MLS transfer deadline could be in for some disappointment.
On April 3, TFC acquired Swiss midfielder Maxime Dominguez on loan from Brazilian club Vasco da Gama through the end of the year. The deal includes a purchase option for the Reds at the end of the loan. The addition of Dominguez bolsters a midfield corps that needed a little bit more creativity and playmaking ability. But from the sounds of it, the Reds aren’t going to be adding any other new players to their squad this month.
“At this point I don't believe there will be any more players. I think [Dominguez] might be the only one [to be added] in this late stage,” coach Robin Fraser said last week.
Clubs have until the MLS primary transfer window closes on April 23 to make trades with each other or to sign players via transfers either from within the league or with teams from abroad. If they can't complete any deals before the closure of the window, they'll have to wait until the MLS secondary transfer window, which runs from July 24 to Aug. 21.
“There's nothing concrete or in the works, or we're far down the road with [something] for next week. I do think that certainly we're looking at summer,” Fraser said.
John Molinaro
TFC vs. New York City FC on Saturday
Toronto FC returns to action when it hosts New York City on Saturday (2:30 p.m. ET/Apple TV & TSN).
New York (3-5-3) sits in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, four spots and four points above Toronto in the table.
NYCFC has just one win in their last five games, suffering three losses during that stretch, including a 2-o road setback to the New England Revolution last weekend. It marked the third time that Pascal Jansen's side had been shut out this season.
“We have shown in several games that we have the quality to be very dangerous in the final third,” Jansen said after the team's latest loss.
“Today was tough, given the shape of the opponent, having a lot of bodies behind the ball. But we have [players] who are developing themselves into better players with more impact and more quality, but unfortunately, it’s not something that is consistent yet.”
NYCFC leads the all-time regular season series against TFC with nine wins and seven draws in 22 meetings. Toronto is 5-4-2 at home vs. New York.
These teams will meet again on July 3 at Yankee Stadium.
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Stories to look out for at TFC Republic
Toronto FC is a quarter of the way through its first MLS season under new coach Robin Fraser. Wins and points have been hard to come by, but does that mean the Reds are headed in the wrong direction? What have been the positives and negatives of the campaign so far? And what will the second quarter of the season look like for Toronto? Look for my quarterly report story on TFC in the coming days.
Other stories that will be published later this week include:
- A feature story on Toronto FC defender Sigurd Rosted.
- In-depth pre- and post-game coverage of Toronto's match vs. New York City FC.
- A new audio interview piece with Andrew Leigh of Hudson River Blue ahead of Saturday's game vs. New York.
- A new TFC Random Thoughts column.
- A new TFC Talk interview with beat reporter James Grossi.
- Regular "TFC Tidbits" stories throughout the week.
- A feature story on TFC 2 prospect Hassan Ayari.
- The weekly TFC 2 report.
- The reader mailbag.
- And much more!
TFC Republic mailbag
TFC Republic will feature a regular reader mailbag column where I answer questions from subscribers about Toronto FC and Canadian soccer in general.
I'll answer the best questions submitted to me by TFC Republic readers, so feel free to drop me an email at jmo1897@gmail.com. You can also reach out to me via Twitter.
(Top photo courtesy of Lucas Kschischang/Toronto FC)
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