TFC Republic Weekly: December 2-8
Toronto FC faces a hugely important off-season following John Herdman's recent resignation and with several roster spots to fill.
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 offer a glimpse of what to expect at TFC Republic in the coming days.
So, without further ado...
TFC in need of a new coach after Herdman steps down
The John Herdman era at Toronto FC is over. TFC announced last Friday that Herdman resigned his position as head coach of the MLS club, effective immediately.
MLSE President & CEO Keith Pelley offered the following statement: “On behalf of the entire organization, I thank John for his commitment to Toronto FC and for the important strides for the club during his time as head coach. John’s passion for the game and dedication is evident to all those he has worked with and we wish him and his family the very best."
Pelley went on to say that the organization would immediately begin the search for a new coach.
“Personally, I have made the difficult decision that it’s the right time for me to step away from the club, as the organization defines its vision for the future,” Herdman said in the same media release.
Herdman, 49, was hired by Toronto FC last August and was on the touchline for his first match on Oct. 21 in the team's 2023 regular season finale. Under his leadership, the Reds posted an 11-19-4 record and finished 11th in the Eastern Conference this year, and reached the finals of the Canadian Championship and the round of 16 in the Leagues Cup. While the Reds showed some improvement under Herdman in 2024, it still wasn't good enough to end the team's playoff drought that now dates back to 2020.
Herdman's departure from Toronto FC comes in the aftermath of the drone-spying scandal involving the Canadian women's team that rocked this summer's Paris Olympics. In the wake of the scandal, Canada Soccer told FIFA that the Canadian national teams’ use of drones to spy on its opponents’ training sessions was started by Herdman. An official FIFA document that was published online quoted Canada Soccer as pointing the finger at Herdman for beginning the practise.
The scandal at the Paris Olympics has already cost Bev Priestman her job as the Canadian women's team. Priestman, assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joey Lombardi are also currently serving one-year suspensions from FIFA, with Lombardi having resigned his job with Canada Soccer. Although no reason for the resignation was offered by the club, one would suspect that both TFC and Herdman feared some sort of heavy punishment from Canada Soccer, similar to what was handed down to Priestman.
John Molinaro
Reds move on from Prince Owusu, Luke Singh
When Toronto FC announced its end-of-season roster decisions in October, 11 players learned whether or not they'd be back with the club next year. But Toronto decided to make full use of the MLS deadline before revealing last Wednesday it planned to not pick up its contract options for 2025 on Prince Owusu and Luke Singh.
Delaying the decision provided GM Jason Hernandez the opportunity to see if there would be any interest in Owusu both from within and outside of MLS, thus allowing the Reds to cash in on a somewhat valuable asset. Delaying the decision also gave the Reds a chance to re-sign Owusu on a cheaper contract. But the two sides couldn't agree on a new deal, so Owusu's exit opens up a valuable international roster slot and frees up some salary cap space for next season.
Owusu, 27, led TFC in scoring in 2024, his first full campaign with the team, by bagging 12 goals in 39 games in all competitions (nine in MLS) while tallying five assists. That being said, Owusu did not live up to his TAM-level contract that saw him earn $807,500 US, which made him the fifth-highest paid player on TFC’s squad. He was a streaky player, someone who scored in bursts and then experienced lengthy goal droughts.
With 40 goals, Toronto had one of the weakest offensive records during the 2024 MLS season – only Austin (39), Nashville (38) and New England (37) scored fewer goals. TFC's attack needs a major shot in the arm in the form of a striker with a proven track record as goal scorer. Owusu simply doesn't fit that bill.
Singh's exit shouldn't come as a surprise. He found himself at the bottom of the centre back depth chart with TFC after pre-season training camp and was sent out on loan in March to Atlético Ottawa of the Canadian Premier League for the second straight year.
A 24-year-old native of Brampton, Ont., Singh became the 26th player in franchise history to graduate from the TFC academy to the first team when he signed a homegrown player contract in April 2021. He made his senior team debut that same month in the opening match of the round-of-16 series against Club León in the Concacaf Champions League, and earned his first start in the second leg as the Reds earned a 2-1 win to advance to the quarter-finals.
But Singh only went on to make six MLS appearances that year, and he was largely out of his depth when he did feature for the Reds, despite scoring his first league goal. He was routinely exposed by more experienced forwards, and overall, he showed a poor sense of defensive awareness and positioning.
John Molinaro
Important off-season dates to remember
With TFC coming off a disappointing campaign, this off-season is going to be one of the most important in the team's history. Club management will have to make a series of moves in order to improve the roster and set things right for the 2025 MLS campaign. With this in mind, here are some important off-season dates to circle on your calendar.
Dec. 9 is when the MLS half-day trade window (9:00 am to 1:00 p.m. ET) opens up after a three-month freeze. MLS clubs can start tweaking their rosters by making trades with other teams across the league.
Expansion club San Diego FC will become the 30th team in MLS in 2025. But before that, San Diego will get to pick up to five players during the MLS Expansion Draft on Dec. 11. TFC have to determine which players to protect and which ones to leave unprotected.
MLS free agency begins on Dec. 12. Free agency eligible players are out-of-contract and option-declined players who are at least 24 years old and who have completed a minimum of five years of service in MLS. On the same day, the end-of-year waivers process begins. The waiver process pertains to players whose options were not exercised and who are not eligible for free agency or the re-entry process.
The MLS re-entry process kicks off on Dec. 12 with stage 1, while stage 2 is on Dec. 19. Essentially, this applies to MLS players who are out of contract (or had their option declined) but are not eligible for free agency.
The 2025 MLS SuperDraft on Dec. 20 will consist of three rounds.
John Molinaro
CanWNT vs. South Korea on Tuesday
The Canadian women's team closes out its 2024 season with a friendly vs. South Korea at Pinatar Arena in Murcia, Spain on Tuesday (noon ET/OneSoccer).
Canada is coming off a 0-0 draw against Iceland in Murcia last Friday, a game that saw Les Rouges look comfortable playing out from the back and in its buildup play, while being toothless up front.
Canada showed plenty of attacking intent against its European opponent but failed to carve out any dangerous scoring chances, as it was let down by lack of thrust in the final third of the pitch. At the same time, the Canadians kept things defensively tight in earning their ninth clean sheet of the year, and third in four matches.
Canada has won seven of nine meetings (with one loss) against South Korea since their first meeting in 2000. Their latest encounter was a 0-0 draw in Toronto in June 2022. Prior to that, the teams faced off in the 2018 Algarve Cup where Canada posted a 3-0 victory.
Canada is No. 6 in the latest FIFA world rankings, 13 spots above South Korea.
RELATED READING: News | Features | Match reports | Newsletter | Opinion | Q&As | Roster moves | TFC 2 | Audio | Videos
Stories to look out for at TFC Republic
Toronto FC's off-season "important things to do" list became a bit longer last week when John Herdman stepped down as the club's coach after a year on the job. Herdman became the 12th MLS coach in 2024 to part ways with his team. Now the question becomes who'll replace the Englishman for the 2025 season and become the 15th coach in TFC's history. We'll have a feature story looking at the top candidates later this week.
Other stories that will be published later this week include:
- My “Random Thoughts on TFC” column.
- My feature story on Toronto FC forward Deandre Kerr.
- Regular "TFC Tidbits" stories throughout the week.
- A new TFC Talk audio interview segment with beat reporter James Grossi.
- Part 7 of our "TFC year in review" series looks back at the month of August.
- A new instalment in our TFC flashback history series.
- Another edition of the reader mailbag.
- In-depth pre- and post-game coverage of Canada's friendly vs. South Korea.
- And much more!
TFC Republic mailbag
TFC Republic features 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 Andy Truong/Toronto FC)
TFC Republic has a comments section! At the very bottom of every story, there is a feature where you can post your comments, so be sure to share your thoughts and views.
