Wins over Columbus used to be basically impossible for Toronto. That all ended last year when the Reds swept the three game season series. Trillium Cup silliness aside, it was a remarkable reversal for TFC. Still, incredibly, TFC managed to finish behind the playoff bound Crew in 2014.
2015 saw the winning streak end early, in Toronto’s second match of the season, away to Columbus. A late first half red card for Justin Morrow setup a second half capitulation as TFC’s forwards stayed to high, their makeshift fullbacks were overloaded, and Columbus made victory seem as inevitable as it used to be when they hosted Toronto.
Now, four months later, Morrow is playing right back more often than his natural left back position. Ashtone Morgan, who filled in for Morrow after the red card, has made the left back position his own, and that has brought some degree of stability to the Reds backline. It’s further worth noting that back in March, Steven Caldwell started at centre back, to be replaced by Nick Hagglund at halftime, in what turned out to be the final appearance in red for TFC’s former captain. The idea of Eriq Zavaleta becoming Damien Perquis’ regular partner in the middle of defense was not an option most TFC supporters were giving serious thought to.
The other big difference between the March and July versions of TFC is their Italian star, Sebastian Giovinco. No one serious doubted the ability of the diminutive attacker, but until Giovinco showed that he could take over games, it wasn’t unreasonable for fans to be skeptical about the long term impact he might have.
Now, Toronto supporters are probably being slightly hyperbolic when they describe Seba as the best player in the history of MLS but, even for his limited body of work, he has played some of the most thrilling attacking football the league has had the luxury of seeing. Most encouragingly, Giovinco seems to be sincerely enjoying his time in MLS. As this week’s friendly reminded everyone, Toronto fans have been burned in that regard before.
While the Crew will have to find a way to counter Giovinco, TFC will have to game plan for a different Columbus playmaker than the last few years of the clubs’ encounters. Federico Higuain is still an important part of the Crew attack, but Ethan Finlay has emerged as arguably their most important player. It wasn’t enough to earn a spot on the MLS All-Star team, but the fourth year professional doesn’t just lead Columbus in assists, he currently tops the entire league.
One of the chief beneficiaries of Finlay and Higuain’s service has been MLS veteran Kei Kamara. Like Finlay with assists, Kamara leads MLS in goals. Also like Finlay, he’s already well past his career best for goals in a season, even though there’s still more than a third of the year to go. Unlike Finlay, Kamara is achieving this in his eleventh season, rather than his fourth.
In many ways the success of Finlay and Kamara tells a unique story about MLS. For all of Giovinco’s incredible ability, for all the focus on Villa, and Pirlo, and Gerrard, and Kaka, and Keane, and now Giovanni Dos Santos, MLS is still a league where global journeymen can achieve great success. The Crew are the second highest scoring team in the league, yet are probably not thought of as particularly entertaining.
There has always been a culture clash in meetings between Toronto and Columbus. That clash now extends beyond the fans to teambuilding approach and club philosophy. Should the Reds overcome that other rarely mentioned streak, and finally finish ahead of the Crew, it won’t be because one approach is innately superior. It’ll be because MLS is becoming a league where different approaches are possible.