It’s easy to forget that the summer slog of an MLS season was the graveyard of TFC seasons back in the club’s early days. From Mo Johnston’s original expansion team’s epic goalless drought, to John Carver not winning at home for a comparable amount of time, to Preki-ball running out of gas after a surprisingly good spring, the summer used to be the time close followers of Toronto FC expected everything to go wrong.
Toronto FC’s upcoming schedule will not be any help in that regard. Between Friday’s kickoff in late June and their game on Civic Holiday weekend in Montreal in early August, the Reds will play seven league games in the month of July. That’s nine games total in a little over five weeks. Success over the course of this stretch -- at least avoiding the sort of extended slump that ended realistic playoff hopes back in those early years – is an essential next step in TFC’s campaign to qualify for a first ever MLS Cup playoff appearance.
In addition to changing the familiar narrative of their season, Friday evening is also an opportunity to change the narrative of visits to New York. Toronto regularly enjoys success at home to the Red Bulls, and already secured victory over them at BMO Field this year, but away trips to the Big Apple have a tradition of ending dismally for Reds supporters.
While the final game at the Meadowlands – Toronto FC’s infamous 5-0 loss – looms large in those memories, trips to its replacement, Red Bull Arena, have been equally fruitless: TFC has never taken a point in the newer stadium, and sports a 12-1 aggregate score line over that four game stretch.
Fortunately, though it adds context, that history will have no impact on Friday’s game. Toronto FC is a team remade and, so far, has exhibited a resolve that has allowed them to grind out points even when missing key players or seemingly not at their best.
For their part, the Red Bulls are clearly not the same team that lifted the Supporter’s Shield last season. Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill, while obviously still dangerous, are both a year older (and Cahill is unlikely to play after just recently returning after Australia’s World Cup elimination). Dax McCarty is having a harder time doing the job of keeping a balance to their midfield and new signing Armando has regularly looked one tackle away from being sent off in the centre of the Red Bulls defence.
With a draw TFC would stay ahead of New York in the Eastern Conference standings and still enjoy a massive four games in hand. It’s a great position for the Reds to be in and, with any result Friday, will keep them moving towards 2014’s primary objective.