Toronto have relied on all three throughout the season but, surprisingly, maybe none more so than Justin Morrow. Morrow has been amongst the most reliable and consistent Reds and currently leads the team in minutes played. At 1957 minutes, Morrow has been on the field just over 30% more than any other player.
Canadian Ashtone Morgan is the natural replacement at left fullback but had been left out of the game day squad for the Chicago game and thus missed an opportunity to fill in. Still seemingly well out of favour with head coach Ryan Nelsen, and with a week to prepare, it seems more likely that, as against Chicago, right-back Mark Bloom will move over in Morrow’s absence.
The Jackson experiment at right-back has to be well and truly over after his degree of culpability on both goals against Chicago. Unless Warren Creavalle is ready to return from the injury that kept him out of the last two games and reclaim the position, that probably means that Nick Hagglund will move out from centre-back as he did on occasion earlier in the season, with Bradley Orr taking his place in central defence.
While talk of injuries dominated the week in Toronto, the Revolution made news that sent shockwaves of surprise throughout the entirety of North American soccer. The league’s quest to retain the services of Jermaine Jones, one of the real stars of the American team at this summer’s World Cup, finally ended with the novelty of a blind draw for the right to his signature. By that device New England ended up with the German-American midfielder instead of the Chicago Fire.
The method of Jones’ allocation raised eyebrows and, in many cases, scorn, but even more unexpected was Revs’ owner Bob Kraft’s willingness to invest so much money in the team. The Revolution have long felt like a side-project for Kraft existing simply to fill dates at his NFL team’s stadium and prevent encroachment on the New England sports market. One of the only teams in the league still un-updated from their 1996 branding, playing on football lines in the fall, and with next to no presence in their market’s community, the Revs have been the signature “MLS 1.0” team unwilling to make the jump to the league’s post-Beckham reality.
Whether or not the Jones signing is a one-off, or a signal of intent remains to be seen, but it can’t be denied that the acquisition has bought his team more attention than they’ve enjoyed in a decade. For neutral views around the league, the possibility of Jones facing off against his national team teammate Michael Bradley in midfield Saturday evening, has pushed the Reds versus Revs match-up into one of the most compelling fixtures of the season.
It matters a great deal in the standing as well. Currently three points back of Toronto entering play, the Revolution sit just outside the final Eastern Conference playoff position. With a win TFC would push away from the emerging danger of falling out of the playoff positions for the first time all season, and close the gap on the wobbling Sporting Kansas City side above them. A win for New England, however, would see them catch Toronto on points. Depending on results elsewhere, Toronto could end the weekend tied with New England for that final playoff position.
The stakes are high, and will only increase as the season progresses. For the first time in years, Toronto FC is playing meaningful games as summer comes to an end. It will be gut-wrenching, and there is still the chance of an all too traditional crushing failure, but, ultimately, this is what sport is about. These are the games Toronto FC fans wanted their team playing, and a win would be meaningful in a way that has been all too rare in the club’s eight season history.