By: Michael Crampton
On Wednesday night at BMO Field in Toronto, Ontario a national champion of Canadian men’s professional soccer will be crowned. Either Toronto FC will lift the Voyageurs Cup for the fourth consecutive time or the Vancouver Whitecaps will for the first time ever. A massive 18 points may separate the two sides in Major League Soccer’s standings but, on the night, they’ll enter tied with one goal apiece. If neither side manages to score then Toronto, by virtue of their away goal in the first leg, will retain their title. A team that has not won a game in league play this season is only one win, or a scoreless draw, away from once again competing with their continent’s best in the CONCACAF Champions League.
If that sounds absurd, it’s because it is.
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Supporters will tell you though, that throughout the short history of the club, Toronto FC and absurdity have gone together. The romantics, those who believe in fate, or who think that the whole universe is a story designed for moral instruction might even insist that Toronto winning another Amway Canadian Championship is the only rightful outcome. The idea of loyal fans, players, and teams being rewarded after persevering through adversity is a deeply resonant archetype of the sports narrative. Certainly the loyalty of Toronto supporters is being tested now as TFC establishes new benchmarks for futility in league play. To win a cup, a national championship, and a chance to play at a higher level could be seen as redemptive.
There are others, not just Vancouver (or Montreal) supporters, who would disagree. Yes, they might grudgingly acknowledge, if Toronto FC wins Wednesday night they will have won the Voyageurs Cup by the rules set out at the beginning of the tournament. However, the idea that four games, maybe as few as one actual win, is all it takes to become champion of Canada and could be achieved while going winless in league competition has a certain injustice to it that prevents legitimacy. To the real malcontents, the Toronto supporters absolutely furious at owners Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, the possibility of the club being able to sell two more home dates in non-league play while the team fails so comprehensively elsewhere it is probably rage inducing.
To say the least, the atmosphere at BMO Field should be interesting. There will be those that simply choose not to go or don’t really make an effort to be there. Among those in attendance there will certainly be a large group who see the occasion as a last attempt to salvage a disastrous season. Those fans will be fired up and doing their best to encourage others to join in. Most likely though there will be a wait and see approach from many in the stadium. How TFC performs, whether they reclaim the spirit that saw them dump Montreal out of the competition two weeks ago even when reduced to ten men, will have a big influence on whether or not they keep the crowd on side.
On the field the teams have to bounce back as well. A week ago Whitecaps’ head coach Martin Rennie surprised many by sending out a starting side devoid of two of his best available attacking talents in Eric Hassli and David Chiumiento. A more robust midfield of John Thorington, Jun Davidson, and Matt Watson was tied to an early tactic of playing very direct very quickly designed to put Toronto’s young backline, deprived of the suspended regular Richard Eckersley, under immediate and sustained pressure. Most likely, Rennie hoped that an early goal would shatter TFC’s confidence and lead to a comfortable victory. Unfortunately for him the Reds weathered the storm and grew increasingly confident as the match went on. In the end the Whitecaps were very fortunate that Toronto didn’t grab a second goal before the end but were vaulted right back into the tie when a late lapse in concentration by TFC allowed a swift attack after a restart to result in Hassli’s wonder strike.
For Toronto, whatever confidence they gained from their back to back performances in the Canadian Championship was surely dented on the weekend in Washington, D.C. Giving up a goal in under a minute, for the second time this season, and the conceding so quickly after scoring themselves has lead to a level of frustration that now seems to be leaking out of the locker room. Getting to half time without conceding a goal has to be the Reds’ first objective. At the start of the game TFC won’t need to score to advance and the longer they can keep themselves in that position the better chance they’ll have. If they succeed in keeping Vancouver off the score sheet for 90 minutes then a team winless in MLS will be Canadian Champions. Whether that looks worse on Toronto or Vancouver will be for others to decide.