It’s never just about scoring goals, of course.
As this free-flowing, fast-firing Toronto FC side of oh-ten pushes forward and starts actually creating goals, they’re doing so with a confidence rarely seen in these parts.
But that confidence, I would suggest, is based only slightly on the fact that DeRo is hitting from everywhere, Chad Barrett looks confident and competent, and O’Brian White is playing more and more like a pro.
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I think the real reason this crew is literally firing on all cylinders is not because they know they can score – they also know they’ve got help and support at the back.
The back! The defence! Goaltending!
It’s tough enough to score goals in soccer . No one needs the added pressure of having to bang home a couple of beauts because your back four is going to kack away a brace by halftime.
Well, suddenly – and it’s hard to admit this, because leaky defence has been a festering fact of life at BMO Field from the get-go – TFC strikers have had a significant chunk of their burden removed. They know they can try something daring, have it come up short, and not be at undue risk of going a goal down off the restart.
Coach Preki has, as promised, got this team playing smart, hard-nosed defence. Pretty’s not the issue. De Guzman and de Rosario can provide plenty of that going forward.
It’s the emergence of three young players – central defenders Nana Attakora and Adrian Cann, and sophomore goalie Stephan Frei – that is keeping the Torontos in match after match after match.
For three years, supporting TFC has meant having two loops playing over and over and over in your head – constantly! “I hope we can score” and “I hope they don’t get a good shot.”
It’s not that Toronto goalies have been horrible. Frei – and Greg Sutton before him – have put in plenty of fine, valiant efforts. But far too often, they were left stranded and victimized by insane beer-league miscues in the back four.
Sometimes, they rallied spectacularly. Sutton, stopping London Donovan on multiple breakaways as TFC stole a win in Los Angeles in ’08. Other times – well, what exactly are you supposed to consistently do when your teammates cough up death balls at the opposite post, or forget to rise for headers the other team gleefully heads home?
Frei looked frantic off the start of the new season. Screaming orders constantly, and trying way too hard to get to everything. But then, Preki’s lineup came together, and things … settled.
Toronto FC – as they check out their reflections in their second-consecutive Voyageurs Cup this morning – are a much harder team to take shots on, with a goalie who is in fine form, getting to almost every ball that tries to get past him.
Nothing’s perfect, nor ever will it be. But de Rosario doesn’t have to press so hard now. He doesn’t have to try to force home every half chance from anywhere on the field. The man has the luxury of options – and the considerable comfort of knowing his mates will stop the enemy and get him the ball back if this particular attacking foray goes south.
Attacks do, after all. You spend the huge majority of your time on a soccer pitch not scoring.
And, of course, it’s early. This has been the time of year where TFC teams – if they’re ever going to do well – have their best runs of success. But there’s a real sense of construction and design with this roster, something Preki must have brought with him, because lord knows GM Mo Johnston cannot get there on his own.
It’s at least possible now to watch the other team line up a shot without thinking it’s all over.
And that takes a lot of pressure off the fans, as well.
Onward!