TORONTO – With Saturday's visit to the Chicago Fire bringing Toronto FC to the halfway point of their seven-game, season-opening road trip during BMO Field's refurbishment, head coach Greg Vanney and captain Michael Bradley are eager to put the spring drama behind them.
TFC have been involved in a few controversial calls as of late, red cards and disallowed goals among them. The most recent came when the MLS Disciplinary Committee suspended forward Luke Moore after Toronto’s 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake for a challenge that earned Moore a yellow card at the time.
While they disagreed with the suspension, Bradley says it’s not worth focusing on any more.
“You could sit here and talk about hypotheticals until you’re blue in the face,” Bradley told reporters at training Thursday. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t change anything and it doesn’t do you a whole lot of good. You hope, over the course of the season, that things even themselves out. Without any complaining, we certainly have been on the wrong end of certain decisions this year but that’s the reality. That’s life and that’s football.
“After three games, it’s too early to be feeling sorry for ourselves,” he continued. “It’s a cop-out. We’ve got to still look at ourselves and understand what has been good and also realize there’s still a lot of room for improvement. If we keep pushing along, we’ll have a good team and a team that isn’t subject to one bad call here or there – that in the end, our quality is going to mean we’re going to be able to win games regardless.”
While Moore won’t be available for selection against the Fire (3 pm ET, MLS LIVE), the Reds did get a bit of a boost with the return of left back Justin Morrow.
“It’s good to add Justin from a leadership perspective and experience,” Vanney said. “Chicago is an athletic team and Justin’s very athletic, so it helps us from that standpoint, but also as a voice in the backline. It’ll be good to have Justin back. He’s a good piece for the team.”
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TFC have conceded four goals from crosses in the last two games, and Vanney says that’s one area he’ll be focusing his defensive tactics around. With Steven Caldwell and Damien Perquis once again unavailable, Vanney will continue to rely on youngsters Nick Hagglund and Clement Simonin.
The two will have a bit of a task containing Fire playmaker Harry Shipp, a player Vanney told his defenders to keep an eye out for at Toyota Park.
“When he [Shipp] plays out wide, he actually spends more time in the inside so you just have to account for the extra player who comes wandering around in the middle of the field,” Vanney explained.
“But at the same time, he also leaves space open in transition when he goes wandering around the field looking for action. There are opportunities for us in the other direction. He’s a good player and one for their team we have to look at. We have to be attentive to him.”
