TORONTO – In a year of many changes and many new faces, former Real Salt Lake striker Robbie Findley is quietly working towards redemption at Toronto FC.
Once a proven goal scorer for club and a US national team member, Findley has struggled to find consistency on the field in the last two years, after his return to RSL from English club Nottingham Forest. Now at Toronto, Findley is hoping to reinvigorate his career with help from some one-time USMNT teammates, Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore.
His initial impressions of Toronto FC are positive.
“We’ve played against Toronto and stuff like that but being on this team, there’s a lot of new faces, including mine,” Findley told MLSsoccer.com. “Things are looking good. In preseason, we’re learning to defend and attack as a unit and as far as the facilities and the resources we have here, I don’t think I’ve seen anything better.”
The intensity of training has been one area that many players have commented on so far and even Greg Vanney said he might need to rein his players in a bit. For Findley, decked out in heart rate monitoring gear, it’s all preparation for the ultimate prize, silverware at the end of the road.
“Every preseason I’ve been in is tough but I can say this one has been pretty hard,” Findley said. “The coaching staff, they’re willing to do whatever they need to do for us to understand our roles. I think that’s huge. All those little things that monitor our work, the distance we travel, all that, play a role in our recovery and things like that. There’s a lot of changes and it’s really about us players buying into that system in order to be successful.
“It’s always easier when you go into a new team and a new city when there’s familiar faces that you’ve played with or know from the past. It makes it a lot easier. But, getting to know the other guys, we have a good group here.”
For Findley, finding his feet at Toronto FC also means embracing a bigger role within the group as a leader, an area that Bradley, the team’s new captain, says the team came up short in last season.
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Findley has a unique perspective in the locker room, too, since he is the team’s only MLS Cup-winning player. That experience will be an important factor for head coach Greg Vanney, one he will likely call upon should TFC make the playoffs this year.
Taking on the mantle of leadership is a challenge Findley, a six-year veteran of the league, isn’t shying away from.
“You’ve got to have players on the field who aren’t scared,” Findley said. “When times are tough and dirty, you’ve got to be there. I want the ball in tough places. If you can get a good majority of those guys on the team, we’re going to be tough to beat.”
