So here we are finally, at the end of camp, new faces have come and gone, big cheques have been offered and then ripped up, baby has been put in the corner (no, wait, nevermind, that's just wee Joao Plata, bless him) and there was just time for one more dramatic performance from the star of the show. They had the time of their lives, but now it's back to real life with the start of the new season. 2011 MLS First Kick is finally upon TFC.
A flurry of activity in the last week or so means Toronto can actually field a full starting eleven and substitution bench, and it's nice to be finally able to say that. After the signing of Gianluca Zavarise, the return of Adrian Cann and the trade for Alan Gordon, the new additions were all young, draft pick Demetrious Omphroy, and academy graduates Ashtone Morgan, Oscar Cordon, Matt Stinson and Keith Makubuya bringing the average age of TFC's squad down to an alarmingly low level, and generally increasing the "pre-season 2012" feel of things.
(edit: Late Friday, Belgian defender Mikael Yourassowsky and draft pick Matt Gold were also officially signed up as well.)
So it is that TFC's rebuilding project, hoping for good things but really preparing for 2012 and beyond arrives in Vancouver for the game this saturday. How are the Whitecaps, actually an expansion team, looking? Well, ok I suppose. To me, a not always paying attention observer from Toronto, Vancouver seem like the anti-TFC. They've been running along competently for a long time as a USL team, and since confirming their ascension to MLS, they've methodically and dull-ly gone about building a strong behind the scenes team, with a wealth of football knowledge. No drama or rash decisions here, they kept Bob Lenarduzzi in the picture, kept Teitur Thordarsen as coach, rewarding him for a job well done at USL level and maintaining a sense of continuity the like of which TFC haven't been able to come close to even dreaming about yet.
They then built a team in a similar fashion, steadily adding pieces, some from their USL team, some from the expansion draft, and also adding players from overseas such as USMNT defender and new captain Jay De Merit. They topped it off with a bunch of late signings of draft picks or homegrown players. Even their DP signing was on the dull side, striker Eric Hassli, probably a good signing, but with no marketing pizzazz at all.
Though they've definitely had their issues with ticketing and supporter relations, the important on the pitch stuff has been, if unspectacular, competent and professionally put together. That's as good a description of any as the team itself, they look like they'll be solid at the back, but could have worries with scoring goals, Thordarson is a decent coach who'll have them well organised, but they're unlikely to be all that adventurous. Expect a lot of 0-0 games for them this year, they'll be a bit on the boring side, but probably they'll be getting results and success, if not this year, then probably quite quickly, as I said, the anti TFC whose reactionary incompetence over their first 4 years was entertaining and distressing in equal measures. I'd like to think it's a bright new era for TFC, with new attitudes and winning mentalities, but this off season has shown we've still got a long way to go in that regard.
So what does it all mean for this game? Well what probably seemed like a good idea at the time, a big Canadian match-up, combined with a winnable game against an expansion team, could well become, if not their worst nightmare, a very bad dream for TFC. For a supporter base soured by the first 4 years but very ready to give Aron Winter a chance, looking forward to some more attractive football, and still tentatively hoping for good things despite an unimpressive pre-season, losing to an expansion team, a Canadian expansion team at that, in their first ever MLS game would not be a good way to kick things off, but that's more than likely what will happen.
While there's a few obvious and definite starters, Stefan Frei, Adrian Cann, Nana Attakora, Dwayne De Rosario and Maicon Santos, the rest of the team should be very interesting. Up front, Alan Gordon only met up with the team in Vancouver, so probably won't be thrown into action right away, so we're more than likely looking at Santos with Jacob Peterson and Javier Martina out wide. In midfield and at the full back positions, well it depends on just how pragmatic Winter wants to be, how much he wants to chase points in this particular game. Does he go with experienced MLS players like Dan Gargan, Ty Harden or Nathan Sturgis, or does he go with the chance to let some youngsters get valuable experience and play Omphroy, Morgan, Stinson or Cordon.
It'll probably be a bit of both, but either way, I don't really see it working well for Toronto. Vancouver will be able to sit back, keep their defensive shape and organisation and watch TFC pass it around and hope to hit them on the break, and if TFC's pre-season is anything to go by, more than likely that strategy will work well. With home field advantage, and taking advantage of the emotion of their first MLS game and all that, Vancouver will do well, and as well as stifling TFC, will probably create plenty of chances. TFC will be reliant on Frei keeping the Whitecaps out and De Ro creating something out of nothing to be able to get something out of the game. I'd love to say otherwise, but I'll predict a 1-0 win for Vancouver.
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