Toronto FC looks to extend winning streak to five as it visits Columbus

The last time Toronto FC played in Columbus, the club was on an emotional roller-coaster.

Defensive anchor Drew Moor had been sidelined earlier in the week by a heart irregularity. And coach Greg Vanney was in Arizona grieving the loss of his mother.

Vanney was back in time for the game, only to see his team take the lead and then concede two goals in a six-minute span in a 2-1 loss.

Toronto returns to Columbus (5-4-1) on Wednesday, looking for some payback.

Toronto has been on a roll since that April 15 loss to the Crew. It has won four straight, outscoring the opposition 8-2, and now sits atop the Eastern Conference and overall standings.

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Columbus is 1-2-0 since the Toronto game, blanking New England 2-0 last time out.

The Columbus loss prompted TFC to make changes, recalibrating its shape on the pitch to avoid its defence getting too stretched.

It seems to be working. With 19 points, Toronto is off to its best-ever start after 10 games.

The measure of the team was shown on the weekend in Seattle when Toronto, despite a horrible travel schedule and starting lineup featuring just five or six regulars, defeated the defending champion Sounders 1-0.

Vanney opted to keep striker Sebastian Giovinco, playmaker Victor Vasquez and defenders Steven Beitashour and Eriq Zavaleta at home for the long trip to Seattle and its artificial turf. 

Goalkeeper Chris Irwin, defender Chris Mavinga and Jason Hernandez and midfielders Jay Chapman and Benoit Cheyrou came into a new-look 4-5-1 formation.

For Mavinga, given the hook in his first start against Atlanta, it was a chance at redemption. For the veteran Hernandez, it was a first start in a TFC shirt. For the 23-year-old Chapman and 36-year-old Cheyrou, it was a first start of the season. And for Irwin, a return to action after a hamstring injury.

All did well.

So not only did Toronto get a (small) measure of revenge for the Dec. 10 MLS Cup loss to Seattle, but a good chunk of its supporting cast got to contribute.

“We feel we have the best team in the league — not just 1 to 11 but 12 and on,” Bradley said after the Seattle win.

“You don’t get anywhere with two guys or three guys or even just 11,” he added. “Over the course of a long season, you need a team. You need every single guy to contribute in big ways when their moment comes. We have a lot of good players … I think really, across the board, we have a lot of good players that kind of fly under the radar.”

Said Vanney: “I would put the depth of our team against any team ever in the history of this league. And we’re going to utilize everybody and try to stay as fresh as we can.”

All of his roster should be available for the Columbus game, barring Moor who is back in modified training after a heart procedure.

Toronto is in the midst of a hectic eight-game May schedule that started last Wednesday with a home win over Orlando followed by a 3,310-kilometre trip for the noon local time start Saturday in Seattle.

With its flight delayed leaving Toronto, the team arrived in Seattle at 1 a.m. Friday.

“The guys were zombies,” Vanney said of Friday’s training session at the Seattle training centre.

The team left the Pacific Northwest on a 6 a.m. flight Sunday, a departure made no doubt a little more palatable by the three points Toronto was taking with it.

The two coaches were a study in contrasts after the match.

Vanney savoured a “gutsy performance,” and happily pondered the personnel questions in front of him.

Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer, in contrast, looked frustrated — clicking his pen throughout his post-game availability.

“I didn’t know that,” said Schmetzer, when advised by a reporter that Saturday’s loss was his first at CenturyLink Field since taking over the team last summer. “So thank you for saying that.”

After Columbus, Toronto entertains Minnesota on Sunday.

While Toronto is currently riding a wave of success, Vanney is quick to caution that it’s early in the season.

“There are going to be challenges along the way,” he said.

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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press