Three points secured against Austin FC on the weekend, Toronto FC are ready for the next challenge.
The gauntlet ahead sees Toronto face the Columbus Crew at BMO Field on Wednesday before hitting the road for three straight – at the Colorado Rapids, in Vancouver for the final of the TELUS Canadian Championship against Whitecaps FC, and then the Chicago Fire in Illinois – before closing the schedule with two final regular season matches at home against the New York Red Bulls and Inter Miami CF.
Four games in the next 11 days, six in 18, however one slices it there is only one way to describe the upcoming schedule.
“It's tough,” said John Herdman on Tuesday. “There's no doubt, it's tough.”
“I remember having that same reality in World Cup qualifying, [Canada] weren't given the best schedule. We went to Honduras in heat, -13° in Hamilton on a plastic field, and then fly to El Salvador within that nine-day stretch,” he continued, recalling a 2022 stretch from January 27 to February 2. “It was wild.”
“Winning seems to take care of a lot,” Herdman noted. “If you're on a winning streak or you get a good result, it changes the mentality and the feel in the group. That’s the first antidote, can you get the result? Then the second one is: use your squad. That game against Colorado will be a big opportunity for some players to step up and make their mark on our playoff run.”
“And then finally, it's about the communication,” he added. “You’ve got to talk to players, you've got to let them know where they're at and the reasons for your decisions. It seems to take a lot of time out of your day, but those conversations are important to give them clarity.”
Federico Bernardeschi is no stranger to playing important matches in quick succession.
“In Champions League we play every three days,” he recalled, looking forward to the upcoming road trip. “10 days away, you have the chance to recover well and stay together, good feeling, good mood.”
“And we have the finals too, the Canadian [Championship],” Bernardeschi underlined. “We really want the [Voyageurs] Cup this year, for going to Concacaf next year and [to] win the trophy.”
“It’s a bit challenging,” he continued. “It will be a tough period, tough moment for us. We will travel a lot, especially the travel is killing you, but we'll be ready for this challenge. We have a great opportunity.”
“The most important game,” added Bernardeschi, refusing to get ahead of himself, “is tomorrow against Columbus.”
The Eastern Conference table is stratified. There are the three teams – Miami, FC Cincinnati, and Columbus – at the top, then four teams currently occupying the automatic playoff berths – the two New York clubs, Orlando City SC, and Charlotte FC – separated by just five points.
In ninth are D.C. United, currently holding onto the final play-in spot by two points, but just the top of six teams separated by just four points.
Toronto sit in eighth, two points off those above and three off those below, eager to climb higher to avoid the extra match and the subsequent reward for winning it: shaping up to be a first round date against Miami in Florida.
It’s going to be a dramatic race to the finish line.
“The table has been crazy,” said Herdman. “It's been a crazy season. You never would have thought Charlotte would have dropped into the mix again. They seem to have made some big signings, DPs, and they were on a good roll, but similar to us, you just get hit and when that slump comes, it's hard to get out of in MLS.”
“We can see Charlotte now. We're looking up, not down at the moment,” he continued. “It's a good motivation for the lads to see that next level on the table. And it has been raised [that] if we're able to get to that point, it means not heading down to Miami in the heat, which is a tough place to go. We did enjoy that stadium, we scored some goals there and had some good games against them, so we'll take whatever comes.”
“The critical part is to get into this playoffs,” Herdman levelled. “That's the key mission at the moment.”
That is the goal.
“Great season so far,” reflected Bernardeschi. “I want to go into [the] playoffs for my first time in MLS. This is my goal for this year. I really want this, [for] me and for my team of course. We want this.”
“I’m pretty confident,” replied the Italian, asked of his confidence level on achieving that aim. “I'm always confident about the goals that I have in front of me because you have to be confident. If not, you lose before you start.”
“We know that it will be tough of course, especially in this league, [where] we are so close to each other,” Bernardeschi explained. “But I'm pretty confident, yes,”
The side was bolstered this week with a pair of signings from TFC II in forward Charlie Sharp and defender Nathaniel Edwards.
“There's been a good process in place with TFC II,” said Herdman. “[Head coach] Gianni [Cimini] has done a really good job ensuring that there's a focus on first team progression and Terry Dunfield, one of his core roles is to create what we call the bridging strategy.”
“That work has created a more robust analysis of these players and these two [Sharp and Edwards] have been consistently pushing the first team level,” he continued. “I've been excited to bring some fresh, young players into the group. There's always a new energy and, having a son at a similar age that's fighting for those opportunities, you know how much it means to young players when they finally make that step over the threshold.”
Jay Herdman recently joined Cavalry FC in the Canadian Premier League on loan from Vancouver’s MLS NEXT Pro side, Whitecaps FC 2.
“I've made it clear they're coming into a really hot occasion: the push for the playoffs and a final,” shared Herdman. “And they've got to be ready, not only to contribute off the field with an intensity and to bring that freshness, but to be ready [on it].”
Up first is the visit of Columbus, the defending MLS Cup Champions, who recently added the 2024 League Cup title to their resumes.
The Crew won the last meeting between the two 4-0 in Ohio on July 6; Toronto are feeling good heading into the return fixture.
“The mood is pretty good. We feel like we are in a good spot right now,” said Bernardeschi. “The energy in the team, the feeling, everything is pretty good, honestly. This is the truth. We trust in each other.”
“We know our quality and we play at home. We know it will be a tough game for sure, because they're organized, they play very good, they have a great coach,” he outlined. “Pretty good team, but we're playing at home, in front of our fans, so we are in a good spot. It will be a great game.”
Wilfred Nancy’s side come into town winless in two, on the back of a scoreless draw in the Ohio derby away to FC Cincinnati on Saturday and a 4-0 home loss against the Seattle Sounders over the international break while undermanned.
“Last time was a really interesting game,” recalled Herdman. “We scored that disallowed goal – we’re still debating that one, whether it was in or out – and then they go down the other end and score from a corner as well. We got to halftime, they’d only had three shots on goal and the xG was 0.03 – it was a lot closer than people thought.”
“Our mission in that match was to get to halftime and then to try and open it up. Seven shots they had on target; we had six. It was a close game, but the difference was their quality,” he continued. “When they have shots on target, they seem to bury them. That's a big learning. We have to be really mindful of the errors that we make.”
“We made some big errors this weekend [against Austin], while we played some good football, just the mistakes, those giveaways, what you know with Columbus is they're punishing them. We've got a great goalkeeper in Sean Johnson, but we're not getting away with a lot of those errors,” Herdman stressed. “In the first game we were clean, we limited them, but this weekend we absolutely have to tidy up, clean up, be ultraprofessional in every moment of the game. We can’t be messing around with those sloppy passes in our own half.”
Cucho leads the Crew with 13 goals and 10 assists this season; Diego Rossi is hot on his heels with 10 goals and 11 assists.
While he admires the depth and interchangeability the Crew have assembled under Nancy, Herdman feels Toronto will be a “good match” on Wednesday.
“We have to be professional through 90 minutes. We might have to just win ugly, like we did against Austin at the weekend, that last 20 minutes, but at the same time, while I salivate at their squad, at home with the squad we've got and who can start that game, that's an exciting group,” he closed. “It'll be a hell of a match.”
