Toronto FC will be looking to make it a perfect week on Saturday against D.C. United at BMO Field under the midway lights of the Canadian National Exhibition.
The Reds returned to MLS action after the Leagues Cup last weekend in Houston. A gritty 1-0 road win against the Dynamo was followed on Tuesday with a victory by the same scoreline over Forge FC in the second leg of their 2024 TELUS Canadian Championship semifinal, advancing Toronto to the final on away goals.
Following Saturday’s action, TFC will pause for the September international break, but then it’s a straight shot to the end of the regular season. Seven league matches and a cup final remain.
The race to the MLS Cup Playoffs is heating up.
In the Eastern Conference, nine teams, separated by just eight points, are jockeying for the final three post-season berths. The win in Houston gave Toronto a five-point cushion on Atlanta heading into the weekend fixtures; Orlando are one point ahead.
“We’re watching,” replied John Herdman on Friday, asked if he was keeping an eye on the out of town results. “We’re watching pretty much every game we need to, in terms of the teams we’re going to play, and there’s a special eye on every team that’s below us and ahead of us, that’s within reach.”
“The message has been there’s one team ahead of us and one team below us,” he continued. “The only focus we have is create the gap and close the gap. Our mission is to climb into that blue area of the table and take a little bit more control of our destiny.”
The blue area Herdman is referring to is the top seven spots in the conference, the guaranteed playoff berths. The last two, in white, will face each other in a play-in match.
With the table set as it is, the next month of action will be fascinating.
“Bottom of the league can still make the playoffs,” said Matty Longstaff. “It's so tight that you feel like every game is so important and after every game, you check results to see where you finish.”
“We’re trying to build momentum going into the playoffs,” he urged. “We need to make it and once you make it, anything can happen.”
If reaching the post-season was job 1A this season, lifting the Voyageurs Cup at the end of the Canadian Championship was 1B. Toronto have earned the right to compete for that silverware. The final is set for September 25 at BC Place against Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
“We're delighted to get through the final, the lads were really good,” said Longstaff of Tuesday’s victory. “We probably should have won the game more convincingly – that’s the only disappointing thing – but we got the job done, which sets us up going into the weekend.”
“If we can win all three,” he added. “It'll be a really good week.”
Herdman has liked the response he has seen from his side in training.
“It's been business,” said the coach. “Yesterday we had a tactical walkthrough because of the regen days and they're usually hard work for a coach, just to keep everyone on focus, but it was a good session.”
“You can see they’re dialed in – I told them that this morning – there was a real focus among the group and professionalism just to get the work done,” Herdman continued. “Against D.C. you have to be brave with the way you play, there was some errors made today in training and you could see players were just moving past it quickly and getting on with the next task.”
“That's always a good sign,” he added. “The focus was there. I was impressed.”
At the business end of the season it’s even more important to be locked in, competing for every play, battling for every yard of space and every blade of grass.
Toronto will be without both Jonathan Osorio and Federico Bernardeschi on Saturday, both suspended for yellow card accumulation, but Lorenzo Insigne, after a fiery midweek outing where he scored the game-winner, will be raring to pick up any slack against D.C.
“He's enjoying his football,” said Herdman. “He can bring intensity now he's been trusting his body for a period of time. He had a difficult preseason, started to find his rhythm, and then picked up that hamstring injury against Atlanta – that put a lot of doubt in his mind. He didn’t know how far he could push and that meant on the field you didn’t see that level of intensity or the competitive element.”
“But the last few games he's been competing. His stats have been really high physically, his technical stats have been really good as well, in terms of the things we measure. He's finding himself,” he outlined. “And to find the back of the net, that’s what you want your DPs to do.”
“That’s why they're the big players. Goals and assists is the standard they hold themselves accountable to,” Herdman levelled. “Him getting a goal on Tuesday, I'm hoping that's the door opening for more to come in this run in and we're going to need that from him. There's no doubt that Lo’s got to produce in this next eight games and he knows that. That's what he came to do: he came to win. And for him to win, he's got to be at his top level.”
When Herdman’s Toronto met Troy Lesesne’s D.C. back in June the two played out a dramatic 2-2 draw. TFC took a two-goal lead in the opening 33 minutes through Derrick Etienne Jr. and Bernardeschi, but United clawed their way back, equalizing in the 95th minute to force a sharing of the spoils.
Toronto kept Christian Benteke, D.C’s talisman quiet – he leads the side with 17 goals, tied for the golden boot lead in MLS; they will be looking to do so again.
“Last game we did a great job with Benteke,” recalled Herdman. “D.C. have got a very clear identity that is built around Benteke. They’re in the top percentiles for what they do, which is being able to get the ball forward quickly, use Benteke as a presence and then work off him.”
“There’s a rhythm with them. A rhythm we were aware of the last time we played, but what’s changed is they’ve built their system more around the diamond, similar to where Troy was playing when he was with the Red Bulls,” he continued. “The principles, the style of play, have remained very consistent: high pressing, intense, front-to-back quickly, players underneath and then high quality players in and around your box that can craft opportunities to get the crosses in.”
“And when the crosses come in, you know Benteke is the best in the league at doing what he does, peeling off the back, overloading key players and getting that opportunity,” Herdman added. “Very similar to what we dealt with last time, but some differences with the structure and some of the new recruits.”
Jared Stroud, nine assists, and Mateusz Klich, eight, are their primary providers.
Toronto have won three of their last four matches in the league, D.C. lost 4-3 to FC Dallas last weekend, snapping a two-game winning streak.
“They’re a tough side to play against,” said Longstaff. “They've changed formation a bit recently, but obviously Benteke up front is a real handful and they’ve got good individuals.”
“It's going to be a tough day, but we've got to concentrate on us,” he closed. “I'm sure that if we turn up on the day, we'll be alright.”
