Heading into the final full month of the 2022 MLS regular season, Toronto FC are getting fitter and feeling sharper.

Wednesday’s 2-2 draw against the LA Galaxy saw midfielder Noble Okello return to the pitch after months on the sidelines and Jesús Jiménez, tied with Jonathan Osorio for the team lead in scoring, bag his first goal since June 29.

Both will be important going forward, giving Bob Bradley a different option in the midfield and adding yet another goal scoring threat to the arsenal.

“[Noble] deserves credit because it was a long injury that, to this day, it's still not easy to understand how it came about,” said the TFC coach on Friday. “It ended up keeping him off the field way longer than anybody expected and when that type of situation develops, the mentality to fight through and keep yourself going is so important.”

Toronto are still waiting on the returns of Jonathan Osorio, Mark-Anthony Kaye, and Deandre Kerr, but there have positive developments.

Osorio was back in full training, while the other two worked on their own with a hope of rejoining the side for Saturday’s session.

“Fingers crossed,” replied Bradley of Osorio’s weekend availability. “We'll see. See how he feels tomorrow.”

“It's been positive with both,” he added of Kaye and Kerr. “It was a decision that there were certain things that they would do today to check off some boxes, so we'll see what that means for them tomorrow, whether we can get them on the field for training and if so, how do they respond and whether that makes them options for Sunday.”

Much as they were with Lorenzo Insigne, Toronto have been cautious with Kaye, preferring to get back a player that is properly ready rather than risk a recurrence.

“Soft tissue-type injuries. return to play, ideas on how you get a guy back as quickly as possible, but in a way that keeps them on the field. Those are really important areas in all sports, in all big clubs around the world,” explained Bradley. “Mark came with a little something, so it's hard to say when it all began, but for him going forward, both with us and with the national team, he's an important player and [we want] for him to be consistently on the field.”

After being left in Toronto to rest when the team travelled to Miami last week, Jiménez scored moments after coming on against Los Angeles midweek. And in the hour of action before then Ayo Akinola was getting into good positions and had a handful of half-chances.

All positive signs from the strikers.

“We are always optimistic,” said Bradley. “We work through different ways how can they improve. Every striker is different, so when you work with different strikers, you have certain ideas of how you want your team to play, but then you're also trying to understand in each case what are the strikers strengths, weaknesses; how do you maximize what he's all about?”

“I'm a little late coming up here today in part because I'm showing guys clips and little things that we're trying to work on,” he continued. “Last game there's some moments where you see improvements, where you see us get some chances, hopefully, that will, down the stretch, continue to get better. It will be important.”

Toronto has five games left.

Next weekend sees them hit the road to face Atlanta United and the following weekend they will be away to Orlando City SC before the September international break. TFC closes the month with their final home game of the season, on September 30 against Inter Miami CF, before closing out the campaign away to the Philadelphia Union on October 9.

Five games left; each will be the most important game of the season. 

This weekend’s, with the visit of CF Montreal to BMO Field on Sunday, will be particularly special as it always is, but that doesn’t change the approach.

“It's important for us to just focus on it game-by-game,” said Richie Laryea. “Obviously this being a huge one against Montreal, being a rival and all that, and with the points needed for us to continue to climb the table.”

With 15 points from their last eight matches, TFC have given themselves a shot at the post-season. The Eastern Conference standings are a jumble with seven points separating sixth from twelfth and several teams having games in hand on others. Much remains to be sorted out in the coming weeks.

Toronto still believe.

“If we take care of these next couple of matches the playoff line is very doable for us and we have the team to do it,” said Laryea. “We'll get ourselves in position to cross that line.”

“We'll have to win a majority of these games coming up,” he added. “High stakes, but it will prepare us for what's next as well.”

And there would be no better way to begin this journey than with a win over Montreal, a game that when it pops up on the schedule always bring an extra element.

“A rival,” summed up Laryea. “Even before I played for this club, it was a place that people from here don't necessarily get along with people from there.”

“Whenever we play those games, it means a lot to everyone, especially the boys from Toronto. It's one that you circle, it's a game that you want to win. It’s a big one for us.”

Montreal come to town in good spirits, all but assured of a playoff berth. A 1-0 loss at Stade Saputo against the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday snapped an eight-game unbeaten run that began with their 1-0 victory over TFC in July.

An own-goal off the head of Lukas MacNaughton proved the difference that day, but that was before the influx of Italians rejuvenated Toronto.

Wilfried Nancy’s side has been one of the teams to watch this year. 

“A very good game,” said Bradley of his expectations. “Montreal has been in good form lately, but they also deserve credit for being a good team most of the year. They have a clear idea on how they want to play, have some different options that fit into their system that gives them different looks.”

Romell Quioto leads the side with 15 goals on the season, while Lassi Lappalainen’s seven assists top that category.

“They can play one underneath two, they can play a version of three [up top]. The starting points in the back and in the midfield are normally the same. They rely heavily on their wing-backs, solid guys in the center of the midfield, and a back three that has good understanding,” added the Toronto coach. “They're a good team.”