Toronto FC sits five points behind San Jose and Seattle for the eighth and final place in MLS Cup playoffs. Their two matches this week against Chicago and DC must be used to pull the Western Conference clubs closer to the Reds in the league table.
RELATED: Watch Chicago v. Toronto Wednesday night
TFC put itself in this situation when the team dropped eight of 15 points at home in June and July. As in seasons past, the burden falls on the Reds to make up for lost chances at the end of season. This week presents the first challenges in that crucial test.
<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" height="200" id="embed" width="300"><param name="movie" value="http://www.torontofc.neulion.com/tfc/embed.swf"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="flashVars" value="catid=2&id=2380&server=http://www.torontofc.neulion.com/tfc/&pageurl=http://www.torontofc.neulion.com/tfc/&nlwa=http://track1.neulion.com/tfc/"><embed allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="catid=2&id=2380&server=http://www.torontofc.neulion.com/tfc/&pageurl=http://www.torontofc.neulion.com/tfc/&nlwa=http://track1.neulion.com/tfc/" height="200" name="embed" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" src="http://www.torontofc.neulion.com/tfc/embed.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="300"></object> |
<p style="font-size: 10px; margin: 0pt auto;">
VIDEO: Watch TFC keeper Stefan Frei discuss the Chicago match.</p> |
Positive results this week would set the Reds up nicely for back-to-back league encounters against, you guessed it, San Jose and Seattle at the end of September and start of October. Which of the three teams (if any) gets into the postseason could well be decided during those seven days.
When Toronto hosts San Jose on September 25, the Reds will need them to be within striking distance because the Quakes will have additional games left to play. Between now and then San Jose plays just twice while Toronto sees league action three times on top of a Champions League match. San Jose already has a preexisting game in hand so the Reds can’t afford to be further adrift of the Golden State side.
RELATED: MLS Standings
Seattle meanwhile, just had a seven game unbeaten streak snapped and face a series of elite (Salt Lake, Columbus) and desperate (Chicago) clubs between this week and their October 2 match against TFC at Qwest Field. Their schedule ends nicely against Chivas and Houston – a pair of teams that should be out of playoff range by then – so if the Sounders make it through the next four weeks relatively unscathed, they could be free to make postseason plans.
The level of difficulty in Toronto’s schedule isn’t so great that the Reds can’t cope. Yes, five of the remaining eight matches are on the road where Toronto has just a single victory. But three of these away games are against Houston, Chivas and DC – it won’t get much easier than that in 2010.
Regardless of what happens tonight in Chicago, Toronto supporters will mark September 25 and October 2 as the dates which will likely reveal if playoff football will be played in this city before the November 21 MLS Cup Final, set to take place at BMO Field.
Discuss this with Asif on Twitter
