With J Hutcherson -- All in all, not the best weekend to be a fan of half the teams in Major League Soccer. Whatever route was taken to disappointment in the final weekend of play, it's the same basic point. In 2009, this is a circuit that can't put anybody over. Toronto can't play in the rain. Dallas can't score enough. Neither can DC. Chivas USA figured the cap on their regular season should be dropping six points in a week, setting themselves up as the first round away team in their own stadium.
Then there was Colorado. The mighty Rapids have been gradually sliding down the table for weeks now, but that was overshadowed by the Revolution being just good enough to stay above the bulk of the contenders. New England needed the final scheduled game of the season to barely get back in. Oddly fitting that they did it at the expense of Colorado.
Their slump came late. That never puts the subtle point on a team not syncing. At the same time it also disallows much play to the idea that they really were that close. Leave that for the borderline delusional teams. The ones that pressed on in a season of mediocre parody while actually believing things have changed.
As this season went, the unabashed optimism for not taking three points when needed is almost an epidemic. Toronto was for real for all of a week, with everybody forgetting this was a team with an abysmal away record. That shouldn't matter against the worst team in MLS, even if that team had been spending weeks knocking around better teams.
Five goals later, and Toronto is once again the only team in the League with a long-term manager rather than a coach. The coach in question basically pushed open the exit door and headed out with his post-game comments.
Yes, the ones that ran on an official site: "Would I be back next season? Listen, there is a fair chance I won't be. My family is back in the U.K. and I need to be with them. Unfortunately, there were things promised to me that I did not get and I need to be by my family."
Fair enough, considering. MLS has never been all that strong in dealing with misplaced expectations. Still current interim coach Chris Cummins is right. For Toronto to be markedly different, they needed more than what was on offer. Playing the in-season lottery by shifting keepers is just that, and the FC fell on the wrong side.
They're also the ones most likely to convince themselves of a different story than what most of us saw play out early and late in '09. Remember the coach that started the season at BMO? The guy who also headed for the exit while letting the League know he expected more from topflight professional soccer?
Oh how everyone laughed. Yet another person who just doesn't get it, even when 'it' ended up meaning too many teams unable to close. Toronto ended up the worst offender - and not even the die-hards should be convincing themselves the Red Bulls got all worked up to exit Giants Stadium with a win.
Remember, Toronto did a lot of talking about designated players and ended up signing a component midfielder. As in the kind of player who, without question very skilled, needs a skilled team to really play to his strength. The equivalent of spending all your money on a new car when your roof is leaking and your basement is flooded. I'm sure that natural grass playing surface will solve everything. Look at it this way. Had Toronto been two points better at home, that ridiculous road record where they went 2-8-5 wouldn't have mattered.
Again, this comes down to a particular understanding of parity. In MLS, this isn't the 'any team can win' version. It's the obvious flaws, breakdowns, and simple inability to produce showing up over and over. When that happens a couple of times, there's no arguing against the entertainment factor. When it's happening every week, not so much.
Why pick on Toronto? For one thing, they've got the best media coverage in MLS. In Toronto, it's not a single major outlet monologue. They've got three dailies covering them, a wire service paying more attention to one club than the rest of the League gets in the United States, and local television paying close attention. For another, they're an established draw at home. How long does any of that last when they can't break .500, much less make the playoffs?
Comments, questions, solutions to problems that have yet to present themselves. Please, tell me all about it.
