a drought that spanned 10 matches, 2-1/2 months and an MLS-record 824 consecutive minutes.
The central reason behind the lack of scoring was that few healthy bodies were available to put the ball in the net. Cunningham first felt the effects of a sports hernia on July 4 that kept the striker out of action for seven games and nearly ended his season. Dichio was also seeing his time limited by a hip flexor and a recurring back problem caused by the stress of playing non-stop soccer since September 2006.
It was during an exhibition game that the fitness situation became critical. The Reds welcomed English Premiership side Aston Villa to Toronto on July 25 for TFC's first match at BMO Field since the U-20 Cup, but the result was anything but friendly for the home side. The match was TFC's sixth in 25 days, and the club was drained.
"That was a bad game for us, really," Dichio said. "We had a game on the Sunday before and then [Villa] on the Wednesday. If you asked most of the boys, we wanted to play Premiership opposition. Our bodies might have been telling us differently but we wanted to be out there. We picked up some nagging injuries there and some long-term injuries. That's when we went on our little sink of a run."
Toronto lost to Villa 4-2, but lost much more in the process. O'Brien suffered a knee injury that ended his season -- a crippling blow to a club that hadn't yet scored without the Irish midfielder on the field. Wynne strained a hamstring that sidelined him for the next three games. The battered Dichio played 48 minutes, aggravating his back and then suffered his hip flexor injury in Toronto's next match.
This match effectively marked the end of Toronto's run of quality soccer. Johnston said he regretted his decision to play so many key players in a friendly.
"I felt we turned the corner, and then came the Aston Villa game," Johnston said. "I thought we played very well [against Villa] and then it spiraled from there. Dichio, O'Brien, Marvell Wynne all went down in that game."
The injury-riddled Reds hadn't won in three league games before the Villa match, and the winless streak extended for nine matches afterwards for a record of 0-8-4 from July 7 to Oct. 4. The goalkeeping situation had finally been stabilized with the signing of Canadian 'keeper Kenny Stamatopoulos from Finnish side Tromso, but TFC found themselves struggling to even fill a full lineup, let alone score a goal or record a victory.
"It's hard to win games when you're missing key guys," Edu said. "Injuries are part of the game, so you've got to just learn to play through it and deal with it. So we have to build depth [for next year]. It doesn't matter who's on the field, you've got to go into that game confident and looking for a positive result."
The most frustrating aspect of the goalless and winless droughts for Toronto was that the team, at times, played excellent soccer. The Reds dominated the Galaxy on August 5 in what was supposed to be David Beckham's first MLS game (he sat out due to an ankle injury), but the result was a scoreless draw.
Toronto played well but came up short in a trio of losses to Chivas USA, D.C. United and FC Dallas, and then their struggles reached the point of absurdity at home on Sept. 15 against Real Salt Lake. Despite outshooting Real 24-5 (including 12-1 in shots on goal) and playing with an extra man for more than half the match, Toronto still couldn't manage to score in yet another 0-0 draw.
It was hard to find positives during such a dire stretch, but there were a few bright spots for TFC during this period. The injuries created a lot of playing time for 20-year-old striker Andrea Lombardo, and the Toronto native showed some potential as a future contributor in the league. Cunningham returned to the field after the team was able to get his hernia surgery pushed up to early September. The release of ineffective Andy Welsh in early September led to more starts for Pozniak, who did his best to fill O'Brien's playmaking void in the midfield.
One positive figure throughout the entire year was Brennan. The captain had shown his commitment by playing out of position nearly all season playing on the back line instead of his preferred left midfield spot. Brennan was also gritting through injuries of his own, including fractured ribs and a broken left wrist. Still, didn't miss a minute of action until a knee injury finally ended his season with three games left on the schedule.
It was a redemptive season for Brennan, who had been plagued with injuries the previous several years while playing for Southampton and Norwich City of the English Football League. The captain was ecstatic at the chance to play high-level soccer in his homeland, and to be part of a process that he hoped would grow the sport in Canada.
"It's past time we did have a professional team here," Brennan said. "It will be more beneficial for young kids playing in the country, and to give them something to shoot for playing here in the country. Hopefully if Montreal and Vancouver get MLS teams it's just going to be better for Canadian soccer."
One negative streak came to an end on Sept. 22, when TFC finally ended its goal drought on a second-minute strike from backup midfielder Miguel Canizalez. The Reds saw their quick lead vanish in the second half of an eventual 2-1 loss to Columbus, and then had another half-time lead wasted a week later in a 4-1 loss to D.C. United.
With the winless streak at 12 games, the Reds were underdogs headed into their match with the playoff-bound New York Red Bulls on Oct. 4 at BMO Field. This time, however, TFC held onto an early lead and notched their first win in three months by beating New York 2-1.
The Reds had one last highlight for their home fans in the final match of the season. The New England Revolution had been Toronto's bogey team, handing the Reds 4-0 and 3-0 losses in their previous two matches, and once the Revs jumped out to a 2-0 lead after 58 minutes on October 20, it looked like another rout was on the way.
But Samuel scored in the 59th minute to cut the lead in half, and Toronto poured on the pressure in search of the tying goal. Two minutes into stoppage time, it looked as if the TFC comeback would come up short, but (who else?) Dichio stepped up with a side volley from outside the penalty area that found the back of the net. The man who had scored Toronto FC's first goal of 2007 had returned from a seven-game absence due to a foot injury to score their last goal of 2007, which ended as one of the finalists for MLS Goal of the Year honors.
"We were down 2-0 and fought back," Marshall said. "Just like we've been doing all year -- scrapping and scraping and doing whatever it takes to get a result. That was indicative of our whole year summed up in one game. Never give up, always fight to the end."
The draw allowed the Reds to end the season on a high, and it also gave the Toronto fans one last chance to salute their team. The 15th of 15 sellout crowds at BMO Field stayed until well after the final whistle to cheer the Reds, and some players even took a victory lap of the field.
For Mo Johnston -- a man used to high-pressure situations in Scotland with Rangers and Celtic, and in the MLS Cup with Kansas City -- the response was incredible considering TFC ended up at the bottom of the league table with 25 points.
"At the end of the [New England] game here, the standing ovation that the fans gave this team was unbelievable," Johnston said. "I'd love to see it in a playoff situation because I think this place would be so vibrant it would be unbelievable. I think we need to start giving them better players and more consistency in our play. What [the fans] showed me when we finished last was incredible."
This desire to give the Toronto fans a winner is fueling Johnston's preparation for 2008. The coach has a number of plans in mind for preseason training (including friendlies everywhere from Charleston to possibly Dubai or China), new acquisitions (Johnston predicted "six or seven" additions to the roster), hiring a full-time conditioning coach to help keep the team fit, starting up Toronto FC's own youth academy, and a scouting mission to South America.
Though he will be keeping busy this winter, Johnston's offseason will be less hectic than his last, when he had to form an entire roster from scratch. The coach will have one more powerful weapon in his arsenal as well. When Johnston is trying to attract players to Toronto, he can lure them with the promise of playing for what are already the most energetic fans in MLS.
And more supporters are expected in 2008. Ninety-five percent of last season's 14,000 season ticket orders were renewed, and thus the team announced that 2,000 more season tickets will be made available for the upcoming year. BMO Field might even be expanded in the coming years to accommodate even more fans. Toronto FC's total attendance of 301,947 and average crowd of 20,130 were good for third in MLS, behind D.C. United and the L.A. Galaxy, both of whom play in larger stadiums.
"Off the field we've broke all sorts of records and attracted new fans to the game of soccer," Dichio said. "It's been a total whirlwind of attracting Torontonians ... and people from outside the Toronto area. I've had letters from as far away as Winnipeg and places like that where they watch us on CBC. It's good we're extending the knowledge of the game out to those areas all around the country."
It is clear that a special relationship has developed between the city and its soccer club. Toronto has proved itself to be more than ready for Major League Soccer, and as 2008 approaches, other MLS clubs may need to ask themselves if they are ready for Toronto. With a fully-fit roster, added depth to ward off injuries and a lack of distractions like the Gold Cup or U-20 World Cup, TFC could be a dark horse to watch for next season.
"If you look at the season overall we feel it's been a success," Brennan said. "I've been fortunate to be the first one here before the rest of the guys and before the stadium was even built, so I've seen it all come together.
"It's been fantastic."
Mark Polishuk is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
