U-Sector – The Original Toronto FC Supporters Group

Familiarity Breeds Contempt

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Photo courtesy TFCpics.com

Must Win.

It’s a phrase that gets thrown around far too often in sports, especially in today’s world of instant gratification. It’s one that I am loathe to use very often, but in the case of Saturday’s TFC match versus Real Salt Lake, I’m saying it.

It’s a must win game.

Sure, if the Reds don’t get full points at BMO Field on the weekend, there is still the entirety of September and October for the team to get hot and pick up the requisite number of points to get into the playoffs, so a loss wouldn’t be devastating from a mathematical point of view. But the points would definitely help, and the game is a must win for other reasons.

For starters, Toronto is coming off two very demoralizing losses over the past week. Both were in different competitions, and both were very different defeats. The end game was the same for each though, with Toronto having dropped three very claimable points against unremarkable opposition.

So in that vein, TFC needs at home win on Saturday to pick the team’s collective spirit up and wash away the memories of the previous two matches.

Secondly, the opponent is RSL, as side that Toronto will become intimately familiar with over the next month, to the tune of three matches against the Utah club between Saturday and September 28. It would be incredibly advantageous if the Reds could kick off the first of those matches on the right foot and stamp their home authority over the Salt Lake crew.

Speaking of home authority, TFC just lost hold of a BMO Field unbeaten mark that lasted over a full year in all competitions when they got thrashed by the New York Red Bulls last weekend. Toronto thrives on the home field advantage — one could say that the entire season depends on it given the atrocious road record — so a win over a very good RSL side on the Lakeshore will send the message that the Red Bulls loss was an anamoly rather than an emerging trend.

Finally, Toronto needs to win on the weekend for the simplest reason of them all, and one that I alluded to above — points. TFC, after having sat in a playoff position the entire season, is now on the outside looking in where post-season rankings are concerned. Toronto is once again in a dog fight for the playoff table scraps, and every single point from here on out will help the Reds in that fight.

Win, TFC. That’s all there is to it.

Posted by Rudi Schuller