2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Vancouver Whitecaps the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Toronto FC will enjoy reviewing.
Two goals and a mark of 8.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Toronto FC, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Djordje Mihailović and Toronto FC agree another 2 years.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Toronto FC they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Sal Olivas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Toronto FC, and it is not being withdrawn.
Adisa De Rosario was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Words at Toronto FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergio Borges is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Toronto FC are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Toronto FC has been clear about where Cameron Bradley stands, which is more than many ever get.
José Cifuentes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Aaronson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Toronto FC the goodbyes have quietly begun.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Deandre Kerr in the middle of it, and FC Cincinnati unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Sergio Borges falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Toronto FC are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Toronto FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Sergio Borges falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The name of Sergio Borges has come up in conversations Toronto FC were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Toronto FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Toronto FC training over how hard people work
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Toronto FC they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The mood at Toronto FC has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Toronto FC they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Toronto FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 20, and nobody at Toronto FC signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The mood at Toronto FC has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Toronto FC lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Toronto FC is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The mood at Toronto FC has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Toronto FC lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Toronto FC lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces9 Oct 2034
The mood at Toronto FC has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The words a physio says slowly. 99 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Toronto FC is running low.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Toronto FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 115 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The terraces11 Sep 2034
The mood at Toronto FC has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Toronto FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Aaronson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Toronto FC the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Toronto FC are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Toronto FC pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Toronto FC they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Sal Olivas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad7 Aug 2034
Sam Morris is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Toronto FC will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The mood at Toronto FC has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Adisa De Rosario was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Laurent Sanchez is living that version at Toronto FC, and it tends to show in the first month.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Fernando Hernández has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Toronto FC have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The mood at Toronto FC has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Toronto FC have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Toronto FC can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Toronto FC they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Toronto FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
New York Red Bulls left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Jun 2034
Words at Toronto FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Bello is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The mood at Toronto FC has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Toronto FC they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Toronto FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Toronto FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Toronto FC know it.
Squad8 May 2034
Sergio Borges is the division's best young player this month
At 19 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Toronto FC will try very hard not to make too much of it.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Aaronson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Toronto FC the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Sal Olivas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Colorado Rapids will make the call about Mateo Fofre this week. Toronto FC have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Toronto FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Mateo Fofre has come up in conversations Toronto FC were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Atlanta United FC left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad10 Apr 2034
Jhon Bello falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Adisa De Rosario and Toronto FC agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Toronto FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 1‑0 win over Charlotte Football Club, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Toronto FC who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Squad3 Apr 2034
Words at Toronto FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Bello is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Toronto FC has been clear about where Deandre Kerr stands, which is more than many ever get.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Toronto FC they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Sal Olivas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Toronto FC are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Jhon Bello falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Toronto FC is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Sal Olivas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The words a physio says slowly. 72 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Toronto FC can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Aaronson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Toronto FC the goodbyes have quietly begun.
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Toronto FC lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
José Cifuentes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Toronto FC is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
In brief
SquadJhon Bello falls out with a teammate over standards
“I have watched this squad. There is more in it than the table says.” First press conference, first promise — the manager made the one every new manager makes, and now comes the part where it gets checked.
The words a physio says slowly. 132 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
José Cifuentes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Toronto FC lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Toronto FC they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Toronto FC can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Toronto FC is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Toronto FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Deandre Kerr. 1‑0 against New York City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Derrick Etienne Jr..
20 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Toronto FC, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Aaronson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Toronto FC the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Toronto FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad22 Aug 2033
Words at Toronto FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Bello is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 19, and nobody at Toronto FC signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Toronto FC, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Toronto FC is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
José Cifuentes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
50 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad15 Aug 2033
Jhon Bello falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
133 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Toronto FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Aug 2033
Words at Toronto FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adisa De Rosario is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
13 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Boardroom4 Jul 2033
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Toronto FC
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Toronto FC can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Djordje Mihailović and Toronto FC agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Aaronson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Toronto FC the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Toronto FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Toronto FC are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 9 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Toronto FC can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Toronto FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Toronto FC they have already started talking about him in the past tense.