TFC off to roaring start to new MLS season

Niko De Ciantis: Sports Reporter

The MLS season is underway and Toronto FC is off to a great start, better than some may have expected.

After three games played, Toronto has picked up two wins and one tie.

This exceptional start might surprise fans because last season was a season to forget. Toronto finished dead last in the MLS with just 22 points.

To put it into perspective, they picked up just four total wins in all of last season. They’re already halfway to that achievement this season and played 31 fewer games.

Ryan Dos Santos has been a Toronto FC fan “Since day one.” Dos Santos began supporting the club when they were founded in 2007.

He described last season as, “abysmal, sad, depressing. I don’t think you can use any positive word to really describe last year’s season.”

Andrew Nieva, another big fan of Toronto FC, also expressed disappointment with the way last season went down.

“It goes down to the players,” he said. “You can tell they didn’t want it. There was no passion behind any of their games.”

Their opening game of the season was a goalless draw against Cincinnati. They went on to win their next two games with a score of 1-0 against New England and Charlotte in their home opener last weekend.

Italian star Lorenzo Insigne scored both goals for Toronto in both its wins.

At home, against Charlotte, he found the back of the net with just

10 minutes remaining in the match with a curled shot from outside the box.

Insigne and fellow Italian Federico Bernardeschi both signed for Toronto back in 2022 to help bolster the squad. For some, they’ve become fan favourites.

“They put us more on the map,” Dos Santos said.

He said that there was some drama within the team and that they wanted to leave last year because of poor results.

However, he added he’s hopeful they will change their minds now that it seems that things have turned around. “Fingers crossed that they continue to do well this season,” he said.

One major change that Toronto seems to be benefiting from this year is their new head coach, John Herdman.

Herdman has an excellent coaching track record. Before taking the job to manage Toronto FC, he was the manager of the Canadian Men’s National Team. Under his management, Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 36 years.

Prior to that, he coached the Canadian Women’s National Team, where he led them to two bronze medals in the Olympics and one gold in the Pan American games.

“The work he did with Canada, I don’t think any coach could’ve done the same job he did,” Dos Santos said.

Nieva was enthusiastic about the Herdman hire and said, “hopefully he has a better approach for TFC (this year).”

Fans will be hopeful that this start is a sign of things to come for the duration of the season. If this success continues, they could earn themselves a ticket to the playoffs, something they haven’t competed in since 2019.

Toronto FC competed in the MLS Cup final three times between 2016-2019. They were crowned champions in 2017 for the first time in their history.

“If they keep it up, I’m confident they can have a playoff spot, but ultimately it comes down to the players.” Nieva said.

Toronto FC will play New York City FC away in their next match on Saturday.