TFC season review, Part II: All that went right

It’s really easy right now to wallow knee deep in the feces. An infuriating 5-0 loss to New York, the second worst MLS team of all-time, to end an incredibly frustrating season that saw TFC drop 15 points in the final 15 minutes of games (39 + 15 = 54 = Supporter’s Shield*) will do that to you. But, it would be a mistake to label everything about the year as a complete waste.

So, at the risk of being called a MLSE lackey, part II of the season review will attempt to be positive (don’t worry, there will be plenty of excrement wallowing to come).

What went right for TFC in 2009? Well, you can start with the kids. Sam Cronin, Stefan Frei and, especially, Nana Attakora have to be the biggest three positives this season. Although some legitimate criticism can be made about Mo Johnston’s decision to pick Cronin over Omar Gonzalez none of it has to do with the player Toronto got. Rather, it’s a reflection of needs: as in even my cat knew that TFC needed a defender of Gonzalez’ style, like, really badly.

Cronin, however, has been a rock for the club all year. Asked to play out of position for basically all but one game, he has forced his way into the conversation for rookie of the year and, more importantly, has also demonstrated a tremendous potential for leadership.

In a dressing room that is, it seems, too comfortable, Cronin has shown that he will speak his mind. He comes from a winning culture at Wake Forest (I’ve been clear in my position that the NCAA is not the right place for MLS to be developing players from, but if you have to grab a college kid you could do much worse than Wake) and he does not seem overly willing to accept losing.

He’s also not likely to be heading to Europe soon and could prove to be a long-term player for the Reds if the club can find a way to keep him happy.

One player that probably will be in Europe fairly soon is Stefan Frei, the rookie keeper that could very well win the rookie of the year (you know that the two rookie of the year candidates will be front and centre in the team’s off-season marketing efforts and spin – it’s not that bad, we’ve got the kids!). With an EU passport and strong Swiss roots, Frei seems destined for a middling Euro league within the next 18-months. It’s tough to step in as a keeper, but Frei did, showing some great shot blocking instincts and solid distribution skills along the way.

There is room for improvement, of course. He needs to command the box lot better before he moves to a big league, but he’s very young for a keeper and with that passport...he will be an asset for TFC either on the pitch or through allocation moving forward.

And then there is Young Nana**. To me the biggest surprise and most inspiring aspect of TFC’s season this year has been the development of Attakora into a legitimate MLS starter and a potential MLS star down the road. To have 22 MLS starts before you can drink in 14 of the 15 MLS cities is an accomplishment.

Much of the credit for his development should go to Chris Cummins, actually. It was Cummins that was most closely working with him in 2008 and who showed the confidence in him early this season. Attakora rewarded that confidence by becoming, arguably, Toronto’s most consistent performer. He was the team’s player of the month twice this year (and should receive some attention for the team’s player of the year).

Considering he’s been in a professional set-up since he was 17 (a nurturing professional set-up close to mom’s cooking), there is really nothing but upside to Attakora. His technical skills could end up matching his physical ones (which are significant) and something tells me he won’t retire in Toronto (unless it’s as a homecoming after a long career overseas). Would anyone be shocked to see Nana end up in the set-up of wherever Cummins lands? I wouldn’t.

The Scarborough boys are obviously a positive as well, albeit it one tempered with a significant side of disappointment. As much as many people want to dump on Adrian Serioux right now, he was a rock in the early part of the season and he really only started to struggle when the injuries started to catch up to him. If a centreback can be found in the off-season that may allow Serioux to move back to his natural full-back position and maybe even open up the possibility of moving Marvell Wynne for a more needed asset.

DeRo produced a boat load of goals. It was his best offensive season since 2005 and second best of his career. And then there was the hat-trick in Montreal.

Just getting Julian de Guzman is a positive that should provide a little bit of hope for the fans moving forward. I’m not sure using him as a holding midfielder is the best utilization of his talents at the MLS level, but a full season under (yet again) a new coach will be interesting to see.

On the pitch it was, of course, bleak -- the Voyageurs’ Cup being the one positive in an otherwise frustrating year. People tend to remember the 6-1 game in Montreal, but forget Toronto’s other two wins in the competition. Although they undoubtedly should have converted more of their opportunities in the home games against Vancouver and Montréal, the bottom line was that they won both games while dominating in both possession and chances. Those two wins are every bit a part of the championship as was the 6-1 win in Montréal to end it. That said, the TFC fans that traveled to Quebec that night got to see something special and the disappointment of the season (or the bitterness of other Canadian fans) should not take away from that.

As for MLS play, there was a slight increase in points (from 35 to 39) and the team was in it right to the final weekend. I’ll have a lot more to say about the MLS season in Part III, however, as the truth is that there isn’t much positive to point to. As a point of comparison, both Salt Lake (40 points) and Chivas (43 points) made the playoffs in their third season in the league.

As stated, Part III will look at the negatives more closely, but it is incorrect and unfair to suggest that there were no positives. Not enough, sure, but not none.

*Clearly this is the ultimate woulda, coulda, shoulda statistic. I’m not for a minute suggesting that TFC would have won the Supporter’s Shield this year if not for a little more late game luck. I am, however, going to make the argument that the Reds would have comfortably made the playoffs if they showed even a smidgen of backbone at crunch time. Let’s look at just three games – Dallas at home, San Jose at home and Columbus on the road. Toronto dropped five points in the last two minutes plus stoppage of those three games. Take care of those points and TFC’s playing Chicago next weekend.

** It seemed at times this year that Attakora’s first name was actually Young. Every time a coach referred to him he was always “Young Nana.” I always found it strangely endearing.

Part II of V of the season review:

Part I - Mo Johnston and management
Part II - What went right on the pitch?
Part III - What went wrong on the pitch?
Part IV - Player and staff report card
Part V - What needs to happen?