TORONTO -- With just six games left in the season, every one of the 14 teams in Major League Soccer still has a chance to make the playoffs. Toronto FC has a difficult hill to climb playing in the competitive Eastern Conference, but the team is showing no signs of giving up.
"We're chasing this bit of a shining light we've got of getting to the playoffs," said forward Danny Dichio. "While that's still alive we've all got to pull together and aim for that main thing that we want."
TFC currently has 27 points, which ties them with FC Dallas for 12th overall in the MLS league table. Only the Los Angeles Galaxy, at 26 points, are below Toronto in the standings, but the playoff picture is so congested that a single victory could vault one team over several others.
The Kansas City Wizards, TFC's opponents on Saturday, are a prime example. K.C. was in the league basement heading into last weekend's play, but after a 2-0 win against Los Angeles on Saturday, the Wizards improved to 29 points and are now four points back of D.C. United for the eighth playoff position.
"They won a game and all of a sudden they're [four] points behind the playoffs," said Toronto head coach John Carver. "So it's still tight, we're all running out of games. We have to start picking up the points and it has to be the maximum three points."
TFC's remaining six games are split evenly between Eastern and Western Conference opponents. Given the new playoff structure where the top three sides in a conference automatically qualify, Toronto's goal is to keep the Western teams down so they can continue to beat up on each other (second and last place in the West are separated by just five points) while getting ahead of their Eastern rivals in the race for one of the two wild card positions.
Given that the Wizards are in the same situation, Carver suspects that neither side will be holding anything back on Saturday.
"At this stage both sides have to win the game," Carver said. "So it might be an open game, and listen, if it finishes 5-4 or 4-3, then [that's fine] as long as we're on the winning end."
Such a scoring outburst would be welcome for the Reds, who are second-last in MLS with 25 goals scored. The problem as of late for TFC hasn't necessarily been scoring, but rather keeping the opposition off the board at critical junctures in a game. Of the 33 goals allowed by Toronto this season, 18 have come in the final 15 minutes of a half. As well, TFC's record after scoring the first goal is 7-3-2, which on the surface seems impressive but is actually the second-lowest win percentage of any MLS team after gaining an early lead.
"What they've got to realize is if you've got a lead, you've got a lead for a reason," Carver said. "So you don't change what you're actually doing that actually gave you that lead. I remember in some of the games we've conceded goals and for some reason we've dropped a little bit deeper ... in the box which has given us some problems. So I'm going to say to them, look, once we take the lead, we're not going to change the way we're playing. We'll stay the same way, keep doing the things that got us this lead and try and reinforce [the lead] as well."
Carver thinks his team has lost a few of these leads due to mental mistakes, something that he and the coaching staff have been trying to correct with situational training during practice sessions.
"I'm trying to limit errors, and what I mean by that is, don't play in certain areas when you don't have to play in those areas," Carver said. He cited the team's 2-1 loss to Chivas on August 30, when goalkeeper Greg Sutton made a poor clearance throw in stoppage time that led to a Chivas corner and the eventual winning goal.
"Eliminate the errors and eliminate the opportunity to create errors. So when you get to the end of the game, get the ball in their half and let's try and play in their end. ... Yeah, I want people to get the ball down and play it, pass it, and make it attractive to the eye, but I want to win games as well. I think if we had thought about that a few weeks ago we might have a few more points on the board and be closer to that playoff spot."
One positive for the Reds is that the team is near full fitness for Saturday's match. Defender Nana Attakora-Gyan has resumed some light training after missing the last month with a knee injury, while Carl Robinson and Kevin Harmse fully participated in Thursday's training session and should be available for selection on the weekend.
Striker Carlos Ruiz saw limited field time on Thursday after having fluid drained from his knee on Wednesday, but Carver said that it was a routine procedure for the veteran forward and Ruiz would be ready for Saturday.
Another bit of good news for TFC is that should Ruiz or fellow striker Chad Barrett need to be substituted, Dichio is ready to come off the bench. The Englishman has played 118 minutes over the last two games, including a start against Chivas on Sept. 6, and is finally recovered from the concussion that limited him to just 12 minutes over an eight-game span through July and August.
Dichio said he is still not quite fully fit after missing nearly two months of action, but is eager to contribute coming off the bench.
"I'm just trying to make as much impact and create a little bit of spark when I come on. It's totally different from starting," Dichio said. "I'll adapt to any role that's been given to me at the moment because I'm just trying to help out the team."
The aches and pains involved with getting his body back into full-time playing shape have been tough on the veteran, but Dichio said he greatly prefers those types of minor injuries to the helplessness of a concussion.
"The concussion was a totally frustrating injury where I didn't have a timeline on it. The joints and muscles and stuff are long-term, but you can ease them and work with them at times," Dichio said. "The concussion was [something] that you have no input in.
"I've been training every day and the couple of matches I've been involved with now have helped a lot. I feel a lot better, a lot stronger than I did previously."
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