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The Farley Group are a bunch of die-hard Toronto FC fans so it was a huge deal to see that our team had made it into the finals of the MLS Cup. While the team is still young to the bourgeoning soccer league, after nine years the TFC found a good deal of success in 2016. Despite a tough loss in the playoffs, the team should be proud of all that they’ve accomplished this season.
Today we’ll recap Toronto FC’s journey to this year, their end of season performance and the nail-biting playoff final match.
It’s been a difficult road for TFC.
For the club’s first season in 2007, TFC quickly make a presence in the league. Not because they did well—they didn’t, and finished the season at the bottom of the rankings—but because of the massive fan support. Toronto loves its sport teams, and Toronto FC would be no exception.
Despite a strong fan-base, the early days didn’t see much success for the team as they struggled to move up in the league and never managed to secure a position in the playoffs. They’re 2012 season ended on a dreadful note as the team went on a losing streak of 14 games to close out the season in dead last. Luckily, this would be the team’s low point.
The 2013 and 2014 seasons saw plenty of change up for the team as they attempted to figure out what would work best. Notably, the team signed Jermain Defoe, an English player of international acclaim. His fee of 6 million GBP would make him the highest paid player in the MLS. While his addition helped a little, the team still failed to make it into the playoffs. That would mark eight consecutive seasons of failing to reach the playoffs.
But this year the team finally found its footing.
A strong end to the season saw the team having lost only two games out of 15. After a few tough games, TFC managed to secure a place in the playoffs.
The next series of games went in favour of TFC and to Toronto’s surprise, the team secured a spot in the MLS Cup final and would face the Seattle Sounders.
The final match took place December 10th and by all appearances, it was Toronto FC’s match. The game itself went scoreless as the two teams battled back and forth. Toronto’s attacks were stronger, but the Sounder’s defence was too tough to crack.
After 108 minutes of play, Toronto had a devastating chance to take the Cup, but the Sounder’s goalkeeper made a miraculous save. By the end of 120 minutes, Toronto had made 19 goal attempts while Seattle had a measly three shots that missed the target. By all accounts, Toronto were the better team.
Unfortunately, as per the rules, after 120 minutes the game went into penalty kicks. Toronto missed two shots and Seattle were able to sneak off with the cup. A tough way to lose for Toronto FC.
On the bright side though, TFC dominated in their performance, which sheds some positivity towards next year’s chances. Perhaps training under a Farley soccer dome is starting to pay off for the young, but impressive team. Best of luck next year, TFC! The Farley Group will be rooting for a repeat performance.
