Reeling Toronto FC will try to turn their season around against the high-flying Crew in Columbus on Saturday.
The Crew (10-3-6, 36 points) have won three straight — scoring 11 goals — and seven of eight games overall after enduring a lengthy weather delay at the start before defeating visiting Nashville SC 2-0 on Wednesday.
“Anytime you can get these little runs going throughout the season, it’s big, and to be back at home and to win in front of the fans again, to now carry that momentum again to Saturday with the fans here, it means a lot,” Crew midfielder Sean Zawadzki said.
“They stayed for two hours in the weather delay, and to see as many fans as there were when we walked out for warmups was incredible,” he continued. “It just goes to show that these fans will do anything to support us, and then we’ll continue to put out a product on the field that they’re proud of.”
Toronto FC (7-12-3, 24 points) are anything but prideful with five consecutive losses, during which they have been outscored 13-4. They are also carrying the burden of a 0-6-2 streak following a 2-1 home loss to Orlando City on Wednesday.
Coach John Herdman is perplexed by Toronto’s costly lapses.
“These 20-minute periods where, for whatever reason, whether we are playing home or away, it’s just not that desire or intensity,” he said. “This has to be a turning point for our club. …
“We’ll have some hard conversations, and then internally, I think, each individual player will need to do that themselves because if this isn’t a turning point, then the season can slide away very quickly.”
Meanwhile, the Crew trio of Cucho Hernandez, Christian Ramirez and Diego Rossi are on fire. In the past three matches, Hernandez has made eight goal contributions (four goals, four assists) and Rossi has two goals and three assists. Ramirez has three goals and two assists in the past five matches.
“Guys are moving unselfishly for each other,” Ramirez said. “We continue to find where the opposition is giving us space and we continue to try to exploit that.”
–Field Level Media
