The Monday MLS Breakdown: TFC is Surging

Goal.com USA's Kyle McCarthy gives credit to John Carver and Mo Johnston for re-stocking Toronto FC with talented players, especially in the midfield, which is allowing them to climb up the Eastern Conference standings.


By Kyle McCarthy
 Like most battles in Major League Soccer, the quest to build a winning team in Toronto started in the midfield.
 While the defense stuttered and stammered and the forwards stopped and started, the midfield proved the bane of Mo Johnston’s existence last year.
 Johnston preferred the tried and true 4-4-2 formation last season. Unfortunately for the Scot, he only had two MLS-caliber midfielders. Carl Robinson (Wales) and Maurice Edu (United States) aren’t slouches in the center of the field, but with no outlets on the flanks, the duo faced too much pressure inside an engine room most teams in MLS prefer to clutter with three in the middle.
 Try as he might, Johnston couldn’t find a pair of wingers to open up the field and give Robinson and Edu the space to operate. Overrun in midfield, the opposition cut off service to the misfiring strikers and punished the rickety defense time and again.


Read more