Reds are ready to face San Jose at BMO today.

Photo courtesy of Toronto FC Advanced Media

 

By Eduardo Harari

 

TORONTO. - Most teams in the east would be thrilled to get a break in the schedule by playing west conference teams as the fury of the summer is due to start. But for the Reds it will be a toll as they need results.

 

The Reds who have struggled through a stretch of 5 games in 15 days will be at BMO field today to face the San Jose Earthquakes and Chris Wondolowski, before departing again to face the Whitecaps in Vancouver and returning to BMO on June 7th to face Sporting Kansas City.  This stretch should have been one that Toronto would have ben looking forward to but there are so many variants in the line up due to injury that make it a struggle just to thinking about it. Add to that the absence now of Pozuelo due a regulatory red card during the match against Salt Lake and it's no wonder why Greg Vanney is catching his head.  

 

Osorio put it into context very well, "these are three matches the Reds expect to get results from."

 

The trouble is, the Reds have not exactly been average lately, having lost 3 - 6, including a 3-0 defeat to Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium. The Reds have only scored one goal in four games. the loss of Jozy Altidore has been a major part of their struggle.

 

Vanney hopes to have Altidore in top form for the San Jose match, but without Pozuelo feeding him the ball should prove to be difficult. The two have combined for 10 goals and eight assists this year. 

 

“Obviously, getting Jozy back will be very important for us,” said Reds captain Michael Bradley, when asked about next Sunday’s match against San Jose. “He’s a key part of what we do on the attack. There are always periods like this in a season and we’ve just got to keep ourselves going.”

 

During the grind of five games in 15 days, TFC had to deal with a series of injuries. Earlier, it was Altidore (hamstring and heel) and centre back Drew Moor (adductor) and lately it’s been defenders Chris Mavinga (mild quad strain) and Laurent Ciman (ankle injury). Vanney is hopeful that the week-long break coming up will mean that everyone is healthy for the San Jose match.

 

“It is what it is,” said Bradley. “You take some time to recover a little bit — mentally, physically — and then make sure we have a few good days of training leading into an important home game.”