And while it’s far from certain Lorenzo Insigne & Co. will pull it off – after Wednesday night’s 2-2 home draw with New England, TFC sit three points below the Eastern Conference playoff line with eight games remaining – head coach and sporting director Bob Bradley has embraced the challenge.
“It’s been a unique season in the sense that changes that occurred before the season were a starting point, but there was also an understanding that there would be additions and changes in the summer, both international window and trade window,” Bradley told MLSsoccer.com in an in-depth conversation this week.
“These are guys that immediately make the group better. They’re good guys; a lot of the players already knew Mark and Richie really well,” said Bradley. “Our football is getting better, the mentality of the group is positive.
Everybody knows that the margin is tight right now, but there’s a sense that if you can be a really good team at the end of the season, it provides you really good opportunities to see how far you can go with this thing.”
Hire a new coach with an ambitious possession-centric philosophy. Promote a flock of wet-behind-the-ears academy kids and struggle mightily in the first half of the season. Then pivot dramatically in midsummer upon the arrival of a clutch of elite Serie A veterans – one of the priciest talent infusions in MLS history – and mount a dramatic late dash up the table and into the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs, where just about anything can happen.
As far as plotlines go, you could rank ’s plan for 2022 right up there with iconic Hollywood capers like “Heat” or “Midnight Run.”
And while it’s far from certain & Co. will pull it off – after Wednesday night’s with TFC sit three points with eight games remaining – head coach and sporting director Bob Bradley has embraced the challenge.
“It’s been a unique season in the sense that changes that occurred before the season were a starting point, but there was also an understanding that there would be additions and changes in the summer, both international window and trade window,” Bradley told MLSsoccer.com in an in-depth conversation this week.
“By the time I had any talks at all with Toronto and [club president] Bill [Manning], it was pretty far along that Lorenzo was coming, and also that there was a good chance that would come as well. And we knew that in the first half of the year, there was going to be opportunities for young players, and try to establish some starting points on how we wanted to play, so that when others got there this summer, we could try to just continue and work that all in.”
