Toronto Talent Wanted

By Richard Starnes, Ottawa Citizen

Only talent influx will help Toronto FC

Every Major League Soccer club’s cauldron is beginning to bubble as the warm-up to the new season begins. But I can bet you there is no pot quite so hot as Toronto FC’s.

Here’s a club that got off to a scalding start to its inaugural MLS season. A new stadium that sold out every time the team played instantly establishing it as a Toronto landmark.

Trouble was, it couldn’t do a thing on the field. Coach Mo Johnston couldn’t conjour a single goal out of the team he had built until 558 minutes into the season. And it had another stretch of 824 goalless minutes, an MLS record.

The ever-faithful fans got to the stage when they cheered the ballboy for accidentally putting the ball in the net after collecting it for the goalie.

It was an increasing mystery to me why Johnston, who went to Toronto after being fired by the Red Bulls, wasn’t shown the door. It was obvious his MoJo wasn’t working.

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