CHESTER, Pa. — Toronto FC's season is over but the work continues in revamping a roster that has already gone through an almost complete overhaul in the wake of a dismal 2021 campaign.
A 4-0 loss Sunday to the Philadelphia Union was just the latest smack in the face for an undermanned Toronto side, marking a fifth straight defeat for a rebuilding team whose season finished with a whimper with just one win in its last nine outings (1-6-2).
Missing four starters including Italian stars Lorenzo Insigne and Domenico Criscito, Toronto (9-18-7) suffered its third straight shutout and ended the season mired in a 293-minute scoring drought.
Toronto was eliminated from post-season contention Sept. 17 in a 4-0 loss to Orlando City SC and consigned to a 13th-place finish in the Eastern Conference no matter Sunday's outcome.
That's the same position as 2021 in a 6-18-10 campaign that cost coach Chris Armas and his successor Javier Perez their jobs.
"From start to finish, this was a very very challenging year," said Bob Bradley, who took over as head coach and sporting director after last season.
"Challenging when we arrived looking at existing situations. Challenging to figure out ways to improve the roster. Challenging with … guys coming in mid-season. Challenging with different injuries just when you maybe thought you had a little chance to get a bit more consistency. We were never able to do that."
"In all ways just a huge challenge," he added. "Probably in that regard I would say that it's one of the most challenging years that I've ever had as coach — to keep guys going, to try to keep a focus on things that we needed to think about every day. It's a test for everybody."
Not everyone passed.
Toronto, which saw some 20 members of its first team leave after last season, will no doubt open the exit door again.
Help is needed in goal, defence and at striker. The midfield needs depth.
TFC conceded four goals in four of its last five games to match last season's franchise-worst total of 66 goals against. Its last win was a 2-0 decision at Charlotte on Aug. 27.
TFC has gone 15-36-17 since Greg Vanney stepped down as coach in December 2020.
Philadelphia (19-5-10) showed Sunday it is already set and primed to do some playoff damage.
Daniel Gazdag scored a hat trick and Mikael Uhre added a single for the Union, which secured first place in the Eastern Conference with the win.
With his first-half goal and assist, Gazdag becomes only the sixth player in league history with at least 20 goals and 10 assists in a single season.
Union goalkeeper Andrew Blake posted his league-leading 15th clean sheet of the season as Philadelphia outshot Toronto 18-6 (9-1 in shots on target).
Toronto had a horrendous start Sunday, giving up a goal to Gazdag in the fourth minute. The Hungarian international was left unmarked in the Toronto penalty box, volleying the ball home after TFC failed to clear it.
Gazdag found Uhre behind the Toronto defence in the 42nd minute and the Danish forward waited for chasing defender Lukas McNaughton to go past him before curling the ball into the goal for his 13th of the season.
Toronto had a chance to get a goal back in first-half stoppage time but a lunging Mark-Anthony Kaye, off a Jesus Jimenez feed, had his shot blocked by defender Olivier Mbaizo. It was TFC's lone shot on target in the half.
Kaye appealed unsuccessfully for a penalty in the 55th minute as he tangled with defender Matt Real.
Referee Lukasz Szpala did point to the penalty spot in the 58th minute for handball on Toronto's Shane O'Neill on a Philadelphia corner. The defender didn't know much about it with the ball coming off Uhre.
Gazdag made no mistake with the spot kick in the 60th minute. He scored again three minutes later, slicing through the Toronto defence and beating goalkeeper Quentin Westberg for his 22nd of the campaign.
Philadelphia could have scored more had it not been for Westberg as the TFC defence all but crumpled in the dying minutes.
Westberg called the season "a proper humility check."
Hugo Mbongue, an 18-year-old homegrown forward, made his first-team debut for Toronto off the bench in the 68th minute.
In addition to the injured Insigne and Criscito, Toronto midfielder Jonathan Osorio remains sidelined with what he has called a "neurological dysfunction." Fullback Richie Laryea was suspended.
With both Criscito and Laryea out, coach Bradley switched to a back three.
On the plus side, Italian winger Federico Bernardeschi, who had been listed as questionable with a lower-body injury, made the starting 11.
TFC was outscored 17-5 in losing five straight. That stretch followed a 4-1-3 run that coincided with the arrival of Insigne and Bernardeschi.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2022
The Canadian Press