Toronto FC Fire Head Coach Halfway Through MLS Season
MLS is over halfway through the season already. Toronto FC has only had three wins this season up to this point and are 14th in the Eastern Conference, only beating Inter Maimi by two goals. In response to these statistics, TFC has fired their head coach, Bob Bradley, and his assistant coach, after only a year and a half with the team. They're fed up with the lack of success they've experienced this season.
Coach Bradley was dealt a bad hand this season. When they lost against New England, they were down half their team from either injury or playing internationally. To add to that, when they played Austin back on May 20th, they were missing ten players because of injuries or suspension.
Let's look at why this team seems to be so injury prone. Even though the average age of the team is 26, there are ten players 30 years or older and 14 players between the ages of 28 and 36. If you're looking specifically at the senior roster, then more than three-quarters are between the ages of 28 and 36. This puts the team at a higher risk of injury on average because the body begins to change at around 30 years of age.
There seems to have been a lot of drama going on behind the scenes that have led up to this point.
First, Bob Bradley is the head coach for his son's team. There's been talk that whenever something was going on within the club, Michael Bradley has been the one to inform the coach. It's possible the other players are beginning to view the 36-year-old as another coach, adding to the tension in the locker room.
There have also been issues with Italian player, Federico Bernardeschi. He's been reprimanded multiple times for smoking a vape pen indoors. Adding fuel to the fire, Bernardeschi and Insigne initiated a conference call to discuss firing Bradley.
Overall, the head coach lost the dressing room. To lose the dressing room, in this case, means Coach Bradley lost the respect of the team. Bernardeschi even called out Bradley in an interview, placing the blame on the head coach. He stated that he was the reason for the poor performance because the team doesn't know what they were doing. They lack tactics.
In conclusion, even though Terry Dunfield has been named interim coach, Toronto FC needs just to try to stop the bleeding for the remainder of the season. During the post-season, there needs to be some serious restructuring and regrouping to find a winning formula to make up for this horrific season.