Richie Laryea still feels the electricity of Cyle Larin's equalizer against Bosnia-Herzegovina at BMO Field. He says he goes back to that moment "pretty frequently." The problem is, Toronto FC's present looks nothing like that night — and the gap between those two realities is getting harder to ignore.
Two months on from Canada's historic World Cup opener in front of 45,000 at BMO Field, TFC returns to that same venue on Saturday against the New England Revolution. The attendance will likely be half that. The stakes, for a club sitting 12th in the Eastern Conference and six points adrift of the final playoff spot, are considerably higher.
The numbers don't lie
Since Laryea returned from Canada's round-of-16 exit against Morocco, TFC has taken just three points from a possible 12. Three points. That's a run that turns playoff contenders into also-rans, and Toronto were already on the wrong side of the cut-off line when the World Cup break began.
They need nine results from 16 games to climb above D.C. United and into that ninth and final postseason spot. A 3-7-8 record doesn't inspire confidence. The odds on TFC making the playoffs look shakier with every passing week of dropped points.
Laryea hasn't been the issue — he's started all four post-break matches and played every minute. The same goes for Jonathan Osorio, back from the national team and plugged straight back in. The effort is there. The results aren't.
Carrying Canada's momentum into club football
The 31-year-old is honest about how disorienting the transition has been. "To be honest, it's tough," he said. "I think I was off for not even sure how many days it was — five, six days or something like that — and then we're playing away in Montreal." That's a brutal turnaround from a World Cup campaign that captured a nation.
But Laryea isn't using it as an excuse. He's written an open letter to TFC supporters urging them back into the stands, and he's making the broader point that clubs like Toronto have a responsibility to build on the wave Canadian football generated this summer. "We have to take that into Toronto FC now, where we're winning games, bringing this club to new heights and being able to lift trophies."
He's one of the few still at the club who remembers how quickly things can turn — he was part of the 2019 side that went unbeaten in its final 10 regular-season games to reach MLS Cup. That muscle memory matters. "As soon as you get rolling, you get a few wins under your belt... the season turns very quickly," he said.
Saturday against New England is the kind of game TFC simply has to win. Not build from. Win.
