Next man up: Short-handed Toronto FC takes aim at unbeaten record

Toronto FC will take aim at a franchise record on Saturday with yet another rejigged starting lineup.

But Toronto’s enviable depth has been a theme in its splendid eight-game unbeaten streak, and coach Greg Vanney is confident any lineup he fields is more than capable of getting the job done.

Toronto will set a club unbeaten record with a win or draw against the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium on Saturday. And while they’ll be missing captain Michael Bradley and striker Jozy Altidore, who are away with the U.S. national team, and forward Tosaint Ricketts, who’s sidelined with a hamstring injury, Vanney isn’t particularly worried. 

“Everybody is hungry,” Vanney said Thursday. “Every time I tell somebody they’re not going to be in the 18, or not start, it’s a battle because they all want to play. It will be no different on the weekend. Everybody wants their shot and it will about choosing a group that fits together nicely to get the game started, and then setting ourselves up to get three points at the end of it.”

Toronto matched its club record eight-game unbeaten streak with a 5-0 demolition of Columbus last Friday, and tops the MLS standings at 8-1-5. They’re coming off a 4-0 win over Ottawa at BMO Field on Wednesday that clinched their spot in the Canadian championship final.

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The victory came with both good news and bad. Star striker Sebastian Giovinco returned from a quadriceps injury to play the second half, and Vanney said he’s not worried about the Italian playing on Saturday, despite the fact the game will be on body-pounding artificial turf.

“Just because the (quad) injury was unrelated to turf necessarily,” Vanney said. “Our concerns with turf generally are just turf itself. And we do our best to minimize how much the guys are exposed to it and I think we’ve done that to date, and just given the nature of where we’re at and how many guys are away or down or whatever, we need all hands on deck for this weekend and we’ll choose accordingly.”

Vanney said Giovinco was feeling good Thursday morning, the day after his first appearance since May 13.

“He’s been chomping at the bit to get back on the field and so to get out, to get a goal, to be involved in some good actions was good for him,” Vanney said. “It’s just sometimes playing 90 minutes on a big field or 45 minutes even on a bigger field is a little bit different fitness-wise so it was good for us to work him into the rhythm of things. I think he’ll be ready for the weekend, I think he’s looking forward to it.”

Ricketts, however, left Wednesday’s game in the first half with hamstring tightness and didn’t practise Thursday. Vanney said the 29-year-old, who’s one of Toronto’s key goal-scoring threats, is “doubtful” for Saturday.

New England (4-5-5) will be without Teal Bunbury, who’s serving a suspension.

The game will end a busy stretch that saw TFC play eight games in May. They’ll have two weeks off before hosting D.C. United on June 17.

Vanney said his players are keen to cap this stretch with a victory.

“It’s an important game because we also are coming off a busy stretch where we’ve done ourselves quite well, you don’t want to finish this whole series of games on a sour note,” Vanney said. “You want to have a positive feeling when you go into a bit of a longer break. But I think everybody is focused, they want to continue the run and everybody individually has got to prove their worth on the field because the next guy is right there waiting for your spot.”

TFC already set a franchise record win streak of six games which was interrupted by 1-1 tie at Red Bulls. They rebounded to clobber Columbus 5-0 a week later.

They were also unbeaten in eight games — four wins and four draws — from May 8 to July 10, 2010.    

Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press