Reds take on Austin FC at home as six MLS games remain in ...

The September international break has come and gone, Toronto FC now have a straight shot to the end of the season.

Six games remain on the road to the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs and the final of the 2024 TELUS Canadian Championship in Vancouver on September 25; seven games to define a season.

Toronto will be playing Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday-Wednesday until October 5, the visit of Inter Miami CF to BMO Field.

Only one of those games is a cup final, but every single outing will take on that feel.

“A few wins,” quipped John Herdman on Friday, asked what he wanted to get out of the six league matches. “What I'm learning is [it] doesn't tend to stick to your script or care about your plan. What matters is you're going to show up on the day and you're going to show up for 90 minutes.”

“We have to take care of business at home, that goes without saying,” he continued. “Everyone knows that should be our fortress. We have to make a commitment that it's not a 55, 60 minutes showing. We have to be there whistle-to-whistle and fight, fight with everything we've got to take three points.”

Four of the six MLS matches will be played at BMO Field, beginning with Austin FC on Saturday.

“It's an important game,” levelled TFC captain Jonathan Osorio, back from Canada duty. “We know what's at stake, we know we're fighting, but we're embracing it.”

“When you look at the bigger picture, from where we've came, from last year to now, to be in this position is a positive. We’d much rather be in this fight than not in a fight at all,” he continued. “It's crunch time and, to me, this is what football is about. This is what really shows who's really about the big games and these fights.”

“Personally, I'm embracing it,” added Osorio. “I know the team is embracing it as well. We prepared well today and we're ready for what's to come.”

Since league play resumed following the conclusion of the 2024 Leagues Cup, the increase in intensity has been palpable.

Toronto battled hard for a gritty win in Houston over the Dynamo, dispatched Forge FC in the second leg of their Canadian Championship semifinal at home, but then stumbled against D.C. United.

This time of year, each game is a battle. A team has to be up for it.

“You seen the fight in Houston, the guys give everything to take the three points, and you seen the fight against Forge to make sure we got through to the CanChamp final,” recounted Herdman. “D.C., we just hit a wall and it wasn't until a couple of subs that we managed to get a bit more momentum back.”

“That's a critical piece,” he underlined. “We've got to fight right until the end, every man. We've got to make the right decisions to get people on the pitch at the right time and be really clear on our tactical identity through home performances.”

Herdman has seen a good response from his side to the disappointing conclusion in the last outing.

“They came in flat after the D.C. game, you could feel it,” he said. “That was a bit of a gut punch. They knew that was a big match and being 1-1 at the 80th minute to throw it away was tough. It took a day or two just to get through that and then get them reset to compete.”

“The competition's been healthy. Lads have been showing their commitment to what this club has set itself as a target, which is to make these playoffs,” Herdman continued. “There's been a fight there, there's been an intensity, and the last couple of days they've started to enjoy it a bit more as well.”

And for the first time since opening day, the team is fully stocked, almost.

“This is the first time since the beginning of the season we've genuinely had a full squad to choose from.... I speak too soon,” said Herdman, catching himself. “Kevin Long will be out tomorrow. Hopefully back for Columbus, but not ready for tomorrow.”

Brandon Servania and Alonso Coello, two of the longer term injuries, have seen action with TFC II in recent weeks. That clean bill of health comes at a good time.

“We have a lot of guys back, which is great. The games are coming, playing every three, four days, and, in these times, you need everybody,” said Osorio. “Everybody has to be ready and ready to step up when their number is called, so it's great that we have almost everybody.”

“It's great in training too, it adds to that competition for guys to get on the field, so that's healthy as well,” he continued. “That pushes everybody to reach their highest levels, which is what we need at this point of the year.”

Between injuries, suspensions, and international duty, Herdman has rarely had everyone at his disposal.

“It's a different headache now. You've got to leave guys out of the roster for the first time,” he said. “The reality is players are genuinely competing, not only for a starting spot, but to be in the roster for a match.”

“We've not had that for a long time,” Herdman added. “That's the healthy part of what we're creating here now in this push.”

Toronto will host the Columbus Crew on Wednesday, then hit the road for three straight – away to the Colorado Rapids and the Chicago Fire either side of that final against the Whitecaps – before closing the stretch with the final two matches at BMO Field against the New York Red Bulls and Miami.

It all begins on Saturday against Austin.

This will be just the second all-time meeting between the clubs, as Austin closes out their fourth season in MLS.

Austin won that first meeting 1-0 in Texas last May with a stoppage-time winner from Gyasi Zardes.

Matches against Western Conference opposition that a side doesn’t see every year – the game in Houston was the first time the two had met since 2019 – bring a different challenge to ones against sides a club faces more regularly.

“You’re not really familiar with them,” said Osorio. “But these days you can watch games over and you can study a team. We've done that.”

“Yeah, on the field, then you're seeing different pictures in different situations, but you adapt, every game is different,” he continued. “As far as mentality and the way we want to play, we go in with the same mentality that we go into every game.”

Josh Wolff’s side come into the match battling for their own post-season aspirations.

Austin currently sit two points shy of the final berth in the West. They collected a big three points in their first match after the Leagues Cup with a win in Nashville, but then lost 1-0 to Vancouver on August 31.

Sebastián Driussi leads the side with five goals, equalled by Jáder Obrian, while Alexander Ring tops the assist table with seven.

Herdman pointed to two recent additions – Osman Bukari and Mikkel Desler – as having made a big difference to the questions Austin will pose.

“They're a different team to what they were before Bukari and Desler,” he began. “Those two players have made a big difference.”

“Bukari has got that [Federico] Bernardeschi factor, he can draw players, he can go one-vs-one, he can commit two players. He has that little bit of mercurial where he's going to create a yard or two and be able to open chances, not just for him, but for other players,” Herdman continued. “He's been a big game changer and then Desler’s quality around him at fullback, he’s really strengthened that right side.”

“We've got to pay attention to that defensively,” he noted. “There will be a job for somebody to try and keep him quiet. It was a job last week to keep [Christian] Benteke quiet and for 65 minutes he didn't have a touch in our box – when people commit to those tasks, we tend to come through, but [Bukari] will be a handful.”

“That's been the big shift from Austin. They're not the same team they were prior to his signing, for sure,” Herdman closed. “And tactically, Driussi, [Dani] Pereira, that central spine, they rely a lot on the combination play that comes out of them players, so we've really got to match that.”