Toronto sports fans have been a very long suffering bunch.
The last real moment of glory for the city’s biggest sports teams, no offence to the Rock or Argonauts, came in 1993 when the Blue Jays won the second of their back-to-back World Series titles. Since then, it has been a whole lot of watching the Maple Leafs constantly rebuild, the Raptors struggle to improve, and the Jays search for a way to break through in a tough division.
In 2007, Toronto FC came along to add to that sporting anguish. Since the club’s inception there have been no playoff games, constant turnover both on and off the field, and, despite winning a few trophies along the way, very few moments to keep fans going.
Wednesday night was a break from all of that. The Red’s 2-1 win in the CONCACAF Champions League over the LA Galaxy was by far the high point of the club’s history. For their fans it was a game that reminded them why you stick with your team through thick and thin. That’s the thing about sports that makes them so great — no matter how bleak things get there is always some light at the end of the tunnel and you know that each year is a new chance to finally win something.
For the TFC faithful, Wednesday was probably a strange feeling. This was the same team that we had seen cough up late leads, collapse in big games, that often appeared helpless on the road, and never seem to put in the big performance when it was needed. None of that showed in LA, as they looked like a side that had been there and done it all before. It was not out of nowhere, though. This was a similar team that turned in a clinical performance in the 3-0 win over FC Dallas that sent them to the quarter-finals. It was also the same side that had earned five straight draws against the Galaxy, including the 2-2 tie at the Rogers Centre.
The win in LA was not some major turning point in the club’s history but rather the result of a slow turn around that began last season. The mid-summer overhaul of the roster started to pay off with improved results both in MLS and the CONCACAF Champions League. Now the Reds are starting to show that the roster Aron Winter has assembled is at least capable of competing with the top MLS clubs.
Does the win in LA mean that Toronto FC fans should start planning a return to Rogers Centre for a Champions League final or even a parade to celebrate a MLS championship? Of course not.
What it does mean though is they can now raise their expectations. TFC has shown that when they put in their best performances they can take on anyone, and that means that anything less than a playoff appearance at the end of the 2012 campaign would be a major disappointment. If the Reds don’t manage to finally reward the fans with a playoff game these good vibes will quickly become a distant memory and the old feelings of suffering and hurt will return.
For now, that is not what matters. On occasions like this fans should be reminded why they fell in love with sports, soccer, and Toronto FC to begin with. There is an emotion that comes from watching a team you love achieve something special that cannot be adequately described and really can only come from sticking with them through the hard times.
It is easy to support your club when they are winning games and competing for championships but when you cheer for a team that has struggled for much or all of its existence it is moments like this that you count on.
David Rowaan is a Toronto-based writer and key contributor to Waking the Red, a blog about Toronto FC and Canadian soccer. Follow Waking the Red on Twitter.