2014 Toronto FC season

During the 2013 season, Toronto FC finished second from bottom of the Eastern Conference.^[1] They had finished 19th out of 19 teams in the 2012 season.^[1] Toronto held off renewal of season tickets "months later than normal — hoping that off-season moves have given ticket-holders a reason to get back on board."^[2] Toronto FC agreed to a one-year partnership with USL outfit Wilmington Hammerheads on January 22.^[3] In the deal, will receive a minimum of four Toronto FC reserve team players.^[3] Also included in the deal is invitation for the Wilmington Hammerheads to attend the club's pre–season training camp in Florida, the club's coaching curriculum, and an MLS club's professional environment which includes a business relationship and a friendly.^[3]

During the off-season, Toronto acquired Jackson,^[4] Issey Nakajima-Farran,^[5] Justin Morrow,^[6] and Dwayne De Rosario.^[7] Gilberto signed as a designated player.^[8] Gilberto had "turned down deals in Mexico, Germany, and other countries."^[8] In addition to Gilberto, Michael Bradley and Jermain Defoe joined the club as designated players.^[9] Defoe was due to join Toronto on February 28 from Tottenham Hotspur.^[10] However, Defoe didn't join Toronto until March 9^[11] due to International duty with England.^[12] Bradley Orr^[13] and Júlio César^[14] joined Toronto on loan.

The options on Gale Agbossoumonde, Joe Bendik, Mark Bloom, Bright Dike, Jeremy Hall, Chris Konopka, Reggie Lambe, Ryan Richter, Quillan Roberts, Emery Welshman, and Andrew Wiedeman were exercised.^[15] Joe Bendik signed a new contract.^[16] Greg Vanney was hired as Assistant General Manager and the Academy Director on December 11.^[17]

Tim Bezbatchenko confirmed that Darel Russell, Michael Thomas, Stefan Frei, Justin Braun, and Danny Koevermans would not return to the club in 2014 after their contracts expired or their options were declined.^[18] The right to sign Stefan Frei was traded to the Seattle Sounders FC.^[16] Stefan Frei was the longest-serving player at the club at the time of the trade.^[16] Richard Eckersley^[19] and Matías Laba^[20] were traded. Jonas Elmer and Toronto FC "mutually agreed to part ways."^[21] Emery Welshman^[22] and Reggie Lambe^[23] were placed on waivers.

Robert Earnshaw and Bobby Convey options were also declined.^[15] Bobby Convey had expected to return to the club.^[15] However, Toronto FC General Manager Tim Bezbatchenko stated that he wanted Bobby Convey back at the club and stated that he "could be an important piece."^[18] The club are "attempting to make the veteran's salary cap hit match his on-field production."^[18] Tim Bezbatchenko also stated that he wanted Robert Earnshaw back at the club.^[18] The rights to Bobby Convey were traded to the New York Red Bulls.^[24]

The club was in the process of a "lengthy search" for a "marquee-designated player".^[25] MLSE President Tim Leiweke, Club General Manager Tim Bezbatchenko, and Head Coach Ryan Nelsen traveled to Europe in October 2013 to search for such a player.^[26] Leiweke was quoted, stating, that "the days of us putting our toe in the water and trying to find a cheap DP (designated player) are over. We're going to go swing for the fences."^[26] The club wanted to sign two strikers in the January transfer window^[27] and were at the "top of the list."^[26] The attention was on clubs in the Premier League and Serie A.^[26] Jermain Defoe,^[25] Alberto Gilardino^[25] Samuel Eto'o^[28] and Fabio Quagliarella^[29] were rumoured to join Toronto FC. The club denied the report about signing Defoe,^[30] but Bezbatchenko stated that "it's obvious the public "knows" who the targets are."^[31] Bezbatchenko also stated that "We've identified 3–5 (potential Designated Players) that would fit the role" and that "We're really honing in [sic] on two."^[31] Another name in the media was Gilberto.^[32] Toronto FC was in competition with clubs in La Liga, Liga MX, Serie A, and Bundesliga for Gilberto's signature.^[32] Gilberto was in Toronto^[33] and was at the Toronto Raptors game on December 10.^[34] Gilberto signed for the club on December 14.^[8] Michael Bradley and Defoe joined Gilberto as designated players.^[9] Defoe joined Toronto on February 28.^[10] Defoe was part of a marketing campaign with the club.^[35] The club put together a television advertisement stating that it's a "bloody big deal" that Defoe is coming to Toronto FC.^[35] The ad was also online and had close to 60,000 views in a day.^[35] The ads were running on The Sports Network and Sportsnet with Toronto being the main focus of the marketing campaign.^[35] Even though MLSE was using Defoe in their marketing campaigns, British newspaper The Guardian stated "The money may be good but the club are woeful and playing in Canada may end the striker's World Cup hopes."^[1]

Date	Player	Position	Previous club	Fee/notes	Ref
December 9	Jackson	MF	FC Dallas	Traded for allocation cash and a conditional second-round pick.	[4]
December 14	Gilberto	FW	Internacional	Signed as a designated player.	[8]
December 17	Justin Morrow	DF	San Jose Earthquakes	Acquired in a trade with San Jose Earthquakes for allocation money	[6]
December 18	Dwayne De Rosario	MF	D.C. United	Selected in the second round of the Re-Entry Draft from D.C. United	[7]
January 9	Jordan Hamilton	FW	TFC Academy	Graduated from Academy.	[36]
January 13	Michael Bradley	MF	Roma	$10 million; signed as designated player.	[9]
January 24	Bradley Orr	DF	Blackburn Rovers	Loan deal until December 2014.	[13]
February 14	Júlio César	GK	Queens Park Rangers	Signed on loan.	[14]
February 28	Jermain Defoe	FW	Tottenham Hotspur	$10 million, signed as a designated player	[9] [10]
March 28	Issey Nakajima-Farran	MF	AEK Larnaca	Signed on free transfer	[5]
May 8	Luke Moore	FW	Chivas USA	Acquired in three team trade which sent Gale Agbossoumonde to the Colorado Rapids.	[37]
May 16	Collen Warner	MF	Montreal Impact	Acquired in trade which sent Issey Nakajima-Farran and allocation money to the Montreal Impact.	[38]
June 6	Dominic Oduro	MF	Columbus Crew	Acquired in trade that sent Álvaro Rey to the Columbus Crew.	[39]
July 23	Warren Creavalle	MF/DF	Houston Dynamo	Acquired in trade with the #14 allocation spot which sent allocation money and the #1 allocation spot to the Houston Dynamo.	[40]
September 15	Chris Mannella	MF	TFC Academy	Graduated from academy.	[41]

Date	Player	Position	Destination club	Fee/notes	Ref
November 29	Robert Earnshaw	FW	Blackpool	Option declined	[15] [42]
November 29	Bobby Convey	MF	New York Red Bulls	Option declined; the rights and a second round pick in the 2014 MLS SuperDraft was traded to New York Red Bulls for a first round pick in the 2014 MLS SuperDraft and a third round pick in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft.	[15] [42] [24]
November 29	Darel Russell	MF	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Option declined	[15] [42]
November 29	Michael Thomas	MF	Oklahoma City Energy	Option declined	[15] [42] [43]
November 29	Justin Braun	FW	Sacramento Republic	Out of contract.	[15] [42]
November 29	Stefan Frei	GK	Seattle Sounders FC	Out of contract; rights traded for a conditional 2015 MLS SuperDraft first round pick.	[15] [16] [42]
November 29	Danny Koevermans	FW	Utrecht	Out of contract.	[15] [42] [44]
January 27	Richard Eckersley	DF	New York Red Bulls	Traded for a fourth-round pick in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft.	[19]
February 7	Jonas Elmer	DF	FC Winterthur	Elmer and Toronto FC "mutually agreed to part ways."	[21]
February 25	Emery Welshman	FW	Sigma FC	Placed on waivers.	[22]
February 26	Matías Laba	MF	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	Traded for future considerations.	[20]
March 5	Reggie Lambe	MF	Nyköpings BIS	Placed on waivers.	[23]
May 8	Gale Agbossoumonde	DF	Colorado Rapids	Traded for Luke Moore.	[37]
May 16	Issey Nakajima-Farran	MF	Montreal Impact	Traded with allocation money to the Montreal Impact for Collen Warner.	[38]
June 6	Álvaro Rey	MF	Columbus Crew	Traded for Dominic Oduro.	[39]
July 25	Júlio César	GK	Queens Park Rangers	Recalled from loan.	[45]

Toronto Opened pre–season on January 24 and left for a training camp in Florida on January 27.^[46] The expectations are "sky high" coming into pre–season.^[46] During pre–season training camp in Florida, Toronto defeated D.C. United 1–0 before returning to Toronto on February 7.^[47] However, Toronto returned to Florida to play in the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic in Orlando, Florida.^[47] During the tournament, Toronto lost to Columbus Crew 3–1,^[48] tied Orlando City SC 1–1,^[49] tied Philadelphia Union 0–0,^[50] lost to Fluminense FC U23 team 4–2.^[51] During pre–season, Bright Dike injured his leg^[52] and will be out for six months.^[53] Doneil Henry trained with West Ham United during West Ham United for two and a half weeks.^[54]

Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic

  Win   Draw   Loss

Date	Venue	Opponent	Res. F–A	Goalscorers		Ref.
				Toronto FC	Opponent
February 19	A	Columbus Crew	1–3	Wahl 14' (o.g.)	Higuaín 10' Williams 12' Bedell 61'	[48][55]
February 22	H	Orlando City SC	1–1	Bekker 13' (pen.)	Howard 87'	[49]
February 26	A	Philadelphia Union	0–0			[50]
March 1	H	Fluminense FC U23	2–4	Bradley 26' De Rosario 36'	Pablo 18' Igor Julião 36' Carvalho 53' (pen.) Robert 56'	[51][56]

Toronto faced Seattle Sounders FC on March 15 in their season opener^[57] after having a bye–week during the opening weekend in the Major League Soccer season.^[54] Toronto won the match 2–1.^[58] Jermain Defoe scored both goals for Toronto and Clint Dempsey scored for Seattle.^[58] Gilberto didn't travel with the team to Seattle due to an injury.^[59] Gilberto suffered a hip flexor injury during pre–season.^[59] Bright Dike is out long–term.^[53] Michael Bradley, Justin Morrow, Bradley Orr, and Álvaro Rey were "questionable" for the game.^[60] Bradley, Morrow, and Rey started the match and Orr came on as a substitute in the 65th minute.^[57] Doneil Henry started the match^[57] and made his 50th league appearance.^[54] Dempsey got a two-game suspension for "violent conduct" from an incident with Mark Bloom.^[61] Dempsey had hit Bloom in the groin.^[61] Toronto's first home game is against D.C. United^[62] on March 22.^[63] Toronto won 1–0 with a goal from Jermain Defoe.^[64] This is the first time that Toronto won the first two games of the season.^[65] Toronto faced Real Salt Lake on March 29.^[66] Real Salt Lake won 3–0 with goals from Álvaro Saborío (2 Goals) and Luis Gil.^[66] Jackson was suspended for the match.^[67]

Toronto starts April with a 2–0 win against the Columbus Crew on April 5.^[68] Steven Caldwell was suspended for the match.^[69]

Then Toronto tied Chicago Fire 2–2 on August 23.^[70] Bakary Soumaré (own goal) and Gilberto scored for Toronto and Robert Earnshaw and Quincy Amarikwa scored for Chicago.^[70] Steven Caldwell and Justin Morrow left the game injured.^[71] To finish off August, Toronto lost to New England Revolution 3–0 on August 30 with goals from Lee Nguyen, Kelyn Rowe, and Teal Bunbury.^[72] All three goals came off of turnovers. Toronto turned the ball over which led to Nguyen and Rowe scoring^[73] and the ball came off the referee after Michael Bradley tried "to swing the ball right sideline"^[74] which led to Bunbury's goal. The following day, head coach Ryan Nelsen and his assistants were fired.^[75] Greg Vanney became the new head coach.^[75]

Toronto started September with two games against the Philadelphia Union. In the first match, on September 3, Philadelphia won 1–0 with a goal from Conor Casey.^[76] Ashtone Morgan, who made his first appearance since the opening game of the season, was sent–off^[77] after "pulling down" Sébastien Le Toux while Le Toux was "on a breakaway."^[78] This was Greg Vanney's first match in–charge as head coach.^[79] In the second match, on September 6, Philadelphia won 2–0 with goals from Connor Casey and Andrew Wenger.^[80] The second match was Vanney's first home match since he became the new head coach.^[81] The loss to Philadelphia meant Philadelphia overtook Toronto in the Eastern Conference standings.^[82] Then, on September 13, Toronto tied Chicago Fire 1–1. Michael Bradley was critical of the referee after the match and was eventually fined an undisclosed amount for the comment.^[83] Then on September 21, Toronto defeated Chivas USA 3–0 with goals from Jackson, Luke Moore, and Gilberto.^[84]

  Win   Draw   Loss

MD	Date KO EST	Venue	Opponent	Res. F–A	Att.	Goalscorers and disciplined players		Ref.
						Toronto FC	Opponent
1	March 15 4:30 p.m.	A	Seattle Sounders FC	2–1	38,441	Defoe 17', 24' Rey  63' Morrow  78' César  83'	Dempsey 68' Alonso  70'	[57]
2	March 22 4:30 p.m.	H	D.C. United	1–0	22,591	Jackson  50' Defoe 60'	Arnaud  55'	[63]
3	March 29 9:30 p.m.	A	Real Salt Lake	0–3	18,881	Defoe  29' Henry  31' Caldwell  35'	Saborío 11' (pen.), 55' Gil 28' Schuler  38'	[66]
4	April 5 6:00 p.m.	A	Columbus Crew	2–0	12,045	Bradley 11' Bloom  34' Issey 85'		[68]
5	April 12 4:00 p.m.	H	Colorado Rapids	0–1	22,591	Caldwell  17'	Buddle 11'	[85]
6	April 19 8:30 p.m.	A	FC Dallas	1–2	17,406	Issey 21'  55' Jackson  74'	Hedges 37' Pérez 88'	[86]
7	May 3 1:00 p.m.	H	New England Revolution	1–2	22,591	Jackson 6'  43' Bradley  58'	Mullins 24' Nguyen 82' (pen.) Fagúndez  75' Caldwell  90+2'	[87]
8	May 17 4:30 p.m.	H	New York Red Bulls	2–0	22,591	Defoe 12'  88' Morrow  45' Moore 90+5'	Henry  4' Olave  42' Armando  88'	[88]
9	May 23 8:30 p.m.	A	Sporting Kansas City	2–2	19,914	Moore 67'  84' Orr 90+1' Caldwell  63' Gilberto  39' Bloom  57'	Dwyer 47' 84' (pen.) Nagamura  79'	[89]
10	May 31 5:00 p.m.	H	Columbus Crew	3–2	22,591	Defoe 21' (pen.) 81' Henry 90+2'  90+4' Bendik  66' Gilberto  77' Bekker  80'	Meram 18' Viana 65'  60' Parkhurst  39' Wahl  83'	[90]
11	June 7 4:00 p.m.	H	San Jose Earthquakes	1–0	22,591	Defoe 27' (pen.)  90+3' Henry  17' Hagglund  84'	Cronin  60' Goodson 66'	[91]
12	June 27 8:00 p.m.	A	New York Red Bulls	2–2	20,176	Defoe 55' Gilberto 72' Morrow  11'	Luyindula 36' Wright-Phillips 90+3'	[92]
13	July 2 8:30 p.m.	A	Chicago Fire	1–1	13,153	Moore  29' Jackson 43' Caldwell  53'	Amarikwa  45+2' Shipp 57' Palmer  86'
14	July 5 4:00 p.m.	H	D.C. United	1–2	22,591	Moore 60' Hagglund  89'	DeLeon 54' Kitchen 70'
15	July 12 7:00 p.m.	H	Houston Dynamo	4–2	22,591	Osorio 39' Oduro 45+1' Defoe  37' 63' 89'	Davis 13' 30' Sarkodie  35' Taylor  37' Horst  40' Ricardo Clark  56' Creavalle  59'	[93]
16	July 16 8:00 p.m.	H	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	1–1	22,591	Defoe 64' (pen.) Orr  28' Warner  90+4'	Mattocks 50' Teibert  28' Reo-Coker  70' Adekugbe  85'	[94]
17	July 19 9:00 p.m.	A	Houston Dynamo	2–2	20,069			[95]
18	July 26 7:00 p.m.	H	Sporting Kansas City	1–2	22,591	Jackson 16'  32' Morrow  35' Oduro  44' Henry  45'+2' Bradley  73'	Zusi 48' Besler  53'  75'  Peterson 80'
19	July 30 7:00 p.m.	A	D.C. United	0–3	16,171	Warner  36' Bradley  68'	Johnson 8'  90' Arnaud  42' Korb  54' Rolfe 59' Hagglund 67' (o.g.)
20	August 3 6:00 p.m.	A	Montreal Impact	2–0	16,665	Gilberto 11' Moore 54'	Król  32' Ferrari  53' Camara  77'
21	August 9 7:30 p.m.	A	Columbus Crew	3–2	17,822	Gilberto 43' Henry  53' Osorio 59' Moore 84'	Higuaín 45+2' (pen.) Meram 81'
22	August 16 8:30 p.m.	A	Sporting Kansas City	1–4	20,730	Gilberto 45+1' (pen.)
23	August 23 7:00 p.m.	H	Chicago Fire	2–2	22,591	Soumaré 3' (o.g.) Warner  57' Gilberto 79'	Palmer  20' Alex  39' Soumaré  46' Earnshaw 70' Amarikwa 90' Segares  90+1'	[70]
24	August 30 5:00 p.m.	H	New England Revolution	0–3	22,591	Gilberto  82'	Nguyen 2' Bunbury  4' 58' Rowe 21'  36' Caldwell  47'	[72]
25	September 3 7:00 p.m.	A	Philadelphia Union	0–1	15,238	Morgan  77' Bradley  83' Henry  90'+3'	Edu  33' Casey 55'	[76]
26	September 6 2:00 p.m.	H	Philadelphia Union	0–2	22,591	Henry  28'	Casey 8' Wenger 44'	[80]
27	September 13 8:30 p.m.	A	Chicago Fire	1–1	18,691	Hagglund  47' Morrow  62' De Rosario 89'	Palmer 11' Nyassi  41'	[96]
28	September 21 3:00 p.m.	H	Chivas USA	3–0	22,591	Jackson 23'  66' Moore 45'+2' Gilberto 54' Lovitz  75'	Sturgis  38' Reo-Coker  66'	[84]
29	September 27 1:00 p.m.	H	Portland Timbers	3–2	22,591	Hagglund 62', 70' Bradley 89' Moore  90+1'	Fanendo Adi 13' Caldwell 16' (o.g.) Chará  45+7' Valeri  88'
30	October 4 10:30 p.m.	A	LA Galaxy	0–3	24,064	Osorio  66'	Keane 22', 25' Sarvas  66' Gordon 90+3'
31	October 8 7:30 p.m.	H	Houston Dynamo	0–1	18,269	Lovitz  90+5'	Barnes 35' Cochran  55'
32	October 11 7:00 p.m.	A	New York Red Bulls	1–3	24,068	Creavalle  33' Osorio 55' Hagglund  86' Bradley  89'	Eckersley  15' Wright-Phillips 26' Izquierdo 35' McCarty 44' Alexander  78' Olave  90+4'
33	October 18 2:00 p.m.	H	Montreal Impact	1–1	18,329	Creavalle 20' Jackson  88' Osorio  90+3' Bendik  90+4' De Rosario  90+5'	Camara  5'  90+5'  Martins 39' Ferrari  55' Pearce  82' Bush  90'
34	October 25 7:30 p.m.	A	New England Revolution	0–1	32,766	Morrow  61'	Nguyen 35'	[97]

Last updated: October 25, 2014
Source: Results
Pld = Matches played; Pts = Points; W = Matches won; T = Matches tied; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference

Toronto FC opened their attempt to win the 2014 Canadian Championship against Vancouver Whitecaps FC, due to the seeding procedure used for the Championship.

  Win   Draw   Loss

Leg	Date	Venue	Opponent	Res. F–A	Agg. score F–A	Att.	Goalscorers and disciplined players		Ref.
							Toronto FC	Opponent
Semi–final
FL	May 7	H	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	2–1	—	22,591	Defoe 28' Bradley  28', 89' De Rosario  90'	Mitchell  48' Reo-Coker  60' Manneh 90',  90'	[98]
SL	May 14	A	Vancouver Whitecaps	1–2 (a.e.t.)	3–3 (5–3 p)	18,470	Henry 4',  58' Bekker  16' Orr  89' Bloom  92+'	Mitchell  30' Hurtado 43' Salgado  78' Morales 86' (pen.)	[99]
Final
FL	May 28	H	Montreal Impact	1–1	—	18,269	Henry 20' Rey  35'	Mapp 73' Lefèvre  83'	[100]
SL	June 4	A	Montreal Impact	0–1	1–2	13,423		Bernardello  4' Felipe 90+1'	[101]

  Win   Draw   Loss

Date	Venue	Opponent	Res. F–A	Att.	Goalscorers and disciplined players		Ref.
					Toronto FC	Opponent
June 18	A	Wilmington Hammerheads	2–1	—	De Rosario 20' (pen.) Hoilett 26'	Godelman 85'	[102][103]
July 23	H	Tottenham Hotspur	2–3	22,591	Wiedeman 65' Hamilton 73'	Lamela 16', 40' Townsend 85'	[104]