Toronto FC, Mo Farsi, the Vancouver Whitecaps and the subtle art of not stewing in regret | MLS IN REVIEW, Matchday 6
Matchday 6 in the 2024 Major League Soccer season saw plenty of Canadian talent miss club action due to international obligations – but no regrets here, since booking a spot at the 2024 Copa America is as good an excuse as any.
There are still a few Canadian takeaways from this past week of action, though:
The undefeated Whitecaps, no more
It all began with so much promise: New Vancouver Whitecaps striker Damir Kreilach lining up against his former team, Real Salt Lake, at BC Place, and Brian White feeds him the perfect ball for the go-ahead goal. Fairy-tale stuff.
Damir Kreilach scores his first goal against his former club to give @WhitecapsFC the lead!
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 24, 2024
📺 Watch free on Apple TV: https://t.co/F7tpJ7wkXF pic.twitter.com/6Niroe0zs3
The Whitecaps are cruising to victory once again... right?
Nope. It took RSL about 6 minutes in the second half to dismantle the Whitecaps' best efforts, going up 2-1 to hand Vancouver their first L of the 2024 MLS campaign. There's not much more to say about it; losses happen, but shutting off for 10 minutes has been a recurring Whitecaps issue, and one that Vanni Sartini will need to figure out if he's going to take this team from good to great.
Ryan Gauld called their second half performance "flat" and I think that's probably a fair assessment. But there's no use stewing in regret; they'll have plenty of motivation to re-spark their fire as they enjoy three more home matches in a row against their Canadian-infused Cascadia rivals Portland, followed by Toronto FC and the LA Galaxy, so... welcome back, Vanni. Time to get to work!
Mo Farsi dreams of Algeria call-up
As the world comfortably settles into the latest trend of 3-5-2s and 3-4-3s while the rest of those 4-2-3-1s catch up, versatile wingers / wing-backs have become a more valuable commodity than ever. That's good news for former Cavalry FC standout turned MLS Cup winner Mo Farsi of the Columbus Crew, who now finds himself with a choice when it comes to his international future: Algeria or Canada.
Having previously declined a Canada call-up, though, the Montréal born-and-raised rising star finally made his intentions clear this week, telling La Gazzette du Fennec that his family connection to Algeria made them his "number 1 choice" and, for all intents and purposes, it's now a matter of when, not if Farsi plays understudy to Riyad Mahrez and co.
Farsi has been speaking to Algeria's camp so his day will come soon. And maybe it'll be everything he wants it to be, or maybe he'll look back and see that Canada hosting a FIFA World Cup was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that he could have had, too. But, that's the theme of today's feature: No regrets. Go boldly forth and chart your own path, Mo, and if Algeria is the outcome, I suppose the only thing left is... can you help Canada schedule a friendly against you guys, please?
(Oh, and either way, the Columbus Crew have Farsi on an international roster spot, so for their purposes, Canadian international or not, it matters little. How is this still a thing in twenty twenty four, by the way?)
You know who'd look amazing in a TFC shirt right now?
Jacob Shaffelburg.
In a trade that is becoming more and more of a heartbreaker for TFC fans with each passing month, the pride of Nova Scotia's star once again shone bright for Canada with this superb finish to help send his country to the 2024 Copa America.
GOAL 🇨🇦🇨🇦
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) March 23, 2024
JACOB SHAFFELBURG, THE PRIDE OF NOVA SCOTIA, MAKES IT 2-0 FOR THE #CANMNT AND WE ARE (pretty much) GOING TO THE 2024 COPA AMERICA 😎 pic.twitter.com/4jOY0ecYdD
The part that stings is that Shaff was given up for *checks notes* GAM – That's General Allocation Money, which is MLS lingo for "cash you can use to do roster stuff with." And while it was never confirmed what that GAM was used for – or how much Toronto got: $225K for the initial loan, $300K for the permanent transfer (was that another $300K or a top-up of +$75k?), and then other conditional GAM depending on performance – we can connect the dots based on the time period and deduce it was probably used to pay down some really bad contracts or acquire some new, equally bad ones, as the turnaround from 2022 to 2023 saw 16 players leave and 17 head on in.
Shaffelburg represents the very worst of Toronto FC's wasted opportunity, traded away to keep the churn of bad roster decisions, well... churning. Nashville got a raw winger with high upside and turned him into a very servicable option, and Canada, to their credit, have greatly benefitted from having a super-sub wing-back affectionately dubbed the Nova Scotia Messi. It's why this, I think, is actually John Herdman's biggest challenge right now: Roster building. Specifically, damage control and clean-up.
Tactics and motivation, those are Herdman's bread-and-butter: We've not seen him formulate a squad before, though, especially with MLS' wacky roster rules. Results are coming, and that's great... but the MLS season is long and can be unforgiving, particularly if injuries pile up.
The past is the past, of course, and, what's the lesson of the day? There's no point stewing in regret.
Still, I'm willing to bet all my GAM that Herdman would love to have Shaffelburg at LWB right now. Wouldn't you?
