At the end of the 2016 MLS season, Marky Delgado was lost. Having played just two minutes throughout Toronto FC’s five-game playoff run, frustration had set in as the central midfielder struggled to understand coach Greg Vanney’s preferred 3-5-2 formation.



And he knew things had to change.



“’If I want to become a big part of this team,’” he recalls thinking, “’I have to nail down the formation of this team.’”



Delgado had always believed in his abilities. He made his first MLS appearance at the age of 17 for Chivas USA and has appeared for the United States at the U-17, U-18 and U-20 levels. But if the 22-year-old was going to find his way with TFC, he needed to do his homework.



“I didn’t take it into my own hands to learn it,” he said on Thursday of his understanding of Vanney’s formation in 2016.



So before this season, he got to work, studying tape of...