One by one in the 68th minute of last Sunday’s game, three of Toronto FC’s attacking players keeled over.



TFC was tied 1-1 against New York City FC. A pass from midfielder Marky Delgado was out of the reach of Victor Vazquez, who immediately stopped, grabbed his shorts and bent over due to what appeared to be exhaustion.



Even as the pass was casually intercepted, forward Sebastian Giovinco and midfielder Nicolas Hasler stopped, doubled over and gave up on the play. NYCFC quickly moved the ball through the midfield and countered with a goal to go up 2-1. The fatigue on TFC’s part was obvious.



Based on multiple conversations with sources within the club, sequences like the one against NYCFC are occurring for a reason: The Athletic has learned that some players have begun to complain about feeling “overworked” and that they believe more days off are necessary to recuperate from what has already been a longer than normal...