

Posted by

Steve Bottjer ,

March 28, 2014 Email

Steve Bottjer

On Twitter:

@BottjerRNO

Defense wins championships is a phrase that crosses across most team sports and one that is a truism that is accepted by many.



With that in mind, even with the goalscoring of new TFC striker Jermain Defoe highlighting Toronto FC’s first two matches of 2014, it is not a stretch to look at the signing of central defender Steven Caldwell last summer as the first key signing that Toronto made towards a rebuild that now looks like it is going make for a winning club for the first time in Reds history.



However, talk to any of the players on Toronto FC and one concept rears its head again and again: team balance makes life easier for all the players and makes Toronto a more formidable squad.



In a sense, TFC are a squad with a number of impressive parts that already looks like a team capable of being even greater than the sum of its parts.



While Defoe and fellow Designated Player Michael Bradley have come as advertised to date, it also can’t be denied that Caldwell and fellow central defender Doneil Henry have been key in TFC’s two impressive wins to start the season. Nor can it be denied that keeper Julio Cesar has added an air of confidence at the back, that midfielder Jonathan Osorio has stepped up his game or that genuine wide players Jackson and Alvaro Rey have also brought a key ingredient to the team.



Ask forward Dwayne De Rosario about TFC’s win on a less than ideal pitch against D.C. United and the Canadian stalwart is quick to tout the play of Toronto’s impressive central defense duo of Caldwell and Henry.



“I think two games and one goal allowed says a lot,” De Rosario told RedNation. “To see fellow Canadian Doneil Henry develop like he has, it is phenomenal. He has stepped up, but the biggest thing about Doneil is that he wants to learn and get better and he takes information.”



“Steven Caldwell obviously has a lot of experience and he is helping Doneil back there,” De Rosario added. “It is a solid defensive unit, so it is nice to know that you have two central defenders like that who are committed to blocking shots and seeing out games.”



Not surprisingly, mention their own stellar play to both Caldwell and Henry and they quickly change the emphasis to the fine play of Toronto FC’s midfield and forward line.



“We have goalscorers this year,” Henry said. “As long Steve and I and the back line and Julio Cesar can keep our goals conceded at zero, we will put ourselves in an excellent position to win games. We have a lot of great professionals now and a high standard of play. There are going to be tough games, but with the mentality of everybody on our squad, we are definitely confident we can get three points in every game we play.”



“I think we finally have a team where we can excel,” Henry added. “I think the amount of opposition attacks that Steven and I had to deal with before was a lot and it would take an outstanding game from us for the team to get a clean sheet. The guys in front of us – Oso and Bradley – have done so well to protect us and to keep the opposition attacking midfielders quiet and under pressure.”



At 33 years old and with a wealth of experience, Caldwell himself shared a similar point of view with his 20 year old defensive partner.



“Obviously everybody loves playing and defending on a team where you have goals in your side because you take confidence from that,” Caldwell explained. “You know that you are going to get chances and more often than not you will score. If you feel like that, you can concentrate on your own job. It shouldn’t really matter, but it does and it gives you that confidence of knowing that if you get a clean sheet, the victory is going to come.”



While it is early days for the 2014 iteration of the Reds, it appears that the most important quality the team possesses isn’t the goalscoring of Defoe, the masterful midfield play of Bradley or the sturdy no- nonsense defensive play of Caldwell and Henry. It’s the team balance that has Toronto looking like a team without any real weaknesses and very much like a squad that can deliver dominance in all areas of the pitch.



“We’ve shown that we can be tough and that we can grind things out,” Caldwell said. “We’ve got many facets to our game, so if we keep working hard we can win a lot of football matches.”



“It is very much a team effort with eleven guys defending as a team and breaking and attacking as a team,” the TFC team captain added. “If someone is going to play against us and have some success, we want them to have to really earn it. Its early days, only two games, but we’ve proven so far that it is going to be difficult to have success against this team.”