SO IT TOOK THE FLEDGLING EXPANSION CLUB FIVE GAMES to even score their first goal. But when Danny Dichio placed the ball in the back of the net for the first time in Toronto FC history, TFC's supporters let the entire country know who was the best supported club in Major League Soccer. The avalanche of giveaway seat cushions was simply an exclamation point of what American MLS fans sort of knew all along but had brushed aside with each of the first four Toronto losses: an MLS club finally got it right, and it's not even an American one.I say that Toronto had it right all along because they considered the mistakes that all the previous Major League Soccer clubs, founding and expansion alike, had made before and was smart enough to make sure that TFC did not repeat history twice, as the old saying goes. First they made sure that they had one of those newfangled "soccer specific stadiums" ready for the franchise by the time it was ready to play. Okay, give one for the MLS in general for making sure that soccer specific stadiums are a priority and a prerequisite for new expansion teams. Second, they got the name right finally! The only other examples of "good names" in the MLS belong to D.C. United and (perhaps) FC Dallas, with the latter being a name change (from the Dallas Burn) and the former squeaking by, using a traditional football club name (United) as an American-style nickname (luckily singular nicknames have been in place in American sports, otherwise it could have been the Uniteds, you never know!)
But what really impressed me is the amount of support TFC has from it's fans. Perhaps it is the culture already in place in Toronto, with a high percentage of immigrants and Canadians born of immigrant parents, thus already having a base of fans interested in football beforehand, but this is the case with many MLS cities. It seems that the difference in Toronto's case is that the club seemed to focus its attention on these people first and to accommodate these fans, rather than to try to convert Americans (and now Canadians) who are unfamiliar with the sport, as was the case with the MLS for most of its short history.
But ultimately it seems that Toronto was able to do what previous clubs haven't been able to: make Toronto FC's the team for all Toronto. There seems to be a connection with the city that most MLS franchises don't have with theirs. Even the name reflects the importance of the city, just Toronto Football Club; no silly mascots or nicknames attached to it and thus focusing all the attention on the city itself. Rather than being a soccer team within the city of (enter name here), TFC is Toronto's team and Toronto is TFC's city.
And the results are obvious. For example, when was the last time you heard chanting like this in a MLS match?
In my experience with MLS games, chanting usually only occurs in one section of the stadium, so for a stadium of 20,000 to be this loud, well more than one end of the stadium has to be singing, and with this being an MLS regular season match makes it that more impressive. But what really solidified TFC being the best supported team in the MLS was the reaction from the crowd after they (finally!) scored their first ever goal:
So here's to Toronto FC, you may be the newest club in the MLS, but you have quickly become one of the best in this young league. Now if only you could win a few more games...
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