Toronto FC coach Robin Fraser rates Whitecaps as the best Vancouver team he has seen

Toronto FC coach Robin Fraser doesn’t hesitate when asked about the Vancouver Whitecaps, who visit BMO Field on Saturday.

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“The best Vancouver team, I think, I’ve seen,” said Fraser. “The age profile of their team is really good. They have a lot of players who are right in that sweet spot of not being young but not being old and are quite experienced.

“With the new coach (Denmark’s Jesper Sorensen), they are very forward-thinking. They’re aggressive defensively, and they turn a lot of the defensive aggression into opportunities for themselves … And given the success they’ve had, they’re just playing with a ton of confidence right now.”

The Major League Soccer standings back up Fraser’s assessment.

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The Whitecaps (4-1-0) top the Western Conference and stand second in the Supporters’ Shield standings, 11 points and 27 places above winless Toronto (0-4-1).

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The only team below Toronto is CF Montreal, which fired coach Laurent Courtois on Monday. Montreal is also 0-4-1 but trails TFC on goal difference (minus-seven compared to TFC’s minus-six).

Fraser sees positives, despite Toronto’s record.

“We’ve done a lot right but we’ve had moments in every game that have just killed us,” he said.

He has no issues with the effort from his players but says almost all of the team’s negative moments result from concentration lapses and poor decision-making, on and off the ball.

It hasn’t helped that Toronto has only led for 19 minutes this season.

“That is a very, very difficult way to accumulate points,” said Fraser.

Toronto’s lone lead came in the March 15 home game against Chicago, when TFC’s Deandre Kerr opened the scoring in the 11th minute. The Fire answered with goals in the 30th and 44th minute to win 2-1.

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“There is a different level of pressure, a different level of comfort depending on whether you score or concede first,” said Fraser. “There’s a different level of confidence that comes from that. We have started slowly in maybe four of the five games.”

Toronto has issues at both ends of the field, having conceded a league-worst 12 goals while scoring six. Vancouver’s numbers are far more attractive, with 10 goals for and five against.

Vancouver ranks fifth in the league in expected goals (xG) at 10.87 (D.C. United leads at 11.93 ahead ofSan Jose, Philadelphia and Orlando).

Toronto’s cumulative xG is 4.2, with 2.4 of that coming from the season-opening 2-2 draw at D.C. United. Since then, its xG number has been 0.4, 0.5, 0.5 and 0.4.

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Expected goals is determined by calculating the probability of success for each shot on goal.

Norwegian forward Ola Brynhildsen is healthy again, which should add to the Toronto attack.

Out-of-favour Italian star Lorenzo Insigne started last week against the New York Red Bulls — his first action of the season _ and, while involved in the Toronto goal, looked as one might expect from a 33-year-old playing in his first competitive game since a 10-minute cameo off the bench Oct. 5 in Toronto’s 2024 regular-season finale.

Fullback/wingback Richie Laryea is expected back this weekend from London, England, where he has been seeing a specialist for his hamstring injury. There has been no update on his condition.

Vancouver faces a congested schedule in the days ahead, returning home after the weekend game to host Mexico’s Pumas UNAM on Wednesday in the opening leg of their CONCACAF Champions Cup play quarterfinal.

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The Whitecaps are coming off a 3-1 loss to visiting Chicago. Vancouver had beaten the Portland Timbers, Los Angeles Galaxy, Montreal and FC Dallas before that.

In contrast, Toronto lost to Orlando City, FC Cincinnati, Chicago and the Red Bulls after the D.C. United draw.

The Whitecaps hold an 8-6-3 career edge against Toronto but are 3-4-2 at BMO Field. Vancouver is unbeaten in the team’s last five meetings, with TFC’s last win a 1-0 decision at home in August 2020.

Sorensen says he is getting “more and more familiar” with the Toronto-Vancouver rivalry the closer the game approaches.

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The Dane is no stranger to Toronto, having spent a year there with his family while his wife Pernille, an oncologist, worked on research.

“We had a very good time,” he said. “I don’t mind Toronto FC but I can feel that a lot of other guys do. That’s always normal when you have a rivalry in Canada … We, of course, will go for the win in Toronto and we hope we are good enough to do it.”

The Whitecaps defeated Toronto via a penalty shootout the last time they met, Sept. 25 in the Canadian Championship final at B.C. Place Stadium. Vancouver won 4-0 in the last MLS meeting in April 2024, also at B.C. Place.

Vancouver’s Jayden Nelson and Ralph Priso, and Toronto’s Richie Laryea and Deybi Flores, have all played for both Canadian clubs.

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