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TFC and Vancouver both make predictable choices. But are they the right choices?

Photo by Milada Vigerova on Unsplash

In the end, both TFC and Vancouver went the way that you would have expected them to. Robin Fraser, an MLS good guy, is coming back into the fold in Toronto, while the Whitecaps named Jasper Sørensen, a European of a certain profile that clubs like the Whitecaps roll the dice on all the time.

Taken individually, neither move is particularly offensive. Fraser was successful as an assistant in Toronto and did fairly well in Colorado (until he didn’t), a club that is difficult to sustain success at.

Sørensen, meanwhile, has the right amount of European experience on his resume to both impress someone not looking too hard and also be affordable to a club that is notoriously cheap and currently for sale.

Both men will feel that they have something to prove — Fraser will look at his time in Colorado and feel that he did a lot with very little and look forward to getting the financial support in Toronto that clubs like Colorado simply never see.

Sørensen has had a couple kicks at the top level in Denmark without managing to stay long term. He did better in the Danish second tier, but that is, of course, the Danish second tier, a level that isn’t much difference than the CanPL.

Speaking of…it’s a bit exhausting to point out yet again, but it appears that no one in that league got a serious look in either search. There is no guarantee that with Tommy or Bobby (the two most likely) would be successful in MLS, but there’s also no real evidence that the fired coach of the Colorado Rapids or a guy that had his best run outside of a top tier has a better chance of making that happen.

But, I digress. Maybe one day someone will give a serious look at guys that do nothing but win in the CanPL. Until that day, we have these guys.

Truthfully, both hirings seem…fine. I’m more bullish on Fraser (which just could be my Toronto bias showing), but I could see Sørensen getting something out of a decent-if-not-great Whitecaps roster. They probably had been taken as high as they could under Vanni, a man who was maybe a better quote than a tactician. Change is sometimes good. It might not even matter where the change is coming from.

As we all know, Toronto has more work to do on the talent front. So, with the Reds, the key to this move is Fraser’s stability. It’s been a rocky few years at BMO and bringing in someone that is just kind of dependable might be what’s needed. Unlike johnheardman, I doubt he’ll have a magic speaking sword that casts off bad vibes, 600 page reports on the Columbus Crew’s corner kick tendencies or, you know, drones. Again, this is probably for the best.

Ultimately, both teams have gone with something a little boring and understated this time. It’s hard to get excited by it, or particularly upset. Outside of the canPL continuing to get ignored on the coaching side, everything here is, as stated above, fine.

So, we wait to see how it all plays out.