{allcanada} TORONTO FC COACH QUESTIONS SQUAD'S PASSION

Embarrassing. Shameful. Frustrating. Three words used by Toronto FC coaches and players to describe Saturday's 3-0 defeat at Seattle Sounders FC. Toronto managed just two shots on goal at Qwest Field and would have lost by more had it not been for a string of excellent saves by goalkeeper Stefan Frei.

The inability to win on the road in Major League Soccer is not something unique to Toronto FC, but it was the manner of the team's performance that upset head coach and technical director, Aron Winter. It is not unusual across sports to hear a coach come out and defend a team after a heavy loss or sugar-coat a bad result, but Winter deserves credit for his honesty. He is eight matches in to his career as an MLS head coach and one thing he has already made abundantly clear is that he will always speak openly about his team's performances.

Winter can accept that it will take time for the players within his team to fully grasp a new system and soccer mentality as the rebuild at the club remains in its early stages, but he will not defend a lack of effort or desire, and Saturday night in Seattle was not the first time this season that he has questioned the passion of his squad.

He talked after the match about how his game plan wasn't followed and said his players looked "afraid to play the ball." Winter's new 4-3-3 attack-minded formation may be more difficult to execute away from home than at BMO Field, but Toronto never recovered from Seattle's high tempo start to the match and failed to find a way to restrict a Sounders side that made good use of the full width of the pitch. The failure to execute the planned tactics was disappointing to the coach, but the absence of spirited play also hurt him badly.

At a recent event, I had the opportunity to hear Toronto's assistant coach Bob de Klerk talk in detail about the new system that is being employed by the club. He explained the intricacies of the formation and what is expected from players in each of the positions. It was interesting to hear his soccer philosophy, but what really shone through was his passion for the game. That passion is clearly within the members of staff who are forging the future of Toronto FC, but it also needs to be evident on a consistent basis in the on-pitch performances of the players. It has been there in the opening weeks of the campaign, but de Klerk would argue that 80 percent of the time is not enough.

Like Toronto FC, the Vancouver Whitecaps are also still looking for a first road win of the season. It's now three straight league defeats away from home for Vancouver following a weekend loss at Columbus. As an expansion side, Vancouver are still in the early stages of their Major League Soccer experience and coach Teitur Thordarson believes his side will get stronger away from home as the season progresses and they learn what is required to pick up points in enemy territory.

In contrast to Winter's struggle to find many positives from his teams loss in the Pacific North West, there were good points for Thordarson to address which will give hope that the Whitecaps will not only be able to grind out some results on the road, but will also turn their positive home performances into a greater return. Two players who were unavailable for the Whitecaps in the early weeks of the campaign made an impact against the Crew. Teenage SuperDraft pick Omar Salgado scored his first professional goal and speedy winger Shea Salinas gave a glimpse of what he can bring now that he has recovered from injury. Both players will provide valuable options to coach Thordarson moving forward.

Both of Canada's teams had a schedule that was heavily stacked at home in the opening weeks of the 2011 season with five of their first seven matches being played in front of their own fans. For the Reds and Whitecaps, a home opener win is the only victory on the board so far this season. The inability to pick up more points on home soil in the early stages of the season will place even greater importance on finding ways to win on the road, but as Toronto's record shows, that is much easier said than done - eight matches into their fifth season in MLS, they hold an all-time record of just nine wins from 63 road league matches.

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