TORONTO — When Terry Dunfield was named interim coach of Toronto FC in the wake of Bob Bradley's June 26 firing, team president Bill Manning said the assignment would last just four games.
On Saturday, Dunfield will be in charge of his 15th and final TFC game, running the sideline at the New York Red Bulls before former Canada coach John Herdman gets hands-on with the struggling MLS team ahead of the Oct. 21 season finale against visiting Orlando City.
It has been a wild ride.
But while the losses have continued to mount, Dunfield has managed to keep his eye on possible light at the end of the TFC tunnel.
"It's been an incredible experience, unexpected but yeah it's been beautiful," he said. "As crazy as it might sound, I really have loved every minute of it. I think the fans have been empathetic that the players, considering the results, have really bought into what we've been trying to do and made it easy.
"The team behind the team, we've really lived all for one. It's been a top experience."
He recalled some nearby TFC fans talking while he was having lunch with his mother at an outdoor patio recently. Hearing the club name come up, he wondered if his mother was about to get an earful.
Instead, he heard one of the fans say better times were ahead.
"I kind of left that lunch feeling a little bit better," he said.
The 41-year-old Dunfield, who will serve as an assistant coach under Herdman, inherited an injured-plagued and not very happy roster. And while he has managed to keep the ship afloat, it has continued to take on water.
The team has gone 1-13-0 in all competitions under his guidance.
Anchored to the bottom of the 29-team league standings at 4-18-10, Toronto has lost five straight and 15 of its last 16 games (1-15-0) in all competitions. Excluding the era of breakaway shootout losses, the only MLS team to experience a worse stretch is Cincinnati, which lost 17 of 18 in 2021-22.
With an 0-12-4 road record this season, Toronto is the only MLS team yet to win away from home. TFC's last road victory was Aug. 27, 2022, a 2-0 decision in Charlotte.
Toronto has been outscored 22-0 in its last seven road outings, with its last away goal coming courtesy of Deandre Kerr in the 11th minute of a 2-1 loss at New England on June 24. TFC's road goalless drought now stands at 709 minutes.
Toronto will be short-staffed on its final road outing, missing the injured Lorenzo Insigne, Themi Atonoglou, Latif Blessing, Adama Diomande, Sean Johnson, Kerr, Greg Ranjitsingh, Sigurd Rosted and Brandon Servania. Fullback Raoul Petretta is making the trip but is listed as questionable.
Still, Dunfield looks to see his squad take the field with purpose.
"I'm hopeful our guys will come out and just play a little bit angry," he said. "And take some of our frustrations of a tough season out in New York."
The Red Bulls (9-13-10) will be a motivated opponent. Going into weekend play, they sit three places and one point below the playoff line with two games remaining.
The Red Bulls are coming off a 2-1 midweek victory at league-leading Cincinnati and have lost just once in their last five matches (2-1-2). But they are winless (0-2-1) in their last three home games.
The New Yorkers are unbeaten in eight straight meetings (5-0-3) with TFC and have won five straight at home against Toronto dating back to 2018.
Dunfield finally saw his team's potential pay dividends Aug. 30 in a 3-1 win over the visiting Philadelphia Union, who currently sit fourth overall in the league 32 points ahead of Toronto.
That success has been sandwiched around a 10- and five-game losing streaks. Still, he has managed to find some positives.
"We're seeing longer spells of good football. There is so much talent here," he said after the 4-0 loss at Inter Miami.
Toronto GM Jason Hernandez, who was promoted from assistant GM after Bradley's departure, acknowledges that TFC is a team in transition and "in many ways … missing pieces left and right."
But he points to last weekend's 3-2 home loss to Cincinnati, a game that saw Toronto rally from 2-0 down before eventually conceding a 72nd-minute winner.
"I left the stadium feeling strongly that Terry and his staff have put a lot into trying to prepare the team week over week, to get something out of the matches," he said. "And it's unfortunate that we find ourselves on the wrong side of it more times than not. But that doesn't take away or discredit the amount of work and energy and time they've put into trying to get the guys ready for kickoff."
Dunfield has coached at the TFC academy since January 2017 and served as a technical assistant and performance analyst with Canada Soccer since July 2019.
Serving as interim coach is the latest stop on a well-travelled career.
Dunfield, who was five when he started playing soccer with Vancouver's Point Grey Soccer Club, moved to England to join Manchester City as a 14-year-old in 1996.
He captained Manchester City's under-15 side, spent four seasons with City's reserve side and was named the club's Youth Player of the Year, making his lone first-team appearance on the final day of the 2000-01 Premier League season, coming on as a substitute against Chelsea.
After a few more stops in England, Dunfield joined Vancouver in 2010, the year before the team entered MLS. He moved to Toronto in a July 2011 trade that saw allocation money and future considerations go the other way.
He played two more seasons in Toronto — making 30 starts during a dismal 5-21-8 season in 2012 — before finishing up his career with England's Oldham Athletic and Scotland's Ross County before retiring.
Dunfield won 14 caps for Canada, with 11 starts and one goal.
He was on Herdman's staff at last year's World Cup in Qatar and is looking forward to working under the former Canada coach, who spent the last week as an observer.
"But man, he just loves to coach. He just loves it," Dunfield said with a smile. "Almost by the hour, he just gets a little bit closer to my office, a little bit closer to the field. His personality's infectious. It just draws people in. So I'm very excited about what's next for our organization."
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2023.
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
