Last week, Toronto FC and Chivas USA played to a 1-1 draw at BMO Field. On Saturday night, the Reds drew 1-1 with the San Jose Earthquakes at Buck Shaw Stadium. Same scorelines, two radically different feelings. Saturday’s draw represented a decent result for TFC, securing its first road point of the season. Last week, a home draw against a poor Chivas side was a missed opportunity.

hose looking for a sign of where Toronto FC is headed in the post-Dwayne De Rosario era will need to wait a little longer. TFC's 1-1 draw with Chivas USA on Saturday afternoon was inconclusive both on the scoreboard and on the lineup sheet, given the rather thrown-together nature of the Reds' lineup. Less than a day after De Rosario was traded to New York, the two players TFC received in return (midfielder Tony Tchani and defender Danleigh Borman) were already in the starting XI. The two former Red Bulls didn't arrive in Toronto until midnight last evening and Tchani admitted to being weary. "I found out [about the trade] yesterday at four o'clock," Tchani said. "After training I heard rumors but I wasn't sure. They let me know after training that I had been traded to TFC and that they wanted me to come here today.

Perhaps all Toronto FC needed was to be back at BMO Field. A week after a disappointing loss in the season opener in Vancouver, a much-improved TFC side won its home opener by a 2-0 score over the Portland Timbers. Striker Javier Martina led the way with his first two career MLS goals, but perhaps even more important than Toronto's scoring was the lack of a goal from the other side. The Reds' back line stood up against a persistent Timbers attack and kept the clean sheet, just a week after allowing four goals to the Whitecaps.

In 2007, it took Toronto FC 23 minutes and 13 seconds its fifth MLS game before it could register a goal. It took the Vancouver Whitecaps only 15. Designated Player Eric Hassli got the party started at a sold-out Empire Field (22,592), slamming home a half volley — endearing himself as a new folk hero on the Vancouver sports scene, as the Whitecaps stormed past an overwhelmed Toronto FC 4-2 in the all-Canadian curtain-raiser for both clubs.

On a day designed for new Toronto FC head coach and technical director Aron Winter to look at fresh faces, a couple of veterans were the talking point of Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with Serbian powerhouse Partizan Belgrade in Turkey. TFC defender Nana Attakora scored just six minutes in and Dwayne De Rosario, TFC’s all-time leading scorer, missed a penalty in the Reds’ first preseason friendly of 2011. Partizan fans, eager to see the team’s new striker pairing of Prince Tagoe and Dominic Aidiyah — both nabbed in the transfer window, and both played for the first 45 minutes —had to settle for a penalty goal from Nemanja Tomic.

It is troubling that the only evidence the committee will have to work with comes from four shambolic years of TFC mismanagement. It’s like having to decide on new rules of the road based on the actions of one chronic drunk driver.