Ciman's early struggles reflect turbulent offseason for Toronto FC

TORONTO – Few have experienced the nightmare of Toronto FC’s premature CONCACAF Champions League exit as vividly as Laurent Ciman.

The veteran offseason acquisition made another error in Tuesday’s second leg against Club Atletico Independiente de la Chorrera, misjudging the flight of a long ball and inadvertently nodding it backward into the path of an opportunistic Omar Browne.

Browne rounded Alex Bono for the final goal in a 1-1 draw which condemned the 2018 finalists to a humbling 5-1 aggregate defeat. Last week’s 4-0 first-leg rout by the underdogs was another match to forget for Ciman, as he simultaneously looked stiff-limbed and reckless in Panama Oeste.

Though Ciman joined the club two months ago and reported for the first day of preseason training, captain Michael Bradley suggested late arrivals and an incomplete squad have disrupted preparations for the 2019 campaign.

“Very good defender, good passer, good personality – big personality in terms of how he plays and what he gives to our team. We’re very happy to have him with us,” Bradley told theScore, assessing his new teammate.

Then, alluding to the Belgian’s error in the second meeting against Independiente, the skipper added: “Look, the reality for us is that our team has come together at a late stage this year. That’s not an excuse, that’s reality.”

Although news broke at halftime of Jozy Altidore reportedly reaching an extension with Toronto, that alone is not enough to stabilize this team. Gregory van der Wiel is still on the books despite a seemingly irreparable relationship with head coach Greg Vanney, and Sebastian Giovinco and Victor Vazquez’s departures need to be addressed.

What has been addressed – a defense that hemorrhaged a franchise-worst 64 goals in 2018 – is off to an inauspicious start. Surely, Ciman, a three-time MLS All-Star who won 20 caps with Belgium’s golden generation, can enhance Vanney’s backline?

“He’s an experienced guy. He’s a guy who can really play out the back for us. I think he’s settling in with our group,” Vanney told theScore. “On the goal that happened it looked like he misjudged the flight of the ball a little bit as they were trying to hold one of the players offside, I think.

“He would’ve been offside, but when Laurent tries to play the ball and skips it backward then the offside is nullified at that point.”

It wasn’t a mistake one would expect from a 33-year-old defender of Ciman’s repute.

Vanney may not survive another MLS underachievement in 2019, particularly when Ali Curtis – rather than Tim Bezbatchenko, now with the Columbus Crew after forging a strong bond with Vanney – is calling the shots as general manager. The coach needs Ciman and his other senior players to step up Saturday at the Philadelphia Union.