TORONTO — If anyone needed a reminder of the cold reality that is the business of sports, a quick look at the MLS calendar should suffice.
With the confetti barely cleaned up following the Seattle Sounders' MLS Cup-winning night at BMO Field, the league was already announcing trades that indicated that the offseason had begun just over 12 hours after Roman Torres' deciding penalty kick.
TFC comes to terms with heartbreaking MLS Cup defeat
For the losing side in that game, it's even harsher. The wounds of a dominant offensive performance that unbelievably produced zero goals are still very fresh for Toronto FC, yet the team is forced to look forward.
Perhaps that's the best way to deal with heartbreak.
"It's not easy. It's a really crappy feeling, honestly," forward Jozy Altidore said in the immediate aftermath of the cup defeat. "The whole city was behind us, and you kind of feel like you let them down. But I don't think that we did, I think we showed them what this could be. And now it's up to us now to get back in preseason, work hard and try to get the club back in this position."
Amid all the somber refection of a night that ultimately went wrong for TFC, many were also pointing to the fact that the team is in a solid position to make another run in 2017. The Reds are a deep, well-constructed team with the overwhelming majority of the core set to return next season.
There are some question marks going forward, as the expansion draft, free agency, and other mechanisms will likely see the team lose a handful of players. But for head coach Greg Vanney, the inevitability of the offseason roster churn is mitigated by having a trio of designated players still in their prime, along with a solid supporting cast that isn't going anywhere.
"We can build and work around those guys as a foundation," Vanney said. "Over the last offseason we’ve been able to add pieces to grow and be stronger on the defensive side, it gave us more depth. We've got a very deep team, probably deeper than some people actually know. And we have some young players that are coming through.
"Obviously this offseason we’ll look to try to make one or two moves, three moves at most, that really strengthen our team. We'll try to add some depth with some young guys that you get through the draft and through our academy and we’re going to build with this core and keep getting stronger. That's our objective. We’re just getting started."
The common refrain among the players is that Saturday's heartbreaking MLS Cup loss was something to build upon. The map has been drawn, and it'll quickly be time to get back on the road.
"We got a taste of what it’s like to be a club in MLS that competes for trophies," Altidore said. "So now it’s all about bottling up this feeling."
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"You look back and it was a good season, it was a season that we deserved," midfielder Jonathan Osorio added. "We deserved to be champions. But unfortunately in sports it’s not how it works all the time. We just need to keep going forward. When you are the most down is when you must rally and show your character. That’s how true champions will succeed in life."
A big part of moving forward is taking a moment to look back. TFC will need to learn from a 2016 season that brought highs, lows, and everything in between. But most of all, for the players it brought hope of a future where the bad old days of Toronto FC are finally behind them.
"This team will only get better from here," Osorio said. "We know the blueprint of what we need to get to the championship and to win a championship. This is a team that is capable [of winning] a championship game. It just wasn’t our time."