Questions abound as Toronto FC kicks off MLS season after extensive turnover

Toronto FC took a Scrabble-like approach to the off-season, changing players like letters in search of better combinations and a more harmonious hand after a dismal 6-18-10 season.

While TFC remains a work in progress under new coach Bob Bradley, there is star quality waiting in the wings in the form of Italian Lorenzo Insigne and a bevy of young Canadian talent already in place.

Experienced Mexican international Carlos Salcedo is expected to partner with incumbent Chris Mavinga at the heart of a Toronto defence that can only go up after conceding a franchise-worst 66 goals.

The first test is Saturday at FC Dallas.

New Dallas coach Nico Estevez is planning for a difficult opponent despite the extensive and unfinished Toronto turnover.

"I expect a good team that has a good coach and that tries to impose their style, tries to press the opponent and tries to control the possession," Estevez said this week.

Bradley, who doubles as the team's sporting director, provides experienced leadership and a vision for the team. With son Michael entering his ninth year at the club, the veteran coach arrived with an excellent handle on the good and bad in Toronto.

While Bob Bradley has preferred to look forward than back, it is clear he saw problems in the existing personnel.

"One of the big challenges when you come into a situation is you try to get an idea of where everybody stands with things,'' he said last month. "In different ways, in the last year or even two years, I think with Toronto playing outside of Canada so often and then the team not doing well last year, I immediately got a sense when I got here that there were just guys in different places, guys that weren't as committed to the club as they might have been earlier.

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