TORONTO — New Toronto FC coach Robin Fraser left for Spain with a smile on his face Friday as the MLS team shifted its training camp to Marbella.
Fraser doesn't have a place to live yet in Toronto and is waiting on squad reinforcements, with a striker the most pressing need. But he likes what he sees in his first week on the job.
"I feel like it's an enthusiastic, young-feeling group … And I think with young, enthusiastic groups, if you guide them the right way and they're willing to be guided, that they can move forward very quickly," he said.
Fraser acknowledged there are older first-team players — goalkeeper Sean Johnson is 35, Kevin Long 34, Lorenzo Insigne 33, captain Jonathan Osorio 32 and Federico Bernardeschi, Richie Laryea and Sigurd Rosted all 30. But the current roster also features 10 players 24 or younger, not counting the team's three recent draft picks (Reid Fisher, Michael Sullivan and Joseph Melto).
"I look at the group and just visually they all look like they're about 24 to me. Or 24 and younger," said the 58-year-old Fraser. "And I think with that sort of enthusiasm, it gives you something to work with."
Osorio and Laryea are the only first-team holdovers from Fraser's first stint with the club as an assistant coach under Greg Vanney from 2015 to 2019. Fraser, a former two-time MLS Defender of the Year, then left to take charge of the Colorado Rapids.
Canadian winger Theo Corbeanu, on loan from Spain's Granada CF, is the only new face to date in camp, other than the draft picks. Thiago Andrade was acquired in December in a draft-day deal with expansion San Diego FC but TFC then sold the Brazilian winger to Japan's Cerezo Osaka.
GM Jason Hernandez has said he expects three to five new faces this season, with Corbeanu the first. Fraser, however, is thinking more about the bird in hand.
"I just think that there's a pretty good amount to work with. There's good characters," the coach said.
Fraser said there will be a "good amount of teaching" in Spain given the coaching change.
"The objectives are the same. We all want to win. But the principles of how you get there are different. And I do feel very much like this is going to be a bit of classroom session, a bit of 'This is how we want to do things.' They all have tremendous abilities and it's how we mould all those abilities into the shape or in the direction that we want to go."
As for a preferred formation for the team, Fraser said there would be "a fair amount of experimentation" in the early stage of training camp but added he wants his players to be able to play a variety of ways.
He also will be looking to see where the team's leadership is. TFC had a formalized leadership group under former coach John Herdman, a structure Fraser said he may look to continue.
'”I liked that (as a player)," said Fraser, who was part of such a group while a member of the Columbus Crew. "I have not done that since I've been coaching. And it's certainly something to consider. Especially with a group like that I think is influenceable — meaning they're young, they're impressionable and you want to make sure the right message is being disseminated throughout the team. Not just from me."
Fraser said he is already impressed by Osorio as captain.
"I've liked him every since I met him but he was petulant," Fraser said. "He'd throw his hands in the air, he would just fly off the handle all the time. And I've always loved his enthusiasm but this time around, getting to know him 10 years later, he's like this mature, composed man. When we talk, I feel like I'm talking to a peer rather than I'm talking to my son, which is what it felt like 10 years ago.
"I like the way he goes about leading as far as I can tell. Certainly by example and then the occasional word on breaks to players. It's actually really cool to see how he's grown and matured."
Osorio, who got engaged during the off-season, is the franchise's all-time leader in appearances with 370 in all competitions.
Toronto missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year in 2024 with an 11-19-4 record under Herdman, who stepped down as coach in November.
Toronto has yet to announce its pre-season schedule although the Colorado Rapids have already confirmed a Feb. 11 date with TFC in Palm Beach.
TFC is scheduled to return to Toronto on Feb. 3 before flying south to continue camp in Palm Beach, Fla., on Feb. 10. The squad will the head directly to Washington, D.C., for the Feb. 22 season opener at D.C. United.
Toronto's home opener is March 15 against the Chicago Fire.
---
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 17, 2025
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
