Toronto FC embraces new dawn as memories of MLS Cup loss fade away

The marketing department at Toronto FC has labeled the 2017 MLS season the "Dawn of the Reds," and you could hardly fault them for bringing up the imagery of the sun rising once more. It had marked a deep hurt into the hearts of the TFC faithful when the sun finally set on 2016.

On Saturday, Greg Vanney's scorned men set off on another arduous journey in the club's perennial search for the MLS Cup, which nearly and finally bore fruit at BMO Field on a cold (very, very cold) night in Toronto on Dec. 10.

Alas, it was the traveling Seattle Sounders supporters who celebrated glory well into the night as Toronto crawled into the welcome warmth of home with the familiar feeling of having destiny denied. With no trophy to be celebrated and no victory to cap off a fairy-tale script, the Big Smoke soon forgot the affair entirely.

Well, most of the city did, anyway. It took two more months before Toronto's streetcars finally shed their MLS Cup decal work - a cruel reminder, each day, of the anguish Toronto FC suffered from the penalty spot, and of the sheer optimism that gripped its denizens in the final months of the year.

Stefan Frei was once a favorite of Toronto, but now firmly committed to the rave green cause, his sympathies toward his former fans served only as a staunch reminder of Toronto FC's past sins.

But those days are over.

(Photo courtesy: Getty)

If Toronto FC had to give the devil his due for its numerous past transgressions, the debt has been paid in full. There's no point in bringing up Jermain Defoe; Toronto is a "Bloody Big Deal" by its own merit.

There lingered remnants of history in the 2016 campaign; the questions asked of the Reds sprang from their unwritten playoff endeavors. They are now answered.

This is a Toronto FC team that can win the MLS Cup.

If the collective voice of pundits is to be believed, they're the favorite to do so.

Make no mistake, however, about where Toronto FC stands. This is a club that has neither captured nor can pretend to command the will of fate. There are no guarantees. Assuming an MLS Cup victory, or even a place in the final, is a dangerous pattern of thought.

Work remains, and obstacles come as frequently as ever. This won't be an easier season, or one filled with less distractions. A summer of Gold Cup action will again divide the squad's attention. And, for all of Sebastian Giovinco's character, the door to China is still ajar.

But for the variables of serendipity and providence, and ignoring the primal sense of doom, this Toronto FC side presents itself in complimentary light. If ever the Reds are to bask in the sun, it is now.

It's always darkest before the dawn.