Bob Bradley was fired as Toronto’s head coach and sporting director on Monday after the team won just three of 20 Major League Soccer games this season.
Terry Dunfield, a former Toronto player and Canadian international, has been promoted to interim head coach. The 41-year-old, who has also played for Vancouver and Manchester City, had been head coach of the under-17 team at the Toronto academy.
Mike Sorber, Toronto’s assistant coach and technical director, was also fired.
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Swansea City Head Coach Bob Bradley during the Premier League match between Swansea City and West Ham United at Liberty Stadium on December 26, 2016 in Swansea, Wales. (Athens images/fake images)
Toronto, which lost 2-1 at New England on Saturday, ranks 14th out of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference with three wins, seven losses and 10 ties. The team have won just two of their last 17 games in all competitions, drawing eight. Only Miami has a worse record with five runs, 13 losses and no ties.
Bradley, 65, a former US national team coach whose son is Toronto captain Michael Bradley, was hired in November 2021 and led the team to 14 wins, 26 losses and 19 ties.
«Bob has been the consummate professional with Toronto FC and we thank him for his passion and tireless work during his time here,» Toronto President Bill Manning said in a statement. «We are all disappointed that we were not able to achieve the results we had hoped for.»
Midfielder Federico Bernardeschi criticized Toronto’s style of play after a 1-0 loss at Austin on May 20. Toronto lost 10 players due to injuries or suspensions.
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Toronto FC head coach Bob Bradley yells to his team on the sideline during an MLS soccer match against Nashviulle SC in Toronto on Saturday, June 10, 2023. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)
«We don’t play,» Bernardeschi said. «We played a long pass. We have no idea how to play.»
«I think this city, the fans, everyone, they don’t deserve this,» he added.
Bradley benched Bernardeschi for the following weekend’s game against D.C. United, a 2–1 win, calling it a «manager’s decision» rather than disciplinary action. Bernardeschi started again for the next game against Chicago, tied 0-0.
Toronto went through a 418-minute league scoreless drought after CJ Sapong’s goal in a 1-0 win over visiting New York City on April 29. Toronto failed to score during a four-game winless streak in May against New England (2-0), Montreal (2-0), the New York Red Bulls (0-0) and Austin (1-0).
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Toronto FC head coach Bob Bradley looks on during the first half of the MLS teams’ soccer game against FC Cincinnati on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
Toronto was also eliminated from the Canadian Championship at the first hurdle, defeated 2-1 on May 9 by Montreal in the quarterfinals.
Bradley coached the USA from 2006 to 2011 and Egypt from 2011 to 2013. At the club level, he managed Norway’s Stabæk (2014-15), France’s Le Havre (2015-16) and England’s Swansea ( 2016).
He became the fourth MLS manager to be fired since the start of the season. Chicago replaced Ezra Hendrickson with Frank Klopas on May 8, the same day the New York Red Bulls’ Gerhard Struber was replaced by Troy Lesesne, and Miami’s Phil Neville was fired on June 1 and replaced by Javier Morales.