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TORONTO -- Michael Bradley sat dejected in his locker stall, almost lost for words as Toronto FCs season looped to another loss. Cant defend. Cant score. Cant win. Repeat and add another loss to the standings. That was the bottom line of a 2-0 defeat Saturday afternoon at the hands of the Philadelphia Union that saw first-half goals by Conor Casey and Andrew Wenger extend Torontos MLS misery. "Weve been through this before," Bradley said with a sigh after a long pause. "To be quite honest, you get sick and tired talking about it . . . When you constantly dig yourself these kind of holes then you know its going to be hard to come back and get anything out of the game." Toronto (9-11-6) has lost three straight via shutout, is winless in five (0-4-1) and has just three victories in its last 15 outings (3-7-5). Toronto has dropped 31 of 45 points over that period. The club that once talked of making BMO Field its fortress has not won there since July 12 (0-3-2) and now has a 5-6-2 record at home in 2014. Still Toronto came hard in the second half at a Philadelphia side that had two first-half goals in its back pocket. The home side hit the woodwork three times, only to see its goalless streak stretch to 280 minutes. "I think we have more," said manager Greg Vanney, whose record at the helm dropped to 0-2-0. "We have to be better. It wasnt good enough. "We have eight matches left. We have a full week of training next week. I think its important that we take a good hard look and set our identity, the identity of this team and how were going to push forward for the next eight games and get everybody on the same page. Were still sort of a group moving in one direction and another group moving in another direction" Vanney has been handed an almost impossible task, trying to arrest the slide of a team whose bad habits have been amplified by injury and lack of squad depth at certain positions. Once again, Toronto paid the price for early slack defending before a disappointing crowd -- announced as a sellout of 22,591 but showing plenty of empty seats -- that booed them off the field for the second home game in a row. Toronto is 2-8-4 when it allows the first goal and 7-3-2 when it scores first The team is sliding down the standings like they were a greased pole. Toronto, with 33 points, started the day fourth in the Eastern Conference. It finished the game in fifth and could end up in seventh if Columbus and New York both post wins. "We played like we were a little bit underwater," said Vanney. "Maybe fatigued at a third game in seven days." There was some good news for TFC supporters. Fan favourite Dwayne De Rosario got his first start since April 12 and injured star striker Jermain Defoe, whose future with the club has come into question lately, is expected back in training in Toronto on Sept. 20. Vanney said he expected Defoe to play "soon thereafter." Toronto has games Sept. 21 and 27 and then five more in October. Defoe offered cause for hope for Toronto fans by tweeting: "Big game for boys tonight good luck cant wait to be back out there scoring" Apprised of the Sept. 20 return for Defoe, Bradley said: "Awesome. Sounds good." And he insisted Toronto can turn things around and make the playoffs. "Frustrated for sure but not even close to giving up," said Bradley before taking a glass-half-full view of the schedule. "Theres still a lot of games left, a lot of soccer to be played and a lot of points still on the board. "Anybody that thinks that were ready to pack it in has another thing coming." While Toronto players take a long hard look at themselves, the well-drilled Union (9-9-9) are headed in the other direction. The victory, Philadelphias second in three days over Toronto with Casey scoring in both games, means the Union have won three of four and lost just one of its last nine (5-1-3). Philadelphia is 6-2-3 in MLS play since Jim Curtin was hired as interim manager. "Im happy with the guys performance," said Curtin. "Toronto is a very good team who are missing some pieces right now and we are a little bit fortunate to get them at the time we did." Toronto was without injured defenders Steve Caldwell and Justin Morrow and Canadian midfielder Jonathan Osorio. Veteran Bradley Orr, who played at centre back despite a painful toe injury, declined comment after a difficult day at the office. Vanney said he chose a sore Orr to play because the backline badly needed some experience. Canadian coach Benito Floro did the team a solid by releasing De Rosario and fellow midfielder Kyle Bekker from the national team game for Saturdays game. The 36-year-old De Rosario, showing bursts of energy, got a standing ovation in some quarters when he came off in the 69th minute. Bekker started on the bench, coming in just before halftime for an injured Collen Warner. Vanney and his players had hoped for a fast start to get the fans into the match. Instead it was a late-arriving crowd and Philadelphia went ahead in the eighth minute after a series of botched Toronto clearances allowed Sheanon Williams to deliver a perfect cross to Casey. The burly striker, who played two games for Toronto in its inaugural 2007 season, made no mistake with the header for his eighth of the season. Philadelphia went ahead 2-0 in the 44th minute off a corner and yet another failed clearance. Mark Blooms header went to Williams, who headed it back it to Wenger at the other end of the goal. Wenger, free of any Toronto pressure, headed it in for his fifth goal. Bloom had Torontos best chance to date in the 54th minute when his long-range shot bounced off the post. Nick Hagglunds bicycle kick went just wide minutes later. Bradley forced a save off a diving Zac MacMath in the 66th minute. A header by Brazils Jackson hit the crossbar in the 77th minute and Bekker slammed a ball off the crossbar in the 90th minute after his free kick came back to him. The Philadelphia defence bent but didnt break. Toronto had 16 attempts on goal -- including 12 in the second half -- but only put three on target compared to 12 (seven on target) for the Union. Air Max 720 Uk Cheap . Ive said it before, Ive worked with top pros and I could have made my own program. Air Max 720 Uk Sale . The 18-year-old centre was the Senators first-round pick (17th overall) in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. The six-foot 196-pound native of Salmon Arm, B. http://www.airmax720ukcheap.com/. Kyrie Irving and the Cleveland Cavaliers were left fretting over an MRI on the stars left knee. Paul George scored 21 points, Roy Hibbert added 19 and the Pacers used a dominant fourth quarter to blow out the Cavaliers 91-76 on Tuesday The Pacers (25-5) have won eight in a row over Cleveland, their longest active streak against any opponent. Air Max 720 Cheap . Reimer told TSNs Mark Masters on Tuesday that he doesnt know if he will be moved leading up to the March 5 trade deadline but added he wasnt interested in discussing it. "Who knows whats going to happen on the horizon here and right now I dont know if I want to talk about it too much. Wholesale Air Max 720 .com) - A chant of Zeke reverberated around AT&T Stadium before Ezekiel Elliott powered into the end zone for his fourth and final touchdown.BUFFALO, N.Y. - General manager Tim Murray decided defenceman Christian Ehrhoff and his hefty contract did not fit in his long-term vision for rebuilding the Buffalo Sabres. Former Sabres captain Steve Ott, on the other hand, just might. Fresh off clearing Buffalos books of the remaining seven years of Ehrhoffs contract, Murray is targeting veteran role players to augment his teams young roster once the NHLs free-agency period opens Tuesday. "Id like to acquire a couple of veteran guys who can play the game, but can also show our kids how to be pros," Murray said Monday. "So Im going to focus on at least two of those guys." And that makes Ott a candidate to return to Buffalo after he was part the Sabres trade that also sent goalie Ryan Miller to St. Louis in February. Murray said Ott is on the teams list of free-agent candidates, and added hes had preliminary discussions with the players agent. Ott was expendable at the time of the trade because he was in the final year of his contract. Murray, who spoke highly of Otts leadership ability before the trade, was careful to make sure Ott left on good terms by dealing him to a contender. As for Ehrhoff, who signed a 10-year, $40 million contract three years ago, Murray said the defenceman wasnt interested in being part of the teams rebuilding process. The way Ehrhoffs contract was structured was another factor. Under NHL rules, the Sabres would have faced a significant salary-cap penalty if Ehrhoff retired before the final year of his deal. "This seemed to be the best course of action for us to move on, be out from under that contract," Murray said. "And now we dont have to worry about it. Now we just have to focus on rebuilding, bringing in good young players and get going here." Murray, who took over in January after Darcy Regier was fired, is taking a patient appproach to rebuilding a team that is coming off one of the worst seasons in franchise history.dddddddddddd Buffalo (21-51-10) finished last in the NHL standings, set a franchise record for losses and established a post-NHL-expansion-era low by scoring just 150 goals. Murray has set his sights on rebuilding through youth, a process that continued at the NHL draft last weekend. The Sabres made nine picks, starting with playmaking centre Sam Reinhart at No. 2 overall. Buffalo is scheduled to have three first-round picks in next years draft, which leaves Murray preaching patience. "We all want to speed things up. As soon as we got (Reinhart), I said I wish it was 2016. But its not. And you have to do it properly," Murray said. "Its not easy. Its hard. It takes a long time. And I think that were on the right track." Aside from convincing free agents to buy into his rebuilding plan, Murrays other challenge is upping the Sabres payroll to the NHL salary cap minimum of $51 million. The Sabres are currently at about $30 million after buying out Ehrhoff and the final three years of underperforming forward Ville Leinos contract two weeks ago. Murray is confident the Sabres will reach the cap minimum before the start of the season, and can do so without handcuffing the teams salary structure with expensive long-term contracts. "Im not worried about the floor," Murray said, and then broke into a smile while pointing to a reporter. "Ill sign you if I have to." The Sabres have extended qualifying offers to retain the rights of a number of restricted free agents, including centres Tyler Ennis and Luke Adam, forward Marcus Foligno, defenceman Chad Ruhwedel and goalie Matt Hackett. Defenceman Jamie McBain will become an unrestricted free agent after the Sabres did not extend him and offer. ' ' '