Last year, after a loss in Montreal left his New York Red Bulls team well outside the playoff picture, Gerhard Struber had no choice but to talk about the future.
In his first season managing in America, Struber ran into a merciless summer injury crisis that became a near-fatal slump. Already facing the uphill battle of winning while developing the young team being assembled by now-departed sporting chief Kevin Thelwell, Struber had seen a flurry of defensive injuries leave him with a threadbare squad that he admitted was not capable of competing for trophies yet even if they managed to recover in time to make the playoffs.