On this year's trip north of the border, RSL could be walking into a gold mine.  Or a bear trap.

1. How much effect will the crowd have on both teams?  The schedulers once again didn't do RSL any favors by forcing them to face Toronto in their home opener.  Toronto has the best crowd in MLS hands down, and they've been waiting three long weeks to finally see their team in person.  The usually raucous crowd at BMO Field will be even more energized for this one.  And after some tough results on their season-opening road trip, there's no doubt that Toronto's players will be fired up to finally be playing at home.  Expect Toronto to come out with very high intensity, especially in the first 20 minutes.  They will play over their heads and out of their minds.  If RSL can keep the game in Toronto's half, create dangerous chances, or even punch in an early goal, that would go a long ways toward silencing the crowd and bringing Toronto back to earth.  But if RSL allows Toronto to create the scoring chances, that will just further incite the crowd and fuel the fire under Toronto's players.  Those first 20 minutes or so it's crucial that RSL match Toronto's intensity.

2. How much will RSL want to play in the midfield?  There's an old tried-and-true saying in the coaching business - "win the midfield and you'll win the game."  But when it comes to this old adage, RSL is a bit of an enigma: In their first two matches, RSL controlled the midfield and only managed a draw and a loss.  In last week's blowout of DC United, RSL were content to allow DC the midfield - instead they played the ball directly to the forwards - and they ran away with a victory for the record books.  There's no question that Toronto's strength lies in their midfield with the likes of up-and-coming U.S. International Maurice Edu, Honduras international & MLS vet Amado Guevara, and EPL veterans Rohan Ricketts and Laurent Robert.  Plus Toronto sports a 5-man midfield, so it wouldn't surprise me to see RSL take a more direct approach on offense similar to the DC game and avoid playing through all that quality (and quantity) in the midfield.  Toronto's defense is fairly weak, so if RSL can get the ball up to the forwards, they should create chances.

3. Can RSL finish their scoring chances?  Toronto's defense has struggled in their first three games.  So far they have allowed a league-worst 15.3 shots against per game and a league-worst 2.7 goals against per game, despite some clutch goalkeeping by Greg Sutton.  RSL should be able to generate chances against a Toronto defense that so far hasn't been up to the challenge.  The game may come down to how many of those chances RSL convert on.  In their first two games (a draw and a loss), RSL only managed one goal on 28 shots, a conversion percentage of 3.6% (for those who are wondering, the own goal vs. Chicago does not count towards RSL's goal tally).  But in their last game, RSL managed 4 goals on 11 shots, a conversion percentage of 36.4%.  In particular, Yura Movsisyan (7 shots, 3 on goal) and Kenny Deuchar (6 shots, 2 on goal) need to hit the mark better.  If RSL can manage to score on 20% of their chances, that will probably give them 3 goals.  Even at home, Toronto's stud forwards Danny Dichio and Jeff Cunningham would be hard pressed to dig out of that hole.

This is one game that's hard to predict - Toronto's crowd and its effect on both teams are a wildcard.  I could see the game either way and not be shocked.  But this is the kind of road game RSL should win - needs to win - if they want to be regarded as a team to be reckoned with.

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