Toronto FC striker Jermain Defoe was originally selected to the MLS All-Star Game, but thanks to a groin injury, the former England international will miss this week’s festivities in Portland, Ore. Replaced on the roster by Sporting Kansas City’s Dom Dwyer, the 31-year-old is set to miss 2-3 weeks, with scans conducted on Monday shelving the Reds’ leading scorer for up to three games.
TFC confirmed the new today on the club’s website:
After facing the Crew, Toronto take on East-leading Sporting before finishing August against the Chicago. With team’s stated timeline, Defoe’s out for Aug. 16’s trip to Kansas City but could return to face the Fire.
Between rest and injury, Defoe’s already missed seven games this season, considering both MLS play and the Canadian Championship. While that’s not enough to draw any conclusions, it’s not a trivial amount of time, either. The samples are growing, on both sides of the study.
With Defoe in the team (17 games), Toronto is averaging .47 goals per game, a rate that falls to 1.14 when he doesn’t play.
To take the quality of opponents’ defenses into account, teams facing a Defoe-less Toronto concede 18 percent fewer goals than they do against other opposition. When Defoe’s in the team, Toronto’s scoring seven percent more goals than teams concede against different opponents.
| Games | Goals | GPG | % Diff. Opponent’s GPG | |
| With Defoe | 17 | 25 | 1.47 | +7 |
| W/o Defoe | 7 | 8 | 1.14 | -18 |
Perhaps most importantly, Toronto’s only 2-4-1 without Defoe.
