TFC 0, Chivas USA 2

Last Saturday, the scene for TFC supporters was a strange one, if not unanticipated. With BMO field being on the CNE fairgrounds, it was obvious to anyone who bothered to think about it that the day would come when it would actually be almost a hassle to get to the game.

It wasn't too bad, but walking through the noisy, smelly, run down fairgrounds was not the most pleasant experience. Once in the stadium, you hardly noticed it was there. Although at some points, I almost wished I had stayed outside, as one of the random Ex-goers who stared with their face pressed against the bars, at the Carlsberg tents on the north side of the stadium.

Now, I am not the owner or usual poster for this blog, and unlike him I do not know the stats and trivia, and beside Brennen with his obviously broken arm, I know nothing of the injuries for our team. But to justify our performance on Saturday, it is my opinion that every player should have had at least a pull or sprain. We were absolutely out of form and downright saddening to watch.

I have seen TFC play great games, and I have been thrilled by plays set up by our boys in the past. But Saturday was awful.
First half, the ball time was almost equal, with Chivas leading, but just barely. We made it to half time nil nil, not without opportunities I might add, with a nice cross in to Edu from Welsh early on in the game. As the half closed in, TFC seemed more and more desperate for a goal, but every shot seemed to miss the net.

It seemed we might have some hope, when, for the start of the second half, Dichio came on to replace Lombardo. But alas, Chivas by this time had completely turned around their defensive game, and the ball was out of our end maybe three times the entire half. Chivas scored the first goal of the match relatively early on in the second half, and with the exception of a failed attempt by two injured players (Marvell Wynne and Jeff Cunningham) subbed in, in an attempt to even the score, Chivas alone had the scoring opportunities for the rest of the game. TFC would try to bring it out, but Chivas played a strong defense and held the Toronto strikers at bay, by pushing them forward with offside traps and then swarming them if the ball ever made it out to them. Another goal was scored by Chivas, in the dying minutes of the game, and by then it might as well have been over. TFC supporters left the field, and the grounds, with a noticeable damper on their unstoppable chants. The pounding of the walls in the underground GO passage was not near as cheery as it has been, and I think that everyone was feeling the breath of the record set in 2002 for the most minutes played without a goal, one that we are very close to breaking.

For TFC's inaugural season, that is not the record any of us would hope to break.