Saturday, March 29, 2008

Columbus Crew 2 TFC 0


A quick report and some first impressions...
I travelled to Columbus today and was crushed to see TFC go down to defeat at the hands of the Crew. I don't think that there is any natural rivalry between the teams, we would rather squash Montreal and Michigan will always be the arch-rival of any team in Ohio. Still,The Crew is an important team to judge Toronto by. They must be caught if TFC is to become a playoff team in my lifetime.
So many of my fears after the struggles in Charleston during the pre-season tournament were confirmed. I thought that the new rookie keeper Edwards looked strong in net in his first start (other than the two goals - naturally). The defense was solid, one goal allowed came against the run of play and the other was a breakdown when TFC was pushing forward and Kevin Harmse passed back from the midfield and the Crew were better placed for it
Velez and Marshall worked well together as central defenders. I thought Wynne's time away from the team because of the Olympic tournament showed him to be a little disconnected from the team. I think that Brennan is better in the central role, not because of any lack when playing left back as he did today, but because he finds Robinson and Edu better from the middle of the field.
So much more to say, so let me break this report into a series....

Now let me enjoy my cold Bud in peace. I am licking my wounds (metaphorically, of course) in an Ohio motel, with a fair drive home ahead of me tomorrow.

3 comments:

Joe Soccer Fan said...

I thought Edwards didn't really show much. On both goals he could have done better. The first was reachable and he should have pressured Moreno more on the second. It will be interesting to see if Carver sticks with him.

Anonymous said...

Props for making the trip.

Sad to see us lose to Columbus and you're absolutely right about this being one of those games where you have to get some kind of a result. In the end it's games like these that make a difference when it comes to a playoff berth.

Anonymous said...

Fair enough joe soccer fan, I can't recall a moment where he showed a highlight reel type of save. I guess he was more confident looking than I expected and moved with the ball well when distributing after saves. I agree that the first seemed reachable, I think he may have been anticipating that it would be tipped by the oncoming player and was preparing for it.
Still Kicking