TFC stuns NYRB with an October surprise

TFC sparkled tonight and defeated New York RedBulls in New York by a resounding 3-1. This goal scoring frenzy was unexpected. Boy, was it unexpected. The blah bitterness of the last road game in Kansas City was still preying on the minds of the battered TFC fan. It was a sense of duty, the thought that soon enough the wind will blow and the snow will pile and we will yearn for a contest to cheer for, that convincd me to watch the game. So I invite a friend over and we tune in to witness what TFC had on offer. Who knew that it was going to be a night of jumping off the couch with fists pumping and cries of joy??
This was the team that we have been waiting for. Where has this team been ? Is it too little, too late- flash in the pan stuff for the faint playoff hopes?
The next game is in Dallas and based on tonight's performance- something positive is possible. A tie on the road in Texas now has some life to it and a road victory no longer qualifies as extreme crazy talk.
Tonight Chad Barrett scored the first goal through hustle and finish (and a foolish header back to the keeper from a New York player ten miles away that Barrett beat him to) and that was the half time score. (Barrett 27 minutes)
I thought that TFC needed another goal early in the second half, but New York got one instead. Dane Richards responded with his own hustle and finish goal early and that was the point when I wavered. Harmse and Marshall looked like butter on the play and Richards was the hot knife.
Oh oh, I thought. I could close my eyes and see the same old script, the same old heartbreak developing. A huge case of the same old same olds was in the air. Then someone ripped up the script and wrote a new one, an exciting one. The one we TFC fans have been dreaming of all summer long.
Carl Robinson, playing deep in his half, plays the ball forward to Dichio, who calmly lays it off to the left wing. The ball falls perfectly into the stride of Marvell Wynne. Marvell decides to move boldly into warp speed and tears away down the wing. Leaving defenders in the dust, Wynne senses the out-rushing Red Bull keeper (Conway) and sends the ball in a perfect pass across to Chad Barrett. The ball is in the net uncontested. Barrett celebrates, turning towards Hunter Freeman, but then it hits him. Wynne made that play sparkle with his speed and touch and ol' Chad turns back towards Marvell. Wynne is already there.
Wynne has shown so much in these recent games that you worry about his being taken to Europe sooner rather than later. Edu was sold for 5 million and he did not have these "Wynne quality" moments.
The substitutions were timely. Johann Smith for Rohan Ricketts and Ibby Ibrahim for Chad Barrett. Smith shows that he has speed on the wing too. Ibby is wide open on the far post and he signals for the ball. He may never be as open as he was at that moment, and when you consider his youth that is a lot of future I am taking into consideration. Ibby Ibrahim heads the ball pass Conway and the night is Toronto's.

There was a chippy air to the game and New York is a team that I dislike more with every exposure. Angel's cleat chop to the back of Guevara's thigh was ugly. It may be unusual for Angel and it may have been a mistake, but it was ugly. Guevara played on, but he was a step slower and quick to pass. New York could be letting their losing streak get to them, but they deserved every yellow and looked ready for the next colour once or twice. The yellow on Chad Barrett did not seem deserved on the television angle. Wonder what the ref saw on that one? Or was he just trying to balance out the cautions on a game that seemed on the boil.
I don't think that I will be approaching the next game with the same sense of high fan duty. Bring it on !