Adding sparkle to Saturday night Toronto 2 Houston 1

The next morning’s reflection blog…

I write this on the Sunday morning after a pleasant Saturday evening at BMO Field. I am finding that my thoughts and observations of the game are not coming to me in a smooth narrative flow, but I am developing an understanding for this (replace “understanding” with “hare-brained theory designed to cover for my flaws”).
After all the season, so far, has not had much of a narrative flow. This new TFC with new leadership has been a stop and start, good things and bad things, sort of a jumble of impressions process. Positions shift, Coach Winter rotates players around, only Stephan Frei has been a constant. So I am willing to allow my blogging to be a jumble too. Every blog post should start with Frei = constant, solid foundation of this gelling/frustrating TFC 2011. It is not exactly snappy writing, but it is accurate. Of course with the Winter style of everyone has a green light to play the ball back to the keeper, Frei has to be the foundation. From Section 220 there is plenty of muttering that it is only a matter of time before a team with an effective press and a lucky guess will force a goal out of the steady stream of Toronto passbacks. Enough muttering for now, I did say it was a pleasant evening. Victory #2 of the year had to be more than just Frei…

Toronto began the game with a lively look. Playing Eckersley and Yourassowsky wide at the back and Plata wide in a forward role provided some sparkle. It also stretched Houston and gave Toronto some opportunities for the central players. The best example was JDG’s shot at net in the early going that tested the Dynamo keeper. It was DeGuzman’s best chance of the night (season?) and had it not been for a great fingertip save he would have had his long awaited first Toronto goal. JDG had some energetic moments in the game as did Tony Tchani. They looked slightly more coherent than they did against Edmonton, but they still are more potential than power.

My puzzled state at not seeing Martina in the starting line-up (or subs bench) gave way to joy at the way that Plata has become the energy source for TFC. The first goal was from the penalty spot. Soolsma drew the foul, but Plata took the shot. At first, from the upper deck of the west stand, it looked too steep and seemed to be heading over the bar. It was wonderful to see the netting bulge at the top…

The second goal was a nice low shot across the keeper from Maicon Santos, sent into the clear by a pass from Plata. The fact that Houston was able to score late in the game, that the defending looked shaky in the late going and that Frei saved the win with a few solid saves indicates that this team has a distance to go before the adjustments come down to minimum tweaks. The home record now stands at 2 wins, 1 loss and 3 draws.