Timbers shivered TFC 4 Portland Timbers 1

We had long looks at the two sides of TFC 2017 last night.

The worrying side, the hold the ball side that can't / won't finish off opponents. The team that plays down to the level of weaker, bunker mentality teams. The TFC that passes too much, that shoots too little, gets predictable and static and gives up on motion and surprise. This was the TFC that gave us a first half of frustration. It seemed a continuation of the DC United road game. TFC, the much better team, unable to put the ball into the net.
This is the TFC that haunts us. Echoes of the MLS Cup last December abound. Will TFC 2017 take us to the brink of glory and then flounder again? Destined to be a day late and a dollar short? Bested, not be an equal but by a plucky, lucky denier? Cruelty over victory? Winter dreams of "what if" instead of "well done".

Then we basked in a second half of execution. The "victory over cruelty" TFC showed up, vanquishing Portland and keeping all dreams alive.
How to define the nature of the attacking breakthroughs is a tough challenge.
There is an element of finesse, pinpoint passing and delicious awareness of each other. Example #1 of that would be goal 2 last night. Delgado with the perfect diagonal forward pass to put Giovinco into a threatening spot on the edge of the box, Giovinco relaying that ball quickly into Vazquez's path and Victor Vazquez sliding that ball net ward. Awareness, skill and timing were key. Vazquez had to put more effort into his celebration than he had to put into scoring the goal.
However TFC is not all Barcelona style "tiki taki" of football, both the second Justin Morrow goal and the Marky Delgado goal were opportunistic blasts. As if the scoring player was fed up with all the touches and surprises and twists and applied the brute force to bury the ball deep into the twine.

How's this for a theory? Seba Giovinco is more of a MVP player not scoring but creating for others. Both Justin Morrow's first goal and that Victor Vazquez goal were due to Giovinco's set-up, but more importantly his sense of generosity and awareness. Giovinco, once upon a time, had less faith in others and would try to do it all himself. Not that Seba is perfection, his annoyed tackle AND his kicking the ball away AND sarcastically applauding the ref might have easily resulted in a red card in that second half.

Grab bag - It was tough to see Nick Hagglund go down with another knee injury. Hope it is minor. Jason Hernandez had to be the unsung hero of the night, he filled in the central defender role perfectly. I was impulsively predicting that Nicolas Hasler would get his first goal for TFC last night. A few bright moments on the ball, have yet to decide how Hasler compares to Beitashour.

Next Game - Later in the evening the Columbus Crew (of all teams to benefit TFC) helped Toronto by defeating Chicago Fire 3-1. The next up for Toronto is the long anticipated road trip to Chicago next weekend. The Fire still have a game in hand, but Toronto lead them in both the Eastern Conference and for the overall Supporter's Shield. So bring on the Fire and bring on next Saturday. Stay tuned...