Beyond surprise Union 1 TFC 0

Why, why, why, why?

Why do they look like they are competing, in the battle and then the inevitable fold in the end?

Why have subs if they are unable to add something to the team. I wanted to see Earnshaw added to Dike.

Facing 10 men, TFC looked like the team playing short. The inability to score is embarrassing.


TFC 2013 will soon be over. One more road game in Chicago, one more home game against Montreal.

I think that the limit for torture and misery was reached on Canada Day.

Multiple Designated Player rule - The day the fun started

My head is swirling with the names of players who would look good in TFC red. The day of the MLS Cup 2010 press conference I was also expecting information on changes to the Designated Player rule. Here it comes, I thought, when GOL TV interviewed The Garber. But The Garber ducked the DP question from Lee Godfrey. The commish seemed to be putting any roster moves on the back burner. Clearly, I am not a poker player. So just 48 hours later the DP rule was changed. The details are here. Suddenly TFC fans are agog (that's right, I said agog) with the possibilities of a star player or two.

Maybe, just maybe, Mo saw this coming. It would explain his low key approach to trialists during the pre-season. Why bother with out of contract players who can perhaps make a small splash, when bigger fish can be caught in the summer? I would like to see myself as gliding above both a sea of Mo haters, without ever landing on that small island of Mo apologists. Mistakes will always be made when building a team. A little humility goes a long way in the world of bloggers. I was one of those fans who was convinced that Ali Gerba was a great signing for TFC. Mistakes by the lake existed long before Mo came to town

I think that New York sets the pace for Toronto when it comes to how quickly to pursue players. New York has their new stadium and they need to generate buzz. How do you break through in a market dominated by Knicks, Jets and Giants, Yankees and Mets? You follow the Cosmos model. So a NYRB team that contains Angel, Henry and Raul(?) would need a TFC response. Or do you move first and obtain younger stars that will win the Cup this year and let NYRB bring in the bigger names next year? Stay tuned, this will be fun.

TFC at DC United road trip wishes

After watching TFC in Columbus last Saturday, my expectations for tonight are on the small side. Looking a little more coherent while defending, particularly in the centre of the field would be nice. Creative attack from the wings and Edu taking control of the ball and directing the tempo of the game would be nicer. Scoring a goal would be a relief. If Lauren Robert looks only half-decent I will be thrilled. Let's face it, we TFC fans are hoping to catch DC in an early season fog, but a tie on the road is the honest target for tonight.
I dare not call this a preview. I have not seen DC United play this year and I know that they made quite a few changes in the off season.

My hopes/dreams/delusions for a TFC line up tonight.

Edwards

Wynne Brennan Marshall Dunivant

??? Edu Robinson Robert

Dichio Cunningham

Edwards is my pick as keeper because I think that the fans want to see what John Carver saw in training and pre-season. We are not sure after Columbus, but I was impressed with the confidence and ball-handling of Edwards . Getting a rookie some starts while the team is still gelling is not a bad idea.
The back four would get Jim Brennan back in a central role. Velez did not play badly in Columbus, but he did seem as if he had never met Marshall until game time. Brennan and Marshall do work well together. Maybe that is because Marshall has less to do with the ball when Brennan is there. I think the idea of Brennan out in the left back slot is if you are working towards a central unit of Julius James with either Velez or Phelan.
I put Edu and Robinson central and Robert on the left. I am stumped on the right side, Samuel maybe. I think TFC should be more patient with Tyler Hemmings. I don't think that out on the wing is his spot in the midfield. I think that he should be working towards being Edu's replacement come the Olympics. After all that was his role with U23 Canada and he looked strong. I think that there are changes to come in the midfield ( Guevera ?? Ricketts ?? ) so the lack of right side attack is short term.
Dichio and Cunningham go up front. I think that Dichio's role on the team is going to change. When you develop a team with depth , you have the luxury of playing to your strengths. After wearing DIchio out last year, it would be wise to have flexibility and not start him every time. I am already looking forward to a rested, healty Dichio playing in Montreal against Adam Braz in May. My willingness to trade Jeff Cunningham has been around since last fall, but it is always easier to move a player for something of value in return in they are starting rather than sitting on the bench.

Colorado Rapids 1 TFC 0 O must we suffer...

The first half tonight was typical TFC. There were no scoring chances of any type from them. The Samuel and Cunningham combo up front continues to fizzle. A defensive shell is all they had to offer.
Colorado was able to move the ball around the field without really penetrating into scoring territory. They were well spaced, and if not dangerous, they were at least cohesive.
Then the moment of hope. A nasty injury could have resulted from the rash two footed slide tackle launched by Belouchy. The red card was given without hesitation and TFC has the man advantage at the 36th minute. We have seen this story before (Real Salt Lake in September) . Carl Robinson was the player who managed to avoid injury.
After the moment of hope comes the moment of reckoning. In a corner kick set-up Chris Pozniak gets his hands on a Rapid player in front of the net and sends him flying. Perhaps it was just getting his hands on somebody and they made sure that they went flying, but a penalty kick awarded no matter the sequence. Goal scored by Colorado's Jovan Kirovski in the 44th minute.
The second half settled into a snore, You would never have known that TFC had a man advantage. The Colorado announcer said it best. "Toronto is not good enough in possession to take advantage of being a man up".
Give credit to Mo for switching things up at the half. Braz out for Tyler Hemming, Gabe Gala out for Miguel Canizalez. This was followed shortly after with Chris Pozniak off for Joey Melo. Although these moves did not have much of an impact, at least the young players are getting some playing time.
Marvell Wynne's speed continues to amaze. In the 65th minute he was able to get from a beaten position just outside the box and come back to win the ball from Clark inside the box.
The ref tonight, Kevin Stott, was excellent in this blogger's opinion, although the yellow card to Carl Robinson could have been avoided by a quicker call just seconds before.
Pablo Mastroeni of Colorado gets ejected in the final minute or two. WIth a two man advantage there is a real shot on net saved by a diving Rapid keeper, Bouna Coundoul.
The lack of attack is frightening. The same squad that had something happening at home against the Red Bulls returned to their punchless form. LA Galaxy next and they have something to play for.

TFC 0 Real Salt Lake 0

It was pathetic today. I deserve better. Well, I mean all fans deserve better, but I am taking this miserable play personally. Must have been the cold winds off the lake that soured me. TFC needs to find a half dozen players for next season. The goal scoring drought has taken on a life of it's own. Yes. there is an element of rotten luck, but there is also a lot of flaws being exposed.
Real Salt Lake was reduced to 10 players late in the first half. It had been a close, but chippy game. Esky went down like a ton of bricks to trick the ref into the yellow on Boyens. The Real Salt Lake players spent a lot of time talking to the ref and he was putting up with it. You felt they were reviewing their take on the laws of the game and all the ghastly (ghost) fouls that he was missing. In the early going with the man advantage, there were some close misses, but somehow there was a lack of optimism in the air going into half-time.

The critical exposure of the TFC lack of depth started with the second half when a half-time injury to Marvell Wynne meant that Adam Braz was put into the game at right back. Perhaps the Wynne injury was connected to the foul on him from behind that led to the red card? You can go ahead and tease me, I did name Braz my man of the match last week in Dallas, but you got the feeling that Salt Lake's defending stategy was leave Braz unmarked because they wanted him to have the ball. Braz would work the ball up to his winger Miguel Canizalez who would look scared with the ball, go nowhere and manage to lose the ball or scramble it back to Braz. Maybe I am too harsh on Canizalez, the TFC roster on the website lists him as a defender. If that is true, what was Mo thinking ??
So instead of dominating the midfield, Carl Robinson was playing way back to give Braz an option to pass to. If he was needed back there to anchor the d, maybe Andy Boyens should have been sent forward. It seemed defeatist to be playing with five in the back.(Did Caninzalez make it 6 ??)
Hey, how about an overlap Carl Robinson ? He could have been penetrating the right wing, but instead he seemed to be a central gatekeeper, always channeling passes from Braz to Brennan or Brennan to Braz. If a Robinson supplied a pass forward to Edu he was always surrounded by the Salt Lake midfield. How about a give'n go Robinson ?? Follow your pass or make a run. I think I saw Robinson come forward once and that was when Braz came up a with a power pass that flew over everyone into the stands.
The TFC attack down the left (Brennan and Dunivant) did break through and supplied some hopeful crosses. This duo work very hard and try to come up with something- but they are defenders playing out of position.
Andrea Lombardo either has incredible bad luck or has no touch around the net. He does seem to head goalward with the ball, showing little awareness of Colin Samuel or anyone else for that matter. RSL did have veteran Eddie Pope covering Lombardo a lot of the time, so that there was little room for vision. When Jeff Cunningham came on there was more interplay between he and Samuels in a few minutes than we had seen all day between Lombardo and Samuel. A healthy Cunningham must pave the way for Lombardo to spend the rest of the season on the bench.
So a tie and another non goalfest for TFC. The air has gone out of this season. It started leaking in July, but it is gone now. It is next year's squad that is being formed now. I wish that TFC players would stop playing themselves off of that squad, but that is the nature of growing pains.

TFC 0 LA Galaxy 0 - Tonight the galaxy, without their big star, did not shine

It could have been worse, but it should have been better.
This was supposed to be the glamour match of the season. It was a fine TFC effort, but it was a let-down as an event. As a game, it was ok. The patchwork TFC had all of the chances of note, but could not put the ball in the net.

Injuries have clobbered TFC. Ready? Here goes the long list - Dichio, Cunningham, Wynne, Sutton, O’Brien, and Boyens. So it was opportunity time for players who have been way, way down the bench tonight. Marco Reda and Adam Braz were in the back four, Chris Pozniak was in the midfield and Andrea Lombardo played the entire game at striker.
All four of them contributed fully. Adam Braz played his best game yet for TFC. Marco Reda made no mistakes, worked hard and covered well, but his failure to score on a header off a corner kick in the first half was perhaps not the best career move. Pozniak was more active in the first half, but he had a wonderful first touch in the second half . His shot was stopped and he then tried to get the rebound over to Lombardo. Close, but no cigar.
Andrea Lombardo had a chip shot cleared off the line in the first half. It was his finest moment. He was constantly covered by Abel Xavier and you could see the battle going Xavier’s way over and over again as the second half wore down. Lombardo should have thrown more into the attack. He was being played as the only striker, but as the game went on he was playing the ball back to the midfield to readily and nothing was coming of it.
The new keeper, Kenny Stamatopolous had the night off for all intents and purposes. If TFC can keep him this idle, he will love playing here. But you can’t play LA every night.
Toronto looked one step off from connecting all night. A healthy TFC would have had this game in the bag by half time is my verdict. Amazing moment of trivia - up to this point in the post - every TFC player discussed from tonight's game is Canadian. I could mention that Jim Brennan gave his all, but is that only to keep the Canuck comment string going ??

Los Angeles looked horrible. I know they were on the road and you have to defend first on the road, but they had no counter attack to speak of in the first half and little better in the second half. This is a team that won the MLS Cup in recent years (2005 ?). Hmmm....
The Beckham sideshow was a no-show. He watched the game from the bench and was wearing a suit. A nice suit. I think it was a dark suit. He made a brief appearance on the big screen. Neighbours of mine used their binoculars to spot Becks on the bench. I did not have a peek. Peter Mansbridge was also there. At BMO field that is, not on the Galaxy bench. I will not spend a lot of time giving suggestions for improving the Galaxy. That will be on another blog devoted to tall orders.You have to wonder what difference Beckham when healthy will make ? Maybe this was just an off night for LA, or their building a team around Becks is a multi year plan.
I would have given the Man of the Match award to Carl Robinson. He was dominant in the middle defensively and moved the ball around intelligently when on the attack. His free kicks and corners were quality contributions, but fell short. However he must shake the habit of being a pass first, pass only midfielder. He has to make some runs himself to worry the defence. With Lombardo covered like a blanket, feeding him the ball was not the answer. LA was going to allow passing out on the perimeter all night, it was attack and penetration that was required.

Now a personal note - Vacation beckons. I am heading south of the border and will spend time in California and then head off for a Grand Canyon trip down the Colorado River along with my son. So my TFC fandom will be hard to maintain in these next few weeks. The blog must be fed, so I have arranged for friends and family to fill in the game reports and keep this space thriving. Wish me luck on the river and I hope to return to a repaired and rejuvenated TFC. Cheers.

TFC 2 Aston Villa 4

It was an entertaining night. It was great to be back in those flimsy red seats with a bit of breeze coming off the lake. The game played many roles, a homecoming, a test of TFC calibre and a pre-season run around for the opposition to name just a few. We knew we were back into the swing of things when the ref started to make strange calls. It was as if we had never left.
The loss was strong medicine, all of the TFC weaknesses were laid bare for all to see.
Our central defenders (Marshall and Brennan) are on the slow side and don't cover with the physical intensity or proximity that is required and our defense out on the flanks aren't much better. When Villa was attacking, they had no difficulty getting their crosses into dangerous territory and there was always one or two or more Villans in the hunt for the ball. You know your d is rocky when Andy Welsh is tracking back trying to throw his weight around. In the second half when Boyens replaced Marshall, for a few moments I thought there was an improvement in the back, but then Villa started to go through the TFC goal area like a hot knife through butter.
Our strikers are a mismatched collection. Samuel and Dichio were effective, but seem to be two solo acts that need some rehearsal time together. Samuel and Lombardo had their moments. Their energy was the driving force behind the flurry of offensive activity that made the second half a treat for the home support. You want Lombardo to have that striker's ego, but his stealing the ball from Robinson to shoot on net was an odd moment. Shouldn't it occur to you that you are not being passed to because the midfielder knows you are offside? After all it is very rare to see Robinson making a run at net like he was doing.
The lack of depth to the TFC squad continues to be a concern. They need some Canadian talent. Melo and Posniak were the only two who came off the bench. Welsh and Robinson did not have strong games and Ronnie O'Brien should have had an early night. I say that without knowing what the substitution limit was for the contest.

Alexei Lalas made some bold statements recently to the British press about the quality of MLS in comparison to EPL. He seemed to have been provoked by the constant putdowns that have been part of the scenery since the Beckham signing. I saw the sense of his defense of the calibre of play. You don't have to agree with the statement to be glad that someone is taking it. Tonight in the last fifteen minutes when it seemed that Aston Villa could have scored time and time again if they had really wanted to, the thought occured to me. I hope the tape of this game does not get into Lalas' hands.
But TFC have come a long way in a short time. They did create some excitement in the second half with their comeback and the learning process continues.

Houston Dynamo 0 TFC 0

Whew, yeah, whew, a tie on the road and a little bit of justice for TFC against a team that is supposed to be top quality (although I remain unconvinced based on their play against TFC, now both home and away).
OK I am a fan and a blogger, not a neutral observer. The quality of this game was looking shaky to begin with. TFC often struggles on the road and the Houston Dynamo is going for the record of MLS minutes without allowing a goal. So fans were not expecting a goal fest.
Houston did have the upper hand at the start, a hit post and a handful of near misses seemed to be a hint that they would start scoring, but it never happened.
Edu getting a red card in the first half turned the game into a bog. The Dynamo were throwing what fire power they had and TFC was holding their positions, marking their men and allowing Serge to make some solid saves. It was ugly, but it was efficient ugly.
Credit to Mo for some cagey substitutions. Poz for Dichio was a bit heartbreaking, but you could see the sense. Lombardo for Samuels was a wonderful move. Lombardo would keep the pressure on whenever given the chance (which was the role of Collin Samuels too, but the fresh legs helped). Lombardo's counter-attacks down the right with O"Brien and Wynne kept the flicker of hope for a goal well against the run of play alive.
Back to that red card moment. I thought the call was a bit harsh and seemed to be the result of a circus on the field. You got the feeling that TFC lost a debate. I think that Maurice Edu is a quality player, a solid rookie and a fair play sort of individual. It was a mistimed challenge and did not seem vicious or reckless.
One more road game to go and TFC now have 6 points from 5 games, which is decent and keeps them in the playoff picture. The game next weekend against Columbus Crew now looms very large as I think they hold the playoff spot that TFC covets.

PS- Houston did set the MLS record of longest streak of minutes with no goals allowed during the second half.

KC Wizards 1 Toronto FC 1

TFC landed in Kansas City on Canada Day looking for rare points on the road and a sense of recovery from the blasting they suffered in New England last weekend.
Mo Johnston, no doubt trying to find a new road game success formula, made four changes to his starting eleven. Sam Reynolds was new in net, Chris Pozniak played right back in place of Marvell Wynne (off to the Copa), Collin Samuel started on the left side of midfield in place of Andy Welsh and Todd Dunivant played left back in place of Kevin Goldthwaite, the man who was traded for him. For a team with so many new faces, the TFC held up very well in the first half, with the exception of a few seconds and that was all KC needed. TFC had the majority of possession and a strong advantage in scoring chances in the first 45, but it was Kansas City who had the only goal on a quick counter attack and an accurate shot from Michael Harrington.
Reynolds might have been a shade out of alignment on the goal, but his troubles really began with a scrambling defense trying to get back from a corner kick down the other end seconds earlier.
Cunningham. O’Brien and Dichio all had chances to score throughout the first half and at halftime it was possible to have a touch of optimism about TFC’s chances.

The second half started brilliantly for TFC. Some smart ball movement sprung an attack down the left side and then the ball was swung out to the right finding Ronnie O’Brien. He was able to send a great cross into the box and Danny Dichio headed in the equalizer. Dichio was able to elude the two central KC defenders with the simplest of moves, one step forward, then two steps back. Allow Dichio to be loose in front of the net like that and it will cost you.

The game was pretty much in balance for a while until Andrew Boyens picked up his second yellow card of the night and TFC was down to 10 players. Dichio dropped back into a central midfield role for only a few minutes before being substituted for Marco Reda to shore up the defence. Andy Welsh came in for Collin Samuel to add fresh legs (and perhaps to show Mo’s continuing faith in him- is he the super-sub off the bench that has been lacking ?).
Kansas City kept up the pressure with their advantage for the remainder of the game. Sam Reynolds made some excellent saves, a couple of them from close enough that the Wizard shooter was breathing on him. I think that Reynolds has played his way onto the squad tonight (was he the reserve keeper we borrowed from Chivas USA or what ?)
Andy Welsh was able to both help out defensively and provide some counter-attack speed right to the end. He had a last second shot at net that looked like the real deal. Jeff Cunningham was able to keep the KC defenders threatened from time to time and that was a useful safety valve to help the Toronto defending pack. TFC held the tie and got the point.

I have harped on this before, but here it goes again. I am driven crazy by the extreme homer announcers in Kansas City. The play-by-play guy’s voice goes haywire with excitement when KC is developing an attack. He stated late in the game that it was an “absolute joy” to commentate the games of this team since they never play for a tie. The analyst is worse. In the middle of the second half on a wide shot taken (I think) by Movsisyan, the fellow giving the analysis of the game said “ That’s ok. That’s alright, just keep going”. Buddy, that is not analysis, that is cheerleading. I know to go easy on The Score, the commentary and the fuzzy picture quality are not their fault and without them I would be watching this game on my computer screen, but it was a dreadful product. I expect the KC crew to know little of the visiting TFC. That is forgivable, but their cheering drives me batty .

New England Revolution 3 TFC 0

Do you remember April?
Do you remember watching TFC on television back in those winless/goalless nights? A struggling team that did not seem to have had enough time together to gel and had new players arriving every game?
It was a convincing arguement for time travel Saturday night as the TFC went from the Father's Day world-beaters to the team of April right before your very eyes.
Dobson and Forrest on Sportsnet were able to comment a million times that nothing was going TFC's way (was it foreshadowing when Forrest called TFC "Canada" in the early part of the game?). It was a combination of ugly and listless for most of the night. Then towards the end it threatened to turn chippy as the frustration level increased. It is hindsight talking, but I think that some late substitutions would at least have given some players a rest and made it look like TFC was not throwing in the towel.
Rather than report all the gruesome details and write something that I may later regret, I leave you with...

The Still Kicking Questions

1 What is the health of Greg Sutton? The Mo Johnston interview seemed to indicate that there is real concern that Sutton's season may be at an end. OMG - what happens now?

2 What is it about the New England Revolution that allows them to own the TFC ? Accumulated score is now NE -7 TFC -0. They were missing Twellman and more to Gold Cup duty. They seem solid in every position and have an ability to finish in the box that allows them to make something out of nothing or close to nothing.

3 Am I the only one who thinks that Mo Johnston and NE Revolution coach Steve Nichol look very alike. I am suspecting that Nichol wears glasses just to ensure that viewing audience knows which brother they are looking at.

4 Why is the team so thin? Where is the player who can come off the bench- the super sub? When things seem listless and ugly TFC turns to?

5 Is this an omen for the road trip? There has to be a way to shake things around and change the TFC road story. Does TFC have a third jersey yet? Order one.

6 Did Jeff Cunningham take the night off or was he just waiting for Andy Welsh to cross the ball?

7 Watching that motley militia behind the advertising signs fire their muskets convinces me all the more that the TFC nickname should be the Redcoats so that we have the opportunity to fire back. One day. Who would want to throw a seagull at a revolutionary?

8 It is wonderful that Mighty Mo has been clear about the goal being the playoffs, but man, that is hard to dream about after tonight.

9 Shouldn't the TFC game have been the antidote for that Canada-US robbery?
PS - Cheers for Marvell Wynne being called up to the US team for the Copa America.

10 Can we go back to Father's Day now?

New England 4 Toronto FC 0

Yuck, that was a thumping.

Hard to pull something positive out of such a night. Don’t want to hang the loss on any one player when it was a total problem. A reminder was sent out clearly tonight - this is an expansion team. I repeat - this is an expansion team.

Too bad it came on the heels of getting the season ticket package. That was fun. The idea of wearing your scarf with ticket attached to the first game is a great one. It promises a sense of fun and an awareness of futbol tradition.