Montreal 0 Toronto FC 1

It is hard to get too excited about the game in Montreal. TFC looked efficient and the LaBrocca to Chad Barrett pass that created DeRo's goal was top quality. Yet Montreal remains Montreal. The Impact team must be getting used to meaningless games since they have set-up another one this year against Vancouver in a couple of weeks.
Toronto heads west for the LA game Saturday and then the Vancouver game next Wednesday. Avoiding defeat on the road remains the fan's hope and prayer.

Cheering as a cure for harsh weather - Toronto 4 Chicago Fire 1

The weather down by Lake Ontario today was wild, windy, wet and wintery. It is May and I want to retire the thermal underwear for the summer. That is as far as I can go in the complaint department. The Toronto FC 2010 unbeaten magic at home continued against the Chicago Fire with a 4-1 victory.

 Going into the contest, I was nursing a sneaky fear that Chicago was capable of breaking the perfect TFC home record. The Fire seemed to be the sort of team that one week looked lousy and then the next week could jump up and bite someone. It was great to be wrong. 

The starting line-up had me shaking my head at the midfield selection.  Mr. Preki sent out LaBrocca, Sanyang, deGuzman and Peterson. I commented that it was a tough situation when you are asking 3 out of the 4 midfielders to play their best game in a Toronto uniform just to compete.    I couldn’t decide if it was Sanyang or de Guzman that only had to match their best TFC effort.  It is sad to observe that Jacob Peterson produced little on either wing and was subbed at half time. 

This half-time change was part of Coach Preki’s recovery from his mistake of starting DeRo as striker. Maybe mistake is too harsh; perhaps miscalculation of the weather report would be accurate. DeRo and Chad had spent the first half chasing wind driven forward balls that were bound for Rochester. Having O’Brian White join Chad up front and shifting DeRo to the right wing at the start of the second half was the correct solution.

There was something in Julian de Guzman’s body language at the start of the second half that indicated that Toronto was going to go forward (oh, I don’t know, maybe it was the fact that he ran forward?).

Shortly into that half DeRo played White’s give and go from the wing and O’Brian W scores his first goal of the season, dribbling in DeRo’s cross.  Then Chad Barrett did what he always does…. what on earth am I saying. HE SCORED TWO GOALS. Yes, that Chad Barrett.

Yet Nick LaBrocca tied Chad as the surprise of the day. I am not quite ready to form his fan club, but he was a 90-minute contributor. It may be faint praise, but LaBrocca wins the “Best game in a Toronto uniform” prize. Clearly, scoring a goal in the first half helps, but I suspect that he would have qualified even without the goal (that goal had to be the most wind assisted goal ever scored at BMO Field, although Chicago’s goal would be in the top three). He was not as “pass-happy”, but when he did pass they were accurate and timely. He seemed more comfortable on the ball and was willing to take on defenders. He kept possession and made some runs into space that were promising. He seemed to have his head up more and a better feel for opportunities ahead of him. 

The Toronto back four were up to their usual tricks and that is a good thing. You could say that the Pause goal for Chicago came from so far away that it was more of midfield lapse. Cann and Attakora were strong, Gargan contributed a fine game and Usanov scares everyone from time to time.  Raivis Hscanovics played some late minutes and he and LaBrocca are starting to look like they play on the same team.

After this big victory it is hard to find fault with Mr. Preki. Sure his line-ups always contain a surprise or two (clearly he prefers Sanyang over Cronin), but he recovers. So  onto Montreal this Wednesday on television and then a west coast swing of LA and Vancouver before the next home game. The joy of today’s victory will be sweetened by results on the road, stay tuned.   

  

RSL 2 TFC 1 - score flatters, Toronto barely in it

pic by Jeremy Hall 

When Toronto FC hits the road, we fans turn on the tv and plan to grimace our way through the game. Expectations are low and any glimmer of hope is embraced with love. Remember that lead at the half of the New England game? Remember that pass from Chad Barrett to set Sam Cronin free in Colorado? Maybe this time they can look better playing out west at altitude. Maybe this time they can play smart and play tough and grind out a point.  Maybe…

TFC fans learned nothing new Saturday night watching them play in Utah. We had a number of things confirmed, but really nothing new.

Confirmation #1 TFC does not have the midfield ingredients to grit and grind out a road result. I give a small amount of credit to Coach Preki for giving TFC a road warrior look. He rested DeRo and Julian DeGuzman (which I just can’t argue with, TFC still has three Canadian Championship games over the next month and league games every weekend). I would be giving more credit if the strategy had worked.

A midfield of Sanyang, Sarich, Gargan, Labrocca and Nane Joseph has to be designed to mark tightly, clog the passing lanes, tackle with grit and knock RSL off their game. It was a great theory, but in practice it did nothing. Sanyang’s passing giveaways were part of the problem. Joseph’s best moment was in support of Chad up front. Overall this midfield lacks the speed and tenacity to swarm and clog. More importantly, they lack the ball control strategy to play keep away for any stretch of time. So they compete for the ball, sometimes win it and then lose it again. Although I give a little credit to Mr. Preki for giving it a try, remember that 4 of those 5 midfielders have arrived in Toronto during this coach’s short time. I have the gut feeling that if you wanted to play "clog and clutter the opposing team’s attack"  last year’s Robbo, Guevara, Cronin and pull Serioux out of his central defender role and you could do it. I am also realistic enough to remember that they had some woeful performances. Some things never seem to change.

Confirmation #2 TFC does not have the firepower to get back into a game. DeRo’s late pk goal was a small reward for not turning the tv off early. Yet the half time substitutions of DeRo, JDG and OBW on (and Hrsich, Joseph and Sanyang off) did not alter the game at all. Toronto had no sustained attack in either half. They had a struggle keeping possession no matter what their line-up or alignment happened to be. Dwayne DeRosario just might be all Toronto has when holding onto the ball. Chad Barrett works hard and O’Brien White shows a flash of potential from time to time. They are both worthwhile projects, but DeRo needs company. Some things never seem to change.

The good news is that TFC have a week to rest. The bad news is that Chicago Fire may be the team to expose the weaknesses at home in the manner that RSL did on the road. The truly bad news is that so much of the overhaul of 2010 has left TFC with too many "not ready for MLS" players.

TFC 2 Montreal 0, a strong start and continued progress

I must give my head a shake. We Torontonians have yet to see anything other than victory in the flesh at BMO Field so far in 2010. The night never got as chilly as it could have and the team never caught fire as much as they could have either.


Dero scored in a goal mouth scramble early in the first half. Ty Harden must have taken a serious injury at the time, because he was down needing help before the game could be restarted. It was serious enough to require a cart to come on the field and take him away and it subdued the team and the crowd. The second spark of the first half was also injury related, the felling of Nick Garcia. Garcia and Montreal


I think Coach Preki understands the importance of the Canadian games. There might have been a few starters rested (Attakora, Usanov, Saric, Hrscanovic, White), but overall TFC looked full strength.


These late starts mean very late returns home. Since it is after midnight- I will save the rest for tomorrow…

TFC 2 Seattle Sounders 0- home record as encouraging foundation

For all of the worrying that Toronto FC fans have directed towards those many awful moments on the road this year, there was relief felt after the victory over Seattle. TFC have something to be proud of, a home record of two wins and only one goal against.
The tight game of the first half was something I had expected, I went down to the cold and rainy lakeshore hoping for a tie.
Let me get away with a quick first post-more to come later
Positives
JDG- he has not erased the memory of the Colorado leap, but he made real progress today. He was willing to create space- his 180 turns were either drawing fouls or letting him pop clear into territory that he could exploit
DeRo
The back four
The hardy souls in the crowd
subs- Gabe Gala and Sam Cronin and Dan Gargan

Negatives
Nick Labrocca - I know it is early, he may still adjust to new team and those around him. I dislike the Toronto instinct to find a weak link player in every squad as much as the next blogger. Yet I find Labrocca compares poorly to Sam Cronin. Labrocca's defending is ok position-wise, I think that he too often seems to be a step or two away from where he should be. His tackling lacks bite, he slid and blocked some passes but I am underwhelmed. He does not hold onto the ball well, his passing lacks snap and too often he is passing team-mates into 50/50 positions. He seems to have the left side of the midfield by default until Peterson heals.
The ref buying everything that Seattle was selling
a lack of tactics

On Fridays my mind drifts back to the lake…

Everyone wants the blog to be up to date with events in the world of TFC, but the reality of my life is such an obstacle. I work, I spend hours commuting, I am wrapping up my online course and practices for one of the two soccer teams that I coach are now twice a week. So I am going to try for Friday posts as both a look back at what caught my attention (or your attention) and a preview for the upcoming weekend game.


The opinion of the devoted is that Toronto FC gets less mainstream media attention than it should. Maybe the soap opera turmoil is part of a ploy to draw that attention. Last week it was Jim Brennan’s surprise retirement. This week it was the Gerba interview on The Score and the fan fury at JDG’s leap out of the wall against Colorado. The stories just get better as the team on the field flounders.


Ali Gerba’s interview with Kristian Jack of The Score was entertaining television. It might not have been the best career move for Gerba, but it was refreshing to hear a player say something negative and try not to burn his bridges at the same time. He says that he would come back for a future manager/coach mainly because of the great fans and the fact that MLSE know how to do things. I have a hard time imagining Ali Gerba’s name coming up in a future job interview, but stranger things have happened.
Gerba at one point quoted Canadian coach Stephen Hart as saying that he had never seen Gerba in better shape. Hmmm, remember that pitting Steven Hart against the management of TFC is a dead end. The Canadian national team has ZERO international spots on their roster, so he must keep his players happy. The Canadian team does not have to worry about day-to day issues such as training and locker room morale. The team gathers and then after the game they are gone again.


I have been hesitant to write about my good luck of late. I fear the words on the blog create a self-imposed jinx, so here goes. I remain one of the five left in the Survivor Pool over at Duane Rollin’s 24th minute. My pick for this weekend is New England Revolution at home versus the Colorado Rapids. It is a tough weekend and each member of the pool has picked a different team. You can only chose a team once and I have used Houston, LA, Philly and Colorado. Win or draw puts you through and I am trying to fashion a strategy that sticks to teams at home and postpones the eventual choices of Toronto, Chivas and DC United
Trout FC mentions that if I am enjoying this period of wise selection and pure luck, perhaps it is time for me to look at a World Cup pool or MLS betting. I am not a gambler but success leads to temptation.
The king of sports betting, counting both volume and media attention, in North America has to be the NFL. The MLS is eons behind, but I think as it grows it has some of the betting friendly aspects of the NFL. It has the weekly schedule, for example, which gives you the chance to ponder recent form. It would be interesting to see if the equivalent of the NFL point spread can be developed for our lower scoring game.


Preview
I did not catch the Dallas vs Seattle game (2-2 final)last night, so I am unable to speculate on how tired the Sounders will be when they face Toronto Sunday afternoon. I would bet on Seattle winning at this point, but I think TFCs hopes rest on the shoulders of Julian DeGuzman. He’s had a bad start to the season and clearly hit bottom in the Colorado game. This Seattle game is a test to see whether he is going to bounce back and be at the centre of the team or stay in the puzzled and puzzling category.

Defeated, but glimpses of life by the mountains Rapids 3- TFC 1

TFC deserve some credit for making a game of it today. When the schedule first came out, the Colorado game jumped out as unfortunate. The Rapids are hard to beat at home, Toronto has only done it once and trying to do it three days after playing a game was a challenge. After seeing Toronto play at home, it is tough to watch a game on television and have much in the way of analysis. So I will go with some quick observations
Positives
Sam Cronin is back! Sam Cronin played a solid game. The early part of the second half was his time. He was brought down in the box by Mountain Man Perkins, the Colorado keeper (Dero scored on the subsequent pk to tie the game). Even before that play though there were stretches that Cronin and JDG and Sarich were playing with the ball down the left wing where they looked like they knew each other. Short passes and plenty of movement and possession. It was only a blip, but it was nice to see.
A back four of Usanov - Attakora - Cann - Harden. I would not have thought that this would be TFC's backline against Omar Cummings of the Rapids. Yet it worked fairly well. Even if the first penalty was not right, Cann should not be on the ground trying to make plays with his face. That was a rare error.
Chad Barrett! His "no-look" pass that sent Sam Cronin away alone on the Colorado keeper was a pretty play indeed.


Negatives
Marvell Wynne using his lightning speed recovery moves for the Colorado Rapids. There is a category of ache, the TFC headshake, that involves watching players that were let go by Mo flourish elsewhere. Colorado already had Conor Casey, having Wynne too adds to the pain.

JDG jumping up and out of the way to allow the second Colorado goal go through the wall (wall?, what wall) and into the Toronto net.

Each and every camera glimpse of Mr. Preki. He is livid. He is yelling. He is furious. He needs medication.

Nick Labrocca. I see the advantages of having a Martin Sarich, his crunching tackles and tough play give spine to the midfield. DeRo and Peterson, JDG and Sam Cronin all bring something to the midfield. Yet Nick Labrocca is very low profile. I can't get a handle on what he contributes.