Muhammed Ali - gone but unforgettable

a moment, a motion that took me out of my seat...

Today is a tough day. Tough, rather than shocking, to hear the news of the death of Muhammed Ali. Tough to order my memories and gather words that are worthy of the man, his story, his understandable fame, his abilities and how the admiration of fans such as myself (hardly unique) became a part of the legend.
So much has changed. I describe his fame as understandable, but perhaps I am just revealing my age and the context of the time. Boxing was a huge sport. Heavyweight boxing was the top dog of the boxing game. Everyone knew who the champ was and the heavyweight champ was the king of the world. 

Now, I could not tell you who the heavyweight champ is. I would not care to see him or anyone else fight. It all seems too brutal now. Perhaps that was a huge part of the Ali mystique, that he combined charisma and charm with brutal and vicious fighting skills. Of course, the mystique gave away to the Ali tragedy, his uncanny ability to take a punch, to slip a glancing blow, ended with a life marred by decades of Parkinson's.

Ali was a boxer, but he was also a media star (television without Ali and Howard Cosell would have been so dull) and an almost accidental political figure (defending religious freedom, seeking dignity in the African-American/ civil rights struggle and the defiance of US military policy regarding the Vietnam War). You could not be a teen pretend hippie and not be entranced with Muhammed Ali. After all, I had spent 72 and 73 with a George McGovern bumper sticker attached to my jacket. My liberal credentials were at stake.

Then came 1974. George Foreman was such a strong man that when he knocked out Joe Frazier, Frazier actually bounced. I can remember students at my high school telling me that Foreman was going to kill Ali. He had no chance. I might have argued strongly for Ali, but had my secret doubts.
Never one to avoid an uphill battle, I saw this as a case of sticking with a hero despite the odds. 

Back then tickets were sold for closed circuit television broadcasts. Maple Leaf Gardens had sold out, so a second location at the CNE Coliseum was established. We bought tickets to watch the fight there, we being myself, my stepfather Nick Valenti and my good friend George Sperduti. George was an even more determined Muhammed Ali fan than I.

I re-watched the fight today on Youtube and I can highly recommend the documentary "When We Were Kings" about the 74 Ali-Foreman "Rumble in the Jungle". Watching today brought back memories of just how worried an Ali fan could have been that night. Foreman was a monster and you were relieved every time Ali tangled him up or launched a flurry of punches to stem the tide. 

When Ali finally made his move in the eighth round (pictured above), when the monster Foreman had become a tall tree ready to be toppled, it unveils itself to me as a still thrilling moment after all these years (42 come October!).  That moment of victory, that moment when the tide finally turns, almost has nothing to do with athletics or fighting or tactics. It has to do with wisdom and nobility overcoming power and brute force. 

In 1974 the Toronto area had a less diverse population than you would find today. I remember the significant black presence in the crowd that night and the joy that overflowed when Ali knocked old George Foreman out. I felt the joy, but was also thrilled to see the singing, dancing, hollering that grown men displayed in the arena that night.  Ali vs Foreman might have been, logically speaking, just two men fighting in a ring. Yet also, in the larger cultural context, it was proof that the world could be a beautiful place. The rightful king had returned to the throne.

Jack calls it "closing out the quarter" TFC 4 Montreal 2

Watching the Raptors this season, one aspect of play that was always under the scrutiny of Jack Armstrong (NBA tv analyst "extrordinaire" in my books) was how they played at the end of any quarter. "Closing out the quarter" is what Jack would bring our attention to. Don't squander a lead and allow your opponent back into the game in those final minutes. The Raptors struggled with it often and often it was the second string players, too thrilled with scoring opportunities and a comfy lead, that would let things become lax at the defensive end.

Wow. Time to apply Jack Armstrong to TFC soccer (both Bismack Biyombo and Lucas "Bebe' Nogueira of the Raptors were shown on the big screen in attendance last night - that would be a striker pairing). TFC looked strong and smooth for the first 84 minutes last night. Seeing two goals from Jonathan Osorio and two from Jordan Hamilton was thrilling. TFC has been struggling to score in recent weeks and a 4 goal night was fully beyond expectations. 
The return of Benoit Cheyrou was the tonic the midfield had been requiring. His passing and his dribbling, his vision and positioning were all top level. Good games from Beitashour and Morgan, the central pairing of Hagglund and Zavaletta was fine, keeper Irwin with very little to do, all aspects seemed under control.

Then they failed to close out the quarter. Montreal scored two late goals that suddenly make their burden easier on the second leg of this semi-final.
It is smart to try to avoid the second-guessing, hindsight assisted, Monday morning quarterback sort of blogging style. So I gingerly put some of the blame on Coach Vanney. Sure, you want fresh legs late in the game, but two Toronto FCII players onto the wings? And Jay Chapman on for Benoit Cheyrou? Didier Drogba was still on the pitch and it was clear that Montreal was not throwing in the towel as long as they were playing Drogba.

It seems to be a self imposed hex that either vanishes or intensifies with the first goal in Montreal next Wednesday. The view that TFC will jump out with scoring next week is hopeful in the extreme. Montreal were missing many starters last night, more due to international duty than injury. Montreal played the entire second half down a man following the red card to Bernier late in the first half.
So TFC in Montreal have to score the first goal and then close out the quarter.

Easy.

Smallish crowd, biggish game

Dig a hole and bury it - NYRB 3 #TFC 0

I want to both throw away the first half of the game in Red Bull Arena last night and learn from it.

Throw it away because it was not a huge shock that TFC, without Bradley (USMNT friendly), Altidore (hamstring injury) and then Giovinco going off injured, would be a weakened team.
TFC has a problem scoring goals even when they have their 3 designated players in the line up.

Throw it away because Bradley Wright-Phillips is a capable scorer on a hot streak. I am willing to bet my hat that BWP will not score when TFC play NYRB next in late September. It was his night, or more precisely, his first half.

Learn from it and look at it as a sobering lesson in Canadian content. At one point TFC had Hamilton, Babouli, Chapman, Osorio, Johnson and Morgan on the pitch. 6 Canadians and none of them in the traditional defenders and keeper spot in the line-up. Against 10 man NYRB for an entire half TFC was incapable of scoring a goal. I am inclined towards saying that the lesson learned is that our Canadian contingent is a big reason we don't have the depth to handle injuries and international departures. The summer transfer window has to be the time for some important player moves.

Learn from it . Will Johnson deserves full credit for effort, and he was clearly tortured by a ref decision on that penalty kick. What was the ref thinking? the first and greatest infringement on the penalty was a NYRB player. Using the logic of his call what would be the incentive for a defender to not jump into the box and mess with the penalty kick taker? However Johnson/Osorio did not have a great night. Perhaps Cheyrou needs to get back. It will be interesting to see who starts v Montreal Wednesday night.

One TFC win and one TFC loss here in 2016. Goal difference -1 

#TFC Out of Whack TFC 0 Crew 0

There was a detectable lack of whack yesterday at BMO Field.

I suppose that I should be content with TFC correcting the goals against problem of last weekend against Vancouver. In the two games since allowing 4 Whitecap goals, TFC have allowed only one goal. There is every indication that this trend will continue. Clint Irwin looks solid in net. Coach Vanney's starting line-up could be described as 5 in the back. Sure, Morrow and Beitashour were  more midfield than defender in their "wingback" positions, but Michael Bradley enhances the defensive mode by playing well back. He shields the back line and provides the link to drive the ball forward. That sounds better than it actually functions. The TFC attack tends to be holding the ball without much purpose or fruitless long passes.

Defending your way to nil-nil draws might be a way to negate a powerful opponent, but Columbus came to town struggling and off to a poor start this season. It should have been a chance for TFC to shine. Instead we were treated to dull and out of whack. Giovinco did not have his standard dazzling sort of day. Will Johnson and Justin Morrow were both struggling. If I am reading the stat sheet correctly, TFC took 8 shots and two of them were considered on target. Both of these shots were taken by Seba Giovinco. Somehow this meant the "Man of the Match" award went Mo Babouli. I want TFC to nourish and promote young Canadian talent as much as the next guy, but Osorio, Chapman and Babouli were neither creating much on their own or combining well with others. I should say that Babouli played more centrally than when TFC met NYCFC, but Chapman was not any more effective with the shift that should have freed him. Tsubasa Endoh came on for the entire second half and simply vanished. Well, I could see him, but I don't think Michael Bradley did.


When you find yourself walking away from the last game of a home stand relieved that May contains no more home games, something is wrong. Very wrong.



This team needs some whack.

Dullsville during a whack shortage

#TFC tactics lacking TFC 1 NYCFC 1

This was the midweek game that I  had calculated would be the cure for the home game on the weekend past. That shoot out loss to Vancouver had to be one of those aberrations, one that you wanted TFC to quickly put behind them. I blamed the Saturday night blue shorts worn at home, of course, and was pleased to see them take the field all in red.

A nicer weather night than expected

If the prime objective of last night's match versus NYCFC was to return to a calmer, cleaner condition in your own end following that Whitecap onslaught (allowing 4 goals in one game when you had given up a total of 7 goals in the previous 9 games) you have to give TFC some credit. Other than one lapse, the combo of poor marking (Beitashour's side) and a flash of great skill from NYCFC's Poku, TFC looked solid in the back. I am not thrilled with how pulled back Bradley and Johnson play. If TFC are playing a 4-3-3, then having two holding midfielders tends to strand those ahead of them (Endoh, Chapman, Babouli and Giovinco). The Vanney era TFC has always used the fullbacks to take the ball up the wings, but it would be nice to own the middle of the middle.

If the secondary objective was to demonstrate that TFC is developing a multi-player attack and can score goals despite injuries to Altidore and Osorio, they get minimal credit in that area. It's frustrating to watch the fundamentals of attacking soccer go out the window. TFC had control of the second half, but when it comes to finishing or even getting into position for a shot, they either fade away or get in the way of each other. Mo Babouli got the start as striker and plays wide (his preference or coach instructions to keep him out of Giovinco's hair?). But if your striker is wide and playing crosses into the box, who is he sending them too? One of the basics of interchanging roles on the pitch is that if player "A" takes the role of player "B", then player "B" becomes player "A". Jay Chapman or Tsubasa Endoh should have been exploiting those near post channels as Mo Babouli took to the wing.

Any MLSE bean counter reading this will wonder about my musings about on field efforts and tactics. This is MLSE running the starship TFC and selling tickets is always the sole goal. A sellout for a midweek game, with the Jays in town and the Raptors on a historic playoff run, has probably inspired smiles and fist pumps.

I find myself looking at Coach Vanney with greater respect these days. Here is a coach, late in the game and needing a goal, looking at a bench of defenders Hagglund, Perquis, Zavaleta, Ashtone Morgan and Mark Bloom, the keeper Quillan Roberts and midfielder Daniel Lovitz. I think that Tim Bezbachenko had better have a move or two up his sleeve. Herc Gomez and Luke Moore (the two vet strikers set free by Tim B.) were not world beaters. They may have had big contracts and old legs, but they had shooting and scoring skills.
This sympathy for Vanney is greatly tempered with frustration as it seems that TFC may never get their attack calibrated. The young players are going to find it hard to develop when the attack strategy does not go beyond getting the ball to Seba Giovinco and let him figure it out with brilliance. A couple of ugly goals to go along with the ugly one from Will Johnson in the first half would have been welcome.



btw The NYCFC goal scorer, Kwadwo Poku displayed a flash of skill when scoring. The sort of skill that the TFC youngsters seem to lack. I had overlooked Poku before last night, figuring that this NYC team was three big paycheques (Villa - who came on a sub, Pirlo - who was seen on the sidelines only and Lampard - seen only on the long term mend) and the remainder were crunchers. At least last year I gave credit to NYCFC for starting the "stop TFC by kicking and tripping Giovinco every chance you get" strategy. Poku is a player to watch...

Next game 5pm Saturday vs Columbus

Cohesive? Defensive? Blaming those blue shorts TFC 3 Whitecaps 4

Sunday morning and my head is still reeling. My little blogging brain is spitting out kernels. So forget flow, forget style. If this blog is sporadic, so was the game we suffered through last night.

sunset Saturday night

Just when I was entranced enough with the early success and defensive promise of TFC 2016 that I was thinking of retiring the blog name...along came the Whitecaps. Was it a matter of Vancouver's dazzling, lightning quick attack abilities just could not be denied or TFC's defending was an audition for a horrible movie  "Turnovers in Statue Park"?

There were millions of Saturday night stories in the big city last night. TFC fans were stuck with the story of watch a team dig a hole for themselves, climb out of it, dig another hole for themselves, almost climb out of it. At least TFC play again Wednesday night, a wonderful opportunity to put this clunker behind them.

There are a headful of "ifs" that arise out of any contest, but I hope that TFC is haunted by the sheer multitude of "ifs" from their loss to Vancouver. If Altidore scored on his penalty, if Babouli had pounded the ball low on his golden chance late in the game, if Perquis had chosen a different game to play horribly, if Vanney had benched Perquis at half time, if Irwin had come up with a spectacular save in one half or another, if Endoh had not had an off night...


Jozy Altidore must have heard the silence. He had the spectacular misfortune of missing his penalty kick and hobbling off injured in the same sequence of play. He has yet to score in 2016. He continues to be an enigma, which just might be a polite way of saying he's a multi-million dollar designated player on a team that only has one proven scorer (and it's not him). 
Walking to the stadium I overheard one loquacious fan citing Altidore's scoring record for Sunderland to his friends. When Altidore was being helped off the field one fan booed and another chided the booing fan. "Don't boo him, he's sensitive" was the corrective comment. No "cheer up, Jozy, get well fella" sort of applause from the crowd at all. Jozy Altidore must have heard the silence.

Could this be the end of Altidore in Toronto? I am guessing that his injury is the recurring hamstring problem. I am also guessing that he would target the Copa America USMNT games of June 3, 7 and 11 for his return. After that the summer transfer window, trades and MLS moves must be opportunities for moving Altidore. Altidore playing with good friend Bradley is not working out. Altidore on another roster south of the border, say Philly, DC or Houston, could sell tickets. He is not selling tickets in Toronto. A few sets of ears in the TFC box must have heard the silence.

I could be developing a bad case of sympathy for Coach Greg Vanney. So many doubts about just how coachable Bradley, Altidore and Giovinco must be. The bench for TFC is dominated by defenders and overall seems designed for injury protection not game changers. With Altidore's and Osorio's injuries TFC went to Babouli and Lovitz. Chapman came on too (perhaps for Perquis?). Vanney is forced to send out hope and potential. It is nice to have hope and potential, but it does not strike fear into the heart of the opposition late in the game.

Blue shorts - never want to see them again. Whatever the motivation for adding blue to a team that has had ten years of red and grey, it just does not work. It makes as much sense as trying to add blue to the Raptors uniform. Never want to see them again.

Home inspection TFC 1 Dallas 0

I sat under a roof last night and watched TFC in "their" stadium launch the home portion of the 2016 season.
I know I am an old geezer, a fleeting impression that zipped through my head was of many "once upon a times" sitting under a roof nights at the old Exhibition Stadium. It was only fleeting, the sound quality, the way the lights bathe the field are just two aspects present last evening that are simply, cosmically beyond whatever the old stadium could ever dream of offering. After only one home game, I might be a convert to the idea of a steady diet of Saturday night games. It did create an "event" feel. However getting home after midnight is bound to wear down this old blogger. I write this the morning after. I used to blog my first impressions either on the drive home or at home. Last night I was barely able to stay awake for the drive, never mind the blog.
I suspect it will take some time for it to feel like home however. It feels akin to somebody taking your favourite chair and putting it into a showroom. 

As to the game, I will not be the first to feel that the score flatters Dallas. TFC shows signs of slowly building their offence. Elements of the attack look like pieces trying to fit into a new puzzle. Altidore and Giovinco have had time together, but Bradley's passing has had rough spells and Johnson and Endoh are new to the mix. Superb new elements to the mix, but new nonetheless. Endoh's ability to run off of the ball is a joy to behold. I am sure that Bradley was giving him hell for neglecting defensive roles from time to time, but I am not sure that he should. 
If you have ever read a blog post, you could know that I am in the "frustrated with Altidore" camp. I found myself watching him a lot in the second half. He had a solid "plays well with others" game last night. Perhaps he tried the finesse touches, the flick ons, too many times, but he seemed just a lucky bounce away from scoring. I do not detract from or dismiss his talents, his skills or his contribution to the team. I think that I can suffer from mild frustration and still see his qualities. Don't see my frustration staying mild if he continues to not score goals. 9 games into a 34 game schedule, we are getting close to a third of the way through the season. 
We must keep in mind that patience with the attack is made possible by secure defending. 
Clint Irwin - yes, I am rushing it, may be the best goalkeeper TFC has ever had. Perquis, Moor, Morrow and Beitashour all were solid and smooth. 
Until Saturday...

None of my quick snaps captured the look and feel of the new BMO Field