Season 2011 ends TFC 2 NE 2

Down we go to BMO Field for season closer number 5. It qualifies, before the first ball is kicked, as bittersweet. The win in Dallas on Tuesday night puts TFC past the group stage of the Champion’s League for the first time next spring. They showed that the team can rise to the occasion and win a big game on the road has to be sweetest point of the year. Slightly sweeter than the Voyageurs Cup win against Vancouver on July 2nd due to toughness of opponent and being away from BMO. The bitter is another meaningless, out of the playoffs by a long shot, home game. Today we face a New England squad that is the only team in the East below Toronto in the standings. Bittersweet is a nicer way of saying there is something schizo about this team. TFC 2011 edition closed with a home performance that was a bit of a mixed bag. I have been trying to figure out if the game could be described as the season as microcosm- but I am still unsure (the game had an equal amount of ups and downs, the season sure didn’t). Toronto looked silky smooth in scoring the first goal. Koevermans goes deep then angles it back to the perfectly trailing Soolsma and the ball is in the net in a flash. Then they lost their momentum and Julian DeGuzman lost his man on the first New England goal. When the visitors scored their second goal it seemed that Toronto was still mentally in the halftime dressing room. Iro did not put pressure on the ball and it looked like TFC was going to collapse. Credit to the team, driven forward by Frings and Koevermans, that they fought back and tied the game. Their was enough determination in the air that you could feel that victory was always the goal… I will save my summary of the team for a future post.

Big effort in the big game Dallas 0 TFC 3

They did it. Toronto FC needed to win the game in Dallas to get through to the next round of Champion's League and they did it. Danny Koevermans scored the first half goal and Plata scored 2 in the second half. It shows that real progress has been made in this latter part of the season. They looked flat in August, but now they are in the quarter-finals. Plata was a star. Yet the entire team played a part, they looked like a team.

Sometimes I have to go beyond TFC...Steve Jobs died today.

As modern folk, we live our lives in the world of design. The clothing, the car, the furniture, the food and the wine, the house, the suburb, the road, the mall, the way the light falls across your face as I take your picture... I know that we can still go for a walk in the woods and shake it all away, for a while. There are days when I joke about needing to scrape all this design away and go live in a cave for the winter... But when I am not joking, when I am sitting or staring out the window, or wishing I was more able to express myself or finding a way to understand the fragments of knowledge that explode around us or thinking about how to be a better person or figure out a wiser way to wade into the future, I have been using products that were designed by Steve Jobs. I am convinced that his products were more than just aids to me, they also inspired a little faith that great things were still possible and that change could be brilliant. I never met the man, but I think that his thinking played a role in my thinking more than any other thinker that has been on the planet in my lifetime. There are some who minimize him and describe him as a maker of gadgets. They have been the tools of my adult life, so much more the stuff of dreams than gadgets. If I live to see another innovator, designer, inventor that can match him, I will be a lucky man indeed. Steve Jobs 1955-2011

TFC 1 NYRB 1 Cold thoughts about Winter

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It was a night to say goodbye to summery things. Weather wise we had been forced to don gloves and tuques, scarves and hoodies. Funny that around here we enter spring as hardy winter people- thrilled to see a ball on a green pitch and dressed for any weather. Six months later we encounter the first true fall night and we have been transformed into summer people, quietly wondering if we can take anything colder than this. The single digit temperatures we welcomed in April are the same temperatures that stun us in October. Sorry for a climate essay today. I write about the air to delay writing about what is happening on the ground.

New York did not look like a team in desperate need of victory (improving their playoff chances) during the first half. If Toronto proved in the end that they did not have an adequate grip on the game, NYRB sure seemed to be casual about taking hold of it. Kocic had made some top quality saves throughout the game, but Red Bulls were hardly bullish. Perhaps they were confident that Toronto would crack in the end. I suspect that Thierry Henry put more effort into gesturing and taunting the Toronto fans after his goal than he did in his play all night. I am less annoyed at Henry antics than I am at TFC’s lack of reaction. It is not the first time this year that I have wondered where Jim Brennan is. Henry seemed to be posing and posturing for the North Stand fans. Somebody please get in his face. The lack of passion about home turf (or standing up for home fans) amongst TFC players is worrying.

Protecting a late 1-0 lead, Winter chose to pack the back and had 6 defenders on the back line. It was an odd approach because it seemed that TFC still had 3 forwards (Soolsma, Bormann and Avila). At a time when it would be wise to hold the ball and kill time, Toronto either could not or would not do it. Winter’s TFC never seems to own the midfield.
I remain unconvinced that a 4-3-3 formation will work in the MLS and I am even more convinced that this squad does not have the skills needed to make it work. TFC always seemed isolated and outnumbered when it comes to finding avenues of attack. They are a team that rarely plays the overlap, too rarely have a player coming into surprise attack. I think that is due to the formation. They are switching the point of attack regularly, but then they have no other option. There is always a wide player available for a pass, but then the defenders shift, there are no options for the guy with the ball and on it goes. Attacking from the wings is a great tactic, but not when it is the only tactic.

One more home game left. I am afraid that what comes after that is a winter off-season thinking about Winter and the direction that this team needs to go in. TFC asks the fan to have faith, that work with the Academy will produce more Ashtons, Stinsons and Henrys. What if all that means is another wave of solid players capable of playing, passing and defending (but never, ever, ever scoring)? We can hope Toronto’s winter will see some changes in the roster. I see the same problem as this time last year, too many players who never or rarely score. When you add up a handful of attackers, it works with Avila-1, Dunfield-0, Soolsma-2, Yourasskowsky-0, Martina-2, and throw in Eckersley-0 and Morgan-0, and you have less TFC 2011 goals than Maicon Santos-6!

So we say goodbye to summery things. Too bad that means storage and hibernation. I want Winter to start a fire. I hope he is just saving his logs for Dallas.

Toronto shows some fight and pride - TFC 1 Pumas 1

It was another beautiful September night at BMO Field Tuesday evening. As a fan, I got much more than I bargained for. The team showed some spine and some sparkle against a Mexican team that had ripped them to shreds in the first half of their south of the border (x2) game in the CONCACAF Champion's League. When you are bracing yourself for a thrashing, 1-1 with a lot of positive play is a pleasant surprise Going in we knew that Torsten Frings was not playing because of yellow card accumulation. If your crystal ball had let you know that Danny Koeverman would be subbed at half time (injury?) and that Richard Eckersley would have to leave the field due to injury, you would have been preparing for whatever lies beyond a thrashing. A waterboarding? Just as a bounce back from the dreadful night in Los Angeles against Chivas USA, tonight was a positive step. Just in time for the town hall meetings too. Julian de Guzman may have played his best game in a TFC uniform since his performance against Cruz Azul in the summer of 2010. He seems to clog and disrupt the midfield attack of visiting Mexican teams much more than he ever shows against MLS teams. He is still a pain in the passing department and shows a reluctance to go forward in a creative manner. TFC will never draw a foul if it was left up to de Guzman... Surprisingly strong contributions from Doneil Henry and Matt Gold. Henry threw himself into quite a few challenges with smart energy. Martina came on for Soolsma, but neither ever seemed to be a danger to Pumas' goal. Andy Iro continues to be an adventure all on his own. He deflected a shot that hit the Toronto post in the largest scare in the late minutes of play. Harden was a solid contributor. Ashtone Morgan was also active all night. If Plata and Eckersley are the top newcomers to the team, Morgan has to be their Canadian equal.

Skunks are skunked in LA Chivas 3 TFC 0

I am thinking that TFC’s lack of a true nickname is a reflection of their lack of success over the years. Dan Dunleavy (announcing the game on GOLTV) was smart not to refer to Toronto as the “Reds” when playing against a team wearing red. It made me think that “Reds” will never take hold, it is just a place holder until something inspired comes along. If you were to name the team based on their characteristics in the first five years what would you have? Playoff missers, revolving doors, underachievers, sinking ships are the phrases that come to mind. If Chivas are the goats, could Toronto become the skunks?

Toronto FC in Los Angeles Saturday night showed very little in the way of entertainment or inspiration. The team may have been physically close to Hollywood, yet they instead displayed the glitz and glamour of Collingwood. No, that is unfair to Collingwood. They might have had a slim glimmer of a playoff chance going into LA, but losing has shut the 2011 playoff door for good.

JP Angel scored a first half goal that showed off his talent for creating a goal out of any half decent chance. Iro one on one against Angel was clearly only a matter of time. The Chivas second half goal was a matter of Toronto relaxing enough in their own gpal area to allow Chivas to find a way through the cracks. Morgan should have marked tighter, Frei could be second guessed for staying on his line, should have been better pressure on the player who crossed the ball to Braun(who scored) and Andy Iro was caught adrift. Then Angel scored again and buried Toronto. That phrase gives the impression that TFC were above ground up until that point.

The town hall meetings loom this week. The Saturday night loss will contribute to a sense of gloom amongst the fans who attend the meetings. I am not hopeful that the Tuesday night CONCACAF game against Pumas will lift the spirits of we long suffering Skunk fans.

A win over Tauro and a memorable evening by the lake

Game notes later - atmosphere at BMO first... The weather helped to set the scene last night at BMO Field, it was a perfect Toronto in September evening. The wind never picked up off of the lake, the sky was clear and the temperature was somewhere between balmy and cool. As the sun was setting, I had made sure to pack a hoodie and a fleece vest, yet they were never needed. We were in our seats 30 minutes before game time and the sparse crowd in our section (220) was a surprise. More than half the people that entered the section, looking intently at their tickets, turned out to be lost and were actually seeking 120. The sole usher in our area was very good at sensing the hesitating folks , interceding and sending them on their way. Trout, my sidekick supreme, observed that long ago when we first signed up for Toronto FC, attendance such as last night had to be what we were expecting as the norm, not packed to the gills sell-outs. The stadium, or our corner of it, works so much better with a handful of people in it. There was no worry with a constant stream of people heading to the concourse and obscuring our view of the field. Those who are there, truly want to be watch a game. A quick break for a snack or the men's room is truly a quick break, not a huge trek. Red Patch Boys and the U-Sector must know that these nights were made for them. They must be able to snap up the extra tickets that the season ticket holders drop and bring out more of their members. They brought their "A" game last night with flags, a huge banner, constant singing and a good, rough time for the other team and the ref. I know that next week will bring Pumas north to face TFC and they could be the toughest team faced all year. Yet I want to be there, I expect another great night regardless of the score. On to the game. There was little danger from the Panamanian team Tauro FC, but also little potency from TFC for much of the first half. Johnson and Morgan down the left side, Eckersley and Soosma down the left, but not much through the middle would describe the attack. Peri Marosevic did not have a strong night. He showed flashes of his speed, but seemed to be fighting the ball. DeGuzman, Dunfield and Yourasskowsky all played, but we still watch a team with a hole in the middle of the field. It is from this hole that Pumas, next week, rips our defenders to shreds. Koevermans scored the opportunist goal that gave TFC the victory. I think that he has been a quality signing and has the potential to be a top scorer for years to come. I think that he is a wily player and needs a consistent central attacking threat from those around him to find his chances. I am not sure that this roster can supply that style of attack. Terry Vaughn, the ref, was the most entertaining individual on the field for the second half. I have seen refs buy the dives more than Vaughn did last night, but he was in danger of losing the plot last night. I would love to see the foul/yellow card on Stinson in the final minute of the game. It seemed on the screen replay that Stinson had a clear path to the ball, dove out and cleared the ball and the Tauro player fell over Stinson's outstretched leg after Stinson had already made the play. How that was either a foul or a yellow needs to be explained... I promise another blog post with my thoughts on the roster. Next game - late Saturday night in LA vs Chivas