------------------------"Stay crappy, Mo Johnston"The only other noise that could be heard through the continuous din of fog horns and high-pitched children's screams emanating from Dick's this afternoon, was the exasperated sighs of Toronto supporters. There can be little doubt left in any Reds' fans minds that this club isn't moving forward and "gelling" as has been shoved down our throats through MLSE promotions (i.e. GOLTV). In fact it is a very fair assessment to say that this version of TFC is the worst, and definitely least entertaining, since Year One.
Toronto FC under Preki not only have yet to score a goal from regular open-play but most shockingly have yet to find anything that remotely looks like an offensive strategy. The lone TFC goal in today's 3-1 loss to the "Burgundy Army" of Colorado was once again a Dwayne De Rosario converted penalty. Good for De Ro's account - awful for Toronto's prospects. Has anyone in the front office cared to ponder what happens if TFC's "One Man Gang" gets injured? It does happen in football occasionally you know.
Colorado opened the scoring today in a first half which was incredibly shoddy on both sides but hardly saw TFC anywhere near Rapids' goal. The goal was result of a Conor Casey penalty after the usual "high-quality" MLS referee called a handball on Adrian Cann - which was clearly a faceball and nowhere near the Thornhill giant's hands. Despite gaining some momentum after tying the game through De Ro's penalty not long after, TFC came out flat in the second half and their lack of quality showed.
A clumsy tackle by the highly overrated and vastly under-talented Martin Saric led to a free kick which Rapids' Jeff Larentowicz powered through the Toronto wall and passed a bewildered Stefan Frei. The keeper's bewilderment likely came from the fact that TFC's DP, and voted "Least Wanting To Be Here", Julian de Guzman, jumped out of the way of the shot's path creating a gaping whole for the ball to curl into the net. A player of JDG's quality should know better, although that genuine quality has yet to show in Toronto. A further messy tackle by Russian rightback Maksim Usanov gave Rapids their second penalty late in the second half and Conor Casey iced the cake with their 3rd.
The result is one that wasn't entirely unexpected but that in itself is quite sad. The fact that in this club's fourth year fans can't expect TFC to compete on the road against a mediocre club in front of the most tepid support in the league is so unfair to 21,000 BMO Field customers and many more on TV and radio. As a cherry on top - wasn't it just great to see Marvell Wynne looking comfortable and explosive in a centreback role? That Wynne was never even experimented in that position in three years, when TFC had a gaping whole there, is a glaring example of the total lack of football knowledge in charge of this club. But like road losses, I guess that is just another reality we've all had to just accept.
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I thought the play of Sam Cronin was encouraging. I quibble with calling Colorado a mediocre team when I would take back Conor Casey and add in Omar Cummings in a heartbeat. We like Wynne and we can't spend too much time dissing their midfield when much of TFC's midfield are Rapid rejects. Ok, I would mock their keeper, he looks like he parked his blue ox outside the stadium. TFC has no attack, I agree. I still turned off the tv at the end feeling ok.
ReplyDeleteI thought the back four did ok. I thought the Usanov call was unjust. I thought that playing Harden and Cann was so that they had to step in front of Casey in those situations. I think Usanov got the yellow for being brave.
As for JDG, I agree with you for the most part. I have experienced false dawns following this team, as you have, but I thought that there were glimpses of the real thing between Cronin and JDG as a midfield foundation.
The Sounders will be interesting...
Still Kicking - you are like our sane friend who gently talks us away from the edge! Good points. I agree with your comments on Cronin, I think he is a solid player (despite the commercials where he claims supporting Arsenal - that's unforgiveable)but I do fear he is Preki's odd-man out.
ReplyDeleteI think rather than mediocre, a "mid-table side" would have been more fair. Either way, Year 4 TFC should be able to go to that Rocky Mountain library and have a good chance. I'm ok with Cann/ Attakora for now - the jury is out for me on the wingers. I am not an early fan of Martin Saric and as far as JDG: I am still a big supporter but fear TFC may have been the wrong move for him and the club... and they may both be realizing that.
Thanks for soothing our savage anger! And yes... Sounders will be interesting.
I think Sounders are going to embarrass our D and we'll be lucky to get a shot on goal.
ReplyDeleteBTW, it's been a few years, but anyone else hate the fact that Edsun Buddle is ripping it up in LA?
Missed quite a bit of the first half but overall a poor result. 3 penalties from the 4 goals in all sums up the game however (and the other goal was a free kick that had our DP diving out of the way). Still, Casey's first pen, as much as it hurt, took balls.
ReplyDelete@ Thrillho
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking the same thing! Buddle has torn it up in LA. How long did Mo give him, 2 or 3 months? Just another player we should have had. Conor Casey too! I know he didn't want to be in TFC but what did we get for a guy whose now one off the MLS best forwards? Robbo hurts me the most though he was a leader and true red.