TFC's brown "Playcrap" bracelet isn't selling as well
IN THE TUNNEL:One of the league's most beautiful stadiums, Kansas City's Livestrong Sporting Park, is the venue as the "new" TFC attempts to re-ignite its season with a host of new players. The wish of a quick turnaround against FC Dallas this past Wednesday didn't go as planned but The Reds will try to hand Sporting KC its first MLS loss in their new ground. Have TFC gelled over three days? Will the midweek CCL match affect the line-up? Will Livestrong Park fail a drug test? Time to blow into Kansas...
ON THE PITCH:
1' - A sweltering Kansas heat welcomes TFC to Livestrong Sporting Park. The fans are ok though, they have a revolutionary technology called a roof. Oooh! Look on with envy sunburned TFC supporters. Kick-off...
3' - Danny Koevermans goes as close as possible to scoring his first TFC goal connecting on a Mikael Yourassowsky cross. Good save by SKC keeper Jimmy Nielsen
9' - Koevermans gets a beautiful pass from Torsten Frings and beats the offside but just misses the target. He's itching
14' - Massive double-save from Frei off of a cannon volley from Kei Kamara and an equally hard second chance. Goalblerone at his finest
17' - Torsten Frings is the absolute general of TFC. Maicon Santos is captain in armband only
27' - GOAL: TFC fail to clear a SKC corner - Kei Kamara with a spectacular overhead goal with an assist from Maicon Santos' stomach
SPORTING KC 1 - TORONTO FC 0
31' - YELLOW CARD: Eddy Viator being an angry Guadelouponian
32' - GOAL: Kei Kamara - completely unmarked - easily heads a cross past a helpless Frei. Apparently the gelling hasn't occurred
SPORTING KC 2 - TORONTO FC 0
36' - GOAL: Maicon "Mike Sanders" Santos is dispossessed in the midfield and stands around pouting while SKC quickly passes to Omar Bravo who walks around Stefan Frei. Well done "captain"
SPORTING KC 3 - TORONTO FC 0
43' - SUB: Aron Winter sees what the rest of the world does - that Maicon Santos is wasting a roster space on the pitch. Disgracefully subbed by young Matt Stinson
45' - Ref ends the half before things could get any worse for TFC
HALFTIME: SPORTING KC 3 - TORONTO FC 0
46' - Ryan Johnson comes out firing but a good save by SKC's Nielsen keeps TFC off the board
50' - GOAL: Danny Koevermans pokes a downward header past Nielsen which started from a deft Ryan Johnson cross
SPORTING KC 3 - TORONTO FC 1
55' - That stadium is too nice - we demand a urine sample
58' - SUB: Mikael Yourassowsky off for Ashtone Morgan's fresh legs
63' - GOAL: SKC tears open TFC's defence on the counter-attack with Omar Bravo getting on the end of a low cross and burying it past Frei
SPORTING KC 4 - TORONTO FC 1
65' - I bet TFC would score goals at home if we had a roof. That's science right?
68' - YELLOW CARD: Matt Stinson being aggressive. Why not?
71' - GOAL: Ryan Johnson capitalizes on some SKC defensive blunders and pokes it over Jimmy Nielsen. Quality.
SPORTING KC 4 - TORONTO FC 2
77' - That stadium is definitely on the juice.
80' - SUB: Torsten Frings gets a break with Doneil Henry getting some garbage minutes
84' - Is there an actual gel you can buy to make a team gel?
88' - Only thing to look forward to tonight is another replay of Nick Soolsma's interview with GolTV. Did you know he has a cat named Suarez? I do. Eight times today.
90'+ - End to a schizophrenic but mostly inept showing by TFC. Pity.
FULL TIME: SPORTING KC 4 - TORONTO FC 2
IN THE BATHS:
There was a quarter of an hour when Toronto FC supporters watched the match and thought that the gelling had happened. Sadly it was the first 15 minutes of the match. The Reds came out firing with some slick play but just couldn't find the net. Conversely, Sporting KC did find the goal and from that point, TFC lost their heads. Led in the wrong direction by some truly shameful, lazy play by "captain" Maicon Santos, TFC lost all of its composure and by the half they were out of contention. A couple of bright sparks in the way of Ryan Johnson and Danny Koevermans may soothe a few souls tonight but whether it is gelling, injuries, coaching or simply a lack of quality, Toronto FC is still very far from being a competitor in this league.
PLAYER RATINGS: Stefan Frei 6.5 / Eddy Viator 6 / Richard Eckersley 6 / Andy Iro 5.5 / Mikael Yourassowsky 5.5 (Ashtone Morgan 5.5) / Torsten Frings 6.5 (Doneil Henry - ) / Gianluca Zavarise 6 / Maicon Santos 3 (Matt Stinson 6 ) / Nick Soolsma 6 / Danny Koevermans 6.5 / Ryan Johnson 7
THE YORKIES' TFC MAN OF THE MATCH: Ryan Johnson
TALKING POINT: TFC needs to buy this gel we keep hearing of. Discuss.
Posts
Santos was awful. However, I don't understand the support out there for Zavarise. Runs around, makes a few basic plays that any pro should be expected to make but provides almost nothing offensively to this team and was exposed for poor marking on the second goal and for being unable to close down an opponent for a pass from midfield on the fourth goal. I just think he's a mediocre bench guy who is easy to overrate, somebody you'd bring in for garbage minutes at the end of a match to kill the clock when you have a comfortable lead.
ReplyDeleteStinson was better than Santos, but that isn't saying much. He had a few good moments but looked like a kid a couple of times getting outmuscled on challenges, yet at 18 he has way more upside than Zavarise so I don't mind seeing him get minutes. What happened to the over-hyped Cordon?