Now this is the weather that I expect with my football. Cool, clear, crisp, fall conditions. Our beloved Robins are on their way to winding up their season in "mediocre"-ith place, and Extreme Beverage is grasping at straws while the MVP-fueled antics of one Dwayne DeRosario is leading the almost impossible turn-around of DC United into that last spot. Those of you "meRo" haters, just remember... he's not even DP worthy.
Aside from waning fortunes, there's a game with semi-important ramifications at stake tonight.
For the purposes of length, I'm only going to highlight the highlights, and not just every time Plata does a step-over or Iro screws up at the back.
-3' - Before kick-off, a gaggle of 5 and 6 year olds were providing us with more winning quotes than we could ever imagine. This included the gem "whore monkeys!" and "Go fuck your mothers New York Red B*ll"
[Note : I'm asterisking the nick name of New York, as we're not going to promote their beverage (unlike Throwback Pepsi, bring that back!) but I'm not asterisking the cuss word because it's damn funny in this example]
38' - Kocic makes a brilliant low diving save from a Rogers attempt 10 yards out. The counterattack and Avila lays off a pretty ball to Koevermans who turns his marker into Jell-o but fires just over the bar.
HALF-TIME MOOD : Exciting and entertaining. End to end stuff and TFC looks to be in control for the most part.
49' - GOAL - Johnson leads a counter and cuts the defense apart with a little ball through to Koevermans who sneaks it under the New York keeper. The villagers then rejoice accordingly.
54' - Quote of the Match:
Keeper! I'm your fuckin' father!
~ a 6 yr old behind us
Ah, youthful vigor! My heart swells with pride even in the face of the space-time continuum.
63' - Great looping cross ends up just a little too high for Marosevic as he can't quite get behind the ball to head it forward.
65' - SUB - Soolsma in for Marosevic. Strange as we felt that Marosevic was doing fine tonight.
Then we came up with this future terrace classic:
He likes chicken
He likes liver
Soolsma, Soolsma
He delivers
We've also taken up meowing at Soolsma. Man, we're gonna miss him...
68' - Those kids are at it again with this golden nugget:
Hey referee, go home and suck some dicks!
71' - SUB - Koevermans off for Borman. Ummmm... OK... would like a better explanation why
75' - Why are we turtle-ing with a one goal lead?
84' - Kocic comes out for a big stop but Rodgers gets to it first, then does a dramatic flip over Kocic to prevent a collision.
85' - SUB - Finally, the showdown the footballing world has been begging for... Johnson comes off for Doneil Henry. FINALLY THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE!!!
88' - GOAL - *sigh* there is only one. Thierry Henry takes a ball on his right side, loops it to his left and buries it past Kocic.
FULL TIME : Toronto 1, New York 1
Man of the Match : We're going with the kid Avila. He was everywhere tonight. Kocic is a very close second.
Goat of the Game : whoever decided to over defend up a goal, and pick Soolsma over any other forward. Perhaps one with pace.
Ref Rating : 4 out of 5. Blew one or two calls but were perfect foils for the kids behind. Bless.
Player Ratings : Kocic 8, Stinson 7, Harden 6, Iro 6, Morgan 7.5, Frings 7, Dunfield 6, Avila 8, Marosevic 6.5 [Soolsma N/A], Koevermans 7 [Borman N/A], Johnson 6.5 [Henry N/A]
What tactical genius holds up for the remaining 15 minutes while in control of the flow of traffic? Better question, if Koevermans is talismanic, shouldn't his replacement be as influential. Soolsma is not of influence, neither is Borman and neither is Henry... speaking of people on the pitch with similar names, it should be noted that Theirry Henry didn't do anything of note until the goal. Otherwise, he was invisible... The south stands wasn't too sing-y and flag wave-y tonight, and that's OK. I think people are starting to actually watch the game and it was a good game to watch. Well, the first 75 minutes anyways... Next meaningful match of the year (unless the cards fall correctly), is Champions League on Tuesday the 18th v. Dallas... By the way, Tauro can advance provided they win and Dallas v Toronto ends in a draw. Also fun fact, UNAM Pumas can be eliminated if they lose and there's a result in the other match.
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like the soolsma chant, over in 227 ' do it for suarez' was the theme. talked about making t shirts with that phrase, and a cartoon kitty cat in a tfc scarf.
ReplyDeleteagree about the defensive subs this time, unlike the pumas game they were really unnecessary and did change things around. borman and soolsma is in no way a forward line you need to worry about.
ah well, the children are the future, and they had a good game, on and off the pitch apparently.
Harden had some big time clearences and apart from one swift turn which resulted in Henry getting away from him and releasing Rodgers on a subsequent through ball the CB's performance was very strong this evening. Again, better than Iro, and yet they get the same rating. I don't get it.
ReplyDeleteMorgan did well against Richards all night long yet got undressed by the right back Solli and only Frings' instinctive header prevented a goal (Kocic wasn't going to reach the Norwegian's shot). Stinson contained Limpere effectively and I really like his quickness and engine room. I'm not convinced of his technical skills but his positioning tonight was good.
Avila was good and effective defensively as well. Didn't think Marosevic was as good as you rated: he hustles (and got himself in position for a good effort on goal in the first half) but he got caught ballwatching and failed to track Miller's overlapping run which resulted in Kocic's fine save off of Rodgers' header.
I thought Frings was not as steady in the first half but he picked it up in the second half and made some nice interceptions and composed distributions.
Finally, I wonder why TFC didn't have anyone stationed on the line at the near post? The closest guy was Harden but he was marking an NY player in the vicinity. A guy at that near post may have cleared Henry's shot.