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Thursday, March 15, 2012

AFTER 90: A Hollywood ending

You can't spell Hollywood without "Soolsma"

THE BUZZ:
A tiny Home Depot Center crowd, an apparently "fatigued" Galaxy playing their first team... again, and a Toronto FC squad who have pulled off the odd cup miracle. Could the Hollywood stars have aligned for The Reds tonight? Not so fast... Los Angeles are still the cream of the MLS crop and TFC needs a top-notch performance to head to the semi-finals where Santos Laguna awaits tonight’s winner.
 
FIRST HALF:
20' - YELLOW CARD: Richard Eckersley
33' - GOAL: Toronto - Ryan Johnson
LOS ANGELES 0 - TORONTO 1
 
FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHT: The absolute smash-and-grab goal
FIRST HALF LOWLIGHT: Watching TFC's very high line tested
 
HALFTIME: LOS ANGELES 0 - TORONTO 1
 
SECOND HALF:
45' - SUB: Terry Dunfield on for Joao Plata
55' - GOAL: Los Angeles - Ty Harden (OG)
LOS ANGELES 1 - TORONTO 1
62' - YELLOW CARD: Miguel Aceval
63' - SUB: Luis Silva on for Julian de Guzman
66' - GOAL: Toronto - Nick Soolsma
LOS ANGELES 1 - TORONTO 2
69' - SUB: Aaron Maund on for Danny Koevermans
90'+ - YELLOW CARD: Torsten Frings
 
SECOND HALF HIGHLIGHT: Nick Soolsma thrilling his cat and TFC supporters alike
SECOND HALF LOWLIGHT: Ty Harden as the catalyst of turtling
 
FULL TIME: LOS ANGELES 1 - TORONTO 2
 
PLAYER RATINGS: Milos Kocic 8 / Richard Eckersley 6.5 / Miguel Aceval 6 / Ty Harden 5 / Ashtone Morgan 6.5 / Torsten Frings 6.5 / Nick Soolsma 7 / Julian de Guzman 5.5 (Luis Silva 6 ) / Joao Plata 6 (Terry Dunfield 5.5 ) / Danny Koevermans 5 (Aaron Maund 6 ) / Ryan Johnson 8
 
THE YORKIES' TFC MAN OF THE MATCH: Milos Kocic
 
THE MOOD:
Is "holy crap I'm gonna throw up" a mood? Against all of North America's odds, MLS' perennial underdog, Toronto FC, knocked the league's glamour club out of the Champions League. Workmanlike, unexpected and in the end, gutsy can describe TFC's performance tonight as they ground down a ropey Galaxy with two smash-and-grab goals. They didn't make it easy on themselves, falling into lapses of over-turtling at times and making some curious substitutions, but in hindsight, Aron Winter will look like he tactically outwitted Bruce Arena. Fabulous performances from Milos Kocic, Ryan Johnson and feline-friend Nick Soolsma propel Toronto FC forward as the only MLS club remaining in the Champions League - and making a little Canadian football history to boot. Could have only happened in Hollywood.

1 comment:

  1. To "The Macarena"

    47 thousand crazy fans in Rogers Centre
    An empty can of Beer that got thrown at David Beckha’
    Not resting all their players cost the Galaxy the Game-a
    Hey, Bruce Arena!

    ReplyDelete