THE SOUTH STAND REPORT : Toronto v Kansas City... with ref quality as low as it is, there's nothing "Major" about this league

Seriously, make me happy and call them the Comets already!

What a gorgeous day.  It's so nice, even if we take a beating, we'll likely forget about it and get a corn dog or two while getting scammed by carnies on the midway at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE).

Toronto were 3 points adrift of the basement pack of the East, while Clube Desportivo da Cidade de Kansas, a.k.a. Sporting KC, are flying at the top with a 23 point gap between the two sides.  Psh.  That's nothing.

Predictions are mostly pro-Toronto, with @kzknowles prediction 2-1, Phil 2-0 and I'm calling a 3-2 barnburner.  @theyorkies1812 predicts a 3-1 loss and when prompted for a prediction, @RohanKoomar calls for "Brendan Rogers out by December" after Liverpool's 3-0 whupping from West Brom... sorry, silly me, this is MLS.  There's no other real 'soccer' out there, isn't that right Mr. Garber?

On to the match...

7' - YELLOW - Frings goes into the book for a late tackle early into the match.

36' - SUB - Emory comes on for an injured Henry.

Quote of the match:

I can see a hair battle between Espinoza and Frings.  I'm in Pantera!

~ Tony

Half-Time mood : a melange of melancholy and frustration.

49' - YELLOW - Hassli goes into the book.  We've established that the over-under for Hassli to be sent off is 5.5 games in a Toronto kit.  I've taken over as I think it'll happen in game six...

67' - OK, seriously, Wiederman, get off the pitch.  Just walk off, and Mariner should be able to figure out what to do next...

74' - KC's Collin is such a damn drama queen.  I don't know how this guy hasn't been thrown out of the game.

83' - GOAL - Kei Kamara has a go on a free kick 25 yds out, little deflection and bounce and Kocic can't quite get to it.  At least it wasn't that sell-out Teal Bunbury...

Robins 0, Comets 1

86' - SUB - Wiederman FINALLY comes off for Amarikwa.  Seriously, that was 25 minutes way too late.

4 minutes of extra time

90' - RED - OK, so our eyes didn't deceive us.  The basket-case referee brandished a red card, holding it high into the air, and nobody could figure out who was supposed to have been sent off.  Once he put the card away, no one walked off the pitch and both sides still had their eleven players intact. #discountMLSOfficials

90+3' - New acquisition O'Dea gets a head onto a floater towards goal but it's saved by Nielsen.

FULL TIME : Toronto 0, Kansas City 1

Man of the Match : uh... um... well, you see, there wasn't that much positive stuff.  I'll say Frings just because I felt bad for him.  He'd try to create plays but it wasn't for lack of effort or vision on his part when they collapsed.

Goat of the Game : The easy pickings is Wiederman... but I'm gonna go with Mariner.  I do not know what Mariner saw in Wiederman's game today that we clearly overlooked, but that kid got beat easily, held onto the ball too long, doesn't have a clue what a 1-2 give-and-go is, yet he played nearly the entire game?!?  If this kid is going to be your pet project, fine, but when a player is a clear liability from almost the first touch, give it up and take him off.

Ref Rating : 1 out of 5. Just pathetic. What constitutes a yellow card was neither consistent foul to foul, nor club to club.  Collin should have been shown a second yellow about a half dozen times today just for his whining all match long.  Then the red card debacle? The next DP signing the league should approve is 4 new officials.  Embarrassing and unacceptable.

Kit Spotting : Lots of kits out today, Stoke away, Swansea home.  After the match, I saw a Carlisle United home at the GO but the winners has to be the father and son duo both sporting home and away West Brom kits... passing a gentleman who was wearing the West Brom 3rd kit.

O'Dea is an interesting case for his first game out.  He was positioned well at the back, and is fearless going up for a challenge in the air which is nice to have lacking Danny K up front.  His ball distribution is something left to be desired... KC had been threatening all game with the amount of attacking control in the Toronto end, so the result is only a shock that it was only one goal... A discussion came up between Tony, Ro, Phil and @devontaylor113 that branded Dunfield as "The Canadian Pirlo", which was then rebranded "Disappirlo". If this brilliance could be bottled, we'd be stinking rich by now... Everytime I look at Sporting KC's crest, I get embarrassed for the league... Wiederman was just terrible today.  I can't even guess what Soolsma said to have him lose his job to this guy... speaking of which, Nick Soolsma has landed on his feet, just like a cat!  He's joined Excelsior in the Dutch second division... There was a distinct lack of ambition from Toronto as a whole.  They didn't seem to move for each other, which would lead to Morgan getting two markers on him and no one to pass back to, or Silva trying to dance his way through two or three defenders... Ryan Johnson, as slow as he is, tried like hell to put the team on his back a few times in the second half.  Running at defenders and having a go or two.  We need that from Hassli, not Johnson, but well done Ryan.

Team Rating : Kocic 6, Morgan 6, O'Dea 6, Ecks 6, Henry 5.5 [Emory 6], Johnson 6, Dunfield 5.5, Frings 6, Wiederman 4 [Amarikwa N/A], Silva 6, Hassli 5.5

@ignirtoq writes the match reports in his own 'style', which must be thought of as erratically consistent by the three or four people who read his drivel.  He would also like to apologize for the report before this, where he was dead-ass tired after taking 2 hours to complete a 30-minute drive. You could follow him on the twitters if you felt so inclined.