A very MLSE Thanksgiving - watch turkeys and get stuffed
TORONTO VS. D.C. UNITED
FIRST HALF:
1' - The Reds are welcomed to the pitch by a sea of plastic seats... Six years good work by what MLS used to call "model ownership"
2' - So Ashtone Morgan has a "chest cold" today. One of those chest colds that sees you end up playing for another MLS club in 2013?
8' - Completely against the run of play, Luis Silva goes close but can't connect on a Reggie Lambe cross
12' - Ryan Johnson with his shooting boots on today. TFC will likely win this just to take the wind out of any statements/demonstrations/protests in the stands
18'- Paul Mariner was calling for "Blood, snot and fire" from his players before the match. A bit of smoke, no lacerations and thankfully no giant boogers so far.
24' - Chris Pontius skies a free kick over Milos Kocic who is dressed as 1980's WWF tag-team The Hart Foundation today
33' - SUB: Andrew Wiedeman on for an injured Quincy Amarikwa
37' - Logan Emory suffers a head-on-head collision. Needs to bring back the Screech afro to protect himself in the future
40' - Wiedeman in a mini-slapfight with D.C. bench. Not the best pugilist in the modern era.
44' - Richard Eckersley last man back and saves a goal. Good half from the Ginger Ninja.
45'+ - Sloppy half comes to a close with both teams having messy chances to grab a lead.
HALFTIME: TORONTO 0 - D.C. UNITED 0
SECOND HALF:
45' - BMO Field has officially become one of those half-empty MLS stadiums that BMO Field used to so gleefully make fun of.
52' - A chess match so far. If chess was played by two chimpanzees throwing pieces at each other for no reason.
60' - Clue: Short on trousers - short on tactics
62' - Jeremy Hall, Wiedeman (!) and Maund play a bit of tiki-taka but Ryan Johnson can't find a finish. About the best 10 seconds of the day for TFC
65' - Jeremy Hall has a 1-on-1 chance with United keeper Bill Hamid and manages to kick the ball on a perfect 90 degree angle. Shocking if that was in house league.
66' - YELLOW CARD: Ryan Johnson
72' - Lots of goalmouth scrambles for TFC - however ball falls to the likes of... well... any of them.
75' - Generation Adidas? Andrew Wiedeman is barely Generation Skechers
82' - Match has settled back into a mess. Just awaiting the late conceded goal.
88' - GOAL: D.C. United - And boom goes the obvious as Hamdi Salihi cashes in on a comedy of TFC defensive and goalkeeping errors.
TORONTO 0 - D.C. UNITED 1
90'+ - TFC try to go all "blood, snot and fire" in extra time but simply don't have the talent to make anything happen. Maybe not the most fair result - but the most fitting.
FULL TIME: TORONTO 0 - D.C. UNITED 1
PLAYER RATINGS: Milos Kocic 5 / Jeremy Hall 4 / Richard Eckersley 6.5 / Darren O'Dea 6 / Logan Emory 5 / Reggie Lambe 5.5 / Aaron Maund 5 / Terry Dunfield 6 / Luis Silva 5 / Ryan Johnson 6 / Quincy Amarikwa 4 (Andrew Wiedeman 4.5)
THE YORKIES' TFC MAN OF THE MATCH: Richard Eckersley
THE BATH:
How else could it end? It simply wouldn't be a match at the "once proud" BMO Field without conceding at the end would it? Overall, just a bad day of football in Toronto on every side. Ugly play (by both teams), desperate pleas for better from the long-suffering support in the stands and many, many empty seats everywhere else. That being said - big respect to anyone who took the time to send their message to MLSE in the stands today, however you chose to do it. The fact that they will ignore you is not your shortcoming - it is only theirs.
Will MLSE be wringing their hands tonight at yet another pathetic display of football and deep unhappiness in the stands? Nope. They are sitting somewhere trying to figure out how to spin NOT lowering your ticket price next season for their big November release. You know - once you've run out of any will to protest any further.
Posts
"45' - BMO Field has officially become one of those half-empty MLS stadiums that BMO Field used to so gleefully make fun of."
ReplyDeleteThe Yorkies quote of the year. So sad, so true.
The above is true and revealing but what's the lesson?
ReplyDeleteI hate to be a jerk but maybe it's time to ditch the arrogance (from the club and supporters), learn some humility, accept that TFC won't be Europe and Toronto's gift to American soccer, and just get on with being a plain old vanilla MLS team.
Unfair?
Don't think you're being unfair nor a jerk. No MLS club will ever be like Europe. Guess the disheartening thing is that we have all experienced how fun and exciting BMO Field can be at its best and through very little fault of the supporters - that has been diminished.
DeleteWith one of the highest ticket price levels in MLS, fans here shouldn't have to settle for being much less than vanilla. We're not even plain yogurt yet!
Interesting points though Mike - cheers.
I do sit behind toronto's bench and can tell you and everybody else exactly what happenend and can get you the people that were threatened.
ReplyDeleteWe were all laughing at the display in front of goal on Saturday. That shot attempt that looked like a bad pass and every other blunder became quite comical to us. We were all shouting and saying stuff like..."hay Mariner...that's the clinical finisher you were talkin'bout?!" We were razzing and laughing at each others jokes while all realizing that we are not renewing as a collective group and making fun of how bad MLSE is as a joke product.....this went on for the entire second half.
One person decided to say to Mariner..."hey Mariner...these results are just like the results you had with Plymouth Argyle eh? Can't win there, can't win here..."
Mariner did a 180 and walked over to us, looked at the guy who said it and told him he would settle things with him at the gate! This is 100% fact. We were all beside ourselves...
Mariner threatened the paying fans...if anyone on this planet thinks this is acceptable (and trust me MLSE does) than you have fallen a foot below a snakes belly. It's one thing to rip the fans off with a shitty product, lies and expensive everything, but its beyond crossing the line to threaten the people that pay the support...
Thanks very much for sharing your experience with us. When stories like these start to be what orbits this club it shows how lowly it has fallen.
DeleteToo many people have come forward in this story to say that "nothing happened" as seems the official stance. Even if it was a heat of the moment reaction by an already fiery man getting stick from fans - it is not acceptable.
For once - the lack of fans in the stadium may help them as far as complaints. Like six years of results though - this will be brushed nicely under the carpet - no matter what the cause and effect. Perhaps you should tell your experience to your ticket rep or higher ups in the club? But we wouldn't expect much in return.
Cheers again for your account and sharing it with our readers.