My apologies for the second report, I didn't know that I was going to write one until late Saturday.
So now there's more to read. Lucky you.
This is the first of three away games, which is convenient such that it doesn't interfere with that upstart Canadian National Exhibition bullsh*t that gets in the way. Oh sure, a nice summer night to watch a footy match is too much to ask apparently. I'll never understand why we had so many home games so early. Then again, I'd prefer all of our games be home games. It's not like they're dying to watch us in Columbus.
Toronto are coming off a wonderful match against DC where
United failed all over the park and couldn't be any more useless than a speed bump in a home for the elderly the Reds were amazing.
I also would like to give a shout out to the parents for having a PVR. This allowed me to have a night out with the lads rather than having a frustrating night at a pub. Oh well.
Chivas are tied on points with Toronto, but have a few games in hand.
Onto the match.
3 – It's announced that the Reds are playing a 4-5-1 with White being the lone forward. I'm no manager and I know it can turn into a 4-3-3, but why aren't we playing a 4-3-3 or a 4-3-2-1 Christmas Tree formation. In Pro Evo, I always play 4-3-3.
6 – Gerry Dobson on SportsNet just called Attakora “the best defender Toronto has had all season”. We're big fans of the guy, but given that he didn't get a game until about round 6 or 7, that's a tall compliment given Marvell Wynne's reliability.
11 – Cronin's got some hustle which results in a corner. Nothing comes of it.
16 – Every offensive manoeuvre has resulted in a no-show of control in the final third. Puerto Rico knows how to prevent it, except in that game TFC looked good and aggressive. Tonight, nowhere near as aggressive as a few weeks ago, but just as anemic.
22 - Maybe I'm tired from the night I've had of
indoor mini-golfing with my friends very heavy binge drinking, but the Man City v Wolves match was far more compelling than this.
27 –
YELLOW – O'Brien White gives an elbow to the side of the head of Jazic during a challenge in the air. It was the right call.
31 –
GOAL – After a near penalty call that left Galindo shooting - forcing a little save from Frei, the ensuing corner bounces around the box a bit and leaves Sacha Kljestan a cute toe poke past a confused everybody.
33 –
YELLOW – Robinson gets booked for a bit of a studs-up lake tackle and that will take his tally to enough for a one game suspension. It was the correct call again.
39 – Vitti shows some strength by fighting through a few defenders before getting hauled down. Good stuff.
43 – Robinson and Guevara totally botched a great toss from Serioux that landed in front of them both with no defenders near them in the box only to have a late Chivas defender pick up the loose ball. Embarrassing, really.
45 – Kljesten takes the ball for a few yards and lays the ball off for Gallindo, only for him to fire into the side netting. Solid counter that should've resulted in more.
Half-time mood :
tired from mini-golf hung over with a mild bout of depression.
46 –
SUB – White out, The Chad in
46 – Serioux dodged a bullet, a yellow and ultimately a one-game suspension after clipping Gallindo's heels.
50 –
GOAL – Debutante Santos laces a perfect little ball that undid two defenders, Kljesten finishes with a nice low ball in the far left corner. Very pretty goal.
51 –
SUB – Gerba in, Guevara out
54 – After another lost opportunity from a corner, commentator and legend Craig Forrest takes a shot at TFC. He may be the only commentator to dare to do so.
59 –
YELLOW – Serioux gets a booking for likely an accumulation of bad challenges, will be suspended for the Seattle match next week.
Quote of the match
Why are all those Swiss guys on the field?
~ my mom reacting to the first aid in their bibs on the pitch
65 – In what seems like a “haven't seen that in a while” scenario, Gerba haves a go, just wide of the net.
71 – Barrett corner results in Serioux's failing on a beautiful opportunity with a wide open net, only to have the ball skip away.
77 – Chivas corner and Nagamura's first touch nearly rolls into the opposite post
78 – DeRo run and cross finds Wynne with an awkward stop, turns and fires just over the bar. Shortly thereafter, DeRo rockets another ball just over the bar.
78 – SUB – Cronin out, Sanyang in. Sanyang's first touch flies just about out of the ground.
82 – Barrett barrels down the left wing and puts a nice cross through the face of goal and a few heads miss the opportunity to put one in.
87 – Nagamura jinked past Serioux and forces a great save from Frei.
90 – Gerba has a bullet just miss the right post from about 40 yards out.
2 minutes of added time90+1 – DeRo has a run down the left side and runs out of real estate. And runs out of time.
FULL TIME : Chivas 2 : Toronto 0
Man of the Match : Though nobody truly stood out to deserve it outright, I'll give it to Cronin since he was playing both ends of the pitch and had a few good balls in and stopped a legit chance to make the score line less flattering than it was.
Goat : none. Again.
Ref meter : 5 out of 5. Didn't blow any calls. Let them play when he could. Serioux got ample warnings before booking. Good officiating.
TFC wasn't BAD, just anemic.
An hour and some change and we've got the first real opportunity from the Reds. That final third of the pitch seems to be a black hole of lost opportunities and I believe that it isn't because Chivas was playing exceptionally well. Toronto played somewhere between mediocre and well. Build-up was regular and reliable, but either the final delivery or lack of finish was Toronto's demise on this night. With the amount of possession TFC gets in a game, 2 goals a night shouldn't be this difficult.
Now on to Seattle. This might not be good...
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