South Couch Report – Toronto v Orlando

Orlando City meets Miami Gatos

Orlando City meets Miami Gatos

Well well well, look who’s on the bench.

Much to my surprise (yay!) is Jozy Altidore and (whuh?) Joe Bendik.  One of these makes complete sense, and the other is Joe Bendik.  He’s been hung out to dry over the last few games, and surely he can’t be held responsible?  But what do I know.  I am not the gaffer (but… nevermind).

On to the match :

14’ – Larin makes a run, gets into the box, see Kantari and turns around.  Strange.

16’ – I wouldn’t say this is boring, but neither team seems to be capable of doing anything in the penalty areas. Mostly played in the middle of the park.

17’ – Jackson rips a blast from 25 yards out forcing Tally Hall to make a leaping save to palm it away.

19’ – Long pass finds the head of Giovinco who places it in front of Delgado who gets a free shot from inside the box and fires it well over the bar.

23’ – YELLOW – Giovinco gets booked for a careless tackle on a counter-attacking Ramos

35’ – Rafael Ramos gets a straight red for studs on the ankle of Morrow.  Makes the Giovinco booking seem intelligent.

39’ – Now Kaka backs over Morrow and gets booked for it.  What did Justin do to deserve all of this?

42’ – YELLOW – Kantari is booked for grabbing on Larin’s kit.

Half-Time Mood : haven’t missed much.  Wish I was at the Ex (and I do not like the Ex)

45’ – SUB – Jackson has a sore hammy so he comes off for Lovitz

46′ – GOAL Marky Delgado is in the right place 6 yards out to take a Bradley pass and buries it.
ROBINS 1, PURPS 0

49’ – Osorio gets a ball down the left, does a turn around and loses his marker, firing and forcing Hall to make a stop.  Rebound finds Bradley and he nearly hits the chair lift.

50’ – Giovinco recovers his steps and blasts one forcing Hall to make another save.  Ref blows it by not awarding a corner.

57′ – GOAL – Free kick about a yard outside the penalty area and Giovinco banks it off of the left post.  Magical.  Absolutely magical.
ROBINS 2, PURPS 0

61’ – Kaka centers it and I couldn’t see who shot it, but it was saved by Lovitz.

64’ – Larin had a lunging attempt, but Konopka off his line punch it away.

71′ – GOAL – after a minute and a half of control, it ends with a 1-2 Bradley and Giovinco, then a low cross acros the face of goal and finds Morrow to side foot it in.
ROBINS 3, PURPS 0

72’ – SUB – Osorio makes way for Altidore

78’ – SUB – Giovinco earns a well-deserved standing ovation and comes off for the much less effective Findley

83′ – PENALTY – After Findley beats a way off his line Hall, Adrian Winter hauls him down inside the box and erns his second yellow.

83’ – GOAL Altidore scores.  Slump over?  Can it be from a penalty?
ROBINS 4, PURPS 0

85′ – GOAL – OK, slump over.  Altidore gets on the end of leaping Robbie Findley (I know… I know) volley and heads it in.
ROBINS 5, PURPS 0

88′ – I can say with confidence that Toronto has this.  Around 90% positive…

1 minute of extra time

FULL TIME : Toronto 5, Orlando 0

Man of the Match : I’m going to go with Morrow as he was abused out there, didn’t get subbed and scored a goal.  Many players had worthy games.

Goat of the Game : umm… hmmm…  wow… gun-to-head, I’d pick… nevermind.

Ref Rating : 3 out of 5.  Couple of harsh calls, but nothing difference-making.

I Am Not The Gaffer But… : I wanna know what the hell he said to fire them up.

In Case Your PVR’d It : second half.  I wish GolTV had a skip function…

Suppose this is where crow-eating takes place. Jozy Altidore had 20 minutes to prove himself and somehow bagged a brace, but one was a penalty, which he rightfully earned, and the other was at the end of a cross where Orlando was playing with 2 men down. Without question, he deserved to be benched and full marks to Vanney to doing what no one thought he could possibly do.  Congratulations to Jozy for bagging two goals.  He has played himself back into the starting XI for the game versus Montreal, and deserves it.  My concern lies with the ability to see that he’s struggling and then have the courage to remove him before spending another 90+ minutes being completely ineffective. If one of the roles he’s supposed to play is drawing defenders out of position to make room for others doesn’t work if defenders know he poses zero threat.  Still require more consistency from Altidore to convinced he belongs (and at his wage, and yes his wage very much matters).

Player Ratings : Konopka 6; Morrow 8, Kantari 6, Williams 6, Jackson 6.5 (Lovitz 6); Warner 6, Cheyrou 6.5; Osorio 6.5 (Altidore, ugh… 8), Bradley 8, Delgado 7.5; Giovinco 9 (Findley N/A)

Author: Mark Hinkley

Mark is a full-time graphic designer, full-time smart ass and full-time logo, stadium and kit nerd. When he isn't writing ridiculous match reports or redesigning logos for his own amusement, he's salivating over the day that promotion and relegation occurs in MLS. You can follow him @kitnerdmark on the twitterz.

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5 Comments

  1. Extremely boring first half, and very fun second half. Do you know if Gomez was on the bench? I was surprised to see Findley come in instead of him. I guess I can’t complain though, he basically set up both of Jozy’s goals. I think he kind of deserves to get a player rating for making that much of an impact. I’ll begrudgingly suggest a 7?

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    • Gomez was indeed on the bench. I was hoping for him to be subbed on as well – liked his energy and impact on the game last week.

      Pleasantly surprised by Findley and also Altidore – however I think this makes the argument for them to stay on the bench and be impact subs – well, Altidore more than Findley. Would still like to see Herc, think he needs minutes.

      He doesn’t get a player rating due to not enough minutes played.

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      • Will definitely have to catch a replay of this one, missed it live. Sounds like it was full of frolic in the second half. Orlando better will have to stick to theme parks rather than play TFC.

        How many PK goals has Altidore had this year?

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        • I think he’s at three now.

          Definitely give it a watch – just to enjoy the second half fun. First half was a wee bit less exciting.

          TFC did what they should do, which was beat up on a lesser (and under-manned) team. Hard to complain about this one in the context of what it is.

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  2. Not sure how that first sending off doesn’t count as gamechanging in regard to the ref. When you compare it to the tackle on Kantari by the red bulls player, it really is an absurd red card

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