South Stand Report : Toronto v D.C.

DC United as the DC Diplomats

DC United as the DC Diplomats

Well this is a delight. Due to extreme heat, I’ve ditched the surely heat stroke-inducing weather of a golf tournament and opted for the live theatre of sport and spectating. #noRegrets

Being on the road, I had the pleasure of missing the San Jose debacle and spending 45+ minutes yelling at a television in Pittsburgh. #blessed

I also opted for a nap before leaving for the game so I’ll assume DC United are average.

Apparently we have two new players on the bench tonight. Tosaint Ricketts was signed as a free agent and Altidore, according to the media reports touting as such.

Bold Predictions :

  1. Giovinco will get an assist
  2. I’ll yell at Hamilton for not moving enough
  3. Regardless of the scoreline, Altidore will get a runout unless Hamilton has a brace.

On To the Match :

8’ – Hamilton takes a nice through ball from Chapman and a touch or two later forces a save from the DC United 8th choice keeper.

17’ – YELLOW – Chapman for a challenge. Foul yes. Booking no.

22’ – GOAL – drought over. Giovinco free kick bends over the wall and buried into the right side of the net. So pretty.
ROBINS 1, DIPLOMATS 0

24’ – GOAL – remember when we had a lead? Good times, will treasure it always. Jeffrey takes a through ball, Moor stumbled and then beat Bono on the far side.
ROBINS 1, DIPLOMATS 1

29’ – GOAL – Giovinco juuuuust beats a tackle and slides a shot past the 8th choice keeper but hits the post. Rebound deftly tapped in by Delgado. Go on.
ROBINS 2, DIPLOMATS 1

40’ – GOAL Giovinco free kick from just to the right of his first goal. Smashes it top corner.
ROBINS 3, DIPLOMATS 1

45’ – Sarvas gets a cleared ball, fakes a shot and jinks to the left, fires a low shot to the right and Bono gets over and down to palm it away. We’ll done.

Half Time Mood : world beaters! Bring on the giants of football!

49’ – Endoh beats his marker enough to get a shot off and force a stop by the DC 8th choice keeper.

51’ – Beitashour with a fantastic hip check on Sam at the top of the box. Sure it’s a foul but he crushed him.

54’ – YELLOW – Moor for something.

56’ – Seba steals a backpass and breaks in on to goal. Low shot stopped by the 8th choice keeper.

60’ – YELLOW – Delgado on a late tackle on dc13 and then rolled for further embellishment.

64’ – Seba to Chapman and his first touch slid the ball for Hamilton who was running across instead forward. So close.

71’ – SUB – Tosaint Ricketts makes his debut, on for Hamilton

72’ – SUB – Altidore comes on for Chapman. We guessed Endoh but ok…

73’ – Seba plays Ricketts through and bests the keeper, but not the post. Kristin nearly loses her mind.

88’ – good ball movement as Altidore gets on a cross from Ricketts who crosses for a wiiiiiide open Giovinco who goes for glory with a side scissor kick and fires nowhere near goal.

89’ – SUB – Endoh off for Bloom

3 mins of extra time

90+1’ – GOAL Giovinco gets on the end of a cross from Altidore and takes a half volley to pop it in. Hat trick. Full marks.
ROBINS 4, DIPLOMATS 1

90+2’ – lots of nice touches starts with Cheyrou and ends with Ricketts being fed a nice goal but stopped by the DC 8th choice keeper.

Full Time : Toronto 4, DC 1

Man of the Match : Giovinco. Who else.

Goat of the Game : no one.

Ref Rating : 3 out of 5. Some fouls that were carded were suspect but ultimately didn’t affect the outcome.

I Am Not The Gaffer But… : Endoh could’ve come out earlier. Chapman was having an excellent game.

In Case You PVR’d It : watch it all.

Kit Spotting : Pohang Steelers home kit came to me. Didn’t have to look far. Gorgeous. #Steelers

Bold Predictions :

  1. Nailed it. He got the assist for the Delgado goal.  I think.
  2. Failed it. Too busy being mesmerized by everything else to notice him not running, and when I was looking, he was moving.
  3. Nailed it. Altidore coming on was as soft a prediction as I’ll probably make.

Full disclosure, it’s pretty much a love-in after this.

Well, that was a match… If your keeper wears #48, like the DC United keeper does, I’ll have to assume he’s very very low in the pecking order and judging by Wikipedia, he’s at least 4th and at most 5th, based on the roster, so I was closer than further from being right… Chapman looked wonderful at times, playing like an extension of Cheyrou and Giovinco, passing it on. Fantastic stuff… Zavaleta was excellent (welcome back to the back four), Delgado was solid and he scored a goal. More of this please… If you’re a regular listener of the podcast, someone is gonna have a bit of “see, I told you so” in him after this Giovinco performance. All that ball distribution must have screwed up all the defensive strategies. I know it’s what I would’ve planned for  against Giovinco and would’ve endured the same outcome… I know it’s only 16 minutes of play, but welcome back Jozy Altidore. He looked good and contributing and confident and adapting to a role that isn’t “pure goal scorer”. Columbus will be a better test… Tosaint Ricketts first two shots were close.  Fun to watch someone have a go and get close on their debut.

Player Ratings : Bono 6.5, Beitashour 7, Zavaleta 7, Moor 6.5, Morrow 6.5, Cheyrou 7, Delgado 7.5, Endoh 6 [Bloom N/A], Chapman 7 [Altidore N/A] , Hamilton 6.5 [Ricketts N/A], Giovinco 10

Unused Substitutes : Roberts, Babouli, Hagglund, Williams

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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3 Comments

  1. I am speechless…ref called some fouls on the hack-a-Seba crowd and Seba took over. I am speechless… TFC genuinely looked dangerous and were dangerous. I am speechless…Altidore, Ricketts came in and were…well dangerous.

    It is a real shame that Hamilton and Babouli are now mired on the bench.

    Hey, is Zavalet a nickname for Zaveleta?

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    • Haha – just a typo. If he’s got a nickname it’s Zavs or Zav. Of as we call him, the Nifty Nephew.

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  2. It was great to have the Seba of old back – and as noted by Mark (and Duncan) and well, everybody – he was more involved in the play, more willing to share the ball and so on.

    Was rather pleased with what I saw from Ricketts to start (and OK, Altidore too).

    Hope to see more of the same on Sunday.

    Yeah – I’m disappointed for Hamilton & Babouli. Especially Hamilton – he’s likely done for the season except for the occasional sub minutes. Not sure what the answer is there.

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