LA Galaxy as the LA Aztecs
Welcome to Toronto. Dysfunctional weather patterns since 1992. Damn it’s steamy.
So MLS had a demi-break until half the Copa America was done, which was so necessary, apparently. It’s OK MLS, I wasn’t going to watch it, since Canada wasn’t included so keep your tournament. Maybe next time I’ll give a damn.
Tonight, the slipping LA Galaxy are in town with Steven Gerrard… not playing tonight. I’m sure if I had a drinking game for every Liverpool shirt I saw, I’d be dead from alcohol poisoning.
Anyways,
Bold predictions :
- Giovinco will break his drought
- De Jong will break bones
- Hopefully it’ll be one of his own
On to the Match :
20’ – Legett gets sent in on goal and slides it very very wide. #gerrard
Half Time Mood : Ummm… so that was definitely soccer. Not much happened. I’m sure someone will remind me about that thing I totally missed. Yep.
54’ – Giovinco corner finds the leaping Moor and his head goes just wide.
60’ – Giovinco collects a beautiful ball from over the top, breaks down the left side and forces the LA keeper to make a save
64’ – Giovinco free kick dives over the wall, but grabbed by the keeper
67 – SUB – Tsubasa off for Johnson
67 – SUB – Babouli in for Hamilton
70’ – Giovinco gets hauled down by any one of four LA defenders at the top of the box. No? Ok then…
Note : other players played for TFC, I swear. The most note-worthy stuff tho came from Seba…
73’ – note to self, look for gif of Vanney smashing the out of the ball down with a furious Fist.
77’ – GOAL – Cheyrou long ball, popped on by Zavaleta and an unmarked Moor heads it past. Happy Father’s Day sir!
ROBINS 1, NOT CHIVAS 0
81’ – SUB – Hagglund, welcome back sir. He comes on for Delgado
2 mins of extra time
Full Time : Toronto 1, Los Angeles 0
Man of the Match : Drew Moor, dad of the year.
Goat of the Game : ummm… No idea. Hamilton was invisible, but I’m not entirely certain it’s his fault.
Ref Rating : 3 out of 5. Inconsistent at best.
I Am Not The Gaffer But… : I need to find a better way to free up Giovinco because they were all over him all game. Again.
In Case You PVR’d It : watch the goal and if you’re feeling up to it, watch til the end of the game from there.
Kit Spotting : neighbour @TFCCobra spotted a Greenock Morton kit and that beats what I’ve seen without question.
Bold Predictions Results :
- Failed it. Giovinco still in a drought
- Failed it. De Jong let me down
- Failed it. And so did everyone else
Injury notwithstanding, that is at least 3 games in a row where Giovinco has no space or support to get any space. With the exceptions of when he caught his markers out, he dealt with multiples surrounding him at all times and at no time did anyone break off to mark Hamilton, or Osorio, or anyone else who was in a threatening position.
I’m insane so here’s what I’d like to postulate as a tactic : for the next league game, during the first half, Giovinco is not to be the play-maker, but rather the decoy. He makes diagonal runs right through the middle of the pitch to pull defenders out of position. Just screw with their heads and tactics. Time your runs so that the long ball to Giovinco is actually a short ball to Osorio or Babouli or whomever, and keep doing that until the defenders figure out that their plans have been figured out. And for the love of DeRo, shoot more. Get it on target, even if it’s weak, and get the players to buy in that someone else can take the shots.
But what do I know. I bought Football Manager last year and relegated an Icelandic team. Totally was fired.
Player Ratings : Irwin 7, Beitashour 7, Moor 8, Zavaleta 6, Morrow 6.5, Cheyrou 7, Delgado 6.5 [Hagglund N/A] , Osorio 6.5, Endoh 6 [Johnson N/A], Giovinco 6.5, Hamilton 6 [Babouli N/A]
Also, would’ve been dead by half-time from all the shots of tequila (obviously) I’d have had to do. Even if I reduced it to “Liverpool shirts with Gerrard on the back”, I’d have been hospitalized.
June 19, 2016
The Molest-a-Seba strategy continued again in this game, with Van Damme (mr. leg-splits), de Jong, Steres, Husidic, even Cole among others taking turns beating the crap out of Giovinco when he had and when he didn’t have the ball. Ricardo Salazar responded, by prancing about the pitch and doing absolutely nothing about it.
The Reds looked to have returned to a more conservative approach with their FBs and it resulted in a strong defensive effort. The shocker was the goal coming from our CBs being in the box and in open play. That said it originated from a failed set play.
The pitch looked good after the aeration it received from last week’s CFL game. I guess if the weather is good the grass can grow out all it’s paint, get cut and grow some more.
And speaking of looking good, the crowd looked and sounded marvelous, not quite 2007, but getting there.
June 20, 2016
hmmmm, Seba as decoy strategy? Take the one fellow who can put the ball into the net and have him run away from the ball hoping to draw defenders and then all those fellows who are proven 2016 non-goal scorers (2016 total for Osorio, Cheyrou, Lovitz, Morgan, Chapman, Hamilton (in MLS play )combined is ZERO)? In Iceland that would get you banished to Greenland ( a historical Icelandic insider joke there).
Are you Tim Bezbatchenko in disguise?
A summer signing is needed. A trade too.