TFC Fall To The Energy Drinks 3-0, Lose Seba And Continue To Regress

drowning

Well that was fun.  Oh wait, no it wasn’t.  What a mess.   And I was poorly prepared having not nearly enough booze in the house to deal with that match.  Due to a confluence of anniversaries, power outages and work none of the VMP crew were really prepared to write a post-match for this game.  But that’s OK, because TFC didn’t come prepared to play.  So here is my point-form post-game for your perusal:

The Goals:

  1. Bradley Wright-Phillips scored.  Not just once, but three times (4′,25′ and 27′).  In fact he scored the fastest hat trick in MLS history.  You know who had the previous fastest? DeRo.
  2. Who was responsible for the goals?  You can assign one to Morrow, one to Moor and one to Perquis and then add a sprinkling of Beitashour in for all three.  TFC’s defense regressed in the worst possible way and let one of MLS’s top scorers – and a frequent scorer against Toronto – just stroll around and do what he wanted.  Moor and Morrow were both poor; with Moor having just a nightmare of a game.
  3. After the first goal, hell after the second goal you’d think they’d mark him differently but no.  You’d think they’d watch Sacha Klejstan, but no.  The first goal should have put them on alert and they managed to stave off the constant Red Bull press until Seba came off and then they fell apart.

Seba:

  1. Seba had the armband tonight and we’d all hoped a giant, point to prove chip on his shoulder as well.  Instead in the 22nd minute we saw him take off the armband and signal to be subbed out. Fucking fantastic.  The only DP we have and the source of all our goals (pretty much) and he’s hurt.
  2. Once Seba was subbed off – for Ashtone Morgan no less! – TFC struggled for the remainder of the first half to get anything going.
  3. He’s apparently strained an abductor muscle; but according to Vanney post-match it’s not too bad.  Regardless it is doubtful we see him before the Galaxy game on the 18th.

The Red Card:

  1. Possibly one of the most ridiculous acts I’ve seen by a player when in the 42nd minute Gonzalo Veron jumped – not just lunged – but jumped, studs first at Marky Delgado.  He may have gotten mostly ball but also got Delgado, and regardless was absolutely a red.
  2. Did TFC take advantage of being up a man?  Sadly no.

The Second Half:

  1. ALL THE CANADIANS: By the end of the second half there were six – count ’em six – Canadians on the pitch.  Among them Jordan Hamilton who finally got some meaningful first team minutes. Minus Will Johnson (who’ll be away on international duty next week) expect to see all of them in the lineup for TFC’s home leg of their Voyageurs Cup semi-final series against the Impact.  Morgan, Osorio and Hamilton all had solid games; either trying to set up goals or attempting them.  Chapman wasn’t on long enough to really rate, Babouli had a sub-par game and Johnson was likely asked to do too much in this game.
  2. The finishing: So many chances for Toronto in the second half.  Who – to be fair – did play much better in the second half, owning possession for most of the half.  However they missed chance after chance; overall they took 19 shots to the Red Bulls 7 (with 7 of them being on target).  So regardless of better play and the bulk of possession, shots were going wide or being easily saved.  Toronto had multiple opportunities to close the gap and didn’t.
  3. The Penalty:  Just after the half started Lovitz drew a penalty in the box.  Huzzah!   Will Johnson (sure why not) steps up to take it and Scores! Huzzah!  Oh wait, apparently there was encroachment (but no mention of Robles roaming all over the place) and the goal was called back.  Cue the classic poorly taken, easily saved second attempt.  SIGH.

Look, this game more than any other this season serves to underscore how unbalanced this squad is.  But even more than than – because lots of squads are unbalanced – how unprepared they are to respond to challenges, to even the smallest amount of adversity.   Gone is the mature, smart, defensively sound play of the beginning of the season; gone is the fun they seemed to be having.  This is a grim and confused team right now.  And when Will Johnson leaves to play with the Canadian team – and if Benoit Cheyrou isn’t ready to play – they are woefully devoid of leadership on the pitch.  I’m fine with a team being a youth project, if that’s what their intent is.  However this is team is allegedly built to challenge for an MLS Cup and right now they look like anything but.  I know that it’s only one game; except that it comes after that insipid home stand.  Hopefully the break in MLS games will help – although they’ve got two Voyageurs Cup games coming up – but something needs to change and fast, or this season is going to go off the rails very quickly.

 

Author: Kristin Knowles

Raised on basketball and baseball, Kristin soon saw the error of her ways when enrolled in a local football league as a child. Geography dictated she choose TFC as her team and ten years later she's still yet to flee the city. Cynically optimistic, she now channels her inner hooligan by singing random pop songs and making poor puns in the stands. May contain adult content. Find me on the internet machine @kzknowles

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2 Comments

  1. It has been my belief that the problems of previous years, is that TFC management (In particular, the senior wonks) are pressured incessantly by MLSE staff about making soccer more interesting , no one wants to see a nil-nil draws or a 1-0 win or worse a loss. After all, soccer moms and dads and Maple Leaf and Raptor ticket holders sitting in stands these days will fall asleep, that type of crowd don’t know the game but know goal scoring (even if it’s goals given up). Imagine what will be thought of when crossing the goal line is worth 6 points stating in July. So, TFC’s technical staff are brow-beaten into finding more offense, or as Billing Manning recently said “push the game”. To this end FBs are sent headlong and relentlessly to stake out goals-for, with total exposure on the back end. A strategy of “send it and everyone run” creeps into the Reds game. And short 8-12 yard push passes are forgone for curling, spinning, 20 yard instep passing. Defending and tackling fundamentals disappear. The pace of our game actually slows with all of this. Well, we are seeing this happening right now and the annual summer swoon has not happened as yet!

    Get back to what you were doing earlier in the year, cause I am hearing the gravelly, grumble of a 600 hp diesel at the top of a precipitous mountain pass and an impassible lip of a large cliff in the path of the TFC tractor trailer.

    Mid-week, begins the start of TFC’s and Manning’s goals, a V-Cup championship and entrance into the exotic, international play of the CCL. Wow, this goal is looking as elusive as Bigfoot.

    Hey Kristin, I think we are saying exactly the same thing.

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  2. Without Bradley, Will Johnson, maybe Giovinco and no proven strikers, this Voyageurs Cup tournament looks like it could go very badly.

    I don’t think it was too hard for MLSE to see that TFC were really lacking in attacking depth and they not only didn’t address it, but made it worse by getting rid of Gomez. Surely they would figure Altidore would miss several matches due to injury, and Giovinco would be pushed to his limit to be the goal scorer and provider, not to mention being constantly marked and pushed around by other teams. Maybe having 1 extra striker with at least a little bit of experience would have helped??? (and Luke Moore wouldn’t have counted either – there was no creativity coming from him)

    Anyway, the inevitable is here and TFC are getting bitten in the ass again. I really hope we are just being overly skeptical because of the club’s past history, but…

    As a side note (and hopefully not a sign of things to come), the last time I saw a TFC captain tear off the armband and basically walk off the field injured was Torsten Frings in 2012. We all know how that season ended up.

    Have a good day guys!

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