Posted By Mark Hinkley on Jul 2, 2016 in Match Previews & Reports, Uncategorized | 2 comments

Old Seattle logo with new colours

Why can’t I be injured for either an unknown amount of time or 6-8 weeks. All the cool kids are out 6 weeks. Irwin. Bradley. National Cup Hero Wil Johnson. Even Altidore. I’d like a paid vacation, hobbling around with a lower body injury.

OK, maybe not, but the point is a vacation.

So Toronto is hurting, physically and Seattle is hurting, fundamentally. One win and five losses in their last six matches, with a 2-0 away win to DC a month ago, only scoring 3 goals (including 2 in the victory). Sounders are ripe for the picking, but Toronto may be forgiven for not being able to climb the ladder to pick anything at all.

Bold Predictions :

1. A metric crap ton of people wearing soccer kits, but not wearing either Toronto red or Seattle “rave green”
2. Seba goals. Yeah, plural.
3. No injuries for Toronto. Any if recent history is of any indication, this qualifies as bold.

On to the Match :

21’ – Nice cross finds Chapman alone from 8 yards out and heads wide

24’ – Sublime back heel finds Giovinco 13 yards out alone and skies the ball. Heartbreaking.

43’ – YELLOW – Delgado for something

Halftime Mood : slightly optimistic. Seattle is as bad as advertised but the kids are taking chances and we need to see it.

60’ – GOAL – Giovinco gets in on goal and his shit is stopped with a great kick save, but the ball sits for Hamilton who buries it calmly.
ROBINS 1, SOUNDING ENTHUSIASTS 0

61’ – GOAL – while I was writing this, Jordan Morris scored. Bastard takes away the fun.
ROBINS 1, SOUNDING ENTHUSIASTS 1

69’ – SUB – Osorio comes in for Chapman

77’ – SUB – Benoit Cheyrou in for Endoh

81’ – Giovinco gets a through ball and was complaining about the offside while he was still chasing it. Hilarious scene.

82’ – Ref watched Giovinco get steamrolled. No call. Sure.

84’ – Hercules Gomez comes in.

87’ – Seba beats one defender, gets hauled down in the box, no call. Ref you’re killing me.

88’ – SUB – Raheem Edwards gets a debut in exchange of Zavaleta

3 mins of extra time

90+1’ – Edwards fires a shot at Frei

90+2’ – YELLOW – Beitashour gets booked for a weak call in a tackle with Gomez

Full Time : Toronto 1, Seattle 1

Man of the Match : Jordan Hamilton for keeping his head

Goat of the Game : nobody was bad, but Bono makes me very nervous and Giovinco was starting to get me frustrated

Ref Rating : 2 out of 5. Did so we’ll and then just lost the plot as the game went on.

I Am Not The Gaffer, But… : I might have brought on Cheyrou earlier, otherwise did well with the tools at his disposal

In Case You PVR’d It : not a terrible match. Watch the whole thing.

Kit Spotting : saw a kid wearing a Hammarby home kit. That’s fairly random.

Bold Prediction Results

1. Failed it. Saw more Italy kits than Germany ones, but nothing that would define a “crap ton”. I’m disappointed in the crowd’s expected predictability.
2. Failed it. Seba no goal.
3. Nailed it. No one hobbled or carted off. Success!

OK, I’ll go first. Seba : what the hell?

Before both of you flame me, hear me out. Trying to beat an extra player instead of shooting? Going down easier than usual? Trying to do too much too often? I get it though, there were multiple instances where there was nothing that could’ve been done about the situation, (i.e. Getting surrounded by 4 or 5 green shirts). But there were also times where judgement was in question.

I want to give him the put and say he’s frustrated. And he has every right to be. Last year, he humiliated defences. Last year, he’d drag the team back from oblivion to points. Last year, every other week was a new contender for the goal of the year. This year, it’s very different.

Maybe he needs what Bradley offers. Maybe *gulp* he needs Jozy Altidore does “off the ball” (not getting off that easily). It’s only a problem because of his perceived value and what he did last season.  Aside from the usual fatalist outliers, I feel that people are afraid to speak up.  Sincerely hope that whatever the catalyst is for this form rights itself soon.

That being said, it was fun seeing people take shots, regardless of how truly ambitious they were. More of that please… If Gomez had scored to steal the points, I’d be weirdly OK with that and he may be the only player in the league I’d say that about… Can we tie a bungee cord around Bono and give him no more than 15 yards length on it? He’s making me nervous and it’s going to be a while before those nerves dissipate… I suspect that Seattle is the best opponent given the injury situation. The experiment with the lineup made it the least risk involved to try out. It was kind of fun… Mark Bloom, welcome back!  Raheem Edwards, welcome!

Player Ratings : Bono 6, Zavaleta 6.5 [Edwards N/A], Perquis 6, Hagglund 6, Beitashour 6.5, Endoh 5.5 [Cheyrou N/A], Chapman 6 [Osorio N/A], Delgado 6, Bloom 6, Giovinco 6, Hamilton 7