South Stand Report : Toronto v. Portland

Old Portland logo with new colours

Old Portland logo with new colours

What a week.  Full of emotions, frustrations and secretive deals and negotiations, years of broken promises, misleading statements, and it finally came to a head.

The Leafs signed Babcock.

Kidding, fuck the Leafs.  Pointyball is getting shoehorned into our once soccer specific stadium. (seriously, fuck them)

So now that that dog and pony show has been wrapped up until the next farce comes down the pipe, back to the real world : middling TFC are playing the “wounded animal” that is Portland Timbers.

I didn’t get to watch the snoozefest of the last match, but was assured I didn’t miss much.

On to the match:

5′ – GOAL – Bradley drinks it off to Giovinco who unleashes a bomb 27 yards out to beat the keeper cleanly.  Fantastic stuff.
ROBINS 1, HIPSTERNIAN 0

27′ – Giovinco undressed two defenders and beats the keeper but not Osorio’s head.  #thatsSoTFC

30′ – Cheyrou nearly broke a Portland midfielder into pieces shaking the poor kid out of his boots.  Brilliant.

36′ – Giovinco is going to make something out of nothing one day and it’ll be the greatest goal we may ever see in person.  He shakes his marker off and curls a ball heading for the bottom right corner, but the keeper gets down and keeps it out somehow.

Half time mood: happy but drowsy.  This is not a classic.

45′ – SUB – Creavalle on for Warner

58′ – some high flying attacks on the wing, first a series of cute passes ends up with Osorio trying to control it and putting it out near the goal line.  A minute later, Moore beats his defender and has a nice run into the side of the penalty area, but can’t find the right weight on the cross to find Giovinco.

64′ – SUB – Moore comes off, Jackson (Jackson!) comes in

68′ – Giovinco senses weakness as he decides to take on 2 defenders and beats them both but not the keeper.

78′ – Creavalle gets behind the last defender and has a go 8 yds out but 12 made a great save point blank range

83′ – SUB – Hagglund on for Osorio. Why. It’s not a question because I don’t want a response.

88′ –  Giovinco down the wing on a counter, slides the ball perfectly to Bradley who forces Kwarasey to make a solid save and push it over the bar.

90′ – YELLOW – Morgan get booked for a rough tackle.

3 min of extra time

Full time : Toronto 1, Portland 0

Man of the Match : Giovinco.

Man of the Match That Isn’t Giovinco : I liked Cheyrou’s contribution today.

Goat of the Game : no one really

Kit Spotting : saw a super classy Penarol kit.

I’m Not The Gaffer But… : substituting a defender for Osorio seems cowardly and overly cautious.  It still worked out but Hamilton could have had a run out.

In Case You PVR’d It : first 5 mins, then 25 to the end of the first half,  then 55 onward.

I can honestly say, I felt Bradley had a great game.  He played a central midfielder role and STAYED THERE.  Wandered up the pitch to join many attacks and for that trust was often in position. Cheyrou played defensive midfield perfectly well.  Well done for all parties involved…  I’m sure I’ll bring it up in the podcast, but to the graphics person, thanks for making the 50/50 numbers much larger.  Audio person, you know when something is too loud, you get that washed-out-screeching noise in your ears? Yeah, that was EVERY SONG PLAYED.  Turn it down for next game, please.  Like 10-15%… Kwarasey, the Portland keeper was very good.  Only thing that separated them from a drubbing… Solid protest from everyone involved. Felt that the silence for the first 23 or so minutes was far more effective than anyone was expecting, but I hope some point was made… $25 for parking?!?!?  The cost of ‘convenience’ I suppose… Stuck around to watch the first 15 minutes of TFC II : The TFC-ening.  Looked like it could’ve been a fun match.  Hope to get up to the ATM in Woodbridge to check them out this summer.

Player Ratings : Konopka 6.5, Morgan 6, Zavaleta 6, Perquis 6, Morrow 6, Osorio 6.5 (Hagglund N/A), Cheyrou 7, Warner 6 (Creavalle 6.5), Bradley 7, Giovinco 8, Moore 6 (Jackson 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. I thought Zavaleta made a case for MotM. He stays at home and does what the Reds desperately needs, cover the backline.

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    • Zavaleta is the back line. He should stay at home. Having said that, after a shaky start he did have a good game.

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  2. Anyone see the TSN broadcast? The colour commentator was so annoying I had to watch the last half hour on mute. Much more enjoyable! He kept rambling on for 2-3 minutes after any simple thing that happened, like Konopka coming off his line a few feet to punch a ball away.

    I haven’t heard this guy before, but it felt like he was having a job interview and just trying to string together any smart-sounding thing he could say. I much prefer Jason deVos or even Greg Sutton, who seems to be improving as a commentator.

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  3. Second half was way too defensive, and even when we were attacking more in the 1st half, it was mainly the giovinco show rather than any kind of grand effort, but then that’s what you pay the big bucks for I suppose. He’s ridiculously good.

    agree zavaleta looked alright, as the defence as a whole really, a solid, unalarming outing really. Even aside from the general solidity, feel like I noticed Perquis doing some good thing, important tackles and such like, this system seems to be making a whole bunch of players seem better, especially the more expensive ones like Bradley, Cheyrou and perquis which is a good thing.

    I like that Giovinco was attacking from out wide so often, wanted to see that for a long time. as for Portland, it’s a bit disconcerting as vanney was talking in training this week about attacking down their wings, and then he went and did exactly that, and they couldn’t stop it. If they’re that easy to figure out and that unable to adapt, that doesn’t really bode well for them.

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    • We were lucky. Especially on the hand chop from Konopka to not give up a tying goal. Many of the Reds Bradley, Creavalle, among others need to settle rather than blasting the ball

      BTW Saw Gilberto on Gol TV this morning playing a creative attack role for Vasco, but blasting the ball and missing net. Still he has 9 goals in 15 appearances this year.

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