Columbus Crew as the Cleveland Stokers
The manufactured cup. So unimportant and uninspiring to me and many others, I’m not even capitalizing it. Trophies are nice but meaningful trophies get me amped. This is not one of them.
Nonetheless, it is a long weekend and the weather is cooperating so Hooray! A game!
Toronto FC are coming off the Mr. Hyde of a two game performance (or a Dr. Jekyll, which is the better of the two?) so who can tell what edition of the mighty Robins that are we getting to see tonight remains remains the big question.
Cheyrou, Générale de Gauloises, is a game time decision as he has a “lower body injury”. That will be a rather giant void in the midfield, as he’s been teetering between very good and brilliant.
The last match between the two sides, I found my self yelling from the second deck at Hamilton to run for most of the second half. I hope not to yell at him.
Bold Predictions :
- Either Altidore or Ricketts will score
- It’ll be an above average match in terms of entertainment
- Toronto will win
Pregaming with @mattgoshert, @DannyB90 and @fuzxzmjer (and a few others from Columbus whose names I’ve forgotten) and they’ve placed a bet for a draw. So I’m genuinely hoping for the draw. The payout is so nice for such a plausible result…
On to the match :
9’ – GOAL – what the fuck was that? Giovinco has a long range go from about 25 yards off to the right of goal and it skims off of Endoh’s back and beaks Clark. Crazy.
ROBINS 1, BORUSSIA CREW 0
15’ – Columbus free kick finds a header at the far post go in, but bailed out by the offside flag.
25’ – GOAL – give and go with Giovinco and Chapman, Chapman does this perfect stall on the ball at the top of the box, then slides it through for Seba who buries it. Full marks to Chapman.
ROBINS 2, BORUSSIA CREW 0
43’ – lots of great passes ends up 15 yards out for Chapman, and his first touch fires it at goal forcing a tip over save from Clark.
Half Time Mood : this is fun. Yay.
55’ – after some pinball, the ball ends up at the wide open feet of Giovinco and shoots low short side and stopped by Clark
57’ – SUB – Altidore comes on for the largely absent Hamilton
59’ – Altidore with a deft back heel, finds Giovinco whose shot is saved, then rebounds off his chest and hits the post. Not to be outdone, he gathers the rebound and then hits the post again.
62’ – Ola “Fake” Kamara gets free and forces a good stop from Bono.
76’ – SUB – Chapman comes off for Bloom. Guess we’re parking the bus.
87’ – GOAL – Altidore is getting credit for something that looked like an own goal. Will verify. (after reviewing the tape, it was deflected, but not an own goal)
ROBINS 3, BORUSSIA CREW 0
87’ – SUB – Endoh is off for Williams. The 6-2-2 is back, baby!
3 mins of extra time
90+1’ – Osorio developing a killer instinct has a go for glory and fires just over the bar.
Full Time : Toronto 3, Columbus 0
Toronto win the manufactured cup. Congrats. #shrug
However, as agreed upon by members of the Massive Report (an excellent podcast, for what it’s worth),
Columbus gets the city of Buffalo for losing for the year. Congratulations!
Man of the Match : Giovinco was excellent, without question but I’m going with Jay Chapman. He didn’t look like a rookie out there. And that pass…
Goat of the Game : Hamilton for his absenteeism.
Ref Rating : 4 out of 5, not much to ref, but got it right.
I Am Not The Gaffer But : bus parking? Really? Whatever bro, it’s your team…
In Case You PVR’d It : watch it all.
Kit Spotting : father and daughter in Sheffield Wednesday kits from a year or two ago. Awwwwww…
Bold Predictions Results :
- Failed it. Came close though, but more surprised that there was no room for Ricketts out there.
- Nailed it. Twas a fun one.
- Nailed it. Even though I said afterwards that I was hoping for a draw so @mattgoshert from the Massive Report could get paid.
Thanks a lot Altidore! How am I supposed to be disappointed in your performance if you play good?!? Answer me blog!!! (sincerely, welcome back)… If there’s ever no room for Chapman, I’ll start a club around him… Kei Kamara is to the original Razor Ramon as Ola Kamara is to the fake Razor Ramon (I know he’s good too but we’re picking favourites)… Osorio played a much improved game than what we’ve seen in recent outings. Showed a bit more confidence with the ball and took his shots. More of that sir… Clark was excellent for Columbus tonight. Likely the difference between this scoreline and one much higher… Nice to see Seba still playing the passing game. His generosity sowed the seeds for some wide open spaces and juicy opportunities… hey Toronto FC sound guy, is it necessary to mic the first pyrotechnics blast? I feel my life expectancy reduces every home game from that boom and the other pyro blasts aren’t mic’d…
Player Ratings : Bono 6.5, Beitashour 6.5, Zavaleta 6, Moor 6.5, Morrow 6.5, Endoh 7 [Williams N/A], Delgado 6, Osorio 6.5, Chapman 8 [Bloom N/A], Hamilton 5.5 [Altidore 7.5], Giovinco 8.
Unused Substitutions : Roberts, Hagglund, Babouli, Ricketts,
August 1, 2016
Seba was magnificent, despite the misses. So I think the Steve Marriott song somehow fits the feel and performance:
Tin Soldier
The young midfield was very good against a bit of a reeling C-bus D. Hamilton did run yesterday and made himself a viable option throughout the game. I agree on Chapman, he has gone from zero to hero these last few weeks. He was upright and towered over the defenders and remained calm on that pass.
Ola should have helped the crowd out on that viking clap.