The South Stand Report : Toronto v Vancouver, Voyageurs Cup Edition, Round 1, FIGHT!

What has two thumbs and loves a cup tie? This guy.

(now picture me pointing both my thumbs at myself with a grin)

Toronto are more than likely still flying high after the heady win over Los Angeles on the weekend. Hopefully not too hung-over (or dehydrated for that matter) to deal with Vancouver. The Whitecaps are fresh off a loss to the Tea Terrorists (TM) of New England by a score of 2-1.

Bold Predictions :

1. Toronto win the match
2. 3 different goal scorers
3. Giovinco will not score

On to the Match :

27’ – Octavio Rivero goes down hard, clutches his knee then rolls 3 times on the “bad” knee. Probably legit.

28’ – Octavio Rivero returns.  Now it seems suspicious.

33’ – Giovinco free kick goes around the wall forcing a low stop from Tornaghi

44’ – GOAL – Giovinco runs 15 yards and fires a shot, redirected by can 3 and sends Tornaghi the wrong way
ROBINS 1, EX-86ERS 0

Halftime Mood : well finally something happened.

53’ – Giovinco lets forth a rocket and hits the post

54’ – then something happened when I wrote this. Sounded good.

54’ – OK, the replay showed Morrow missing a wide open net from the ground. Hmmm…

57’ – Giovinco free kick into the wall ricochets out to the wing, someone puts it back in and Babouli fires it over the bar from close range

70’ – Vancouver crosses the ball and Moor crazily heads the ball behind him across the face of goal past Irwin. Vancouver collects the ball, recenters it and a chip forces Irwin to push the ball over the bar.

71’ – Giovinco has a go from 20 yards out and is diving punch save. Shortly thereafter Babouli has a pass laid off for him and drives a low shot towards the corner, but saved by Tornaghi

78’ – SUB – Delgado for Endoh

79’ – reminder, find a gif of Babouli burning the hell out of Aird. Edit : found it

83’ – SUB – Hagglund (and what looked like a sports bra he was wearing while changing) comes on for Beitashour

86’ – a popped up ball falls to Johnson and he gets a hold of, flying over the bar.

86’ – SUB – Hamilton on for Babouli

4 minutes of extra time

Full Time : Toronto 1, Vancouver 0

Man of the Match : Cheyrou was excellent, Zavaleta was an honourable mention

Goat of the Game : Morrow had a great defensive game, but offensive game was suspect

Ref Rating : 4 out of 5. All of the referees were equal and capable. But Rivero should have been booked

I Am Not The Gaffer, But… : I need a real idea or two to either get Giovinco some space or to get him to give others some space.

In Case You PVR’d It : start at the goal and let it run.  You really missed nothing before that.

Kit Spotting : Middlesborough home.

Bold Predictions Results:

1. Nailed it. Toronto did, in fact, win the match
2. Failed it. Barely one different goal scorer
3. Failed it (technically). Giovinco scored, but it was a bit of an own goal there.

Well, that was a rough opening half.  There was plenty of midfield action that went nowhere with a pinch of chances here and there.  Kinda boring… As I was jotting notes, I couldn’t help but notice that plenty of Morrow’s attacks were ending up in frustration.  Good positioning, but nothing coming from any of it.  His usefulness as a two-way threat was severely diminished by the end of the match.  At no point did I feel he would somehow make the difference… Seriously Rivero, seriously.  If your knee was that hurt, you should be in surgery… After two successive 25000+ crowds midweek, this ~15,000 crowd was more like it… It felt like there were many opportunities to score, but the majority were snuffed out before they could be had… Mr. Osorio, does every ball need to be settled before you fire it?  Can we try a volley, or a half-volley?  He had two opportunities that I can remember where he chose to settle the ball and both chances were lost by that decision making.  No one will ever fault you for attempting a clear path on a one-timer, but they might fault you for letting that opportunity slip.  Go for glory son.

Player Ratings : Irwin 7; Beitashour 7 [Hagglund N/A], Zavaleta 7, Moor 6.5, Morrow 6, Cheyrou 7, Delgado 6 [Endoh N/A], Johnson 6.5, Osorio 6, Giovinco 7, Babouli 6 [Hamilton N/A]