I have never seen a defender smash home an own goal the way Chris Leitch did into his own net. It was a great hit but to his defense (pardon the pun) Cunningham would’ve probably slotted it home if Leitch had let it go. Kenny S finally has a win under his belt, it was getting quite embarrassing for him and the whole team really. We hadn’t won a game since July 4th, that’s exactly three months ago! How crazy is that?

Caught portions of this game on the NY telecast and I’d take those two commentators over Forrest, Dobson or Reed any day. They were actually happy for us that we actually won a game.. Add in the fans (King Tut was awesome), the intense fog and slight drizzle and it looked like an English Championship side playing for a promotion. I have nothing negative to say, not even concerning Adam Braz. But let’s give props to Maurice Edu for scoring on a shot which would’ve made Thierry Henry proud.

So what does this win mean? Nothing obviously except we that we beat a pretty decent team in a pretty convincing fashion. Does this mean we’re good? No, Mo Johnston is looking for two forwards, two midfielders and two backs in the off-season, here are the two from each position he’s going to be keeping, or should be keeping:

• Forwards: Cunningham, Dichio
• Midfielders: Edu, Robinson
• Backs: Wynne, Brennan

How does that sound? I’d say those might be our six best players who actually would make it on any MLS roster? After these six guys we quickly drop to the likes of Lombardo, Boyens, Samuel, Braz etc. who would have issues when trying to say, make the roster for DC United. The other player that’s been surprisingly good has been Todd Dunivant who deserves to come back.

There’s an article in the Toronto Star by Cathal Kelly which encourages us to sign a designated player like Angel but he options he’s giving aren’t very attractive. Still worth a read.

Anwyays, enjoy the win, they don’t come often enough.

Grab the feed.

I don’t have much to say about the game itself, I just wanted the season to end on a positive note and it’s looking more and more like it’s not going to happen. Having a lead at the half was nice but after that things went downhill so fast that the 1-0 scoreline is nothing but a distant memory. Improvements have to made in all aspects of the game for Toronto FC, from top to bottom, from goalie to striker from east to west, from….you get the point. There’s no point in mentioning how individual players are coming up short on their responsibilities and in some cases, effort. The first season was one big tryout and at least at the end of it we’ll know who to take with us next year and who to waive goodbye to.

So let’s get to some of them:

• Kenny Stamatopoulos: He’s shown that he can be a good goalie in stretches, he doesn’t make too many fatal mistakes and tends to be in good position most of the time. His reaction time leaves something to be desired and his footing could be better. We need to find a better starting goalie but Kenny’s shown enough to warrant a fight for the backup spot.
  Andrew Boyens: He’s gone from good to bad to pathetic to decent to bad to ok to something nobody quite understands. Playing at the heart of the defense requires an awareness that Boyens doesn’t possess. He has the height but lacks the physical strength to match up with strikers with that low center of gravity. If Boyens is starting for Toronto FC next season, our defense will have issues.
• Adam Braz: He’s slow, he doesn’t have skill and gets caught trailing the play too often. You can respect his effort but don’t confuse that with talent, especially at a defensive position where he was caught trailing the play too many times. I don’t feel comfortable with him at the back and there are plenty of reasons and examples why.
• Maurice Edu: He’s probably our most skilled player but that hasn’t translated into goal scoring which I can live with. Edu’s dribbling skills have gotten better over the season and the improvement in him is evident. A talented player who can become the heart of this franchise if he’s not swept up by some European side.
• Jim Brennan: The captain was playing out of position for most of the season and despite that was a stellar part of the defense.
• Todd Dunivant: When he was acquired for Goldthwaite many questioned the move but his vision on the left is something to take into next season. He’s not a goal scorer but can supply the crosses, either we find him some real strikers or find a goal scoring right midfielder because he just isn’t one.
• Chris Pozniak: The most anonymous player on the team. Never contributed anything on offense and was a part of more than a few goals given up. You can’t pick one aspect of his game and say it’ll be something we could use.
• Tyrone Marshall: Great acquisition who plays with his heart on the sleeve, his skill is good and so is his emotion. An ideal player for us.
• Marvell Wynne: The experiment of him on the wing was a failure but he’s shown he can be a relialbe back who can occasionaly burst forward. His physical presence is much needed, he just needs to stay healthy.
• Collin Samuel: Has shown nothing except great effort, unfortunately for him that’s not enough to be on an MLS roster, especially as a striker.
• Carl Robinson: His performance tailed off considerably as the season went on, when we were playing well he was playing exceptionally well. Him and O’Brien are the engine of this team.

Grab the feed.

I really don’t know what kind of quality to expect of the MLS. There were times where both teams looked so horrible, it was almost unwatchable. Unbelievably bad passing, attempts to make plays that are completely uncalled for, weak clearances, fractured skill, untimely runs, you name it, it was there. The difference between the two teams was that Columbus had the resolve of overcoming the one goal deficit while Toronto FC for the most part wanted to sit on it, absorb the pressure and wait for time to run out. There are few things in this world more pathetic than Miguel Canizalez’s corner which ended up about 15 yards off the far post when we were desperate for a game-tying chance. The only other thing that might be more gruesome to watch might have been Collin Samuel’s attempted back-heel pass to Chris Pozniak which was stopped short by the ground. These are just two of many such plays Toronto FC made in their 2-1 defeat to the deserving Columbus Crew at BMO Field last night. But hey, we at least scored, that should count for something, right? Something? Anything?

Read the rest of this entry »

A man advantage for an hour against one of the worst teams in the league and we still can’t score. There’s no excuses to be made really, the moral victory of creating half-chances isn’t really cutting it anymore. Let’s get straight to the point: Collin Samuel is a disgrace for strikers everywhere. There’s no point analyzing all his mistakes, if we start doing that this post would reach the 10,000 word mark in no time. Suffice to say he doesn’t nearly test the goalie enough on any of the chances Dunivant or anyone else creates for him. If he thinks he can score from more than than 7 yards out he’s out of his mind because any shot he takes outside the area is either a) lacking velocity b) lacking accuracy c) lacking velocity and accuracy or d) isn’t even a shooting chance. Cunningham was half-healthy today and I’d rather see a one-legged polio-infested Cunningham than a healthy Collin Samuel any day.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just got back from a weekend wedding trip to Kansas City which forced me to miss Arsenal’s first slip of the season and Lehmann’s second fuck-up in as many Premiership games. Arsenal Clips has the highlights, there’s also a nice little pack by FootyTube. Really disappointing to see us drop two points so early in the season against a team we should handily beat. My hate for Lehmann right now is only surpassed by US Immigration at Toronto airport.

Also missed was the Toronto FC/Chivas clash which saw TFC go six straight games without scoring a goal. When I said ‘Season Over’ a few posts ago I got flamed on certain discussion boards. I’m not i-told-you-soing but I told you so.

Finally, coming back from Kansas City at Toronto airport I see a big tall black dude and he looks familiar, it’s Chris Bosh. All I said to him was “Hey, Chris” and he’s like: “Hey, what’s up man”. Judging by where he was picking up his luggage, he was coming from Las Vegas. I snapped a pic without security looking:

So you work hard on your blog to try to get people to read it, you beg Arseblog to link to you, you put up highlights etc etc. Turns out I’m wasting time because I just realized looking at the WordPress Dashboard that all I have to do is create a site and put up some Flickr porn and booyeah! you make it to the frontpage of WordPress.

I also worked up a new header for the blog. It’s a work in progress but at least on first glance it appears like a sports blog.

Later.

I just had to make a mini-post about this. We talk about Arsene Wenger signing “young” players, Man Utd just signed a 9 year old tot named Rhain Davis after his grandfather saw the chance to exploit his little grandson at the earliest of ages. Take a look at the YouTube and you can see what Ferguson saw in the kid. He’s obviously way above anyone else’s skill level.

Imagine running around in Grade 4 and telling all the girls you play for Manchester United. This kid’s getting laid as we speak.

David Beckham is not playing against Toronto FC. This is pretty shitty for anybody who paid $350 for a single ticket to watch Becks fire a few freekicks. Beckham didn’t even travel with the team to Dallas so if that happens again there goes any chance of seeing Posh in the stands here in Toronto. I’m just glad my bid to get tickets was unsuccessful.

As both my loyal readers know I was on vacation last week. One of the stops was Barcelona and since there’s no football to watch I settled for a tour of the Nou Camp. While perusing their “museum” I came across this:

I looked for a nearby trash can to puke my guts out and couldn’t find one, the only other option was to hurl all over the stereo that was blasting out the Champions League theme that originally attracted me to that part of the museum. Instead of the CL theme they should be playing this video over and over again. It’s much more fitting of the real story and would do justice to everybody involved on that most unfortunate of days.

The Nou Camp sure runs a pretty crappy tour, you can’t even sit in the players seats and there’s not even enough space to stand on the sidelines with all the gypsies around. You can’t even take pics in certain areas, WTF? I also did the Santiago Bernabeu tour which was much better, all I kept thinking about was the Henry goal. Here are some pics from both stadiums.

They’re selling Henry shirts in almost every store in Barcelona. It hurts to see that shit. There’s so many kids wearing Barca clothing (and I mean shorts, shirts and socks) that you don’t even think that it’s a football uniform anymore. The Nou Camp is a money making machine really, no wonder they can afford anybody they want.

I’m beginning to see Jose Antonio Reyes’ point about the weather. See I was in London where it was hot, balmy with overcast skies and girls looked like they wore diapers. In Madrid and Barcelona the weather was picture perfect and even the ugly women were somewhat good looking. I say all the power to Reyes for wanting to leave England for Spain, he just wants to get some ass in the sun. Can’t really blame him.

The biggest thing I realized was how inferior Toronto really is to Barcelona or Madrid in terms of public transportation, airports, street system, cleanliness, facilities, restaurants, atmosphere, nightlife and just about anything else you can think of. The only good thing about coming back was the in-flight movies – Children of Men and The Lives of Others. The former is good, the latter is brilliant.

The most chaotic time I ever had was ordering a coffee and a sandwich at Heathrow Airport, that place is overcrowded to the point of a stampede breaking out any second. Also swung by Marrakech where the temperature never dips below 65 Celsius. Great historic town, worth a visit if you’re into history ‘n stuff and aren’t afraid of getting sun tattooed to the point of dehydration.

Here’s something for you Raptors fans, do you recognize anyone in this pic?

I’ll get back to blabbering about the Raps, TFC and the Gunners soon enough.

PS: Thanks to my wife for taking a blurry photograph of me and the Champions League trophy. I mean how often do you get a chance to take a shot like that? Don’t worry honey, I’ll still try to love you.

This is the first bad move made by Mo Johnston, Kevin Goldthwaite was starting to get comfortable in his role on the left and had a few great games for TFC, and when he finally had a bad one, he was fired. As Mistake by the Lake points out, Mo Johnston got way too trigger happy by sending KG to New York for Todd Dunivant. I was really starting to appreciate Goldthwaite’s efforts on the left side which had yielded a couple TFC goals recently. He was starting to get comfortable playing with Robinson and always did his job on the defensive end (except against New England). It’s way too early but this really looks like a mistake and the first Mo Johnston move that is open to be questioned.

Now the fans might not know about Dunivant but Mo Johnston sure does:

“I’ve been after him since the draft, really, he was our number one choice, and we’re looking forward to showing our fans what Todd can do”

Now I can see the Mo Johnston’s trying to strengthen his backline after several dismal performances but trading away a quality player that had a bad game might not be the best barter. In return we get Todd Dunivant who used to play at the international level for USA and is trying to recover from quadriceps strains. This is one of those deals that we hope only looks bad in the short term but pays dividends in the long run. Johnston sure did send a strong message: Have one bad game and prepare to be traded.

To offset the bad news, there is some good one, Collin Samuel, he of the T & T fame was signed to a three year deal. Last I saw of this guy was in the World Cup when he played the role of a holding striker against Sweden pretty decently in a game they tied 0-0 which also helped Sweden’s demise. Even though we look pretty sured up at the forward position with Cunningham and Dichio, having another quality striker is a nice luxury to have. It’s almost necessary because something must be done to let Cunningham know that if he doesn’t start finishing those chances sooner than later, there’s somebody waiting in the wings.

And reiterating what the Globe and Mail article is saying, tests on Greg Sutton are all negative which hopefully means he should be back in goal soon, Djekanovic’s been suspect at best in goal and needs a lot of practice time before he should be given a start.

That’s it for now, I plan on posting about Toronto FC much more.

Coming off some pretty good games, the job at hand might have seemed to be attainable given the form of the club and the acidic high we’ve been riding. But yesterday we ran into the wall of Quality and were outclassed by a team that right now is just better than us in many aspects. Much like the earlier game against New England, this one had us holding the ball for long periods without any significant attack being launched in the first half. But it’s hard to launch attacks when you’re down early (14th minute), there’s this little thing called psyche which f***s with you with each goal you allow. And when you allow two early ones, part of the body wants to take the rest of the night off.

On the first goal the Rev got a little lucky after the ball bounced off Goldthwaite and straight to Dorman, don’t blame Goldilocks though, nothing he could do. Marvell Wynne got beaten by Pat Noonan on a seemingly harmless cross for the second and the third goal, well the third goal doesn’t really matter. But what does matter is to figure out when we start getting on Jeff Cunningham’s ass for missing golden opportunities, he should’ve scored on a one-on-one against the goalie after Noonan scored but, and pardon my language, he shot like a bitch and straight to the goalie. Now I like the guy and think he’s a great addition to the team but c’mon man, score some f*****g goals.

Sometimes our midfield defense gets exposed too easily, as good as they’ve been offensively of late, they get torn apart by teams of quality (as somewhat expected?) way too easily. New England could’ve scored at least three more goals if it weren’t for them just stupidly bumbling the ball in the final third. When the opposition uses the width of the field and spawns East-West attacks we become very vulnerable to crosses and often lose our man on defense allowing them an opportunity. This must be rectified because quality teams live off chances like these and we must either a) tighten up the midfield to prevent long side-runs and b) be aware of the forwards as they make their runs looking for a cross. Sounds pretty simple but it’s something that has been lacking and needs to be improved.

Generally speaking, we looked like we didn’t have a clue of what to do on either end and looked like the TFC of old (I realize how stupid that sounds).  But I don’t think we need to be too critical of the players, they’ll watch the game tape and hopefully Mo Johnston can outline where they need to improve in both their general and counter-attack defense.

It’s a good thing Greg Sutton’s back (hopefully not injured) , Srdjan Djekanovic’s been decent but he gets caught out of position a little too much and his body angles/weight never seems to be proper when defending against a shot. He needs a little more time in practice which is what he’ll get since Canada was robbed (video) in the Gold Cup by a paid off ref.

Anyways, bad night to be a TFC fan.

As we grab three more points I’m getting used to us dominating games and scoring just enough goals while missing chances that go begging. Jeff Cunningham’s a fun player to watch but if he doesn’t finish a few of those chances he’ll go from fun to frustrating in zero time, especially if we drop points because of some of the goals he’s missed. It’s hard to focus on the negatives when you’re winning but it needs to be pointed out. This also marked the return of Conor Casey who looks much better as a Rapid than a Toronto FC player, Casey got to throw his weight around and play a part in the Colorado goal which brought them right back in the game after Boyens screwed up defensively to give the goal he scored right back.

Marvell “Sol Campbell” Wynne’s run down the right followed by an inside-turn setup the Danny Dichio goal, the big forward just needed to get any part of his body on the ball to nudge it in and that he did. The funny part happened after the goal when Wynne thought he had done enough of the work in the goal to start the celebration in his own little corner but Dichio started one of his own leaving Wynne no choice but to join in. Another completely pointless fact that just had to be mentioned.

TFC plays a pretty loose and forward-thinking game, the midfielders are looking to attack, Dichio’s forever looking to setup Cunningham and O’Brien/Welsh are trying to make crosses and runs any time they can, even the backs are making side runs. It’s fun to watch and if you encounter a team like the Rapids who seemed to be hard-pressed to dig in defensively, it makes for great offensive football. After Boyens made it 2-0 I was about to call it game-set-match but the goal they got back breathed some life into them. Never thought I’d say this but I miss Greg Sutton (away on Gold Cup duty). After Hercules Gomez (what a name!) schooled Boyens and scorched Srdjan Djekanovic by making him look like car crash on a powerful near-side drive, Colorado looked like they grew tenfolds in confidence. Lucky for us they simply didn’t possess the speed needed to threaten a Toronto FC defense that has gotten much, much better since the opening few games.

The game saw the first action for Gabe Gala who is 17 years old and doesn’t look a day older. Don’t really know what to say about him except except that he’s 17 years old. Looks like the lanky, athletic type who might have some skill. Oh, did I mention he’s 17 years old? So 17 year old Gabe Gala helped us win a corner as soon as he entered the game and I immediately signed up as a fan of 17 year old Gabe Gala who’s going to be the Theo Walcott of Toronto FC. I can’t get past the fact that he’s 17 years old. 17. 17. 17. 17. 17. 17.

The ref in this game was awesome, he didn’t believe in calling fouls even when they happened right in front of his eyes in broad daylight. Cunningham was brought down, no, mugged just outside the area before halftime and the ref was RIGHT THERE. He just shook his head. The calls were bad both ways, our midfield got away with a few tackles and so did theirs. I give the game-ball to our defense for suffocating any chances the Rapids might’ve had by playing excellent denial defense, covering the wide areas and not allowing any cutbacks that always seem to lead to goals. I could talk about the red card and other stuff but a win is a win, and savouring it is an art.