Tag: toronto fc

pro soccer

Dissecting the TFC-NYRB halftime kerfuffle

Posted on by Beau Dure

The video we have from the Toronto tunnel doesn’t tell us much. But let’s see what we can figure out:

0:17 — Is this a tent? It looks like footage from a wedding gone horribly wrong.

0:20 – Sacha Kljestan (NY No. 16) meanders into the frame along with phenom Tyler Adams (NY No. 4) and someone wearing No. 67, who is not identified on the Red Bulls roster. Is Adams old enough to be involved in this?

0:23 – Jozy Altidore (TFC) somehow is pushed back from the scene.

0:27 – A loud “Woooo!” Perhaps cross-promotion for the upcoming 30 For 30 on Ric Flair? (And yes, I’m embarrassed to recognize that sound.)

0:42 – How many people are in this tunnel? Bradley Wright-Phillips (NY) passes through like he’s just looking for the bathroom.

0:45 – Michael Bradley (TFC captain) is attempting to be the voice of reason with Jesse Marsch (NY coach) but is distracted by something behind him. Meanwhile, Toronto keeper Alex Bono wanders through as if to remind people not to mess with him because only goalkeepers can use their hands.

0:48 – Security guides Wright-Phillips away. Perhaps, as CCR once sang, there’s a bathroom on the right.

0:55 – Cameo appearances for NY’s Gonzalo Veron (No. 30) and Daniel Royer (No. 77).

0:56 – As Soccer America reported, Bradley appears to be yelling at Marsch, “Why are you here?” The rest of it appears to be directions to the visiting locker room. It’s been a while since I’ve been to BMO — are the tunnels that confusing?

1:00-1:45 – Some stereotypically polite Canadians have taken control and are trying to point the Red Bulls toward their locker room. Someone else is yelling the occasional f-bomb as if to deflate the notion of stereotypically polite Canadians.

1:45 – A kid who sounds like he’s about 7 years old yells, “This is OUR house!”

1:58 – A finger.

I still don’t know what Marsch was doing there.

 

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soccer

Player ratings: Chicago-Toronto

Posted on by Beau Dure

Chicago 0, Toronto 0
Sept. 8, 2010

Summary: Toronto came out much more aggressive than Chicago, controlling play but not getting a lot of good chances out of it. TFC had a couple of shouts for a penalty on two close ball-to-arm plays, each of them a 50-50 call. Also, Toronto was whistled for 13 fouls before Chicago picked up its first two calls in first-half stoppage time. But Chicago created the only good scoring chance — only shot on goal, in fact — of the first half.

In the second half, Chicago got an even better chance, but Freddie Ljungberg put a shot wide with only the keeper to beat. The game opened up around the 70th minute, with Toronto putting a couple of good shots on frame. But the game petered out to a dull conclusion.

Side note: Toronto’s commentary crew is excellent. They’re well-prepared with facts on players for both teams, and they work them seamlessly into the commentary. They’re generally relevant facts about the players’ form, not weird personality tidbits on players who have no personality. Terrific stuff.

Conditions: Pleasant, mid-60s.

CHICAGO: Mike Banner replaced the suspended Gonzalo Segares. Collins John got a run in place of Brian McBride. Marco Pappa played for Guatemala on Tuesday and was kept out of action.

6 Sean Johnson (GK): Had some confusion with Robinson in the box that resulted in a rushed clearance that hit Brown in the arm. Little else to do in first half. Big save on White in 74th.

6 Steven Kinney (RB): Little trouble on his side.
5 Dasan Robinson (CB): Some unsteadiness but no harm done. Suffered many fouls, which is odd for a central defender.
5 C.J. Brown (CB): Kicked in the head and bled profusely. Lucky not to concede a penalty when ball hit arm in box.
6 Mike Banner (LB): See Steven Kinney.

6 Patrick Nyarko (RM): Terrific through ball for John. Less of a factor in second half.
6 Logan Pause (CM): Positive play getting ball forward.
5 John Thorrington (CM): Subbed out at half.
4 Freddie Ljungberg (AM): Not much of a factor. Scuffed shot wide on 1-on-1 chance against Frei. Subbed out in 76th.
6 Nery Castillo (LM/F): Set up Ljungberg for golden chance and forced Frei to punch a well-taken free kick over the bar.

6 Collins John (F): Dangerous runs. Made way for McBride in 82nd.

Subs:
6 Wilman Conde (DM): Subbed for Thorrington at half.
NR Calen Carr (F): Subbed for Ljungberg.
NR Brian McBride (F): Subbed for John.

TORONTO: Dwayne De Rosario, Julian de Guzman and Nana Attakora returned from international duty, while Jacob Peterson played out of position up front with Mista nursing an injury. Ty Harden was preferred to Nick Garcia.

7 Stefan Frei (GK): Good 15th-minute save on John. Alert on through balls, cut down angle on Ljungberg breakaway.

4 Maksim Usanov (RB): Comical misplay when trying to move forward into attack. Obvious yellow card puts him over the limit — he’ll be suspended for the next game. Preki didn’t wait that long, taking him out in the 79th.
6 Nana Attakora (CB): Steady enough.
6 Adrian Cann (CB): Timely interventions.
6 Ty Harden (LB): Announcers constantly fretted that he was playing out of position, but he didn’t seem out of place.

6 Nick LaBrocca (RM): Active in attack. Good high shot from distance tested Johnson.
5 Julian de Guzman (CM): Steady if not spectacular.
6 Dwayne De Rosario (AM): Frustrating offensive night by his high standard but worked hard defensively.
6 Dan Gargan (LM): Willing to cover a lot of ground to get involved in attack. Long throw-in nearly put in by White.

5 Jacob Peterson (F): Couldn’t get into flow in unfamiliar role. Subbed out in 57th minute.
5 O’Brian White (F): Crashed into defenders for fouls. Subbed out in 84th.

Subs:
6 Maicon Santos (F): Had been a fitness question mark coming into game but made a positive contribution to the attack.
NR Nick Garcia (RB): Replaced Usanov.
NR Joseph Nane (M): Replaced White.

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soccer

MLS recap: Fighting in Toronto, sweating in D.C.

Posted on by Beau Dure

No lineup analysis this week — over the break, we’ll go team-by-team to look at the rosters.

Yesterday:

– Come on you Reds! No, we didn’t mean red cards! With neither side finishing in Toronto, we go to the judges’ scorecards. Adelaide Byrd has it 29-28 Toronto; Nelson Hamilton scores it 29-28 Kansas City. Cecil Peoples insists that leg kicks can’t finish a fight and therefore has neither team winning a round for a 30-30 decision. It’s a draw!

Oh, that was a soccer game, not an MMA fight?

TFC fans were hopping mad after the first round … half, I mean, half … but the biggest complaint seems to be that more Wizards weren’t sent off. The game ended 10-v-10 as is. Toronto squandered a few chances, but if Preki and company want to hang on to that playoff spot ahead of all the more talented West teams just behind them, they should consider investing in some defenders who aren’t quite as clumsy.

–  Soccer soup: The other scoreless tie Saturday was in D.C., where the stats can be a little deceiving. Both teams played positively for the most part, though the heat and humidity sucked the life out the game at times. For some reason, several United attacks wound up on the foot of Stephen King, who was denied brilliantly once or twice by Real Salt Lake keeper Nick Rimando. The rest, he squandered. RSL’s Will Johnson told the Salt Lake papers (the team’s White House visit provided a handy excuse to open up reporters’ travel budgets as if they were suddenly the Washington Post) that he found United’s lack of attacking urgency baffling for a home game, and indeed, RSL was pressing toward the end while D.C. counterattacked. That said, United managed to get a few shots on goal.

– Galaxy stomp: LA 4, Houston 1. No question that the Galaxy can survive without Edson Buddle and Landon Donovan. More pressing question is whether the Dynamo defense is aging before our eyes.

– Quick six for Red Bulls: Hot start, sudden skid, and now the Red Bulls have just as suddenly won two games in the Red Bull Arena fortress.

– Rapids for real: Colorado isn’t going to catch Los Angeles this season, but the Rapids shouldn’t be overlooked. A home win against East leader Columbus ought to grab some attention and bolster some confidence. Colorado scored the winner short-handed thanks to Pablo Mastroeni once again showing the flashes of temper that have hampered his career. (Or, perhaps, made us all regret that he didn’t go to Serie A, where he might have fit in well.)

– Can Dallas hang around? Jeff Cunningham is going through another stretch as Mr. Hyde, and yet FC Dallas isn’t out of it in the West. Brek Shea, my choice for Player of the Week, scored twice against San Jose. The club even showed signs of life at the gate with a crowd of 14,331.

Also, Chicago beat Philadelphia and former coach Peter Nowak 2-1, and Seattle exorcised the demons of a disappointing start with three spectacular goals against New England.

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soccer

MLS: Who’s paying cash for clunkers?

Posted on by Beau Dure

Soccer America’s Paul Kennedy has a provocative piece on Major League Soccer teams’ wild misses in judging talent. Sure, teams make mistakes all the time, but in this new era with more guaranteed contracts, those mistakes can be more costly.

Kennedy singles out Toronto and the signing of Latvian left back Raivis Hscanovics, about whom Wikipedia says the following: “In March 2010 his contract was terminated with Skonto FC because of knee problems. He later joined Toronto FC.” (We’ll have to take Wikipedia’s word for it, because the source cited on that note is in a language I don’t even recognize.) After a messy spring that included a protracted breakup with Ali Gerba and the shock retirement of Jim Brennan, Toronto put out a starting lineup last weekend that looked like a preseason lineup full of trialists.

“What has Preki been thinking all these months?” Kennedy asks. But Preki’s only part of the Toronto brain trust. There’s also “Trader Mo” Johnston, the wheelingest, dealingest soccer director in the business. Players and coaches have come and gone, but Toronto hasn’t yet found the right mix.

The coaches are always the most visible player personnel people. But do they always have the most influence? Hard to say.

In most cases, they have a fair amount of input, always able to bring “their guys” into a roster. Adrian Hanauer is the guy who can be fired by the fans if things are going wrong, but Sigi Schmid clearly has players he wants to keep around. In New England, Mike Burns has the player personnel job but hasn’t been in that position as long as Steve Nicol has been head coach. Curt Onalfo brought Kurt Morsink with him to D.C. United.

D.C. might be the best place to inquire about the brain trust, because it’s not delivering as well as it used to. United hasn’t shaken off the disastrous class of 2008 South American imports — Jose Carvallo, Gonzalo Martinez, Gonzalo Peralta, Franco Niell and designated player Marcelo Gallardo. The younger players on the roster that year also fell off the team, leaving an unsupported core of Jaime Moreno, Santino Quaranta, Clyde Simms, Marc Burch and Bryan Namoff.

Coach Tom Soehn has departed. General manager Dave Kaspar remains. That might be fair to Kaspar, who also has presided over the building of an excellent academy program that is producing solid prospects. But was it fair to blame Soehn?

Generally, the coach/GM relationship is co-dependent. MLS champions Real Salt Lake were built by a pair of Duke classmates, coach Jason Kreis and GM Garth Lagerwey. Where coach and GM are less close — Los Angeles in the brief Ruud Gullit era springs to mind — results aren’t as good.

The new collective bargaining agreement has changed the landscape — not dramatically, but enough so that teams need to adjust. And 15 years of evolution have given the teams plenty of leeway in finding players. For all the braying over the league’s single-entity structure, teams control their own rosters and destiny. And it’s no accident that New England and Houston have been successful in replenishing rosters year after year while others struggle.

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cycling, general sports, mma, olympic sports, soccer

Wednesday now officially renamed Messiday

Posted on by Beau Dure

The top news from yesterday: The story from Barcelona quickly changed from “Hey, can Arsenal really win at the Nou Camp?” to “Do we go ahead and put Lionel Messi alongside Pele and Maradona?” The young Argentine, just three years removed from being hyped alongside Freddy Adu as one of the potential stars of the U-20 World Cup, scored four goals to silence any talk of Arsenal advancing to the semis. Inter Milan advanced past CSKA Moscow in the other Tuesday quarterfinal.

Also:

– Soccer: Speaking of four-goal outbursts, Cruz Azul waited until the last 20 minutes to turn an aggregate tie into a rout against Pumas in the CONCACAF Champions League semis. (The Original Winger – video)

– Soccer: Former D.C. United goalkeeping prospect Milos Kocic has turned up with Toronto FC, where Mo Johnston says he can learn from Stefan Frei and Jon Conway. Kocic, though, is a year older than Frei and therefore might not have much of a future there unless Frei gets snapped up by a European club at some point — which shouldn’t be out of the question. (Toronto FC “beta” site)

– Soccer: A far more curious story from Toronto — unconfirmed reports say Jim Brennan will abruptly retire as a player and join the front office. The club has scheduled a 1:30 p.m. ET “player announcement.” (Toronto Sun)

– Curling: Pete Fenson and the USA won their must-win against Italy to move into a tie for a playoff spot in the World Championships. (USOC)

– MMA: Suspended heavyweight Josh Barnett seems resigned to sitting out a year before applying to get his California fight license again, frustrated with delays in his appeal that he blames on California authorities. He’s been busy fighting overseas and working on his “film career” along with every other MMA fighter. It’d be a pity not to give the articulate Barnett a day in court to see if he can address his second U.S. doping offense. (MMA Junkie)

– Golf: Story too strange to pass up — John Daly didn’t qualify for The Masters, so he set up shop in August selling merchandise. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

– Soccer: And in this amusing video, Philly defender Danny Califf aims for a cup atop Danny Bonaduce’s head and misses several times, the last one catching Bonaduce flush in the face. Bonaduce also has been KO’d by Sugar Ray Leonard in the studio, so he takes the shot pretty well. But we’d fear for his safety if fellow Union defender Toni Stahl showed up. (The Offside Rules)

TODAY’S TV

– Now: Cycling, Tour of the Basque Country, Universal Sports webcast

– 2:30 p.m. ET: Soccer, Champions League quarterfinals, second leg. Manchester United-Bayern Munich is on Fox Soccer Channel. Bordeaux-Lyon is on Fox Soccer Plus, then replayed at 5 on FSC.

– 10 p.m. ET: MMA, The Ultimate Fighter, Spike. Check back for the recap by 11:30 p.m.

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