TFC = Trolling For 'Caps

Mood: Tired but happy
State of Mind: Wow, we needed that!
Location: Sunny supporter's couch
Voice: About 40%


Whee!! Tempted to make that my entire post; just lines of "whee!!!" but then you'd all think I'd lost my mind  (Hush peanut gallery). OK, one more time - WHEE!!!!  And may I add to the Van City team - HAHAHAHAHA! - Petty you say? In this case I am more than willing to accept that.  If only to refute all of the conspiracy theories from the 'Caps - no excuses this time guys - our Reds beat you fair and square.


It's been hours and I'm still smiling and giggling and just so happy from last night. If you weren't there then I'm oh so sorry that you missed it; I do hope that you at least watched so that you could share in the utter madness that was the last 30-40 minutes of that game!  And if not then at the very least I hope you've watched the Game in 6 (I could watch that all day) over and over again like the rest of us. 


In an attempt to live up to the name of this blog I actually went to my seats in the West Stands for the first time in weeks; mostly to visit with some of my seatmates but much to my surprise none of them were at the game! Maybe they're avoiding me? Regardless, I decided to watch the first half from my usual perch and well all I can say is please for the love of Pele, someone teach RJ9 how to finish!  That breakaway on Joe Cannon (and his tiny shorts) should have been a goal! Never mind that whole hitting the post business (again).  I appreciate his work rate and the fact that he never (ever) gets a rest but c'mon man, your job is scoring goals. 


Anyway, the first half was pretty much a snooze; perhaps due to the empty seats (players can't get amped in front of 209 people),

The stands right before kickoff

or maybe they were trying  to lull the Whitecaps to sleep? Or perhaps it was in protest over losing Soolsma (I don't want to talk about it)? I'm not sure but either way - even though they made some noise right near the end of the half - the half ended with my thinking that perhaps not much good was going to come of this. This was the TFC that makes me sigh...


I also decided to relocate back to the South Stands with the Cynics Circle et al. for some second half silliness. 


The Reds looked a lot more lively after halftime - perhaps they got in a 12 minute nap? But of course it had to be the Whitecaps that struck first when rookie Darren Mattocks was able to ping a rebound from a Kocic save into the net - cue the "here we go again" groans from everyone. Great initial save by Milos but no one to clear and Mattocks had an easy one. Even still, I refused to believe that Van City would get the best of our Reds; it's not allowed, right?  Right. And then something fantastic happened - no our Reds didn't immediately get an equalizer - no, the always hilarious @ignirtoq of The Yorkies and his buddy Phil started singing "Bohemian Rhapsody"; shortly thereafter myself, @theyorkies1812 and our merry band of cynics joined in and well watch for yourself:

                                        We never claimed to be professional singers


This may seem like an odd song choice but if you listen to the lyrics they're oddly fitting for a TFC fan and well it just fit the mood.  As the half progressed the Reds continued to press and were having greater success getting forward and then our Nasty Leftback Ashtone Morgon put another of his (soon to be) patented crosses into the box and found Luis Silva who easily put it past Cannon!  Game on!  Then our boys just kept on coming - Das Kapitan Frings almost put TFC ahead if not for a wonder save by by Joe Cannon. But the Whitecaps couldn't keep our Reds at bay much longer when just minutes later Frings stepped up and delivered a gorgeous blast of a free kick into the left hand corner of the net!  Jubilation!!  Much yelling, jumping, shouting and hugging ensued - but could it last?

The 'Caps continued to fight back and with minutes left in the game YP Lee came within a whisker of tying the game when he was also stopped by the post...this is where I started holding my breath and looking to see how much added time; 4 minutes? And then the worst happened; Darren freaking Mattocks leapt what seemed four feet in the air to beat Kocic to the ball and headed it into the net - if that wasn't bad enough Mattocks then became the biggest douche at BMO by coming over to the South Stands and taunting the supporters. And not just for a few seconds but for well over a minute - what ticks me off more than the jerky taunting was the lack of any sort of sanction from the ref - that behaviour in any other league would earn a card and should have in this case. We'll wait and see if the league does anything about it but I certainly don't expect anything to happen.


So there we were, with added time ticking away, the score tied and it looked like our boys were going to toss away three points yet again. But wait in the dying seconds a corner! We didn't hold out a lot of hope knowing TFC's less than stellar record on set pieces when the most glorious thing happened; Terry Dunfield (yes that Terry Dunfield, former Whitecap Terry Dunfield,) headed the ball into the net!!  Total freaking pandemonium!!!!  Screaming, shouting, jumping - I don't remember when I've last hugged that many people - and then the whistle!!  I can't remember the last time I was that happy to hear three blasts of a whistle!  What a great night, what a fantastic finish, what a WIN!!  


Was it the best game they've ever played? No. Are there still plenty of issues with the team. Yes. Does that matter one bloody whit? Hell no. That was one of the finest nights I've ever spent at BMO watching the team I love.  I'll leave you with a few words from the hero of the night:

                                          
TFC TIL I DIE


Laughing Links: Here are your usual suspects with the recaps - The Yorkies, Waking The Red and Red Nation Online.