Was It All A Dream? TFC Wins!

Mood: Wheee!!
State of Mind: Happy Confusion
Location: Happy supporters couch


So did that really happen? Did our boys not only win, win convincingly and win with only 10 men on the pitch? Hell yes they did! What a night for our boys in red and for us the fans. 

We really like this - it's shiny - we want to keep it

Even before the match started there was a different vibe down at BMO; even though the stadium was (not surprisingly) sparsely filled there seemed to be a lot of positive buzz. I once again decided to take in the game from the South Stands (no I'm not changing the blog name) with the Cynics' Circle and what a difference from Saturday. People were actually smiling and laughing and excited about this game. The supporter groups were loud, raucous, the section was full of flags  - although as usual was still not full at kick-off (grumble) - and everyone seemed oddly positive. I say oddly because well, you know not much to be positive about this year and all that.  Also bringing the positive vibe was the surprising addition of Frings to the starting XI and Nick Soolsma on the bench! Surely everything was about to go our way, right?

The team started off attacking and much to everyone's surprise Reggie Lambe had the ball pretty much land on his foot after Plata's shot was deflected and suddenly TFC were up 1-0 with only 2 minutes having been played! What alternate universe were we in? So this is what attacking the opposite net looks like!

However the road is never easy for TFC and in the 15th minute Ecks was sent off on a bit of a baffling (couldn't clearly see what happened) *red card that at first seemed to be a foul against Montreal and then suddenly that flash of red...sigh...at that point we all figured the footy gods were against us and started checking the heavens for lightning and hail as that seemed the only way we'd escape with a win on the night. *It would seem it was for a stomp on Sinisa Ubiparipovic although upon watching the replay still seems harsh to me* But our Reds proved us (happily) wrong - they continued to play a a very nice game of attacking football, constantly pressing the attack, winning corners and moving the ball very well.

And hey, what do you know - it happened again! After a corner kick by Frings bounced around a bit it landed on Ryan Johnson's foot who (finally for him!) slotted it in. TFC were actually up 2-0! So confusing this positive play - much speculation by the Cynics' Circle as to who these guys actually were. My vote was clones, robots were the choice of the other two and post-match someone threw out aliens. I think alien robots calls for this:

The second half saw the team play a tighter defensive game but they by no means just sat back and continued to press the attack when the opportunity presented itself. The most surprising thing about this match (yes, other than the win) was that they did it primarily with only 10 men on the pitch.  Like the game in Montreal they seem to come to life and stretch the play when undermanned. Perhaps this should be their game plan going forward? They could draw lots for who gets to take the red card each game...


All in all our boys played like we've been wishing and hoping for the past two months - we saw a good defensive effort, Frings was everywhere (because he should be, not because he had to be), Reggie Lambe was fantastic (really loving this kid), Kocic made some very nice saves to keep the clean sheet and no major mishaps (red card notwithstanding) occurred. Joy and happiness! Obviously more team meetings are needed - pass the talking stick around, sing songs - seriously, if that's going to be the outcome then please have a team meeting before every match!  This win will (for now at least) stave off the calls for Aron Winter's head on a platter; this win buys him some goodwill until after the Voyageurs Cup is over IMO. If an MLS win figures into that time frame he's not going anywhere this season.


But it was a great night wasn't it? It didn't rain, no lightning or locusts (even the Towrads deserve a day off) and the 10,000 or so fans that came out were rewarded with not only a win by our Reds but an entertaining, well-played, hard fought win - I'm still smiling and expect I will do so until oh next Wednesday when they head to Vancouver for the away leg of the final. But for now I fully intend to enjoy this feeling of happiness and enjoyment.  It's never easy to be a TFC supporter but this is our reward - enjoy everyone!


TFC Til I Die


Laughing Links: Lots of happy post-game posts to read - enjoy! The Yorkies, Waking The Red, Red Nation Online and Mistake By The Lake.