What Do You Mean We Have To Play MLS Games?

Mood: Pessimistically Positive (what? that's a thing)
State Of Mind: Waiting for the crash back to earth
Location: Hot, hot, hot supporter's couch


Time for a reality check folks. Tonight our Reds are not playing a tired minnow from El Salvador and are instead back to MLS play and face the Chicago Fire - or Dan Gargan's team if you like.  This is not going to be an easy game; regardless of the amount of confidence garnered from Wednesday night's decisive (and oh so fun - you should have been there) CCL win. The Fire are currently clinging to the last playoff spot and not only has TFC not beat them in over a year, they've never won at Toyota Park - not exactly the circumstances to make you think 'oh they've got this' is it? 


There are a lot of questions about players for both teams this evening.  Of course chief on TFC fans' minds is Eric Hassli who has yet to play a minute in red.  He did make the bench on Wednesday night (although that was likely more for presence than anything else) and from all reports is likely to be named to the bench again tonight.  But Hassli's availability raises an interesting question - should (or when) he be fit enough to join the starting XI where does that leave the growing partnership of RJ and Silva? The difference between the two games in which they played up top together (Rapids & Aguila) vs. the Dynamo match in which they did not is telling (even over such a small sample). Silva's ability with the ball cannot be understated and his touch and field sense have been stellar in the past few games. He's not only scored a couple of very nice goals but his service on Wednesday was responsible for Reggie Lambe's first goal and as I said; his influence was felt throughout the game.  


So whither Hassli upon his return to full fitness? I have to assume that he takes Silva's spot up top and that with Luis playing attacking mid that Eric Avila will never again set foot on the pitch. I'm not discounting strong play from Lambe (on fire of late), Frings is always solid and Dunfield hasn't done anything wrong (and Mariner loves him).  But having watched Wiedeman and Amarikwa in the past couple of games not do anything to distinguish themselves, isn't it time for Avi to get a chance? He makes a huge difference in the team's attack when he's on the field and with this game (OK, every game for TFC) being a crucial step in their attempted resurgence wouldn't you expect that more proven players should be out on the field?


On Chicago's side of potential roster changes are newcomers midfielder Alvaro Fernandez and DP striker Sherjill MacDonald.  It's unlikely that both (or either) will see time this evening but it does give the Fire more depth - wouldn't it be nice to have bench depth, sigh - not only for tonight's match but down the stretch to the end of the season.  For the players that will take to the field the Reds as always need to be cautious of the super speedy and dangerous Dominic Oduro and midfielder Patrick Nyarko. And as newly signed CB "boss" Darren O'Dea (what a difference O'Dea makes?) will not be joining TFC in Chicago (or anytime soon it would seem) we'll continue to see the same backline of Henry, Ecks, Emory and Morgan for the foreseeable future.  The Fire will, (like every other team in MLS) look to exploit the Reds defense with set pieces and balls into the box as our Reds have still yet to figure out how to properly defend or man mark in these situations.


It would be fantastic if TFC go into Toyota Park tonight and steal some points; it's just very, very unlikely.  As much as I've been living off of the high that Wednesday's night win brought this is not CCL and well, there's a good chance that this is going to be an ugly game.  I hope that they can stay tight at the back, that Silva and Lambe continue their outstanding play of late and that our Reds can leave Chicago with a positive performance heading into next Saturday's game against Columbus. 

                                                A little retro nod to our opponents


COME ON YOU REDS!


Long Weekend Links: The Yorkies, Waking The Red and Red Nation Online

If TFC Wins And There's No One There To See It, Did It Really Happen?

Mood: Stunned happiness
State of Mind: That happened right? You're not messing with me?
Location: My happy place - which last night was BMO


A decisive win, FIVE goals, a beautiful night and Ryan Johnson got a rest! I swear I'm not making this stuff up - I understand why you wouldn't believe me as no one actually went to the game last night - but the 5,324 of us that were there will swear on a stack of TFC scarves that this did indeed occur.


I got to BMO insanely early - I was perhaps a little bit excited for the game - and was a bit worried as I saw an awful lot of orange CD Aguila kits as well as El Salvadoran kits and flags.  And while I did see lots of TFC gear by the time I got to my seat in the South Stands (yes, I abandoned my West Stand seats again) I wasn't worried about which kits I saw; I was worried about the sea of empty seats.

The East Stands about 5 minutes before kickoff - everyone dressed up as a seat tonight!

I wish I could say that everyone was fashionably late but it seems as though the TFC faithful chose last night of all nights to stay away.  I don't get it; if there was ever a match to come to this season, this was it. The weather was pretty much perfect, it was an 8pm start (everyone has been clamoring for a later start time for the midweek games), if you bought the package for your tix it was actually quite inexpensive and this was a chance to see our Reds compete in the tournament outside of the Voyageurs Cup that could actually mean something.  Not to mention it was against the weakest side in our group so the chance of a victory was pretty damn solid. So it is disheartening to see that so many TFC fans stayed away last evening - the announced attendance of 5,324 comprised of at least 1,000 CDA/El Salvador fans which means that at best around 4,000 TFC fans came out to cheer on our Reds. I know that this has been a difficult season and that supporter apathy has been growing and I knew it would be a smaller crowd last night but I had mentally ball-parked 10,000 people - disappointed and mildly flummoxed is what I am.

But for those of us that did make it down to BMO we were treated to something that's never been seen before - FIVE goals and RJ getting a rest! It was a rout plain and simple and not even learning that the Aguila team had to spend the night in the Miami airport and only got to town this afternoon could take away from the very good game our Reds played.

The game started off with TFC looking energetic and much more awake than they did on Saturday - I took this as a good sign. And they came out firing; what we thought was the first goal was waved off as offside but that didn't matter as only minutes later Luis Silva unleashed a textbook header from a Frings corner kick into the left corner of the net - this was a seriously gorgeous goal - early happiness!  But they didn't let up - in what was his finest performance as a red Luis Silva (MOTM by a landslide) had a lovely little give and take with Reggie Lambe who easily slotted a perfect pass from Silva past the Salvadoran keeper - 2-0! Jubilation!


But our Reds sometimes just can't let go of old habits; in one of the evening's few miscues Milos misplayed - and by misplayed I mean completely failed - on a CDA free kick when he didn't control the initial kick allowing Yaikel Perez to easily put the rebound into the net. Much looking around and groaning amongst everyone; was this where the rails were going to fall off? Was TFC going to revert to their old tricks and fall to pieces?  Not on this night - mere minutes later Terry Dunfield (really, not making this up) used his knee to deflect a ball from Ashtone Morgan past the keeper. Game on! Celebrations everywhere as you could just feel that this was going to go well - Have I mentioned how much I love CCL games? - and after a minute of added time, it was time for a break.


Half time was spent discussing, OK more like thoroughly enjoying what had happened on the pitch.  We tried for some serious analysis which resulted in more talk of how we were dumbfounded by the lack of butts in the seats; getting a first hand account of the Milos miss from @wakingthered and @redwineroz who decided to come join us (abandoning the six people in their section) in the south stands for some silly fun and my thoughts on Wiedeman - has some speed, obviously wants to do well but he's trying to do too much. It was kind of like watching a puppy; he's not quite sure what to do with his feet at all times - this is where my ire at Avi's non-inclusion in the lineup begins to rise again...I don't understand why Mariner will not play him; surely he could have been one of the second half subs? 


Second half! We were all giddily predicting some crazy final scores at this point (I was hoping for 7-1) and almost immediately our Reds added to our glee.  As they continued to run around the hapless Salvadoran team Ashtone Morgan sent a long ball into the box that Lambe deftly sent just inside the left post - 4-1!  When was the last time you saw four goals at BMO; from the home team that is?  And then it happened - no, the heavens didn't open up; no one fell to injury - no, Ryan Johnson scored!  Seriously. And he did by keeping control of the ball and dancing around the fallen keeper and coolly slotting it into the right hand corner - have to admit that we all thought it was going to go wide but no, he kept his head and score! 5-1!!  FIVE goals; five. .a feat that has never been accomplished by our Reds at BMO. Just fantastic.


The rest of the half had us all hoping for a Reggie Lambe hat trick (and coming up with many, many sheep puns - see The Yorkies post-game in the links), getting into the Ole spirit of things as TFC strung together several (more than three is several) passes in a row and just being silly and giddy. Did I mention that RJ actually got subbed off?  RJ got a rest - must be one of the signs of the apocalypse.  I've said it many times; CCL play is just different - the vibe and the crowd (tiny but enthusiastic) make for an unforgettable experience.  The team played some very nice football and did not fall into old habits. And then there's Luis Silva; what a game he had. Just fantastic throughout the entire night - great movement, perfect passes, his influence was everywhere - Man Of The Match with no exception.  


This game should be a huge confidence builder for our Reds going into Chicago this weekend. They need to take their uncanny ability to do well in CCL play and translate it to MLS. It will be a sterner challenge but if Silva and Co. can come close to replicating the intelligent play that they showed last night then the Fire should be worried.  One final note from last night:

               Managed to get pretty much the entire song - we're enthusiastic if nothing else


You'll see in the video that a few more fans did trickle in but it does illustrate what 5000 people at BMO look like...sigh.  Oh and here's a few pictures too!

Link It Up Baby: The Yorkies, Waking The Red and Red Nation Online

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.

They Didn't Lose!

Mood: Cautiously optimistic
State of Mind: Umm, yay for not losing?


WooHoo!!  They didn't lose! Start the parade plans now! What, too soon? OK, if not the parade then obviously we need to plan the V-Cup presentation ceremony...No? Still too soon?  Did I mention that they didn't lose? And what about that amazing clean sheet? *crickets* 


Due to work commitments I was unable to actually watch last night's match with the exception of a few snippets on an online stream.  Apparently I caught the highlights (such as they were) on my brief forays into the office to see if anything exciting had occurred. 


Highlight #1: Reggie Lambe clearing Shavar Thomas's header off the line (of course from a set piece) after Kocic couldn't clear himself enough space.
Highlight #2: The substitution gaffe that saw the sub board call for just about every player on TFC to be subbed out for Luis Silva, including Silva himself. It was hilarious - really, I cannot make this stuff up.
Highlight #3: Sanna Nyassi's goal being called offside.


After watching the Game In 6 (which could be used for insomniacs, as apparently could the game itself) all I can say is that if playing to a draw was the goal then mission accomplished. From all accounts it was an ugly performance and the 0-0 scoreline does not speak to some new defensive prowess by our Reds.  And obviously doesn't speak to any scoring prowess whatsoever. 


However, on a more positive note they did not lose - regardless of how they ground out that draw , or how dreadful it was to watch - it was not a loss and as such should be celebrated, at least a little.  This puts our boys in a decent place heading into the home leg next Wednesday at BMO Field.  A home town crowd (which will easily outshine the number of fans at the Big O even with the current apathetic mood) and our boys feeling more confident should bring the desired result. 


I know that they first have to get past MeRo & Mike Sanders this weekend but imagine if they again come away with a positive (i.e. not losing) result - suddenly they're on a roll!  Because that is often all it takes; just that one win (or not losing) to spark a team and get them back on the right track.  This has been a roller coaster of a season for us the fans and as John over at Waking The Red put it, "I Hate Myself For Loving You"; well he said "This" but still... As you know I don't usually feel that way, but oh there have been days....I do love my team, I really do, but this season has brought that love/hate feel at times. Or love/utter despondency...whatever version works best for you.


I leave you with my faith pretty much still intact and I'm reposting the song because a) it's awesome and b) it describes our relationship as fans with the team this year perfectly .  I'll post the usual links at the bottom so you can read some recaps from folks that actually watched the game.  See you Saturday!  Be there or be a parallelogram! 


Allez Les Rouges!

Rockin' Links: The Yorkies, Red Nation Online and in case you didn't click the link above John at Waking The Red