Star is always going to get that call. Jones grabbed his shoulder because he was beat inside, then tried to let go. As soon as he felt the shirt grab, Jozy twisted himself into the ground. Good decision......as opposed to say.....having a rookie marking their big striker on a set.......... *Gooch kneed Gio so hard in the thigh even his tats were crying........
See, if anyone wanted undercut our accusations of star treatment to make the argument of consistency they could point to the yellow card Jozy should have gotten for a similar situation moments ago on that breakaway. Except, it was never given.
This ref is crap. BLAKE comes up big to deny Louganis, I mean Altidore. Blake takes a boot to the head. Brave keeping from the league's best keeper. That's so Union. 2-1 Toronto
MOTM: Jones. Edu better be talking with his agent. Amazing what a difference a competent and fast defensive mid can make. (Actually pretty obvious.)
Why stop there? Nothing's changed. I watched this act with Arena a year ago. If you ever hope to win in this league, you had better start buying stars. I had hoped that as American league we'd be beyond that......nope. As I said, less peeved about the PK call than Geiger letting Toronto do what they want between the boxes for 95 minutes. He's the Ballotelli of MLS. It always has to be about him. Union had their spot kick as well, not the ref's fault Bedoya missed........ Jim Curtin never met an opponent halftime adjustment he could pick out of a lineup. Finally got to see the Union attack for a bit. The offensive identity of this team is now clearly something only PhillySpur could love. When the press doesn't turn you over......duck & cover Andre! Three Stars: *** Herbers-Pontius was off on a couple of connections or the U could've put it away early. Solid on the press, he made himself a nuisance until the staff called him home. ** Rosenberry-as bad as he was last week................. * (MotM) Gooooooooooch!. Positional sound. Handled Altidore in the clench about as well as you could. Versatile enough to mark Seba completely out of the game.........
Well, I made myself look like a jackass yelling during the second goal at the hotel bar. A good point, but we deserved the three. The pressing was fantastic in the first half, and Jones was just plain fabulous. The reffing was shit, but Keegan should not have fallen asleep on the second goal. Luckily CJ pulled put perhaps the best goal of his career to get us the point. Back to Jones, he is a real player and very exciting to watch. I love the kid already.
A point better than I thought they'd do. I'm pleased. Jones and Onyewu looked good. Jones might be this years Rosenberry.
Yeah, one was in front of us. People were pissed - some folks couldn't see the Simpson goal or the penalty. Also, dude on the stand wasn't even leading cheers after like 15 minutes. It's a cool idea but the details weren't really thought out. Great game though. Thought we were the better team, and drawing Toronto is a huge improvement. Props to CJ and Homer.
They looked better. Match was disjointed with the whistles. So Haris=Nogs, DJ>C+C, Bedoya<Barnetta, Jay>CJ, Gooch>Kenny/=Yaro. Feel about right? So...that's what, 3-5 points? Haven't been that cold on purpose in a long time. Downside to 108, surrounding fans yelling for cards at every touchy foul and screaming for everyone we had (lady in front of me after Bedoya leveled their keeper,"well they kicked our goalie"). 2 points/ 2 matches, great start since I thought they'd get 2 out of the first four.
Overall I thought we looked excellent considering the conditions, ref, and our opponent. This looked like a team that can compete for a playoff spot. The offseason signings are looking good so far. -Medunjanin is turning out to be the central midfielder we needed. Somehow a Medunjanin and Jones pairing is actually very effective. And his playmaking skills make up for Bedoya's lack of a true #10 skillset. -Oneywu has impressed me so far in two games. He doesn't look like a slouch at all. He completely dominated Giovinco for 40 minutes. I agree with whoever said Jones is this year's Rosenberry and I'll add Onyewu could be this year's Pontius. -Picault looked dangerous when he came on. He covered a lot of ground. -Simpson looked really promising so hopefully his injury isn't serious.
Disappointing not to get the win, but we went toe to toe with the best team in the East and dominated for large stretches of the match. Very excited about Jones.
It was a tail of two halves. For the first 40 minutes the Union looked like World Beaters. Then Gio goes down, and DJ gets called for a PK for holding Jozy..................(Seriously Jozy?!?!?! And he wonders WHY he doesn't get calls in CONCACAF games.....). TFC came out and bossed most of the second half, though the Union did well to not give up many, if any real chances outside of the goal on the restart when they fell asleep. Thought Simpson was playing really well prior to leaving through his injury. It's clear he's a much better option up top then Sapong. CJ just isn't aggressive enough (same thing applies to Jozy), and that is why he doesn't get any calls. He did well on his Goal, really well actually. I agree completely with @ScottyMac26 that Mo Edu needs to get his agent on the phone immediately. Derek Jones is a player, and he's only going to get BETTER! I honestly don't see where Edu fits into the 11 if Jones keeps playing at this level. Medujanin is excellent in the middle of the park. He and Jones have a good partnership already. The midfield play has really been elevated when compared to the start of last season. Herbers played really, really well today. Blake was Blake Geiger was Geiger.............at times it was if we were at an NRL or Aviva Premiership match........... A draw was a fair result. To those who want to follow the "European Calendar" I say F YOU! It was freakin cold today. The only other two sporting events I've been to that were colder were both Buffalo Bills games in December. Even being in the River End, it was freezing. I don't know how the folks in the seated sections could handle today's temps.
The spat between Bedoya and Altidore is interesting. Might be a little awkward next USMNT camp. But as someone who faithfully follows the USMNT, I can say that I somewhat agree with Bedoya's assessment of Jozy having a tendency of going down too easily looking for a call. I think he does it when he senses that he's about to get dispossessed of the ball, which is frustrating at times since I want to see him fight to finish plays. With that said, I don't think it was a wise thing for Ale to say publicly to a member of the media, particularly about a national teammate.
I thought they played pretty well yesterday. So much different having Marquez and Onyewu instead of Tribbett. Medunjudun and Jones are a nice pairing as well. The value to Medinjunin is how he directs traffic. He gives queues to teammates to lead them to the right pass even if it isn't him. He plays some really sick balls as well. Simpson and Sapong finished well which was also great to see. I don't get Curtin though. The team set up well. It worked well as a unit and seems well drilled. I don't get Bedoya as a 10. I thought he played well despite the penalty miss, but he's a scrappy player. Move him wide or maybe play him as a support forward and he might be more useful. Alberg offers so much more as a 10. That brings me to the next point, why wait until 85 minutes to call Alberg? What could he possibly do in a stretched game in that weather late? Fafa first was an odd choice too. TFC seemed to sit the back three deep so it was easier to out muscle the little guy. More strange second half coaching.
Fafa made sense as a way to stretch Toronto wide and try to take advantage of the space on the wings while opening up pockets in the middle. That's where a lot of our success came from in the first half. That said, it took me a while to realize he was on the field. Also, I'm still not convinced that Alberg is a 10. He can score goals, but he has never really shown the creativity or playmaking ability you expect from that spot of the field.
Yep. I wanted Alberg in for the PK, subbed right out. Don't trust anybody else from the spot at present. Obviously, I understand they weren't going to waste a move at that point.......... still thought about it.......... Remains all about the press. Think of Bedoya more as an "advanced central DM". There is no Barney....no Chaco no attacking Commander in Chief. To use a hockey parlance, the theory seems now to be break everything up ASAP, gain a quick odd-man advantage and head-man the puck. The #10 becomes a shuttler, facilitator and secondary scorer. Medunjanin is the only guy with the skill to change the outlook. To make him available, a healthy Edu needs to be in the mix.
By the time Fafa came in the game was stretched. He had one decent contribution and then the game adjusted to him. I'm not sure about Alberg either but he's better than Bedoya there.