Match Thread - MLS CUP FINAL - TORONTO FC VS. SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC - DECEMBER 10, 2016 (R)

Keep your chins up, your side was the better team last night and you will be back in the cup again.

 

Terrific season. Can't fault any of the players for their efforts, they gave it everything.

The more I think about it though, the angrier I get that Vanney replaced Cooper with Cheyrou and not Ricketts. I think he's developed into one of the best coaches in MLS, but that was a huge mistake and I think that decision cost us the game.

That and Frei was amazing. I'm happy for him

 

It was a good season. Let's not forget that. As other teams adjust to TFC, we will also have to make adjustments in return.

Some big decisions for the club are coming up soon, though. Cheyrou will always be remembered for that goal against Montreal but he was poor against Seattle. Johnson was a useful player off the bench but now he'll be a FA.

The expansion draft is on Wednesday. Thankfully, this year only one player from any one club can be picked. It would help to keep as much of the starting XI as possible but it's possible that we could lose a Hagglund or Ricketts to the draft.

 

Also whatever you do don't read the mlssoccer.com comments

 

why did you have to share this

 

This game was an eloquent argument for getting rid of PKs in soccer.

I don't blame Seattle for playing the way they did. They knew they had a much better chance of winning by trying for a tie and taking their chances on what amounts to a coin toss then on actually playing to win.

What I do blame is the league for using a playoff format that gives the weaker team this option. What they should do is what the NHL does - sudden death overtime until someone wins in an actual game.

 

Hard to blame the league for using a format that's used for the sport all around the world and at the highest level.

 

I have a hard time imagining that one missed penalty would come even close to penetrating the kind of mental toughness that the skipper has....he'll be fine.

 

Instead, I'd blame all of them, too.

I've been around soccer all my life. I've both won and lost tournaments on penalties as a player. Even when you win you're happy you won but it feels cheap. I've seen (as has everyone) World Cups and other major tournaments decided this way. It always has been, and remains, a bad way to decide things.

Do the players have somewhere more important they need to be? Do the fans have to get home to dinner? For things like the World Cup, do advertizers object to having a billion eyeballs on their product for an extra half hour?

Plus there's the fact that if the weaker team couldn't simply play for the draw, the game itself would be both more interesting and more likely to be resolved in regulation time in the first place.

And finally, other sports don't do this in their championship games. The NHL doesn't do shootouts in the playoffs. Basketball doesn't do a free throw contest. Baseball doesn't hold a home run derby. I suppose football does something gimmicky but ties are so rare there that the Grey Cup has been decided in overtime only three times in 104 games. In its much shorter history the Super Bowl has never ended in a tie that I am aware of.

So perhaps you are right that it's hard to blame MLS specifically but PKs are still a stupid way to resolve a league final.

 

Look, I agree 100% that PKs are a stupid way to resolve a final. But I don't know that anyone has ever come up with anything better.

The difference between soccer and all the other leagues that you mentioned is that in the other leagues you are allowed unlimited substitutions. In soccer, you would be asking people whom, for the most part have been running around for 2 hours to keep on playing. You would be running into a lot of injury issues and perhaps even deaths in some cases.

 

Deaths is a bit extreme but I think that issue could be remedied by allowing additional substitutions for additional periods of play.

 

So...taking that to the extreme.....once we are down to all the subs being in play we are better with the headline "Seattle reserves beat Toronto reserves for Cup" instead of "Seattle wins in penalties"?

I long ago accepted penalties as a necessary evil.......but the reality is if that 2nd minute strike by Jozy does not take that slight deflection and go ever so slightly wide...we are talking about a drastically different match....it was that close.

 

I think we'd see the headline "Toronto wins in regulation as Seattle is forced to actually send players forward to try to win instead of leaving 11 guys in their end for most of the game".

(Or maybe a snappier version of that.)

And, yes, it was close. Or Rickett's shot in overtime. Or the great save by Frei.

I'd just rather see almost anything than another headline of "Team wins MLS Cup despite not putting a single shot on net all game".

 

Sorry, my point was not really that clear. those two would have changed the result but since they came so late not really the way the game was played. The really early chance by Altidore would have have changed the way the match was played.

 

It's always a tough way to lose when you control majority of the play and create more chances but I would believe most people should know that this was how the game was going to set up from the Sounders end, they came in to stifle Altidore and Givinco and hope that they could nick goal on the counter or on set pieces. In the end we didn't play our best attacking game but we created enough chance we should of saw this off but we were not clinical enough in front of goal while we pretty strong in the back to snuff off any half chances they had (most through set pieces). Once it comes down to kicks it is always a crap-shoot who comes out on top.

I am very proud of this group of players and what they have done this season to put Toronto FC back to very respectable place, going in I really like the makeup of the squad with mix of great top talent (Altidore, Bradley and Giovinco) and more established solid MLS players (Moor, Morrow, Johnson, Beitashour) we got hot at the right time and ran with it. I was not too keen on Vanny coming back as I didn't think he was the right coach for this group but he proved me wrong ran the side pretty well.

 

You'll see 20 players totally exhausted. What kind of game would you see then?

Why not a home and home? I know the league wants to have a 1 game grand finale, but it would be most fair.

 

in all reality the death and exhaustion question is probably moot on almost every occasion. Death would be extreme. Exhaustion...its part of sports. Even in 90 minutes how many times do teams let down after 90 and extra time..its fitness..mental and physical and exhaustion brings mistakes, mistakes lead to goals...one way or the other, counter attack or just attack. viola...goals will come. Agreed with previous post to allow substitutions in extra time beyond the initial 3. If you want to go hybrid...start going down to 10, then 9 men. A goal will come.
Also said, probably a non starter because no one in FIFA is clamoring for this change so it will remain PK for a long time to come. They suck...trust me, being a fan of Italy they suck as we lose a lot of them (and really provided 1 jubilant moment in 2006 among the many, many, many WC and Euro PK disappointments, quarters, semis and WC FINALS!!! the greatest sporting game on the face of the planet in 1994 was settled by PK!!!). I feel for you England fans as well.
Although I was devastated and still feel gross about losing I am proud of the boys as they at least played hard to try and win as stifling as it was out there with the other team defending. Cant blame them..it worked but it doesn't lend to the game especially after watching the way Toronto-Montreal played the game over 2 legs.

 

^ 9-aside soccer is more of falsehood/gimmick than penalties.

 

Home and home two game series is the way it should be. It's stupid that we play all the previous rounds that way and then suddenly a one-game final. I get that they used to have a host city until they realized that this isn't the UEFA Champions League final or the Super Bowl and nobody cares to see out-of-market teams at full ticket price. So now that we eliminated that concept, it should go back to two games with each team's fans getting a chance to experience the final and everyone makes more money. While a shootout is still possible, it's far less likely as the away goals rule kicks in so you would need the exact same scoreline to get to extra time. (Of course, the 3-2, 2-3 scoreline against Montreal shows that it's possible - but less likely).

 

You do realize if we had a two leg final this year the Toronto leg would have been December 17 instead of December 10?

 

Yes. Are you suggesting that December 17th is that much colder than December 10th? It's only a week.