Pre-Match / Match / Post-Match Thread - Toronto FC at Houston Dynamo - June 20, 2012 (R)

This doesnt look good

 

Oh my God, please at least get a tie.

 

Wish we had Silva and Soolsma. Our guys have looked gassed for at least the last 15 minutes.

 

Look I don't wanna be that guy, but if you can't run 90, then maybe the team needs a curfew.

 

3-3 lol

At least we're not losing.

 

Every time the ball comes in our box, I am so worried about us fouling due to fatigue.

 

I agree with the curfew but considering the heat, I'm more than pleased with a 3 goal effort in the first half that gave us a lead to blow.

 

nice result but should've been 3 points. we'll have to see what Dicoy (finally) can bring to the back line. we're using better defensive personnel than at the start of the year, but same communication and awareness problems.

 

I don't think it has anything to do with fitness, they worked hard for many another tough night playing in humidity takes it's toll, especially where most of the players played on the weekend. The difference is good teams who go 3-1 up early in the second half would just pass the ball around making Houston chase the ball and keep tempo slow to conserve energy, we simply don't have the talent to do so as we just chase and counter while Houston press us and what broke us down.

 

Well that was partially uplifting.

 

have to credit Avila's excellent pass for Koeverman's first. it really did need all that pace and accuracy just to avoid the defender and keeper. Dunfield's game is more effective in this setup, it seems.

 

Did Mariner sub in way too late? I know TFC is short-handed on defensive players but could they just sub Johnson, who was pretty ineffective, out for more a fresh-legged midfielder instead?

 

Well f*ck me TFC always gets results midweek when I usually can't watch. What's worse is that I wasnt able to get someone to record it anyways, how was the overall play of the team other than the goals (style of play)

 

First half good; second half not so. Players tired and Eckersley is no centre back no matter how desperate we need one. That's got to be priority number one (again) in building this team.

Overall a good result when viewed in context but ultimately meaningless in terms of the season. The late goal makes the draw feel like a loss but this was the first time we scored three goals in a game this season so it's not like it wasn't entertaining. Maybe one day we'll be good enough to just pass the ball around and kill off games in a boring fashion. We couldn't do that under Winter (or any other coach either) and I don't expect it with this group of players.

 

it was a great attacking perfromance, but the defensive side of the team is still lacking the communication and awareness of opponants. i think mariner should of subbed in a defensive player earlier (maybe dicoy) for johnson rather then koevermans. johnson made a few poor decisions at the end where it caused waves of attack from houston.

i think dunfield played really good tonight (at least better than i expected), he should of found the net from the header in the 1st half but it was just wide, at least we saw the more attacking side of himfinally. LOL, i think TFC Ajax will have nothing to criticize about dunfield tonight!!!

 

This was a game that had the goals come in a different order we would have been raving about the team's performance

I really dont know why everyone is going on about dunfield's performance. He had tons of chances but couldnt finish. Yeah he's not a striker, but those shots on net looked pretty week.

Still can't take Tally Ho!'s name seriously.

 

I think it has to do with his performance out wide. very good crosses from Dunfield last night, and did a good job making Houston's lives hell when they tried to play down the left. Also, his most profound screw ups have all come in central midfield, usually playing D, and we didn't have to really watch him do that last night.

 

Yep, I'm going be praying for a good result (and some goals) for the rest of the week.

The fan base is ready to revolt and away results won't change that because not enough people watch anymore. TFC is setting us up for a major letdown to New England and most of the people in the stands aren't going to accept that, in the context, this is going to be a very tough home game. It's surely meaningless to the eventual outcome of the season but, strangely, one of TFC's most important home games ever IMHO.

 

yeah i saw ecks as a cb, and boy does he look lost. he shoulda been in front of his player on that first goal. and then on the third goal, both him and hall diving right in the box.. keep him as a RB thats where he plays the best. i dont think hes big enough to be a CB

 

I think he's got enough of the physical tools but just not the experience or mind set for the position. On the play where Ching nearly tied it with the shot from the top left of the box (before Houston did eventually score) he left Hall completely isolated against two players and just hung out in the box. He was slow to recognize the danger and slow to push out to close down Ching. As a CB he's got to be either directing traffic and getting one of the mids out there to help Hall or making up his mind and doing it himself.

Hopefully Cann's knee isn't that bad and they're just being cautious and Dicoy is ready to start competing for a spot too because Eckersley can't be more than an emergency reserve at CB.

 

Considering the circumstances, TFC should probably be pretty pleased by the result. I thought the team showed a higher level of "togetherness" than usual and really exhibited some grit.

That said, the things that stick out most from the match.....1) At least one and likely both of our first two goals were offside. Johnson having to jump over the ball on the first kinda makes it impossible to describe him as being "passive" or "inactive" ..the tv angle on the second one was not great but Koev looked (judging by the different shades of grass) to be just offside when the ball was played to him. 2) For a club that makes a lot of noise about bad officiating I thought that Toledo did pretty well last night and the only big "really?" I can recall was in the 85th minute when Frings was hurt, the trainer and the stretcher came out and, somehow, Mr. Toledo allowed him to stay on the park and defend the ensuing corner......Houston must have been livid (Kocic also stayed on but that is normal for keepers) 3) As other's have pointed out, Eck is not a CB...but, really, on the two headed goals do you need to be a CB to not make the mistakes he made? Particularly on the first one....he just let his man get away from him.

Not for the first time this year, MOTM had to be JDG. Very solid and contributing all over the pitch.