Pre-Match / Match / Post-Match Thread - Toronto FC vs. Houston Dynamo - April 20, 2013 (R)

loser mentality...will never change until they show they can win late in games and create confidence. Unfortunately this takes time to develop and build that confidence, but they just seem to keep giving up the late goals giving away points. They go into the 91st minute scared every game.

 

Is Emory the guy who wasn't fouled when he jumped over Creavalle, holding his left knee, going down in pain pointing at his left knee? And then when he's getting up he's standing on his left leg and acting like its his right knee that's hurt? Hopefully this guy wasn't faking an injury to waste time and forced Toronto to sub him only to see Houston get the equalizer. I'm willing to bet he's fine though.

 

Do you work in the Department of the Obvious? Lower mentality will stay until they start winning

 

Playoff contending clubs know how to hold on to one goal leads and close out games. And really...not being able to hold on to a one goal lead against a team down a man? Like I said earlier, you can't keep giving the ball to the opposition in stoppage time and allow them to come at you.

This is an epidemic for TFC. I can only hope once the players gel together and have more confidence with each other that this will stop.

 

A couple of "was it just me moments"...,

The Houston announcers kept bemoaning BMO field's surface and how it grabs the ball and forces players to adjust. Was it just me or did both teams seem to have issues with passes that slowed down for no apparent reason? So if TFC practices is a nice warm "bubble" nearby, the Reds really don't have much of a home field advantage, do they?

The Houston announcers also seem to think very highly of Tally Hall, the Dynamo GK. Perhaps it was just me, but if Hall is that good, why did he keep launching his 2nd half goal kicks into a wind that repeatedly knocked down the ball at (or before) midfield. Several of those kicks appeared to be falling vertically as they returned to earth.

 

Hall is great in the air and positioning and is a really good shot stopper, but his distribution needs a lot of work. He kicks the ball out alot as well, even in games with no wind.

 

This one defies belief. Superior the whole game, 30 seconds to go and we drop another two points. It's a miracle the fans didn't riot' I nearly kicked my TV to shreds in absolute frustration.

Very low crowd and probably less next league game. Why change the team at the end. Why not mark every attacker (we had an extra player too). Why, oh why oh hell why......sob.

 

I also had to watch Houston commentators and their incessant homerism. They complained about everything.

 

Prior to the game they seemed to have some tribute or something to Bitchy (although they didn't say anything about it or what they were doing). They released her and let her fly around too.

I'll say one thing, if there's anyone that deserves a spot on the wall of honour it's her. She's been with the team since the first season (who else can claim that) and has put in a consistently strong performance time and time again. I haven't seen seagulls in the stadium in ages.

 

Yeah, but she did try to hang herself last game.* And then today she couldn't make it to the finish line on her fly-up today. I'm afraid Bitchy has been afflicted with TFCitis and can't close the deal.

*If you didn't see it you really had to be there; it was pretty much summed up TFC in one incident.

 

Probably around 10 or 11k in actual attendance.....i saw a thing on the news that noted a lot of people stayed home and we're kicking their tvs......might be weather related

 

Some thoughts on the game
* If you exclude injury time, the defence did a pretty good job given that this isn't our first choice back line and that Houston is a pretty strong team. Houston really didn't get a much in the way of chances until the very end.
* Reggie Lambe is the most frustrating player to watch. He has some technical ability and he's had some games (vs SKC for one) where he has used that well. But then there are games like this one where he's gone back to holding on to the ball far too long and either losing it, being forced to make a bad pass or shooting it into the legs of the defender.

 

Just wanted to chime in to say nice performance by your team. I think Nelsen had the right tactical plan of playing more direct and trying to win 2nd balls to start the build up off of that. You guys are clearly improved from the last couple years, and guys like Earnshaw are a handful. Unlucky to concede late.

All that said, the ball boys yesterday were an absolute disgrace. There were times where they were holding out empty hands, while having the ball sitting at their feet, laughing at our players...or pretending they were going to hand over the ball only to pull it away...or not even doing their job (this was on purpose, it was clear) making our coaching staff chase balls down the sideline to retrieve it.

I never harp on this sort of thing but it was something that infuriated me and I'm sure our team last night and is simply unacceptable at a professional level.

Anyway, I think you guys have a good chance of sneaking into the playoffs this year if a couple things get cleaned up. Good luck!

 

We have the ball boys, you guys had the ref....think you show a profit on that.

 

wha...wha...WHAT?!

We had the ref? I don't even know what to say to that. Unbelievable if you really think the ref was somehow favoring us.

I'll readily admit such things when they are true, but that's more than a stretch.

 

You guys are the chippiest team in the league and have fouled your way to two finals in a row. The red card was deserved or are you disagreeing with that? We had several legit penalty appeals which were thrown away, I could literally see Earnshaw's jersey getting pulled from accross the stadium on one of them. And Earnshaw didn't get the call on a second last man situation, which could have easily left you guys with nine men.

Not sure what game you were watching but you're probably blinded by every other ref letting you guys get away with this clutch and grab shit.

 

Wow, alright I'll go ahead and leave this thread. Take comfort in your delusion.

 

feel free to discuss. It's nothing personal. I just think you didn't see this stuff; word on the street is you announcers are slight homers. If you've got a different idea, post it. I might have missed something. But honestly that's what I remember (obviously, I have my bias).

 

To be honest, I didn't notice the ball boys so much this past game, but I've always had an issue with them picking kids so young to do the job. Yeah, it's a great experience for the kids, but in the heat of the game you're just asking for one of these kids to get sworn at by players in a hurry to keep the game moving.

 

That's a serious stretch to say that the ref was against us in this game. The ref missed plenty of calls on both teams and there should have been a number of yellows against players on both sides before that red. Emory in particular got away with a tackle that players have been sent off for with out a yellow. I don't think Earnshaw was fouled, but once the ref calls a foul there, he has to give a red because of the position.

Anyway, my thoughts:
Hall played a fantastic game. Probably the best game he's ever played for TFC, even without the goal. He completely dominated the back end of the midfield and passed well
Silva played great in the hole between Braun and Earnie. He moved around a LOT creating tons of space for the other midfielders, and played some beautiful passes. Subbing him made sense since I think he isn't up to full fitness and looked pretty gassed.
Ephraim has a good first touch, but it goes down hill pretty quickly from there. He also has a habit of tripping over the ball. I wouldn't mind seeing Bostock replace him. make them compete against each other for a spot
Lambe showed some good skills to get passed players, but couldn't figure out what to do afterwards.
Braun adds an extra dimension to the attack, but he simply isn't very good. He gives us a taste of what a Koevermans - Earnshaw pairing will look like style wise. Except Koev will be 10x better.

 

What an ignorant statement. You only have to watch them for a while to realise that they are simply incompetent, and really don't know what they are doing for this one-time event for them.

Have you not spent any time in BMO Field watching this?

 

Did not see \emory tackle personally, or I can't recall it. You might say Earnshaw went down easy on that second one the ref didn't call, but he was intentionally slown down by the defender from behind. Houston's whole style is daring the referree to card them.

 

find the replay that shows the foul from behind the goal. not the replay on the mls site, but the replay that shows that earnshaw wasn't even touched. dude faked it and got away with it. the ref was woeful and incompetent.

this is a shame because it takes the conversation away from your quality play. TFC showed strong & the conversation should be about the play on the field instead of yet another terrible ref

 

If you go by listed attendance, this game was the third highest attended game yesterday (out of seven). I see a lot of people commented on our attendance on Youtube and in the weekly MLS gamethread but that's because we set such a high standard in the first four years. It's not like 10-11 K has been the standard for any, let's say, bi-monthly stretch in the history of TFC.

BMO Field also hosts many Canadian national team games and my complaint would be that the ball boys don't stall enough!

 

I think you're really overreacting about the ballboys. I can understand your frustration, but there are plenty of games around the world where ball boys/girls try to help their team. They may have been unsporting yesterday but I'm sure there have been plenty worse than that.