You're right, he could have been. And obviously homerism causes the opponent's fouls to seem worse than ours. But I think it also bugs people more when the fouls come in the form of dead ball cheap shots, which Toronto seems to do a lot of. The time when Lombardo sucker punched Hunter Freeman along the endline a few weeks ago was the worst one I've seen them do this season, but by no means the only one. When Robinson kicked Gomez in the back of the head as he lay on the ground with the ball nowhere nearby, I can't begin to tell you how angry I was. But that's what Toronto does. I haven't seen a Toronto match during their scoreless streak that hasn't had a dead ball cheap shot in it.
I actually think the Gillette field plays OK also. I don't like any of them buy RBNY and RSL have by far the worst two fields and those two are going away at some point so that is good news.
MLS has botched the statistics about the scoreless streak and omitted a couple of teams that had longer scoreless streaks over the course of 2 seasons so the Toronto fans were premature in celebrating the record. The good news is that I think Toronto still broke the record by the time the game ended. So congratulations! BS poster ScaryIce keeps the Climbing the Ladder Blog and explains it in August 18 post (you have to scroll down a good bit). http://usasoccer.blogspot.com/ As a DC ran, I'm quite pleased with the win. Given the lack of Emilio and Toronto's current form I was expecting a scoreless draw where the main excitement would come from counting the streamers that are thrown on the corner kicks or counting the seagulls that fly in front of the camera (do they go to sleep at 730?). We started Addelry and Dyachenko up top and had Brian Carroll playing right mid. Winning on the road with that lineup is a pretty good accomplishment. Our offense and possession did suck but we got the early lead and mostly contained them from that point on. I think Toronto's best chance(s) were in the 2 headers Perkins broke up right before we scored. Overall I think they had about 4 decent chances which isn't too much for a team that is dominating possession. I watched the game at Finn McCool's and we missed about the first 2 1/2 minutes because the thunderstorms knocked out the satellite feed but I enjoyed the rest of it.
We went on the road missing several starters against a team that was desperate for a result and threw everything they had against us. This is a great result.
Better than Foxborough, BMO doesn't have all those extra lines and big numbers that make your head hurt when watching.
That's fine. Touchy much? Having played on a few variations of the turf product, I agree that the newer editions are drastically better. I think last night the field was hampered by the moisture (as reported by FSC). Furthermore, I think the hoof and hope approach employed by TFC for 90% of the game made it look worse as well. Players for both teams seemed to constantly misjudge the ball, and when you're cranking it in from all angles the bounces and touches to settle the ball get pretty ugly. Lastly, I don't have dimensions off hand, but BMO sure looks tiny to me. Having the surface in conjunction with a smaller field (if true) and playing long ball, is a recipe for ping pong. I couldn't stand watching it last night. Personally, I'll take turf over grass when I play because nobody seems to be able to maintain a grass field anymore. But grass is ideal, and should be attainable for pro soccer. Hopefully the league will be in a position to make that happen one day. And not have corner kicks from home plate, smarty pants.
Well, after a few anxious minutes as the storm cells blacked out all satellite communications, I sat back to watch a game. I must say, I'm impressed with the fans of Toronto. Man they suck, but the fans keep coming out and cheering. One day they'll sit back with a decent side and complain about all the newbies who don't remember the lean years. Sort of like I do when I remember the wasteland between cups, where we were <memory fuzzy.> That being said, this is the sort of game we won at the first half of last year. Gritty, 1-0 games, where Perkins plays sold, like he is the GK of the year or something, and we poach a goal. I'm happy with our effort. Although I must say that NE and Toronto have fieldturf, and both teams have mastered the cheap-shot after the pass method of fouling. Although in Toronto's defense, its hard to play attractive skilled soccer when everyone you have that can play attractive, skilled soccer is injured. And I would have made the roadtrip, but I can't live in a world where a looney is more or less equal to a US Dollar.
Only got to watch part of the game over the internet (college with no FSC or air conditioning is , at least I've got CSN and ESPN), but very happy with the win, especially with the subpar line up we had starting. Thankfully, Ben and Luciano will be back next weekend, rested and ready to go. Take the 3 points and move on.
"I must say, I'm impressed with the fans of Toronto. Man they suck, but the fans keep coming out and cheering. One day they'll sit back with a decent side and complain about all the newbies who don't remember the lean years. " --------------------------------------------------------------- Next year they should just let us season ticket holders and those on the wait list have all the seats. We would sell out still and then only be letting in the stadium diehard fans who countlessly lose their voices cheering our boys on. Guys, BMO is the best place to be in Toronto and with the end coming to the season the only thing left to do will be to start wishing for next year to start. Good luck going forward.
Just a note from a Toronto Supporter, your fans that made the trip up were very impressive and I hope were made to feel welcome. Much like the first time they were up, DC fans are probably the best that have visited BMO Field. Keep it up. MLS needs more of that kind of support.
even most of our grass pitches are crap. Home Depot and PHP are freaking terrible. we have 2 terrible turf pitches and 2 terrible grass pitches in the league, consider 5 teams play on these 4 pitches, it's not a good percentage for the league. Anyway, glad we won last night, wish I could have made it into the match, but got in touch with Dave about 1.5 hours before the match so couldn't get down. One of the good things about being here in canuckia and watching matches on the tele is I don't have to listen to the ineptitude of bretos so that makes me happy . hopefully I get the job that I interview for in downtown Toronto Thursday and can be closer to the city so I can make all the future DC matches up here. Hey even good teams win ugly. We're 3 pts out with a match in hand.
I have sat in next section to the DC supporters at both games at BMO. Good bunch of people. Spoke to many of them at the last gamein May, but not this time b/c I had to catch the train. Before the game I mentioned to my buddy that DC plays the best football in the league, and I told him that you guys were missing some guys for last night. From being at every single game at BMO, DC has impressed me the most(especially the first game) Hopefully we will compete in the next couple years and stop bringing British players from the CCC. Good luck DC, I am predicting at DC-Houston final, with DC winning the MLS CUP.
Three fans to watcha a match at a bar in PA ain't too bad...that's about two more than you would probably find in a Lancaster bar...
Very kind words, and I hope you're right. Would be nice to win another one at home. Again. Hang in there. Expansion blues are tough. Chivas was the worst team in MLS history two years ago; now they're very good. Seems like you have a good management, coach and fan support. So just be patient with it. You played well last night; just couldn't finish. A lot of that was Troy. When he's on his game....
Just made it back home after an awesome weekend in Toronto!! Man, what a blast, and in no small part thanks to the Toronto fans! People in Toronto are very cool, very mellow, the town is awesome, and their fans, even in their passion, are really nice, friendly people! We ABUSED them! Anyone who's been on the road to NJ knows how the travelling BBs and SEs and LN fans can be. And we were no kinder this time. But the Toronto fans took it very well, and then after the game we got SO many compliments, got invited back to Shoeless Joes, the Red Patch supporter's club bar, some of their fans bought us drinks - it was very cool. Anyone who ever thought about going next season, I'd definitely recommend it, it was SO much fun. And best to go while the going is good - at Shoeless Joes, Grillmaster made a prophetic statement when he speculated that in four or five seasons, when Toronto fans REALLY start caring about their team the way we do about ours, it will be hard for two sets of rival drunken fans to get together in such a friendly and peaceful gathering. But for now its a lovefest, and yes roogsey you did make us feel very welcome, thank you!
Is this really a big deal? Is it any different than Ben Olsen and Claudio Reyna having beers in the off season? Leave things on the field between the first and last whistles, I think.
Just keep saying to yourself: "Best of friends ... AFTER the game ends." Unless it's deadbulls or the tricolores, of course, in which case all bets are off. [I still bask in the memories of Labor Day weekend '05]
TFC isn't to be thought of as an enemy -- more like the kid brother who sees us as a role model. "Enemy" is reserved for real enemies:
A couple of thoughts ... I know Gomez and Moreno are largely out of favor on these boards, but I attribute our recent success partially to them. Other teams allocate so much manpower containing and abusing those two that it takes away from their attacking numbers. Perkins was a beast . When Perkins puts on his 5th defender cap, it feels like our D always outnumbers their attack. This is clearly a Soehn tactic, because it's relatively new. Vanney and McTavish play deeper which means anything over the top is Perkins's responsibility. In the past anything over the top meant acres of space which led to a lot of one on ones for Perkins. I don't know if anyone else is noticing, but DC is going through a major tactictal evolution. We are no longer a posession team. We surrender posession, but we have ways to ensure that their pressure doesn't hurt us. Our defense stays very compact, deep and keeps everything in front. There is always cover in the middle ... always. We sacrifice posession for safety ... no more fooling around with the ball in our own half. I often saw Burch especially clearing long even when he wasn't being pressured ... which is a sign that the coaches have been hammering this mantra into his head. So how does an anti posession team score? Well, we do still resort to a posession attack, but that's mostly only at home and even then we don't send as many people forward as we used to. Namoff and Burch are two of the deepest fullbacks in MLS. It's no coincidence that this team has 0 goals from defense or defensive midfield. That leaves us with set plays (Gomez) and the counterattack (Fred and Emilio) as our primary weapons. Personally I like this from DC. We have skill players in attack who shouldn't require tons of posession to get chances. That's what they are ... creative guys who can make something out of nothing. The only weakness our attackers have is that they don't stack up physically in this league. I know the consensus in these threads is to blame the hacks and the refs, but truth is it takes very little to knock our guys off the ball. And that brings me to my last point. Clyde Simms for team MVP? Before you call me crazy, the Washington Post had a stat this morning saying that DC has only lost 3 of the last 24 games in which he started. Coincidence??
Simms is good, but MVP over Emilio? Don't forget he's the MLS leading goal scorer and probably the biggest cog in our offensive power. I can't imagine, as long as he keeps on his current form, how the MVP would be given to anyone else.