Pre-Match / Match / Post-Match Thread - Toronto FC vs. Portland Timbers - August 15, 2012 (R)

Huge backline woes for this game:

When Toronto takes on Portland Wednesday night at BMO Field (TSN at 7:30 p.m. ET), the Reds could give a few players a chance to stake their claim to the TFC backline.
International duty, discipline and injuries have Toronto depleted on defence heading into the match.
Newly signed Ireland international Darren O’Dea will be in Serbia for a friendly. Also expected to be absent are Dicoy Williams (Jamaica) and Doneil Henry (Canada), representing their respective nations.
The postponement of last Saturday’s match in Columbus means Logan Emory will serve a suspension Wednesday, punishment for a red card received in Chicago. During the same match Jeremy Hall picked up an ankle injury that will have him sidelined for Portland.
This leaves only two regular first team defenders in camp for the midweek match, Richard Eckersley and Ashtone Morgan. They are joined in Toronto by Adrian Cann, Ty Harden – both former starters – and rookie Aaron Maund. Two of these players could find their way to the starting lineup.
The defence isn’t the only area where Toronto will be missing regulars. Other players expected to be out of the lineup due to international duty are midfielder Terry Dunfield (Canada) and forward Ryan Johnson (Jamaica).
This means BMO Field will have to wait to see the pairing of Johnson and Eric Hassli on attack.
TorontoFC.ca will be at the Kia Training Ground on Tuesday with latest player & coach interviews on Toronto FC TV, looking ahead to Wednesday's match.

 

I think all things considered this is the strongest lineup we can put out:



Blech. Good thing we're playing Portland.

 

to be honest, although the CB pairing looks like shit, the rest looks better IMO. Johnson shouldn't be starting up top ahead of Silva or Hassli and Stinson is pretty much a faster version of Dunfield. The only change I would make (mind you Mariner would never do this) is put Avila beside Frings and Stinson on the outside.

Another likely possibility is that Maund plays DM beside Frings and Harden plays CB with Cann.

 

Good points. Only reason I put Maund really is that he's actually been in the line-up recently whereas Harden hasn't played since, around April I think (Liverpool game notwithstanding). With Cann also playing for the first time in a while I think it'd be too much to have Harden with him. Other possibilities would be Ecks at CB and Maund or even Stinson at RB...or Frings as emergency CB, but with no Dunfield that would leave the center midfield with zero experience.
Agreed that Avila is better in the middle (he too could be an option to play behind Hassli instead of Silva) but I think he's acceptable out wide (I think that's where he played at RSL earlier this year). And as you said Mariner will never put him in the middle anyway. He'll probably be starting one of Amarikwa and Wiedeman too, but I hope that doesnt happen.

 

I think Harden has had an injury of late. I'd start Harden over Maund, but I'm sure Mariner thinks otherwise. I also think he'd start weideman or amerikwa over avila for god knows whatever reason

 

Larson is saying Harden will start at RB. I guess Ecks stays in CB. Would rather Stinson at RB if they have to do that.

 

this will probably end up being exactly what happens, 90 mins of playing with 10 men (+Weideman). THX Mariner.

is the Portland road scoreless streak still intact?

 

Yep, they've been shut out on the road the last seven games. Last time they scored away from jeld-wen is April.

I honestly feel really bad for Portland. The way they're going they're going to be as disastrous as us in five years, and I don't wish that on anyone (except Mtl and Vancouver )

 

Generally in a league with parity, teams dont stay bad for long and dont dominate for long. To string together 6 consecutive dismal seasons is precedent-setting and requires a level of management incompetence never seen before in mls prior to 2007. God help portland if their mgmt is anywhere close to being as bad as ours.

 

I know its generally related but at least O'deas absence wasn't all for not. Dunno if anyone checked out a little of the ireland-serbia friendly but from the second half I saw he handled himself pretty good and looked to be in really good form, especially with waves of attacking from serbia in the final 20. A couple greatly timed tackles and always seemed to be positioned correctly without getting caught, and pretty calm on the ball too. Hope he shows this in the games ahead

 

He played the full game too, so at least he's in good shape. Now, will he be able to play 90 on Saturday?

 

tfc concedes on a set piece. I've seen this movie before.

 

wow shit, there's a game on

 

That was some awful, awful soccer. I hope someone who's never watched MLS before didn't watch this first half.

 

Yawn.

Home against a similarly bad team, and they Portland leads in possession 60-40. Our hoof the ball up isn't working anymore.

 

Europe can't start soon enough.

 

what just happened? the score was 1-0 Portland, I went outside for a few minutes and when I come back we're winning?

 

WOW...how many yards did Smith steal on that throw in? He just keeps walking and walking...unbelievable.

 

The two worst teams in MLS battle it out to see which team is truly the worst in MLS. The result? Neither team won.

 

Terrible game last night. Our defence was dreadful. However, I did see some hopeful things at the other end of the pitch. Hassli has the goal-scoring touch. Perhaps when we get our internationals back, the backline will settle down and we will see some better results.

 

Looks like there's no remedy for an away scoreless streak quite like TFC (especially if Maund and Harden have to play).
Hassli looked good though.