TFC 2021 Regular Season Games (R)

The regular season is rapidly approaching.

Our first match will be away against Montreal (but in Florida) on April 17. It is a bit early to discuss specifics of that game, perhaps, and we still have a Canadian Championship final match against the Forge of Hamilton to fit in some time while dealing with a covid outbreak on the team. A lot to digest.

While we wait, what are everyone's thoughts on this year's squad?

 

So not a regular season game but we are heading into match two against Leon having earned a 1-1 draw away.

It looks like something like half of our preferred starting roster will be unavailable due to injury which means it will be another big night for the kids.

2-1 TFC with goals by Nelson and Shaffelburg.

 

So I misspelled Mullins and Morrow, but other than that I had it right.

A great game by the youngsters. Either they're for real or they're just too young to know they're supposed to be overawed by the Mexicans.

Cruz Azul will be a stiffer test but this looks very good for what TFC can do in league play this season if/when they are missing key pieces due to injury.

Next up is the season opener against Montreal. I was about to type "the Impact" but now I guess it's "the CF"? Anyway, the CF have turned over a lot of players this off season. Possibly they've improved but I think (hope) we're still going to see a lot of disarray from a team where the players are still learning each others' names and the name of their coach.

Hopefully TFC can do what they should and put this one emphatically in the win column. I'm always slightly nervous when playing Montreal because the rivalry between these teams is such that how good each team is in a given year doesn't always play out on the field.

 

So that game didn't go at all according to plan. This was a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde game after the Leon series where it seemed like the kids were just going to cruise on through. Singh, who looked very strong against Leon, had a notably poor game. Clearly he's just mailing it in now that he's signed the big contract.

On the bright side, Laryea's goal was classically Laryea and fun to watch. Also, at least Montreal managed to legitimately win the game. Often when they do beat us it seems to be some fluky nonsense or a bad PK call or something.

Next up is our "home" opener against Vancouver. This is one of only two games against western opponents this season. From the sounds of things, we should have at least some of our injured players back for this one. I'm looking for us to bounce back strongly with a win.

 

A 2-2 draw.

The biggest downside for me was our lack of offense. That second goal by Osorio was well pounced on but it was clearly a lucky break.

On the plus side, both of Vancouver's goals came from set pieces. So we weren't conceding much from the run of play.

Also, if you look at the possession intervals here you'll see a decided turn around he 60 minute mark when Armas subbed in some guys who'd normally be starting:

https://www.mlssoccer.com/competitions/mls-regular-season/2021/matches/torvsvan-04-24-2021/stats

As much as I still want to see our youth out there, it does show positively for what we can anticipate when some of our mainstays return to health.

Next up is the "home" game on Tuesday night against Cruz Azul in the latest round of the CCL. We are the underdogs but who knows?

 

A 1-3 loss to Cruz Azul. I'd been hoping for better but expecting something along these lines. The Mexicans were simply the better team out there.

Our defending needs to improve. Simply being close to your mark isn't enough. As your Timbits soccer coach probably told you - be on the goal side of your man.

Our offence also needs to start clicking. Good on Osorio for once again pouncing on an opportunity. Perhaps he'll have another 2018-esque season where he scores a lot. But we aren't actually generating much in the way of good scoring chances so far.

On the optimistic side, we still haven't seen anything like our best team on the field for any game this year. Only one of our three DPs has even stepped foot on the pitch and many other expected significant contributors have also been away for much or all of the time. I'm not worried about the season even if our CCL run is unlikely to extend beyond next Tuesday.

 

Leg two tonight in the cozy confines of Azteca Stadium. I'm pretty optimistic given how nothing has ever gone badly over the years for any Canadian teams at Azteca and... hmmm.

According to TFC's website, Pozuelo is still out and Soteldo won't yet be available. So we'll still have only one of our three DPs on the field although Mavinga should finally be back.

Our best hope is to try for a 3-0 win. This would require us to come out flying and, realistically, to catch a few breaks along the way. Maybe something like score one early, have their keeper flub one, and get a late PK call while simultaneously seeing Cruz Azul come down with a case of post-and-crossbar-itis. It's not impossible but, if it happened, it would go down as either the first or second greatest comeback in TFC history.

 

No comeback for the ages as we go down 0-1 and 1-4 on aggregate.

At its simplest, the better team won this series.

As a single game, yesterday's was fairly close. Certainly the one goal was amazing but not reproduceable. Both teams had chances and both held each other fairly well. As part of a two-game series, of course, it wasn't so good for TFC.

I'd like to play this again when TFC is in mid-season form and actually has its best players available because that would be fun but, even then, it would be a tough match up.

The focus now shifts firmly to the regular season as we travel to New York to face the Red Bulls on Saturday. NYRB haven't exactly raced out of the gate this season either but Red Bull arena has not always been kind to TFC over the years.

I'm optimistic for the win on this game, though, as I'm hopeful we'll finally be at almost full strength.

 

I was thinking exactly the same thing.

I do look forward to seeing a line up that has Pozuelo, Osorio, Soteldo, and a few others all at the same time. TFC is not a bottom of the league team. (I also wish the team would stop being so silent about injury details. Give us some idea when guys are going to be back!)

That said, even with our full line up, we aren't going to sweep the season. We're running out of runway to avoid needing to play very well just to make the playoffs.

Up next we "host" an undefeated Columbus team on Wednesday.

 

Columbus was fielding a seriously depleted line up so it wasn't a true test of their abilities. That said, so were we so I'll take the win.

It was great to see Altidore actually show up for a game. Now we just need to hope we can get Pozuelo and Osorio back for Saturday's game at NYC.

 

A 1-1 draw in New York.

For both teams, this could be viewed as glass half full/glass half empty.

If I'm New York, I could be pissed not to have left with a 2-1 win. They scored once and had a goal called back on a play where the ref could have gone either way (more on that below).

On the other hand, I could also be pretty happy to gain a draw in a game where my only scoring chances came from keeper errors by Bono. It could just as easily have been 1-0 TFC.

For TFC, they scored a good goal despite still working with a patched together midfield. Could actually have been a win.

On the other hand, it could also have been a loss. The New York player did jump a bit when Bono kicked the ball but the ref could just as easily have let that go. I mean, what was Bono doing? He had the whole field to work with and he ran right up behind a guy who was just walking away and then kicked the ball at him. And that first goal - man!

Up next is a visit to Orlando on Saturday. I don't want to be a broken record, but we're really just in a holding pattern until Pozuelo and Osorio get back. Then we can start moving up the standings. Although I'll take a win and a draw this past week without them.

 

Looking in to tomorrow's game I noticed that TFC is 8-2-2 all time against Orlando. I didn't realize it was that imbalanced and I hope we can keep it going.

The MLS injury report one day before match day says:

• OUT: Ifunanyachi Achara (left ACL surgery)
• OUT: Julian Dunn (right hip osteochondral injury)
• OUT: Erickson Gallardo (right groin surgery)
• OUT: Alejandro Pozuelo (right thigh)
• OUT: Justin Morrow (right thigh)
• QUESTIONABLE: Jonathan Osorio (right thigh)

So likely the same sort of line up we've seen in recent games.

 

Armas was quoted about a week ago saying "he is close". Somewhere else around the same time (a week ago) I recall seeing "one to two weeks".

So maybe another week? TFC is frustratingly silent on the topic of injuries, however.

In MLS speak it would be 60 to 90 days.

 

Updated game day injury report shows Osorio as available but now Dwyer as questionable.

• OUT: Ifunanyachi Achara (left ACL surgery)
• OUT: Julian Dunn (right hip osteochondral injury)
• OUT: Erickson Gallardo (right groin surgery)
• OUT: Alejandro Pozuelo (right thigh)
• OUT: Justin Morrow (right thigh)
• QUESTIONABLE: Dom Dwyer (thigh)

I have developed a new theory. It is the theory of Conservation of Thigh Injuries and it states that "thigh injuries can neither be created nor destroyed, only transferred from one TFC player to another".

 

And now my patience is done.

Generated chances blah blah goals will come blah blah silver lining blah blah.

We have a $15 million payroll without Pozuelo. Go win some freaking games!

 

Our next game is tomorrow at Columbus. Here is the new injury list:

• OUT: Ifunanyachi Achara (ACL surgery)
• OUT: Julian Dunn (hip osteochondral injury)
• OUT: Erickson Gallardo (groin)
• OUT: Dom Dwyer (thigh)
• QUESTIONABLE: Alejandro Pozuelo (thigh)
• QUESTIONABLE: Jonathan Osorio (hip)
• QUESTIONABLE: Omar Gonzalez (thigh)

Dwyer and Pozuelo have switched places so that Dwyer is now out and Pozueolo questionable.

Morrow came off the thigh list so, in keeping with the Theory of Conservation of Thigh Injuries, we now see Gonzalez on the list with a thigh injury.

Osorio reappears on the injury list but this time, just to switch things up a bit, it is with a hip problem.

Possibly one day we'll be able to field something approaching our preferred starting eleven but it won't be this week.

 

And we also have this to consider:

https://www.wakingthered.com/2021/5...g-with-toronto-fc-after-rift-with-chris-armas

So probably no Altidore. And just maybe no more Altidore?

 

Fully agree. I was actually quite disappointed that the re-signed him. It would have been much better to have parted ways and brought in his replacement.

Now we are pretty much stuck with him because he will be very difficult to move as an injury prone aging veteran with an attitude problem.