Tag: Toronto FC

The Day After (Toronto)

Holy crap. 4-4. For neutrals that game was up there for game of the season. For fans of either team that just took off 3-5 years in life expectancy.

Typical NYC

I feel stupid that after we had gone up two-nil I felt happy. Two-nil! So early on! It was great. We were going to win.

Turns out that wasn’t to be. In what was a crazy game with 4 penalties and 8 goals, what stood out was that NYC blew a perfectly good lead. We talk about passion, desire, dedication so often in the footie world. The fact is, the guys out on that pitch just haven’t achieved the mental toughness to shut games out. We should have scored those two goals, defended as a unit and won a vital three points. And yes, perhaps that would have been a lot less exciting, but Mourinho didn’t win the Premier League by giving the neutrals a nice game to watch, he won it because he knows how to win. Which is something we clearly lack.

Villa & Giovinco

Technically speaking, Villa and Giovinco are two of the best players in the league. If you look at their pedigree, their history, and for Giovinco their age, it’s clear that these players are a class above everyone else.

Yet, I still feel that Giovinco plays much better. There will be those who believe that me saying Villa has played poorly is outrageous, that’s why I don’t allow comments. Yes, he’s finally scoring goals. But look, he scored from a free kick and a penalty. And last week was another free kick. It’s great that he’s able to make something out of nothing, but why can’t he score more from open play (case in point last night’s sitter)?

And even if he is scoring, stats are over-hyped. Trust me, if stats were what they claim to be then Liverpool’s moneyball-esque era of Downing & Carroll would have ended far differently. What I’m saying is, I’m glad Villa is finally scoring goals. And he’s even hustling for the team. But he’s not even close to the $6 million we pay annually. Or even close to what he should be. He still inexplicably dribbles into defenders. He still takes way too long to shoot, and he loses the ball far too carelessly for a World Cup winner. With Lampard and Pirlo behind him I expect much greater things. Otherwise I’m gonna start sending nasty letters.

Spanish Full-Backs

Iraola was rusty last night. But to be fair the former Bilbao man has barely trained a week with the team before being thrust into the starting lineup. That’s how much NYCFC and Kreis rate the right back. It’ll take time for the 33-year-old to really settle, but despite some of his defensive shortcomings it was obvious he was already a step up from RJ Allen. Just look at his positioning. Iraola was doing something no other NYCFC player has ever done: consistently get wide into open space. It’s sort of remarkable that you’re taught to get wide and open space up by mediocre coaches by the time you’ve turned 10 and no NYCFC player has done it well. If you watch Iraola for a match, you’ll see how his hugging the right touchline creates so much space for his players, and his darting runs down the wing always look dangerous.

Plus, there’s Angelino. The blond haired 18-year-old made his debut as a half time sub for the impressively poor Kwame Watson-Siriboe. Wingert was moved to centre back (CAN WE SIGN TEFU PLEASE) so that Angelino could wreak havoc down the left flank. And wreak havoc he did.

Angelino looked dangerous every time he touched the ball. He made a duracell battery hopped up on coke look lazy. His pure skill, his absurd pace, and his abundant energy make him already one of the most dangerous left backs in the MLS, and he’s only getting started. In an interview with NYCFC afterwards he said that he felt he wasn’t at all nervous, but that he lacked match fitness and looks to be much better in the games to come.

If what we saw last night was lacking match fitness and there’s better skill to come then we’re in for quite a treat.

On To The Next One

Remember when Frank Lampard was supposed to play? Yeah, well he’s supposed to play next weekend. But maybe it’ll be a few more weeks if he decides to extend his loan with some team. BOOM, roasted.

But real talk we’re lucky to have a player of his caliber, despite his age and his ability to sit on the bench for the second half on Man City’s season. He should make his debut against New England, and we really could use him.

With all this Pirlo & Lampard fanfare, it’s hard to be patient and wait ’till they both are consistent starters. But injuries aside, that day should be coming soon. Until then, let’s get Tefu, let’s learn from Iraola, let’s learn how to hold a lead, and maybe, just maybe, we’ll get somewhere this season.

On to the next one.

NYCFC vs Toronto FC: Preview

As I’m sure most of you are aware, Frank Lampard pulled his old-man-muscle and is out of contention for this Sunday’s match. Seeing as they were billing this game as his grand debut, it’s understandable that fans (myself included) were a little disappointed. But let’s change the subject, otherwise I’ll burst a blood vessel.

Good News

They have to play my boy Andoni Iraola. They said so. If they don’t I’ll sue. As a right back it makes much more sense to simply start him rather than sub him on, but who knows who really makes the decisions behind the scenes. Seeing as Ned Grabavoy continues to play my bet is a bunch of nut-less monkeys are throwing feces at a switchboard which controls our starting 11 every match. Just a thought.

AND we could see Angelino. The super talented 18-year-old Spanish wunderkid (he’s good, is what I’m alluding to) has been training this week along with Iraola and Lampard. They haven’t made any “debut” promises for him, but he might be worth bringing off the bench, especially given Kreis’ absurd propensity for making full back substitutions.

AND Khiry Shelton is back. He was on the bench for the entirety of last week’s Montreal game, and that understandable, as we fielded two strikers to begin with and wanted to hold onto our slim lead near the end. I’d love a Khiry start, but he’s actually far more effective coming off the bench. We hope to see him, it’s been too long.

AND Poku should start. While he hasn’t been in the form of his life, he’s still better than whatever else we have. With Lampard out, it would be a shame to bench Poku, as he’ll bring the creativity and skill we so often lack.

Form

Toronto are a team full of individually talented players. Giovinco is probably going to get the MVP, Bradley could find Waldo with a long ball, Cheryou is a class midfielder who used to play for Marseille, and people seem to like Jozy Altidore despite the fact that he’s kinda bad at soccer.

Yet, with all this, Toronto are as consistent as a presidential candidate’s opinions (yeah, we make political jokes too). After losing two starters in Bradley and Altidore to the Gold Cup, Toronto were mauled in LA, losing 4-0. It was not a pretty sight. Without Bradley marshaling the midfield, it seems hard to imagine Toronto playing well at all. They are dependent upon him, and this all bodes well for us.

NYCFC are alright. We lost a huge derby match at home to Red Bulls, then we proceeded to win an away match against Montreal. It’s funny to listen to interviews from everyone saying how we’ve been in great form and have won 4 of our last 5 games. They seem to forget that two of those win have come against a generally subpar Montreal team and that we got absolutely hammered by our biggest rivals in our home stadium.

But anyway, we’re doing okay. With these new reinforcements there’s certainly a buzz around the training camp and going into a match against a Bradley-less Toronto doesn’t seem like the hardest thing in the world.

Lineups

Toronto FC (4-4-2): Konopka (GK), Creavalle (RB), Zavaleta (CB), Hagglund (CB), Morrow (LB), Delgado (CM), Cheryou (CM), Warner (LM), Jackson (RM), Giovinco (ST), Moore (ST)

-Cheryou is still a doubt with a niggling injury, but should make the starting 11.

-Toronto has a decision to make whether to play Luke Moore or Robbie Findley up top partnering Giovinco.

NYCFC (4-5-1): Saunders (GK), Iraola (RB), Facey (CB), Watson-Siriboe (CB), Wingert (LB), Jacobson (CM), Poku (CM), Grabavoy (CM), McNamara (LM), Ballouchy (RM), Villa (ST)

-Jason Hernandez is fighting off an injury and could start over Siriboe.

-We’ve given Iraola the start, simply because he’s twice the man RJ Allen is. It’s very possible Iraola would come off the bench, but we’re crossing our fingers.

-Kreis may opt for 2 strikers, whether that’s Mullins again, or Nemec who came off the bench last week and scored in a friendly exhibition on Thursday. If he does so, Kreis would have to sacrifice a midfielder, most likely Ballouchy or Grabavoy. Frankly, NYCFC play far better with a five man midfield, so we’re hoping Villa is our only striker.

-As we said earlier, we’d love to see Shelton and Angelino at some point, we’re crossing our fingers. We’re crossing our fingers for a lot in this game. Most of which will probably end in disappointment. Yay!

Final Thoughts

Toronto have just been thrashed four-nil and come into this match without the heart of their team (Michael Bradley). With NYCFC in decent form and some quality reinforcements coming in, we should fair pretty well.

But for us who knows what that means.

The Day After (Toronto)

This might be two days after the fact, but we’re still as dumbfounded as we were on Sunday.

Hey, You Never Know

I never really understood this ubiquitous lottery slogan until now. Going into this match, the most I was hoping for was a decent performance and a likely loss. MAYBE a tie. But a win? An AWAY win? No way.

Yet, with a hell of a lot of luck and 20-something-thousand irate Toronto fans to witness, NYCFC won two nil.

Our Game Plan

If you watched the full game on Saturday and didn’t see the penalty nor TFC’s giveaway which lead to our second, you would’ve noticed two things: First, that Toronto are a much more skilled team, and second, that NYCFC were out for blood.

The physical, aggressive nature of NYCFC’s plan reminded me of one of Jose Mourinho’s first Clasico’s versus Barcelona. In this game the role of the diminutive, seemingly unstoppable magician was played by Giovinco, and instead of Pepe, the man tasked with hacking at Messi all night was Jason Hernandez.

Luckily, NYCFC managed to shut down Giovinco in truly expert fashion. The whole team, 33-year-old David Villa included, ran themselves into the ground, and if there was a lack of skill present, there certainly wasn’t a lack of desire.

Good Us Or Bad Them?

This is really an age old footballing question that’s difficult to assess every time it’s addressed. Did NYCFC manage to concoct a formula to shut down one of the most potent attacks in the MLS? Or did one of the most potent attacks in the MLS fall flat on its face?

The answer, as always, is a little of both. My inherent cynicism towards NYCFC dictates that I saw Toronto lose that game, not NYCFC win. But we did win, after all, and thus I’ll only spend a bit talking about how Toronto shit the bed.

They did shit the bed, though. It just wasn’t their day. Michael Bradley wasn’t really on his A-game, and even when he did manage to send in one of his glorious, searching long balls, Giovinco uncharacteristically took a poor touch and squandered the opportunity. Cheryou’s handball was not a handball, and the fact that MLS officials called it as such is worrying. More worrying is that the commentators slowly convinced themselves it was the correct call. Toronto stupidly gave away possession which led directly to our second goal. And DP Jozy Altidore was completely useless when brought on, adding little to nothing to their attack. Toronto have a really talented squad who really messed up this game.

We Won

Despite Toronto’s shortcomings, NYCFC were the ones who had to put the ball in the back of the net. And we did, twice.

We looked really solid on the counterattack and our defense held up tremendously well. Shay Facey is becoming a godsend with his efforts at center back and playing five midfielders, rather than two strikers, allows us to compete against more technically skilled sides. We scored, we won, another three points. Well played.

On To The Next One

Ohhhh and what a “Next One” it is. NYCFC will host the Red Bulls for the first time at Yankee Stadium, and with the Red Bulls on their worst run of the season and NYC on its best run of the season, it’s hard to think of a better time for payback.

Granted, anything can happen. NYCFC has been winning, and playing a little better, but we’re nowhere near where we could be. And, this being a derby match, form often matters a lot less. When you’re playing in front of what should be somewhere near 40 thousand fans, with both teams knowing what this game means for their clubs, there’s no way to predict the outcome. All we know is it’s going to be a spectacle, and almost certainly another piece of history for soccer in New York.

Come Sunday, though, most people will forget what this game might mean for the further advancement of footie, and will focus more on sending the Red Bulls back to the pit of a home they call Jersey. Unless they get stuck in traffic on the George Washington Bridge on the way back. Boom, Jersey roasted.

On to the fuckin’ next one.

NYCFC vs Toronto FC: Preview

This Saturday NYCFC travel to Ontario, Canada, for their first visit to Toronto.

Form

Toronto are in really impressive form. After having recently beaten DC United, Toronto extended their win streak to three games, with star man Giovinco in the form of his career with seven goals five assists. At home against bottom placed NYCFC, Toronto will be heavy favorites.

Oh, and there’s NYCFC. To be fair, NYC are in the form of their season. Despite a gut-busting-let’s-not-talk-about-it penalty loss midweek in the US Open Cup, NYC have won their last two MLS matches. Our most recent, an emphatic 3-1 victory over Toronto’s Canadian neighbors, Montreal, is clearly the highlight of our season thus far. With a full lineup, Poku in blistering form, and David Villa back in the lineup, we’d say NYC have at least a chance to compete in this game.

Lineups

Toronto (4-3-1-2): Konopka (GK), Creavelle (RB), Zavaleta (CB), Hagglund (CB), Morrow (RB), Jackson (RCM), Cheyrou (CM), Findley (LCM), Bradley (CAM), Giovinco (CF), Altidore (ST)

-Simonin, Lovitz, and Bloom are all out for Toronto.

-Former Birmingham and Scottish international Steven Caldwell is out with a right achilles injury.

NYCFC: (4-5-1): Saunders (GK), RJ Allen (RB), Facey (CB), Hernandez (CB), Wingert (LB), Jacobson (CDM), Mix (CM), Poku (CM), Ballouchy (RM), McNamara (LM), Villa (ST)

-After Poku’s midweek heroics, it seems foolish to leave him on the bench for this big game. Yet, after playing nearly 90 minutes, there may be reasonable doubts regarding his match fitness. Grabavoy could deputize, but hopefully not.

-Meara, Brandt, and Shelton are still certainly out.

-Both Williams and Calle have been making steady progress and could make the bench.

Final Thoughts

If NYC were to have a chance in this game, we would’ve needed to be in amazing form. We’re in good form. If Villa can replicate his desire from last game, Poku starts, and Ned Grabavoy missing the team bus while being mercilessly tortured by a gang of Syrian refugees, then maybe we’ve got a shot.

Hopefully NYC go for the win, but as Kreis and everyone in this league seems to say “An away tie is a win.”

No, it’s not. If you’re not first, you’re last. And that’s from a wholesome American film that the suits down at the MLS should be able to appreciate.

Good luck lads.