We deserved that point, and to be able to grind out a tie at the league champion's home opener says something about this year's Toronto FC. We definitely were not as good this weekend as we were in Kansas City. I'd say there was two reasons for this: 1. Robbo and Guevara were missing, and 2. The Crew are a hell of a lot better than the Wizards.
Match Recap
Columbus was a lot better than us in the first half - but you'd expect the champions to come out flying at their home opener. Our cause wasn't helped by our terrible defending. Guillermo Barros Schelotto opened the scoring on the 30th minute from the penalty spot. It was definitely a handball, but I'm not so sure it was a penalty (though, if it had been our penalty, I'd be saying it was 100% the right call). Eddie Gaven hit the post shortly after, and after a couple brutal attempts to clear the ball, Emmanuel Ekpo forced a brilliant save from Stefan Frei with a follow-up opportunity. Frei was injured on the play, and replaced by Greg Sutton at the start of the second. We really forced the issue in the second half and controlled the game a lot better than in the first. The breakthrough came in the 84th minute with Columbus left-back Gino Padula heading into his own net (it was an inch-perfect header too...). Perhaps karma for the penalty call? Who knows. In my eyes, the draw was a fair result.
Starting Eleven and Player Ratings
I speculated a lot about lineup John Carver would field. The team he did put out never crossed my mind, but it should have. It was definitely the best eleven we had available on the day.
Frei 6 (Sutton 7), Wynne 6, Velez 5, Serioux 6, Brennan 6, Cronin 7, Harmse 5, De Rosario 7, Ricketts 5 (Smith 6), Barrett 5 (Dichio 6), Vitti 7
Man of the Match: N/A. No one was overwhelmingly good this weekend. I thought DeRo, Cronin, and Vitti we all very good though.
Overall Thoughts
You could definitely tell that Robbo and Guevara were away. We weren't able to hold the ball in the midfield as well as we were last weekend, and our attack lacked that extra creativity that Guevara brings. It's also a lot nicer going forward knowing that Carl Robinson is holding down the fort, as oppose to Kevin Harmse. Fortunately for us, the Crew were missing some key players as well which somewhat canceled out our losses. Seeing our full team against their full team later this season will be interesting.
I hate to rag on our guys, but Chad Barrett hasn't exactly gotten off to a flier this year. Pablo Vitti looked a lot better playing off of Danny Dichio in the last 20 minutes than he did in the 70 previous minutes playing alongside Barrett.
Speaking of Vitti, I was very encouraged by his play. No, he didn't score, but his off-the ball movement was fantastic. He showed that he's not afraid to take on defenders, and that he can hold up the ball and pick out the right pass. He looks like the type of striker that will get the ball and play it into another player looking for a return ball to run on to. He seemed very comfortable knocking balls in to Dichio and trying for that return pass. I'm hoping he starts against Seattle on Saturday, because I'd love to see him play with our full team.
Greg Sutton was awesome on the second half. He was on and off this pre-season because of injuries, but stepped in and did brilliantly, making some very key saves. He had to be on his game as well, because our defense wasn't doing our goalkeepers any favours. Am I the only one who can barely watch when Marco Velez is running towards our net? He is damn lucky that header back to Sutton in injury time worked out. I thought that as a whole, our linkup between our defense and our midfield was very weak.
I'm going to tip my hat to the folks in the Nordecke. The difference in that corner between this year and last year is night and day. It looks awesome when the entire stadium is bowing to Schelotto, but sounds really dumb when they chant "USA, USA!" I don't care if we caused it or not - but their support is much better now than it was at this time last year. Don't worry though - I still hate everything about the Crew. I'm just trying to be "objective" or something.
Our support was pretty damn good as well. I think that a few too many took this weekend as a "be hammered for 30 hours" opportunity though. Either that, or they didn't know the words to any of our chants - I mean, really, what road-tripping supporter doesn't know the the Forza TFC by now? Despite this, the turnout was fantastic yet again. It wasn't as much as last year, but we still filled that south end of Crew Stadium. We were at our best when all of us supporters were singing the same thing - and things to support our team (none of this "we have free health care" stuff). John Carver loved it too. You may have noticed he was pumping us up after the final whistle. Gotta love JC.
A draw away to the league champions is a good result, though I'd obviously prefer the win. We have four road points in two games this year. Last year, we had ten points in fifteen away matches. We've been much better on the road thus far, and if we can be better at home than we were last year, we're set.
Box Score
Toronto FC - 1
Goals: Gino Padula 84' (own goal)
Cards: N/A
Columbus Crew - 1
Goals: Guillermo Barros Schelotto 30' (penalty)
Cards: N/A
Match Recap
Columbus was a lot better than us in the first half - but you'd expect the champions to come out flying at their home opener. Our cause wasn't helped by our terrible defending. Guillermo Barros Schelotto opened the scoring on the 30th minute from the penalty spot. It was definitely a handball, but I'm not so sure it was a penalty (though, if it had been our penalty, I'd be saying it was 100% the right call). Eddie Gaven hit the post shortly after, and after a couple brutal attempts to clear the ball, Emmanuel Ekpo forced a brilliant save from Stefan Frei with a follow-up opportunity. Frei was injured on the play, and replaced by Greg Sutton at the start of the second. We really forced the issue in the second half and controlled the game a lot better than in the first. The breakthrough came in the 84th minute with Columbus left-back Gino Padula heading into his own net (it was an inch-perfect header too...). Perhaps karma for the penalty call? Who knows. In my eyes, the draw was a fair result.
Starting Eleven and Player Ratings
I speculated a lot about lineup John Carver would field. The team he did put out never crossed my mind, but it should have. It was definitely the best eleven we had available on the day.
-----------------Frei---------------------
--Wynne---Velez---Serioux---Brennan--
Cronin---Harmse--De Rosario---Ricketts
------Barrett-----------------Vitti-------
--Wynne---Velez---Serioux---Brennan--
Cronin---Harmse--De Rosario---Ricketts
------Barrett-----------------Vitti-------
Frei 6 (Sutton 7), Wynne 6, Velez 5, Serioux 6, Brennan 6, Cronin 7, Harmse 5, De Rosario 7, Ricketts 5 (Smith 6), Barrett 5 (Dichio 6), Vitti 7
Man of the Match: N/A. No one was overwhelmingly good this weekend. I thought DeRo, Cronin, and Vitti we all very good though.
Overall Thoughts
You could definitely tell that Robbo and Guevara were away. We weren't able to hold the ball in the midfield as well as we were last weekend, and our attack lacked that extra creativity that Guevara brings. It's also a lot nicer going forward knowing that Carl Robinson is holding down the fort, as oppose to Kevin Harmse. Fortunately for us, the Crew were missing some key players as well which somewhat canceled out our losses. Seeing our full team against their full team later this season will be interesting.
I hate to rag on our guys, but Chad Barrett hasn't exactly gotten off to a flier this year. Pablo Vitti looked a lot better playing off of Danny Dichio in the last 20 minutes than he did in the 70 previous minutes playing alongside Barrett.
Speaking of Vitti, I was very encouraged by his play. No, he didn't score, but his off-the ball movement was fantastic. He showed that he's not afraid to take on defenders, and that he can hold up the ball and pick out the right pass. He looks like the type of striker that will get the ball and play it into another player looking for a return ball to run on to. He seemed very comfortable knocking balls in to Dichio and trying for that return pass. I'm hoping he starts against Seattle on Saturday, because I'd love to see him play with our full team.
Greg Sutton was awesome on the second half. He was on and off this pre-season because of injuries, but stepped in and did brilliantly, making some very key saves. He had to be on his game as well, because our defense wasn't doing our goalkeepers any favours. Am I the only one who can barely watch when Marco Velez is running towards our net? He is damn lucky that header back to Sutton in injury time worked out. I thought that as a whole, our linkup between our defense and our midfield was very weak.
I'm going to tip my hat to the folks in the Nordecke. The difference in that corner between this year and last year is night and day. It looks awesome when the entire stadium is bowing to Schelotto, but sounds really dumb when they chant "USA, USA!" I don't care if we caused it or not - but their support is much better now than it was at this time last year. Don't worry though - I still hate everything about the Crew. I'm just trying to be "objective" or something.
Our support was pretty damn good as well. I think that a few too many took this weekend as a "be hammered for 30 hours" opportunity though. Either that, or they didn't know the words to any of our chants - I mean, really, what road-tripping supporter doesn't know the the Forza TFC by now? Despite this, the turnout was fantastic yet again. It wasn't as much as last year, but we still filled that south end of Crew Stadium. We were at our best when all of us supporters were singing the same thing - and things to support our team (none of this "we have free health care" stuff). John Carver loved it too. You may have noticed he was pumping us up after the final whistle. Gotta love JC.
A draw away to the league champions is a good result, though I'd obviously prefer the win. We have four road points in two games this year. Last year, we had ten points in fifteen away matches. We've been much better on the road thus far, and if we can be better at home than we were last year, we're set.
Box Score
Toronto FC - 1
Goals: Gino Padula 84' (own goal)
Cards: N/A
Columbus Crew - 1
Goals: Guillermo Barros Schelotto 30' (penalty)
Cards: N/A
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1 comments:
De Ro a 7 really? I don't think he played a stinker but those shots that he rocketed into row Z were terrible. I say a 6.
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