Three points in Cali

It was an ugly win, but it was a win nonetheless. Three more points to our total locking us up in a tie with Chicago Fire for first in the East for the time-being. Let's just say I'll take it.

After the busiest start to a season in our club's brief history, the guys were coming into this one well rested having not played any matches in two weeks, and if you ask me, it showed. It was sort of a rejuvenating win - it seemed like the unofficial opening match of the second half of our season, and to take three points on the road is a good start, regardless of the opponent.

All in all, it was probably Chad Barrett's best outing of the season. His first goal was brilliantly taken and his second, well, sometimes the bounces do go our way. Seeing Pablo Vitti score again was very nice as well. He had one of his better matches of the year, causing the San Jose defenders problems for the better part of the 90 minutes. Another man you can't count out is DeRo, who got two assists, including a fantastic looping ball that set up Barrett's first.

I've heard it said that when you're playing on the road in MLS a good start is key. You have to stay organized defensively and not concede early on. We did this last night, and got an early lead to boot. About a half hour after our first goal, some typical TFC defending helped give Darren Huckerby an equalizer, but we were more than up to the task in the second half, and I thought we eventually ran the Quakes off of the pitch. Were it not for Joe Cannon, the score could have easily been 4-1 or 5-1, and it's not very often you can say things like that about Toronto FC on the road.

Both Pablo Vitti and Chad Barrett's starting roles are under threat with O'Brian White's near-recovery and the addition of Canadian international Ali Gerba, and I think we're already seeing that the players who want to play have to perform. Both players' total goal output for the season was doubled last night.

As much as I regard Frank Yallop highly as a manager, that San Jose Earthquakes team he's put together looks simply awful. They look out of sync and they were playing with virtually no heart yesterday. They've missed Darren Huckerby for the majority of this season which is a huge loss for them, but with guys like Aaron Pitchkolan and Galaxy-reject Brandon McDonald playing significant central roles, I don't get the impression that the overall talent of this Earthquakes team is very high.

The Quakes are in last in the West, and it showed, but they had been getting some results as of late, so to beat them on the road is a pretty satisfying feeling. I was sort of expecting a win last night, but I wasn't holding my breath. We're 7-6-4 now, and have a date with the league-leading Houston Dynamo at BMO Field next Saturday. We have to get something out of that one.