There are different ways to allow stoppage time goals.
There is the way TFC usually does it – catastrophic, darkly funny and generally a cluster-you-know-what.
Then there is the way it happened last night – a world class strike pulled out of the collective ass of their opponent.
The former is reason to fret about and demand heads over. The latter provides a case to shake your head and wonder when this team’s luck is going to turn itself around.
TFC has been unlucky this year. They’ve been crap a lot too, but to discount the fact that they’ve had an unusual amount of goal-line clearances and hit posts is to be unfair and incomplete in your evaluation of the club’s overall performance.
The Whitecaps did not deserve the 1-1 draw last night. Our friends on the west coast may wish to spin their team’s performance, but the bottom line was that one team played like a bottom-of-the-table dud last night and it wasn’t the one wearing red.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
No matter how you choose to evaluate the game there were positives for TFC. It was without a doubt the best they’ve ever played in Vancouver (which, albeit, isn’t saying a hell of a lot) and it was maybe one of the best road games it’s played all-time (again, not saying much, but…).
Within the context of the tie it’s also a good result. Whenever you go into the road leg and you come away with an away goal -- and even on the night -- you should fly home happy. Once TFC got over the shock of Eric Hassli’s truly beautiful volley (which nine times out of 10 ends up in row Z), they will be happy about where they stand.
The truth is a 1-0 loss would have been an OK result coming home – anything that kept them in the tie. To be tied with a slight away goal advantage is the stuff of dreams within the context of this season. If the Reds can duplicate that performance at home, playing in a game that, likely, will matter more to them than Vancouver (The Whitecaps haven’t effectively eliminated themselves from a playoff spot in May) then we may bizarrely see Champions League football at BMO again this year.
Beyond that the game should be something to build off of. They played with confidence and certainly not like an o-8 team. If you have a chance to re-watch the game, look for the energy they were showing in the second half in pressing the Whitecaps in the midfield – they were stepping up and giving the Caps no room to operate.
The return of Danny Koevermans in the second half was of particular importance. The Dutchman played a smart, effective game that might have been lost to the casual observer. He was playing deeper than you might expect and a key part of the defensive approach.
Doneil Henry played an aggressive and effective game at the back and may be close to claiming the full-time starting position. Henry is undoubtedly the one nice story in this disaster of a season.
Ryan Johnson looked lively again and did well to direct the ball into the goal.
It was Julian de Guzman’s perfect ball that gave Johnson the chance to score.
Most importantly, no one played poorly and in 2012, with TFC, that’s a near miracle.
And, most, most importantly they are in with a chance to win their fourth straight Voyageurs Cup.