The tie is far from over. That's the thing TFC fans have to hold onto this morning following a tepid performance against Montreal Wednesday night in the first leg of the Amway Canadian Championship final.
Although Toronto hardly impressed, Montreal is beatable. The Voyageurs Cup is still very much up for grabs.
Once again the story was TFC's inability to create. The only true scoring chances came from moments of individual brilliance -- Doneil Henry's powerful header for the goal, DeRo coming oh so close to finally getting a goal with a long-range effort.
On the other side of the ball it was a moment of individual skill that got Montreal on the board as well. Justin Mapp, maybe Montreal's best player this year, with one for the ages.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
The goals couldn't hide what was a fairly dreadful game. It's becoming harder and harder to defend the tactics TFC trots out each week (although, that said, they are undefeated in three games on the trot). They always seem to be chasing the game.
It's baffling. They should have more of the ball. They have more talent than the possession suggests.
Less baffling, but frustrating to many, was Ryan Nelsen's line-up choices. He was upfront about the fact that he was resting players for this weekend's game with Columbus. That won't sit well with many, but you can understand it from his perspective.
No one talks about TFC's four Voyageurs Cups. Everyone talks about seven playoff-free seasons.
Nelsen needs to make the playoffs and the blunt truth is the CCL will make that more difficult.
Does that mean the Reds aren't going to try and win next week? Of course not. But, it probably does mean we can expect another B line-up.
It might be enough. Montreal is on that poor of form. If it isn't, no one on the coaching staff will lose sleep over it and no one will lose their job over it.
We are attempting to raise funds to keep the site running through to the end of 2015 (and hopefully beyond).
We are 50 percent of the way to our goal of $2,400.
There are four ways to donate.
1) You can send an EMT to CSNDonation@gmail.com. (Make password BloodyBigDeal)
2) You can make a PayPal donation to dgrollins@gmail.com
3) You can make a cash donation to me in person (I will be at BMO Field on Wednesday -- email me for my phone number to arrange a meet up)
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Thanks to all that have contributed so far and thanks to those who are considering a contribution.