Wasted opportunities and a fortunate escape. That’s the oddly unsurprising tale of Toronto FC’s 0-0 saw-off in Seattle.
Anyone who still thinks scoreless soccer is uneventful obviously missed this one. The Torontos, weakened by yellow-card suspensions to both holding midfielder Carl Robinson and back-line hard man Adrian Serioux, clearly took the field believing that a rampant offence could at least be an adequate defence.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Almost immediately, Dwayne DeRosario rounded Sounders’ netkeep Casey Kellar, but was left so cross-footed that his tough-angle right-footer at a gaping empty goal actually went wide after smacking into his own left foot.
Then DeRo hooked an utterly gorgeous outswinging cross perfectly to the head of a diving Chad Barrett – who missed.
Next thing you know, Amado Guevara rockets one off the crossbar, and it’s all Toronto and the shell-shocked Sounders are lucky not be down at least a pair. CBC commentators Nigel Reed and Jason DeVos actually said the Redcoats were “in ascendency” three times in under two minutes.
Ah, but that which ascends ….
Seattle managed to get the game on a more even footing by halftime, and always seemed the more likely side to break through after the break.
Same old script, right? Miss after miss after TFC miss. But then – thank some combination of luck, mercy and one other thing – the game deviated from the script. Toronto FC did not – did NOT – give up a late howler to lose the game.
Oh, they tried. Huge breakdowns and some pretty nifty MicroStarSoftBucks passing sent the Seattles home-free a couple of times. But rookie goalie Stefan Frei was crucially and clinically there, and the three points that should have been, were safely coalesced into one point that could easily have been lost.
Is that a satisfying result? I … guess. Turns out Seattle is many times worse at scoring in the last 10 minutes than TFC is at hairballing up gift goals.
I’m not going to knock DeRo for missing that sitter, because he’s contributed enough this season to convince me that was a very tough chance. But how many more sitters does Chad Barrett get to miss?
Okay, a full-on diving header is probably never easy. But the cross was astonishing, folks. No Sounder – including their magnificent goaltender – had any chance at all to keep it from reaching the perfect set-up spot. And Barrett was there! The dive looked perfect! The ball … just kinda glanced off the wrong side of his forehead, and nestled into touch well wide of the near left post.
See, there’s a reason the press went to bat for Danny Dichio this past week. We’ve just pretty much all noticed that Toronto FC creates more – and scores pretty well – when the allegedly half-crippled, too-battered, too-old, defence-distorting human mayhem machine is on the pitch. Now I can’t honestly say Dichio – who didn’t play but at least, after all that, made the trip – would have won this game. But I’d have liked to see him try. Ali Gerba, too, who relieved Barrett an hour in, but then undercut the argument by not being any kind of factor.
I don’t know what either of them would do – but I do know what Chad Barrett does, and he did it again today. Okay, at least this one didn’t fly harmlessly into the goalie’s arms, but only because it was nodded hopelessly wide.
Frustration like I’m feeling isn’t born out of one game, folks – and pretty much every Toronto FC fan is nodding their heads as they read that. You can never say an early miss cost anyone a win. But way too many people are thinking it anyway.
< /dead horse >
TFC coach Chris Cummins did make a couple of nervy line-up decisions in this one, and they’re worth a look. With no Robinson, it made perfect sense to put impressive rookie Sam Cronin in the main holding spot. But alongside him, Cummins called 18-year-old Gambian rookie Amadou Sanyang – to face down Freddies Montero and Ljungberg in a shifting and dangerous Seattle attack. This, instead of slotting Guevara back there, and letting Pablo Vitti run pointless and pretty.
It actually worked out fairly well. Toronto’s attacking start eased the pressure for most of the opening half. Meanwhile, young defenders Nana Attakora and Emmanuel Gomez continued their steady play, allowing Marvell Wynne to prowl the right wing, where his speed caused a couple of bad headaches for the home side.
So – a draw, which should have been a win, which could have been a loss. Been a few of those lately, huh?
Onward!