Late Wednesday evening, down at the Dufferin Gate pub in Parkdale, there was a sudden moment of silence, followed by a whole bunch of swearing.
Not angry swearing. This was amazed swearing. Happy, relieved swearing. “If you’re happy and you know it, cuss!” swearing.
The Toronto FC-Montreal Impact highlights were up on the video screens, and this was the first time U-Sector got a really good look at Chad Barrett’s goal.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
The embattled TFC striker had scored a blinder’s blinder – but he’d done it at the north end of BMO Field. U-Sector sit in the south, where you can certainly see every player on the field, but the inner subtlety of a lot of what happens out there isn’t always clear.
They knew it was good. Now, they know it was great.
Barrett didn’t even start this game. Amid rising frustration over the young striker’s chronic ability to turn wide-open chances into grinning, grateful goaltenders, Barrett hit the pine while TFC coach Chris Cummins trotted out yet another intriguing, innovative starting line-up.
4-4-2, with embattled defender Marvell Wynne pushed up to right midfield, and impressive youngster Nana Attakora given the start at right fullback. TFC controls the ball easily and wonderfully in this shape, but Wynne pulls up with a hamstring twang early, and Barrett gets his chance.
So what does he serve up, with the pressure oddly off and no one really expecting anything? Brilliance.
The ball comes in from captain Jim Brennan on the wing, a well-struck roller right at Barrett’s feet. Chad flips it into the air, stumbles slightly, then rockets a deadly right-foot volley over the goalie, under the crossbar, explosively smack into the back-centre of the net.
BMO Field explodes.
‘Cause this is the revenge game, people. This is payback for last July 22, when Montreal squeaked out a 1-1 draw, and nabbed the Voyageurs Cup – and a coveted place in the new CONCACAF Champions League – right from under the noses of the red-shirted favourites from MLS. Great story and good luck to them, but BMO Field last night didn’t want to know about another freakin’ upset.
It’s Barrett’s third goal of the year in all competitions. And they’ve been good – this one, exceptional.
Ah, but it’s always hit-and-mish-mash with this guy. In the second half, he tries another flip-and-fire. This one misfires badly. Then he’s in all alone on goalie Matt Jordan, who comes w-a-y out, dives, flails an arm at Barrett’s feet, and knocks the ball away.
But there’s second-half brilliance, as well. Barrett scoots in from the wing, runs on to the ball from nowhere, beats two defenders and rolls a shot just agonizingly past the post. It’s almost a twin for the dance-and-shoot wundermiss youthful teammate Pablo Vitti laid on Chivas USA a couple of weeks back.
Barrett’s got three more goals than Vitti, but Vitti gets better press. Barrett’s also got a four-year contract, while Vitti is kicking around the Lake Ontario waterfront on loan.
So Toronto’s got an unpredictable, inexplicable talent in Chad Barrett, who can miss and miss and then set off stunned gasps in the bar when the south-side supporters finally see what he really, actually did to score that wonderful, wonderful goal.
The lack of a second goal could matter though. Can’t put that on all on Barrett’s bill, with Dwayne DeRosario and Sam Cronin bonking goalposts and other nice chances going begging. But if either Montreal or Vancouver sweeps the other in the next two V-Cup matches – cooking up something stronger than TFC’s matching pair of 1-0 wins – goal difference could again become a nasty reality when the Reds go on the road to conclude this not-yet-concluded round-robin.
Barrett did great. TFC’s up six points. Fans who filed glumly out in a black cloud of silence after last year’s upset stood cheering and waving and singing and pounding and laughing in their seats for twenty delicious minutes past the final whistle.
Now they wait to see if he – and the team – can seal the deal.
Onward!