Ah, young soccer players.
Promise, potential – and won’t they just drive you nuts every now and then?
Or – in the context of Toronto FC’s 0-2 loss to Chicago on Saturday ….
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Chad Barrett: Again, he missed a lot of shots and didn’t score. But I saw a couple of things I really liked.
For a guy famous for losing his focus when he gets close to opposing nets with a soccer ball on his feet, Chad showed some highly focused grit a couple of times in this one.
There’s actually a high-angle replay of the Amado Guevara shot that belted the Windy City crossbar after the Fire had taken a 1-0 lead. The ball comes back into play, but it’s a major-league pop up. Barrett is well behind the play, in heavy traffic – and his eyes light up like Christmas in Las Vegas. He forces his way in, never once taking his eye of the ball. Not only does he get there first, he does very well to head the rebound just over the bar. Yeah, he missed, but wow!
A few minutes later, the ball – as it so often does – falls dead at Barrett’s feet, in the Fire area, just off the right post. The snake-bit striker blasts a wicked volley – superbly struck – which ‘keeper Jon Busch needs fine reflexes and both fists to turn away. I wouldn’t even call that a miss.
Four non-goals for Barrett on the day, but none of them the sad, soggy efforts so much bandwidth has been squandered decrying. Some days you do great, and the ball doesn’t go in. This, I submit, was one of those.
Stefan Frei: TFC’s phemon rookie netminder was pretty ordinary in this one. His worst decision was the costliest. With Chicago’s Chris Rolfe barreling in on him all alone, Frei was hesitant coming off the line. When he finally got religion and went for it, he led with his leg instead of his body. Rolfe had more than enough time to sidestep the narrower, lighter obstacle, easily rounding Frei to tap in what proved to be the winning goal.
Frei, of course, is learning. This was a good lesson.
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The loss, of course, could easily have been avoided had the Reds’ strike force been able to convert any of the numerous consecutive chances they set up for themselves after Toronto fell behind. Barrett, Vitti, Guevara, DeRo – all had fine chances that never found twine.
Seeing what was happening, TFC coach Chris Cummins bolstered his attack late by yanking centre back Marco Velez to make way for veteran target man Danny Dichio. A classic “What are we going to do, lose?” ploy, aimed at going all-out – not just for the draw, but for the win.
The chances kept coming … and going. Chicago got one ball worked into all that abandoned real estate in front of the Toronto goal, and easily crafted it into goal number two – an empty-net nudge job for MLS leading goal scorer Brian McBride.
A loss, then – Cummins’ first – but a better effort than the Torontos put out in the draw with Columbus and, I think, the Voyageurs Cup win over Vancouver.
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And, a note on the hand ball call that wasn’t:
It wasn’t.
This, of course, the bounding ball in the Chicago area that hit the arm of Wilman Conde of the Fire. No call, and Chicago immediately pushed the ball the length of the field to score their first goal.
The rule MLS refs have been ordered to enforce this year – which has burned TFC’s Marvell Wynne twice and let Conde walk – has to do with using your arms to increase your width. Conde’s arms were entirely within the line of his torso, where Wynne’s were famously flapping like he’d been cleared for takeoff at Bedrock airport.
The ball hit a teammate, then hit Conde. TFC were already vacating the zone. Classic ball-to-hand, in other words. I believe the ref got this one right – although the ultimate timing of the play sure won’t be sitting well with Toronto fans.
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After the match, a frustrated Dwayne DeRosario told the CBC directly that BMO’s Field’s artificial turf is killing the team, and has got to go. There are still huge legal, bureaucratic and financial obstacles to grass at the Ex, but it will be interesting to see how DeRo’s honest anger shakes things up.
Onward!