RS Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Just a heads up to anyone who wants to watch some footy tonight, TFC hosts River Plate in a friendly (the "Carlsberg Cup") at 7:30 ET. The match will be streamed live on Toronto FC TV. Because tonight's match is a "cup" game, if it is tied at the end of 90 minutes they will go to penalties. This happened last year with Pachuca. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmcmurph Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Thanks Rudi. Should be interesting to see the line up with Ali and O'Brian in there. 1/2 each? We shall see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmcmurph Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Edwards looked good. He didn't seem rusty at all. He didn't get tested in close but handled the ball very well. Got a look at a lot of players you don't normally see. Gala also looked good. 20k on a Wed night for a non-league, non-CCL game. Good turnout. On to the Crew and breaking their hopes of setting the MLS home games without a loss record Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 0-0 after 90, River Plate win 4-3 on PK's after the 6th shooter. Gerba, Barrett and Garcia scored on the theirs while Dichio, Vitti and Velez missed their shots, with Vitti and Velez sailing their shots over the crossbar. Vitti was given the man of the match award for his efforts. Though to be fair to him, the River Plate was racing off his line well before each Toronto player shot and was three or four yards off the line by the time the ball was struck, which I think encouraged the TFC shooters to go high. Each of those PK's should have been re-taken if the Ref was bothering to stick anywhere close to the rules, but with this match putting the "less" in meaningless I guess he couldnt' be bothered. The exception was Gerba, who only took a one-step run-up before he slammed the ball into the net - the short run up meant that the keeper wasn't able to cheat as much. Biggest mystery after watching tonight's game is how Gabe Gala hasn't gotten any playing time this year, particularly when we were giving time to the likes of Johan Smith. Every cross he put into the box tonight was dangerous and he had a great pass up to De Ro which led's to Gerba's great chance - and miss as he wasn't able to drag his foot back far enough to knock the ball into a gaping net. Gomez was good in the air but his play on the ground suggested to me that he's nowhere near ready to start in this league, and O'Brian White looked extremely rusty and not in game shape. Surprisingly he didn't take any of the 6 Pk's, despite being on the field at the time. First time since house league that I've seen a match where players were subbed in and out, with De Ro, Brennan, Vitti, Wynne and Gerba all subbed out and then subbed back in again (and a couple of them were subbed back out again). Nana left the game late with some kind of injury, but didn't look serious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Game in six minutes for those interested - note how much Gala is involved in the Toronto chances to score: http://torontofc.neulion.com/tfc/console.jsp?catid=2&id=899 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 I went to watched the game with an Argentinean friend who is a diehard fan of river plate and told me that on the field, there was only one player who plays for the first team and he's not even a starter. The rest were all U-20s from the youth system, I don't get it, why bring teams that come here just to collect a paycheck without any regards for the fan who pays for a ticket to see the real thing. TFC should demand that any team that plays them in a friendly should at least have 6 starters in the starting lineup. My friend showed me where the 11 starters for River were when the game started, and none of them were on the field, they were just enjoying the game from the sideline not even dressed to sit in the bench....pure bs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocket Robin Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 but we paid twice the price of a regular ticket and saw maybe over half of the TFC starters. River Plate starters wore 1-11 numbers tonight but the Wikipedia list has the players that played wearing mostly from 20 to 40 so something was up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca Gomez was good in the air but his play on the ground suggested to me that he's nowhere near ready to start in this league,... I suspect Gomez might be there to a certain extent to make sure there isn't another Abbe Ibrahim situation with Amadou Sanyang, who seemed to get most of the press in terms of being a hot prospect for the future. On Gala was there not some issue with his attitude getting him cut from the U-20 national team earlier in the season that might have contributed to Johann Smith getting the playing time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 IIRC the concern with Gala was that he wasn't in shape & that's why he was cut from the U20 team. That was back in March though, so one hopes that Paul Winsper had earned his salary in the several months since then. In the post game interview Dasovic does make a comment about a lack of consistency with Gala, so perhaps that was the issue. Although I would still take a player who is inconsistent but occasionally good over someone who is consistently useless (ie. Smith). In any event Dasovic did say that Gala "made a statement" with his play last night, so hopefully he'll start getting some time in 1st team games soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Apparently Nick Dasovic took over the coaching duties for last nights game. Classy move by Nick to give the captains arm band to Pablo Vitti who was also named MOTM. Edwards look reliable in net, but didn't do much in the shootout. Gomez looked competent most of the time (except for a bad giveaway that led to a breakaway that got closed down by Marvell Wynne) and seems poised to make Velez redundant. Wynne was unbeatable down the right flank, the River attacking players were nowhere near as fast as he is. Gala looked dangerous on a number of occassions, i really hope he gets another chance to strut his stuff. Gerba missed a couple of good scoring chances, hopefully he can turn it around. White got involved a few times, but didn't really get any clear chances that i can remember. At the end of the match we had Dichio, Gerba, White, Barrett and Vitti all on the field at the same time (4-1-2-3). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free kick Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 We saw a first last night. I dont recall the last time I saw this but a couple of players who were subbed out were allow to be subbed back in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john tv Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Having my seats about five rows above the players bench gave me the great opportunity to observe the skills and decision making of our players. They came out smelling like a rose. We have some very smart players well skilled and very motivated. In one on one situations they held their own which pleased me a lot.It was indeed a pleasure to watch. The only thing I wondered about is that Gerba seems to be overweight although it did not seem to hinder him yet I wonder if he lost some weight would it not be a lot better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 I went to the game with a friend who I bring out occasionally. Just before half he pointed to a player and remarked how good he looked, fast, bulldoggish in the tackle, skilled. Said, "never noticed him before, who is that?" My reply "young guy, never plays for some reason, name's Gabe Gala". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmcmurph Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Rocket Robin but we paid twice the price of a regular ticket and saw maybe over half of the TFC starters. River Plate starters wore 1-11 numbers tonight but the Wikipedia list has the players that played wearing mostly from 20 to 40 so something was up. Saving all their good players to face Everton on Saturday in Edmonton would be my guess. Good game still but River Plate didn't penetrate the box much if at all and were content with some long range shots and set plays. Ali almost had his first for TFC twice! On the first one the pass from Dero was just a touch too far behind him to get a foot on and the second one he got on goal but the goalie got it with his foot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuscan Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 I'd much rather see Ali get his first against Columbus this Saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 So Nana's injury is serious enough to force him to miss the next game, possibly longer: http://toronto.fc.mlsnet.com/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20090723&content_id=6016930&vkey=news_t280&fext=.jsp&team=t280 Not good news, especially given the complete lack of importance of the game last night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free kick Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca So Nana's injury is serious enough to force him to miss the next game, possibly longer: http://toronto.fc.mlsnet.com/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20090723&content_id=6016930&vkey=news_t280&fext=.jsp&team=t280 Not good news, especially given the complete lack of importance of the game last night. At one point (late in second half) he got in into a very brief pushing match with an opponent. It was hardly noticable but it is something totally out of character. Wonder if this was the injury occured Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Time to stop these absurd midseason friendlies. Unfortunately with a hamstring injury it could easily be several weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john tv Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Hey guys am I the only one that noticed Gerba to be overweight,or don't you know what soccer players are suppose to look,to much baseball? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmcmurph Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 quote:Originally posted by john tv Hey guys am I the only one that noticed Gerba to be overweight,or don't you know what soccer players are suppose to look,to much baseball? The Charles Barkley of soccer? Some players are not "ripped" type of physique but more of the solid thick types (Tevez & Brazil's Ronoldo for examples). Just because they have a different body type doesn't mean they aren't effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john tv Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 I have never seen a player that bulky and played at his best ability.He needs to loose at least 10 k and he will be a lot more agile and productive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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