Toronto FC vs. Chicago Fire May 8th

[jpg75]

3 points for the good guys? Discuss.

[stevieeatworld]

I see a win today

[Danny Boy]

be nice if a Canadian team beat a team from Chicago for once.

[stevieeatworld]

be nice if a Canadian team beat a team from Chicago for once.

this.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Frei, Usanov, Cann, Attakora, Gargan, Peterson, Sanyang, de Guzman, LaBrocca, De Rosario, Barrett Subs: Conway, Garcia, Cronin, White, Saric, Gala, Hscanovics

[jonovision]

This match is nearly unwatchable, with all of the wind.

[stevieeatworld]

i have a feeling Chicago will do a better job of capitalizing on the wind in the 2nd half

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

This game might have been postponed in countries where there is no air travel involved with away games. A second goal would have been nice as Chicago have a big advantage now. All down to how much TFC want it. Sanyang is not doing that great. That might be one place to look for a switch for someone who can keep the ball down a bit more and maintain possession on the deck through the midfield with JDG. Peterson has also had a quiet game relative to LaBrocca.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

White for Peterson is no huge shock, in my opinion.

Edit: Looking positively inspired now.

[stevieeatworld]

excellent result to a great 2nd half! Definitely sweet to get a win like that before this team heads out for a 3 game road trip.

[TheKottonmouthed1555362307]

Great result, odd game due to wind.

Loved the LaBrocca strike, someone needs to youtube it with music and people will start to think he's a stellar striker.

Defintely the sort of result Preki has got to love, you work hard and bounces will go in your favour. Nothing is a killer more than a bad bounce and Chicago was on the end of them today at BMO.

I thought JDG had a strong game, seemed he was able to read and play the ball better than most in the unfavorable conditions. Cann and Nana are getting stronger every game together it seems, I like what I see from the fullbacks as well as group Gargan, Usanov, and Hscanovics have fared decent.

I have a suspicion Cronin may want out. He was rumored to be in the middle of the USA/Canadian player split last season in the locker room. Since the Canadians ain't going anywhere on TFC. This maybe the reason we are seeing Saric and Sanyang be favoured, even though the 2 of them are slightly below Cronin in quality (not saying Cronin is spectacular, but he's better than Sanyang/Saric in the middle with JDG).

[jpg75]

That was a positively awesome game! Yeah, we caught some lucky breaks, but who cares. 4-1 is 4-1 and i'll take it anytime...

[The Ref]

Chicago being a windy city, it looked like the team just didn't remember how to play with wind. Great and deserved win for TFC.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

The Paul James verdict on the game:-

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/soccer/james-on-soccer/toronto-fc-thump-chicago-fire/article1562152/

Think the difference on Barrett's finishing over last year is that he took both goals with his left foot as the flow of the game dictated and basically just tried to pass the ball into the net. Last year, especially on his second goal, he probably would have tried to force it onto his stronger right foot and would have blasted it wide or way over the bar.

[Juby]

wow, did anybody else get to watch like 3 hours of good footie yesterday? I saw the first half of the impact game, watched the 2nd half and first half of both games (saw all the goals including placentino's game winne)r and then saw a second half dismantling at bmo field. It was about one of the most satisfying couple of hours watching soccer I've ever had.

edit: and if anyones got the video pm me, I wouldn't mind making a comp out of that game (the impact game too for that matter)

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Given I watched the final of the Irish Cup (Linfield vs Portadown) in addition to TFC vs the Fire I wasn't quite so lucky on the high quality soccer side of things. Having just waded my way through the highlights for this weekend around the league I'm starting to get the impression that the recent expansion has diluted the quality a bit in MLS. Next weekend will be a good test of where TFC are at right now in Preki's rebuilding process. LA have been the most impressive team by a considerable distance so far this season, in my opinion.

[BearcatSA]

The positives: OBW and Barrett not wasting golden opportunities and thus putting the Fire to the sword; the work of the CBs in making McBride anonymous; DeRo being goal provider instead of scorer.

Points of concern: the two fullbacks having to deal with a wing threat 1 v 1, especially Barney Rubble Gargan on the left (what does it tell you about Hiscanovics if Gargan is playing ahead of him there? I was surprised that Nyarko switched to the other flank when he looked to have the clear measure of Gargan and would give the Fire the best opportunity to provide crossing service for McBride); Peterson had no impact on the match.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Interesting how threads like this here and elsewhere have become so quiet now that TFC are looking in reasonable shape. When there is no simple slogan like "Mo must go" for people to parrot over and over many clearly have nothing to add.

I thought it was noteworthy that Hscanovics came on for DeRosario so Gargan could move to right mid. That means he isn't out of the picture given Sam Cronin could easily have been used at right mid instead but definitely suggests that Cronin isn't flavour of the month with Preki. I suspect there was a concern initially over how Hscanovics would do against Nyarko but that faded given how Nyarko wound up doing during the game.

Think people need to be realistic about the quality they are likely to see from players in MLS once you move beyond the top 6 to 8 players on the roster who make in excess of 150k. Usanov is doing an adequate if unspectacular job right now and Hscanovics is not too far away from doing OK as well, in my opinion, but may be finding it a big adjustment from playing in the Latvian league, which is far from being one of Europe's strongest.

[earlimus]

Chicago being a windy city, it looked like the team just didn't remember how to play with wind. Great and deserved win for TFC.

I'm not positive, but I've heard that it's actually not a windy city, and the name comes from the people there always bragging about their city to New Yorkers way back in the 20's and 30's, and thus they were "full of wind" (ie. bull****). Or something along those lines.

[JimmyJames]

We have always been strong at home,..Good teams need to win on the Road....look at what happened to Gillingham in League One...12 Wins at home...impressive...0 on the road...back to League Two...the recent criticism on this site should not be tossed aside just because we won at home...three games on the road....4-6 points out of those matches may justify a more positive outlook.

[Gian-Luca]

We have always been strong at home,..Good teams need to win on the Road....look at what happened to Gillingham in League One...12 Wins at home...impressive...0 on the road...back to League Two...the recent criticism on this site should not be tossed aside just because we won at home...three games on the road....4-6 points out of those matches may justify a more positive outlook.

Agreed. There are encouraging signs and maintaining a perfect home record is not to be easily dismissed - but the true test is the ability to perform on the road. I've noticed that TFC is rarely able to pressure teams on the road on hold on to possession for very long, whereas despite the lack of success of those teams, they can actually do that to Toronto in Toronto. Until TFC can start to pressure and maintain possession on the road for significant stretches of time, it's going to be difficult.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

And the reason for thinking they won't be able to get results away from home is two games played before the roster was fully assembled and two played at altitude straight after midweek games? Not too concerned about that angle personally because I think Preki has weeded out the weak characters and has assembled a squad with the right sort of mentality. I'd say the biggest worry right now is that the squad lacks sufficient quality in depth due to money wasted one way or another on Robinson, Gerba and Garcia (that could easily add up to three well paid starters worth against the cap), the injuries to Gomez and Harden and Preki's apparent reluctance to use Sam Cronin. An injury or suspension to one of four players (all Canadian) would be very damaging to form in subsequent games right now. Hopefully everything goes OK on that up to the World Cup break and that issue can start to be addressed based on the use of prorated salaries for players added midway through the season.

[Guest Ed]

Well the ref must have confused Barret with some 50-cap US nat team vet. I would have carded his ass about 10 seconds into his 2nd of about 5 in the ref's face incidents. What a putz.

[AvroArrow]

And the reason for thinking they won't be able to get results away from home is two games played before the roster was fully assembled

Thank you for summarizing Mo's most glaring error thus far in 2010: Failing to assemble a full roster at the beginning of the season and using the first couple of games as an extended training camp. As we learned last year, throwing away points at the beginning can haunt you at the end.

[jpg75]

Mo must Go!