TFC vs. Portland Sat. March 26th, 2011

[BearcatSA]

I liked the first goal: good things happen when Santos drops deeper into a playmaking role and feeds the diagonal run of DeRo.

[Prof]

Stevonovich, Santos, Stinson and Zavarisi played very strong games in the mid. Martina and Gordon did a good job up front also holding on to the ball before passing it off. My prediction either DeRossario or DeGuzman or both will be gone before the season ends.

[jpg75]

Stevonovich, Santos, Stinson and Zavarisi played very strong games in the mid. Martina and Gordon did a good job up front also holding on to the ball before passing it off. My prediction either DeRossario or DeGuzman or both will be gone before the season ends.

You're thinking of Sturgis.

[dbailey62]

DeRo possibly depending on how the others do on the scoresheet but JDG ain't goin' anywhere.

[Gian-Luca]

You're thinking of Sturgis.

And he certainly didn't have a strong game - he's the obvious candidate to be dropped when De Guzman comes back, assuming that he isn't even before then.

[Gian-Luca]

Petrescu isn't the dumbass you could tell from the body language that Yourassowsky was *****ing at the ref, in fact it looked to me like he sought him out

If anyone was seeking anyone out, it would have been Petrescu, who didn't call a single thing Yourassowsky's way the whole game.

[killgod]

Stevonovich, Santos, Stinson and Zavarisi played very strong games in the mid. Martina and Gordon did a good job up front also holding on to the ball before passing it off. My prediction either DeRossario or DeGuzman or both will be gone before the season ends.

Stevonavic? You mean the same guy that didn't know where to be on the pitch (not his fault) and turned the ball over with just about every touch (not entirely his fault either). I'm glad he's here and think he will contribute to the team once he becomes used to the team and adjusts to MLS's more physical aggressive play, but today he was for the most part...lost. I don't see how anyone can say he played a strong game for us today but I'm also not blaming him for it.

Not sure where those 2 guys would be off to, DeRo still wants to be here and has contributed in both matches. He's still a quality player and part of the team...why move him?

De Guzman makes far too much coin for a def mid in MLS, so not thinking anyone goes for him. Regardless, he's still yet to factor into the team to really suggest anything IMO. If I had to, I'd say he's going to fit into the team quite well when he's ready, but who knows I guess.

I do want to add a thought, on the first goal. I think that has to be contributed to Winter and the coaching staff. The possession driven philosophy is what I believe sparked DeRo to drop it back to Martina so close to the goal. Any other TFC season with any player, they'd be a typical MLS player and try to force a shot or earn a corner, instead the play was extended and possession was kept....leading to the goal. I'm not an expert on the sport, but that's how I saw that first goal play out from the top of 111. Thoughts?

One last thing, I don't know why people aren't giving Yourasskowsky more credit, he was decent playing LB. Defensively, he made some mistakes and against better teams it could be costly, but when we had possession I thought he was very much part of the flow and helped generate the attack. Huge upgrade over having a guy like Cann over there, and Cann too looked much better in his natural position. I hope he gets more time at LB, but in any case I do like him being on the pitch with what TFC is trying to do.

[kcisoul]

He was probably complaining - along with his coaches - that he was being subbed off because he was f'ing injured (having just been off the pitch to receive treatment) and only an arrogant prick of a Ref would expect an injured player to go sprinting off the field in a substitution. It didn't hurt TFC for the game as it was 2-0 with just 5 minutes left but screws them for the next game as well as the Canadian U20 team - no way is Winter going to let Morgan go back to the U20's now (unless they appeal the decision). Way to hurt your country's soccer program Petrescu, you dumb ass!

Do you really think that the ref excepted him to "spring off the field" come on man, he could have at least jogged off the field or even jogged half ways. He already had a yellow card and he whines to the ref ... how stupid!!

Other then that he played pretty good, but I was not a fan of his 2 dives.

[Gian-Luca]

Do you really think that the ref excepted him to "spring off the field"

No, I think the Ref was happy to have any excuse to send him off because he thinks he's "the man" - when you see Ref's insist on throw in's being taken on the exact blade of grass the ball went out on like he was doing the whole game, you know that he's more interested in stamping his own authority than in anything else. Yourassowsky's departure from the field was no slower than Maicon Santos' a few minutes earlier - who wasn't even spoken to in the process, let alone carded, which also shows how dreadfully inconsistent the Ref was.

[loyola]

No, I think the Ref was happy to have any excuse to send him off because he thinks he's "the man" - when you see Ref's insist on throw in's being taken on the exact blade of grass the ball went out on like he was doing the whole game, you know that he's more interested in stamping his own authority than in anything else. Yourassowsky's departure from the field was no slower than Maicon Santos' a few minutes earlier - who wasn't even spoken to in the process, let alone carded, which also shows how dreadfully inconsistent the Ref was.

Are we sure he was YC for time wasting and not for saying something to the ref?

[jpg75]

No, I think the Ref was happy to have any excuse to send him off because he thinks he's "the man" - when you see Ref's insist on throw in's being taken on the exact blade of grass the ball went out on like he was doing the whole game, you know that he's more interested in stamping his own authority than in anything else. Yourassowsky's departure from the field was no slower than Maicon Santos' a few minutes earlier - who wasn't even spoken to in the process, let alone carded, which also shows how dreadfully inconsistent the Ref was.

I hate to say this, but he did say something to Santos as he was walking off. He came over, said something and sort of pushed him lightly in the direction of the touchline and then walked towards the other side of the field where the play was resuming once the substitution was complete.

[Sam]

I thought Maicon Santos looked very good in the deeper role behind Gordon. His passing range is very good, and he makes good supporting runs. A big part of the width from Toronto today, came as a result of his good distribution.

Of the front four today, all but Gordon were very impressive. Albeit against a pretty poor side in Portland.

[Gian-Luca]

Are we sure he was YC for time wasting and not for saying something to the ref?

We can't be sure of anything with this Ref, and certainly the TFC coaching staff are none the wiser - but every media report I've seen indicated it was for "time wasting" - for example this report which singled out the Ref for having a brutal game:

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2011/03/26/sp-mls-toronto-portland.html

[TFCRegina]

It was definitely Time Wasting. Says so on the MLS Website.

[Gian-Luca]

I hate to say this, but he did say something to Santos as he was walking off. He came over, said something and sort of pushed him lightly in the direction of the touchline and then walked towards the other side of the field where the play was resuming once the substitution was complete.

I didn't see that - but he certainly didn't flash him a yellow card, which is my main point.

[nssoccerfan]

completely agree with that...we need another Yourassowsky styled right back. Gargin gives the ball up too much and is not suited to possession soccer.

[Macksam]

That was the most ridiculous red I've ever seen and you saw it coming Yourassowsky is an absolute liability out there.. why on earth was he whining to the ref he was being subbed off just stfu

He's a warrior though and the best of a bad situation with ragards to our left backs, not including Morgan that is.

[ag futbol]

Not the greatest performance of all time but I'll take the three points. Some encouraging signs, hopefully between this game and the upcoming one against a weak Chivas squad TFC can gain some confidence.

As for Petrescu, discretion and man management is what separates a good pro official from a rank amateur, the second one being what he to be seems a lot closer to. He had a lot better tools at his disposal than the ones he used to deal with the situation. His inability to do so simply compounded his earlier mistakes. This isn't Thursday night men's league anymore, you can't just act like a hard-ass the entire time to cover up what everyone has already seen as your shortcomings.

[loyola]

Interesting bit of history about a similar incident in that BigSoccer referee forum post regarding saturday expulsion:

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1694513&page=2

Can't speak to the larger context of stoppage time, because I only saw the highlight. But insofar as carding someone when he's seconds from leaving the field, the answer is "yes."

Should the player get a free pass because he has almost made it to the touch line? It doesn't make much sense, logically, to argue he wasn't wasting time just because he was almost done wasting time. You can't exactly card someone immediately after their number comes up for not moving, so it's going to occur at some point more toward the actual exit. You give a verbal warning or a few words of encouragement to move faster and at some point you make the decision that the timewasting is deliberate and the player has no intention of following your instructions (most players don't follow the instructions in cases like this precisely because they know many referees are unwilling to card here).

Also, specifically to this case, I would point out that Petrescu didn't make the decision when he was 2 yards from leaving the field. He made it a few seconds before, if you watch his body language, whistling, and movement toward the pocket.

And from a refereeing mechanics standpoint, credit goes to the fourth official here for doing his job and making sure the substitute didn't prematurely enter the field. It wouldn't have changed the outcome, but it would have made things a little uglier.

Finally, as an aside, though this is the first time I've seen this in awhile, there was a much, much more famous instance of this exact situation. In 1997, Portugal was playing Germany at home in a World Cup qualifier. Late in the match, they were up 1-0 and looked like they were about to secure qualification. Rui Costa, already on a yellow, got subbed out near the 75th or 80th minute. He went off very slowly, despite urging from the referee and he was milking his exit, applauding to the crowd. Eventually the referee had enough and blew his whistle and sprinted across the field toward the technical areas. Costa, realizing what was coming, (smartly) tried to get off the field before the second yellow was shown. The fourth interceded physically to keep him from exiting and completing the substitution. Red card gets produced, Germany goes up a man and scores the tying goal late... and Portugal doesn't qualify for the World Cup. I was watching that match live and will never forget that incident.

[Gian-Luca]

Problem with that Ref's post though is that it doesn't take into account that the player being subbed off was injured and being subbed off because he was injured. I think few would have complained if that had not been the case, and Petrescu would probably not have received as much ridicule in the mainstream media (Gareth Wheeler of the Sun was particularly harsh on him, though accurate in accusing him of "grand-standing" IMO).

However, good to see in that thread so much criticism of Toledo for his decisions in the DC United game - TFC fans have nothing to complain about when you see how badly DC United got screwed on the same day.