2016 Red Team Playoff Clinching Watch (aka Toronto FC 2016 MLS season thread)

[Gian-Luca]

I'm curious about two things with Osorio - what Johnson whispered to him in his ear as he came off the field (which I saw while I was sitting in the stands), and what debate he and Altidore seemed to be having as the whistle blew (which I only caught while re-watching the game on my pvr). It didn't look heated, but it looked unusual given they had just won the game that very second.

[Moldy9]

Happy w the Cdn results. Would like Mtl and TO shut out the yanks and secure a first ever Cdn team in the final

[shermanator]

Every time I watch Ricketts score I get a big ass grin on my face. It's awesome to see him have a little success given the turmoil he's had club wise in his career.

[TRM]

2 hours ago, Moldy9 said:

Happy w the Cdn results. Would like Mtl and TO shut out the yanks and secure a first ever Cdn team in the final

That would be awesome. First step taken by both teams, now finish them off!!!

[AvroArrow]

42 minutes ago, shermanator said:

Every time I watch Ricketts score I get a big ass grin on my face. It's awesome to see him have a little success given the turmoil he's had club wise in his career.

The rate at which he has scored goals for TFC has been quite interesting.  If he got more minutes, how many goals could he score?

[rkomar]

What the heck happened with Dallas?  The 3-0 loss was by far the most surprising scoreline to me today.

[SuperCanuck]

8 hours ago, shermanator said:

Every time I watch Ricketts score I get a big ass grin on my face. It's awesome to see him have a little success given the turmoil he's had club wise in his career.

I agree, great point.  It's also great that the team that's provided stability is a Canadian one.

I had to read that twice.  Showing my age, I don't use that expression, and wondered at first what an ass grin was, and why it would be great.

[Gian-Luca]

I will gladly cheer for Montreal or NYRB over NYCFC in the eastern final should TFC fail to hold on to this lead. At least Montreal & NYRB attempt to play a brand of soccer, unlike NYCFC. Three times I've seen NYCFC play live now and the amount of thuggery & time-wasting they attempt on the road is incredible. Glad they got nothing out of that game, although they were pretty close to getting away with their crimes on the night.

[dyslexic nam]

32 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

I will gladly cheer for Montreal or NYRB over NYCFC in the eastern final should TFC fail to hold on to this lead. At least Montreal & NYRB attempt to play a brand of soccer, unlike NYCFC. Three times I've seen NYCFC play live now and the amount of thuggery & time-wasting they attempt on the road is incredible. Glad they got nothing out of that game, although they were pretty close to getting away with their crimes on the night.

Just on the note of playing a positive 'brand of soccer' - TFC is playing by far the best footy I have ever seen from them.  Slick passing, lots of movement off the ball, smart link-up play, and tight efficient defence.  I know it is easy to be positive when the results are going the right way, but regardless of the scoreline, the footy the reds are playing a really great to watch.

On another note, Bradley played brilliantly last night.  Absolutely controlled the midfield.  A tiny part of me wishes TFC had a Canadian bossing the centre of the park, but man it is hard to argue with the results.  The yanks are really doing the job.  Bradley in midfield, and Altidore bashing his way around up top.

Speaking of Canadians - Ricketts!  He may not always be clinical in his finishing, but the stats don't lie.  He has been another great signing.  It is a bit of a quirk that he is a productive, quality player, yet tends to sub on.  But with his speed, it is a great way to use him.  Opposing defender getting tired?  Throw him on and turn him loose.  

Loving the footy they are playing and great to see the results coming.  An away goal in NY will make it extremely difficult to lose in aggregate.

 

 

[Kent]

Sorry for the slight diversion. I just read this article about last night's game.

http://www.torontosun.com/2016/10/30/tfc-and-its-fans-produce-a-night-to-remember

Mostly a nice enough article, but I couldn't handle him proudly stating how he can't understand the playoff system in MLS (it's really not that hard), stating that it's soooo long (I looked it up, about 2 weeks longer than NFL and MLB playoffs, and about 2 weeks shorter than NHL and NBA playoffs), and him constantly referring to TFC as "FC". Has that seriously not been completely killed off in the mainstream media yet?

Just had to vent.

[Gian-Luca]

Its a Steve Simmons article - it's somewhat miraculous that the cynicism was even to that low of a degree, and a sign of changing times that he was even at the stadium covering the game in addition to the regular Sun reporter (Kurtis Larson). Simmons has generally been cynical about soccer & TFC in the past and IIRC was, along with Dave Perkins, one of media members who was against the stadium being built in the first place all those years ago.

[rob.notenboom]

2 hours ago, Kent said:

Sorry for the slight diversion. I just read this article about last night's game.

http://www.notgoingtopostthelinkandgivethisguyclickshedoesntdeserve.ca

Mostly a nice enough article, but I couldn't handle him proudly stating how he can't understand the playoff system in MLS (it's really not that hard), stating that it's soooo long (I looked it up, about 2 weeks longer than NFL and MLB playoffs, and about 2 weeks shorter than NHL and NBA playoffs), and him constantly referring to TFC as "FC". Has that seriously not been completely killed off in the mainstream media yet?

Just had to vent.

fyp

[shermanator]

2 hours ago, Gian-Luca said:

Its a Steve Simmons article - it's somewhat miraculous that the cynicism was even to that low of a degree, and a sign of changing times that he was even at the stadium covering the game in addition to the regular Sun reporter (Kurtis Larson). Simmons has generally been cynical about soccer & TFC in the past and IIRC was, along with Dave Perkins, one of media members who was against the stadium being built in the first place all those years ago.

How Kurt Larson continues to have a job reporting on TFC and Canadian soccer is beyond me. He is an American hack who serves as TFC's mouthpiece while belittling the Canadian soccer community and anything positive they have, or are trying to achieve, time and time again. The unfortunate thing is that by pissing people like me off, his articles get the clicks that keep him around. I guess that's the way journalism is going now.

Also, I am not opposed to having an American report on TFC necessarily; for example Ives Galarcep and Jonnathan Tannenwald are fantastic journalists from the US.

[Kent]

4 hours ago, rob.notenboom said:

fyp

Yeah, I thought of that a little while after I posted it. I was going to change it just now, but honestly I don't think he realized what he was doing, and in his mind he probably thinks this is a 100% positive soccer article. So if he gets a lot of hits, he might try to cover it more, and slowly shed his ignorance.

I am probably being overly optimistic, but it keeps me sane.

[rob.notenboom]

12 minutes ago, Kent said:

Yeah, I thought of that a little while after I posted it. I was going to change it just now, but honestly I don't think he realized what he was doing, and in his mind he probably thinks this is a 100% positive soccer article. So if he gets a lot of hits, he might try to cover it more, and slowly shed his ignorance.

I am probably being overly optimistic, but it keeps me sane.

No worries. I was just messing around

[BearcatSA]

I thought TFC looked really good on Sunday and I think they can poach an away goal to ice this series.  The much maligned Bradley has been dominant in his defensive duties and the overall pressing game has been very effective.

[jpg75]

6 minutes ago, BearcatSA said:

I thought TFC looked really good on Sunday and I think they can poach an away goal to ice this series. 

This. If TFC can score an away goal then NYCFC will need to score 4 goals to win the series. The way NYC plays D i like our chances.

[BearcatSA]

49 minutes ago, jpg75 said:

This. If TFC can score an away goal then NYCFC will need to score 4 goals to win the series. The way NYC plays D i like our chances.

North American Man City's defending has been pretty questionable throughout their brief existence and I could see Giovinco lighting them up for one or two off the counter. 

I'm guessing it will be an entertaining affair for the neutrals watching.

[yomurphy1]

Are you fucking kidding me... it warrants a red card but not a suspension...?

 

[SuperCanuck]

2 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

North American Man City's defending has been pretty questionable throughout their brief existence and I could see Giovinco lighting them up for one or two off the counter. 

I'm guessing it will be an entertaining affair for the neutrals watching.

Brilliant, I had a good chuckle.   Now TV guys can refer to them as NAMCNYCFC constantly.

EDIT:  With the news that David Villa won't be suspended for a red-card offence that he didn't receive a red card for because he was more than a metre away from the referee at the time, they will now be referred to as BSNAMCNYCFC.

 

[SuperCanuck]

2 hours ago, yomurphy1 said:

Are you fucking kidding me... it warrants a red card but not a suspension...?

 

It's complete rubbish, but not unexpected.  David Villa playing for Man City Jr. makes him subject to different rules than other players, most of which are made up as they go along.

[BearcatSA]

3 hours ago, SuperCanuck said:

Brilliant, I had a good chuckle.   Now TV guys can refer to them as NAMCNYCFC constantly.

EDIT:  With the news that David Villa won't be suspended for a red-card offence that he didn't receive a red card for because he was more than a metre away from the referee at the time, they will now be referred to as BSNAMCNYCFC.

 

Sounds like the name of a club from a former Soviet Union state

[Gian-Luca]

23 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

I thought TFC looked really good on Sunday and I think they can poach an away goal to ice this series.  The much maligned Bradley has been dominant in his defensive duties and the overall pressing game has been very effective.

Bradley was very good defensively in the last game, probably his best in that role. His free kicks & passing hasn't been quite up to the same standard but if he can continue to help destroy the opposition that effectively it won't matter as much. I am wondering if Vanney will be tempted to start Delgado and/or Johnson over Osorio and/or Cooper to go with a more defensive line-up from the get-go, or whether he sticks to a 3-5-2 (or what might be a 5-3-2 with a 2 goal lead) in that narrow laneway masquerading as a soccer pitch. My guess is he will stick to the same starting line-up and formation because it isn't broke so don't fix it, but I believe they mentioned this is unprecedented territory for Vanney in terms of 3 matches in a row of non-tinkering

[Unnamed Trialist]

20 hours ago, SuperCanuck said:

It's complete rubbish, but not unexpected.  David Villa playing for Man City Jr. makes him subject to different rules than other players, most of which are made up as they go along.

Technically, that call should be considered already judged by the ref. He saw it and was on top of it and waved it off. In most leagues, though not MLS, that is usually enough for the committees not to re-ref a game. 

I personally thought it was tame, not the worst I have seen.

Still, comparing with what Waston did last game of the season, an even more innocent half blow to the gut, it should have warranted a suspension in MLS terms. But to be consistent: I also thought what the C Rican did was not terribly deserving of anything more at all.

[Grizzly]

Should have been a yellow card at best. It is intentional but not very vicious or dangerous. Still if they judge it red card worthy after the fact then they are being hypocritical not to give at least a 1 game suspension. As others have said, I would not be surprised to see some tilted reffing in New York's favour in both the TFC and Impact game. Even in the game in Montreal they made a big deal about Montreal getting twice as many fouls as New York but it was more because the ref called every little foul we did and let NYRB get away with a lot than that we were more physical.