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The season has begun and begun well with TFC carrying a 2 nil lead into the home leg of the CCL round of 16! A fine headed goal by Jonathan Osorio (assisted by Seba) and a superb side-volley goal from Giovinco (assisted by Auro) along with at least one hugely clutch save from Bono has put TFC in a commanding position to move into the CCL quarter-finals!

My only question mark for Tuesday is the pitch!

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12 hours ago, paul-collins said:

Weather - clear (sunny), high 5C, low 0.  Pitch should be fine, assuming the groundscrew have had success over the last few weeks with the lights and heating.

At least it won't be frozen like this week in Colorado.

Even with their under-soil heating! How bad would it have been, for example, in Mtl which has none of that high tech stuff!

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38 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

So the beer taps will be working in TO.  Any ideas on a lineup?  Will we see Aketxe or Van der Wiel or is anyone going to get rotated out considering opening day is 4 days later?  Bradley sits with his yellow card?

I'm good with that. I do wish Bradley had taken a 90th minute second yellow last week though. Sit Tuesday night and have a clean slate for Tigres!

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8 minutes ago, CNMNTPERUELIGIBLE said:

I know this is irrelevant, but when are TFC II tickets being released for sale?...I tried purchasing, but can't seem to find on a game by game basis...if anyone can help me, I would appreciate 

So you are not a STH I presume? It's a cool free bonus for us. 

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3 minutes ago, CNMNTPERUELIGIBLE said:

No I am not...Can I still have access to TFC II games or no?...Let me know if anyone on this board

I don't think you should worry too much about not getting TFC2 tickets. Their games were rarely even close to sold out in a much smaller stadium, except for the school trip days. You will likely be able to walk up to any game and get tickets.

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19 minutes ago, Ruffian said:

I don't think you should worry too much about not getting TFC2 tickets. Their games were rarely even close to sold out in a much smaller stadium, except for the school trip days. You will likely be able to walk up to any game and get tickets.

True although there may be a discount for buying in advance. 

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How fantastic was Akexte last night? 

I know it was a brief apperance, but he looks like the real deal. The way he plays on and off the ball is a very high level, unsurprisingly. You can tell he sees the game the same way Seba and Victor do, and he has the ability to match, so the three of them are going to combine to devistating affect. I think Delgado will lose his spot in short order.

Speaking of new players, I can't say enough good about Auro. Two games in and he has hardly puy a foot in wrong. He is another one who sees the game very well. 

Rewinding back to the first leg, there was one play in particular that really stood out to me. It was insignificant in one way, but impressive in another.

The play in question involved Auro bringing the ball out of the defending third. He was at half-speed with the ball, but he was not under any pressure, as Colorado was collectively sitting back and preparing to engage in a press once Auro entered the middle third.

As I recall, right before Colorado was about to press, Auro cleverly dictated the temp by slowing down his run. This froze Colorado for a second, and once that happened, he simply played the ball inside to one of the centre backs, esentially aleviating the pressure before it came, allowing TFC to shift focus.

Like I said, very insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but it was a mature thing to do and it is not typical you see young Canadian or American full backs dictate the tempo in such a way. 

It is a testimate to how players like Auro (and Aketxe) read the game. Very high IQ and quite refreshing to see in MLS, where that side of the game is traditionally lacking.

 

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I know a pre-sale is going on regarding the TFC QF game this Weds... For some odd reason, the offer code I was given is not working...Today was SUPPOSED to be pre-sale for those subscribers of the TFC app(I'm among them)...If anybody happens to have the right code, could you kindly DM me??? ...I would appreciate... I called earlier and the idiots at MLSE misled me with the wrong code btw and very incompetent in providing a solution, good thing still plenty of seats available from what I can see...Peace out! 

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7 hours ago, Obinna said:

How fantastic was Akexte last night? 

I know it was a brief apperance, but he looks like the real deal. The way he plays on and off the ball is a very high level, unsurprisingly. You can tell he sees the game the same way Seba and Victor do, and he has the ability to match, so the three of them are going to combine to devistating affect. I think Delgado will lose his spot in short order.

 

 From what i read about about Akexte, it doesnt sound like he is a complement or substitute to Delgado.  Delgado is box to box kind of player MF so when he playing well you are likely to see him breaking up plays on the defensive end and also finding and running into open spaces on offensive end.  When he is on his game, he is the guy on the team who should cover the most ground during a game.    Vasquez and Osorio (and akexte as i see him) are not really that type of MF’s.  The key word for Delgado is: “when he is on his game”.   I did not find that he had a good play off and IMHO i didnt really notice those qualities (finding and running into spaces) last night either.  So you might be right.  But i suspect that he always got minutes because of these abilities.  

I see Akexte as more Vasquez type of player in terms of qualities.  A creator more than an “engine-type” of MF(aka Delgado).  Just my sneaking suspicion, but i have a feeling that this might be Vasquez’s last season and that maybe he wants to go back to Europe.  Because, Akexte looks like a replacement. 

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11 hours ago, Free kick said:

 From what i read about about Akexte, it doesnt sound like he is a complement or substitute to Delgado.  Delgado is box to box kind of player MF so when he playing well you are likely to see him breaking up plays on the defensive end and also finding and running into open spaces on offensive end.  When he is on his game, he is the guy on the team who should cover the most ground during a game.    Vasquez and Osorio (and akexte as i see him) are not really that type of MF’s.  The key word for Delgado is: “when he is on his game”.   I did not find that he had a good play off and IMHO i didnt really notice those qualities (finding and running into spaces) last night either.  So you might be right.  But i suspect that he always got minutes because of these abilities.  

I see Akexte as more Vasquez type of player in terms of qualities.  A creator more than an “engine-type” of MF(aka Delgado).  Just my sneaking suspicion, but i have a feeling that this might be Vasquez’s last season and that maybe he wants to go back to Europe.  Because, Akexte looks like a replacement. 

There are indeed whispers that Vazquez wants to return to Europe, so long term I do think Akexte moves into his spot, but for now I do see him on the right side of that diamond. It has been mentioned that he does put in a lot of defensive work which apparently is typical of basque players, so he is an attacking mid that doesnt neglect his defensive responsibilities it sounds like. I'm sure in some games Delgado will play there for all the reasons you mentioned, but Akexte in his spot is a more offensive look and he appears too good to keep on the bench often. 

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43 minutes ago, Obinna said:

There are indeed whispers that Vazquez wants to return to Europe, so long term I do think Akexte moves into his spot, but for now I do see him on the right side of that diamond. It has been mentioned that he does put in a lot of defensive work which apparently is typical of basque players, so he is an attacking mid that doesnt neglect his defensive responsibilities it sounds like. I'm sure in some games Delgado will play there for all the reasons you mentioned, but Akexte in his spot is a more offensive look and he appears too good to keep on the bench often. 

The whispers are that VV would like to end his career in Spain so it's unlikely he'd leave until his three year contract is up after the 2019 season.  

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1 hour ago, dbailey62 said:

The whispers are that VV would like to end his career in Spain so it's unlikely he'd leave until his three year contract is up after the 2019 season.  

Yup indeed that is what I heard too, that he wants to end it in Spain. Isn't his final year an option or no?

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My concern with Delgado at the moment isn't the poor short-passing game & giveaways that he's been doing recently as I never thought he was particularly strong there, but lately he seems to be losing out on a lot of challenges and that was something I thought he was fairly strong at. But I agree with those saying that since the start of the playoffs last year he hasn't looked very strong and if you recall the first playoff game again NYRB, it was actually his poor challenge and being weak on the ball that led to the PK goal that got NYRB back in the series in the first place. On Tuesday night there were another couple of instances where he got beat from somewhat tip-toeing in the challenge instead of going with the necessary force to win a challenge.

Like Osorio though, I am not sure that the death of Delgado as a starter is necessarily as automatic as some are suggesting. As Free Kick mentioned, he brings somewhat of a different skill set to the others, so his play will probably depend on what is needed. For example, if TFC go into Monterrey down on goals or simply away goals, I'd rather see Aketxe starting on the right of a diamond than Delgado as I can already tell who is capable of creating more offense. If TFC are up a couple of goals heading into the 2nd leg (not that I am expecting this), then you might be more likely to see Delgado start.

Incidentally I have sneaking feeling that TFC are going to perform better in the next round in the 2nd leg than they are in the 1st.

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8 hours ago, Gian-Luca said:

Incidentally I have sneaking feeling that TFC are going to perform better in the next round in the 2nd leg than they are in the 1st.

Just wondering what leads you to that inkling?  If the weather is very cold don't you think that will have a fairly significant impact on the Tigres?  I realize we have trained in Mexico so that will help us in the return leg but I highly doubt they have any time in serious cold.

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13 hours ago, Club Linesman said:

Just wondering what leads you to that inkling?  If the weather is very cold don't you think that will have a fairly significant impact on the Tigres?  I realize we have trained in Mexico so that will help us in the return leg but I highly doubt they have any time in serious cold.

Two things - recently TFC seemed to have be playing better on the road than at home (going back to the end of the regular season - the Cup Final being the exception), and on top of that I think with the ideal style of play that they want to do with all this upgraded talent they are going to enjoy playing on the lush grass in Mexico rather than the current pitch at BMO, which will be further beat up by the time you get to Wednesday.

It's somewhat illogical, I know, but sometimes you get these intuitions (although I often find by talking about them and explaining them, I then proceed to get them wrong but if I shut up I get it right so maybe now I've jinxed myself and the team.......)

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