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13 hours ago, BenFisk'sBiggestFan said:

Gregory Vanderwiel shut down Aquino over 2 legs. I think that deserves much more praise than what Auro jr did. Aquino is an absolutely amazing one on one player, I have never seen a match where he was defended so well. Maybe the only other match was when Mexico played Germany.

Don’t get me wrong, Auro is great. But Vanderwiel is the whole package. He can dominate physically, offensively, and defensively. He just needs to dial in his crosses a bit. Other than that, he is great.

I dont disagree.  But keep in mind that Auro had to contend with Jurgen Damm.  This guy was just called up to Mexico’s NT.  And, from what i read, when it comes to one on one and pace, he is being compared to some lofty names in the game.

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1 hour ago, Free kick said:

I dont disagree.  But keep in mind that Auro had to contend with Jurgen Damm.  This guy was just called up to Mexico’s NT.  And, from what i read, when it comes to one on one and pace, he is being compared to some lofty names in the game.

Alphonso Davies!

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7 hours ago, Free kick said:

I dont disagree.  But keep in mind that Auro had to contend with Jurgen Damm.  This guy was just called up to Mexico’s NT.  And, from what i read, when it comes to one on one and pace, he is being compared to some lofty names in the game.

Yes that’s true. But only for half of one game. And I remember Damm hanging Auro our to dry a couple times, Damm’s crosses just weren’t perfect. If I had to chose who to defend top players like Damm, or Davies, I would definitely choose Van der wiel.

On the other hand, if a team is not too dangerous on the wing I would prefer Auro out there because he has more offensive talent I think. With all the games this year, I think it is important to rotate the squad anyways.

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46 minutes ago, BenFisk'sBiggestFan said:

Yes that’s true. But only for half of one game. And I remember Damm hanging Auro our to dry a couple times, Damm’s crosses just weren’t perfect. If I had to chose who to defend top players like Damm, or Davies, I would definitely choose Van der wiel.

On the other hand, if a team is not too dangerous on the wing I would prefer Auro out there because he has more offensive talent I think. With all the games this year, I think it is important to rotate the squad anyways.

That's why they brought these guys in!

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10 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

Right now, he's a good MLS level player in the role he does best.  Hopefully, he'll hone the weaker parts of his game.

Not down on Delgado, just find him maddeningly inconsistent.  Plays a great game and follows it up with an absolute howler.  Still young though.  Lots of time to develop that consistency, like Osorio seems to have done.

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19 minutes ago, Ivan said:

Not down on Delgado, just find him maddeningly inconsistent.  Plays a great game and follows it up with an absolute howler.  Still young though.  Lots of time to develop that consistency, like Osorio seems to have done.

I'd just like him to play stronger. He gets knocked around too easily.  

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It's early in the season so things can change with injuries and form but at this point there is not a chance Delgado should be preferred to Osorio in the lineup and that choice will be coming with the new players available in the midfield, every part of Osorio's game is superior including his work rate and defensive capabilities, he's definitely upped his all round game!

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5 minutes ago, gator said:

It's early in the season so things can change with injuries and form but at this point there is not a chance Delgado should be preferred to Osorio in the lineup and that choice will be coming with the new players available in the midfield, every part of Osorio's game is superior including his work rate and defensive capabilities, he's definitely upped his all round game!

Agreed!

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1 hour ago, dbailey62 said:

Agreed!

I know Vazquez is injured. But I think the way Osorio is playing is making it much easier for Vanney to leave Vazquez out of the squad. Osorio is definitely better defensively than Vazquez, but Oso is also contributing offensively now.

Now before you guys jump all over me, I am not suggesting that Osorio takes Vazquez’s spot. What I am saying is Vanney can now rest Vazquez every once and a while. He is getting old, and I don’t think he can continue to play the amount of games he did last year. We are seeing it already with the back injury. Oso gives Vanney the oportunity to not overwork Vazquez this season.

Now if only the other Canadians could do that, specifically Hamilton and Ricketts. I think that would cut down on Jozy and Seba’s injuries. 

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11 hours ago, Free kick said:

I dont disagree.  But keep in mind that Auro had to contend with Jurgen Damm.  This guy was just called up to Mexico’s NT.  And, from what i read, when it comes to one on one and pace, he is being compared to some lofty names in the game.

And also had to do so on his off-wing (Auro Jr.'s that is, not Damm's). I think he did fairly well but having re-watched the game last night, the most damaging (to TFC) play between them was when Auro didn't pick up Damm's run on the corner kick which led to Tigres first goal (Damm was the one who did the first headed flick to Vargas), which wasn't really a "wing play" issue. But then, it seems like we've seen a ton of goals scored by Mexican teams against Canadian/MLS teams on double-headed corner kicks over the years so he won't be the last to be caught out on a play like that.

In terms of players who seemed out of their depth in Mexico, I wouldn't just single out Delgado but also add the names of every TFC CB used in this game other than those who's last name is "Mavinga". Zavaleta's main strength as a defender IMO is his one-on-one defending skills which are above-average in MLS - but on more than one occasion over both legs he got taken to the cleaners by Tigres players deking him out of his jock-strap and nearly stuffing the ball in the top shelf where they keep the peanut-butter (any other hokey cliches people want me to add to this sentence, just let me know)

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1 minute ago, Gian-Luca said:

In terms of players who seemed out of their depth in Mexico, I wouldn't just single out Delgado but also add the names of every TFC CB used in this game other than those who's last name is "Mavinga". Zavaleta's main strength as a defender IMO is his one-on-one defending skills which are above-average in MLS - but on more than one occasion over both legs he got taken to the cleaners by Tigres players deking him out of his jock-strap and nearly stuffing the ball in the top shelf where they keep the peanut-butter (any other hokey cliches people want me to add to this sentence, just let me know)

What this tells me (and also from watching the replay last night), Is that TFC may have escaped with one in this tie.  And,  that the pundits may have been premature after the first leg when they declared that MLS is closing gap.  

There were some players who can look good against league opponents but are not at the level of the Mexican sides.   Seattle didn't survive after all 

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8 minutes ago, Free kick said:

What this tells me (and also from watching the replay last night), Is that TFC may have escaped with one in this tie.  And,  that the pundits may have been premature after the first leg when they declared that MLS is closing gap.  

There were some players who can look good against league opponents but are not at the level of the Mexican sides.   Seattle didn't survive after all 

To be fair, some of the Tigres defending in Toronto and the clumsy-as-hell own goal they scored in Monterrey wasn't exactly stellar defensive work either.  I also don't know that I've seen anyone claim that a gap has been closed as yet, but rather that it's narrowing, which I think is fair even if MLS clubs go 0-2 in the semi final round, that will still mean at worst a 2-3 record against Liga MX teams this year, not exactly the sort of one-sided dominance that we've seen before. Largest margin of victory thus far in the three series was 5-1 in favour of NYRB. Apparently the Tijuana club is a shadow of its former self this year with player changes but then teams like Dallas and Colorado were only in the Champions league based on their 2016 form rather than 2017.....even though the tourney is taking place in 2018.

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11 hours ago, Ivan said:

Not down on Delgado, just find him maddeningly inconsistent.  Plays a great game and follows it up with an absolute howler.  Still young though.  Lots of time to develop that consistency, like Osorio seems to have done.

That's why I said, "Right now...."  He's going to learn from this and get better.

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11 hours ago, dbailey62 said:

I'd just like him to play stronger. He gets knocked around too easily.  

Like Osorio in his earlier years and even like Will Johnson in his early days with RSL.  But where Osorio would dwell on the ball too long, Delgado rushes his passes and that has led to mishits and giveaways.  But I think he can develop his game and also take it to the next level.  I actually like the chemistry he and Osorio have in MLS play.

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My take on it is MLS is slowly improving their quality. As the league gets more established and some of the bigger clubs draw some good crowds (Toronto, Seattle, Atlanta and Orlando all drew 25,000+) they will be able to attract more and more decent players. 

I honestly don't know enough about Tijuana to even guess what happened with Red Bulls. 

However I don't think we should look at this year as a definitive turning point. TFC to me is an exception as one of the best (likely the the best) MLS team to date. They played played Tigres wonderfully at home and deserved every bit of the 2-1 result. However if we are being honest they were fairly badly outplayed (in Mexico) and very lucky to hold on the 2-3 result. 

It is good to see 2 MLS teams make it to the semi-finals. I feel however it is not a great leap forward - instead the byproduct of a league starting low slowly getting better inch by inch. However there is still quite a way to go to be truly consistently competitive with the Mexican sides. 

 

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TFC 2 signed 4 players today. Good news is that 19 year old Canuck CB defender Robert Boskovic is one of them. The other 3 are foreigners however, including another American keeper for Cavaluzzo to compete for playing time with. The other two players are a former Portland 2 defender who is about to turn 23 and an Argentinian midfielder who is about to turn 24.

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Maybe we can create a new thread for 2018 TFC2 if we dont already have one.  I'm pumped to see Hundal, and Malyk Hamilton score some goals, maybe earn a first team contract.  I'm hoping that youngsters Romeo, Okello and Dunn (all 17) in particular get a lot of minutes and continue to develop in a positive way.  And I am looking forward to seeing bigger crowds at BMO (cross your fingers) so TFC doesnt out source the team to some american city.  Although I dont imagine the team will get out of the bottom half of the eastern division.  2 more days until season starts!!  

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2 hours ago, Bison44 said:

Maybe we can create a new thread for 2018 TFC2 if we dont already have one.  I'm pumped to see Hundal, and Malyk Hamilton score some goals, maybe earn a first team contract.  I'm hoping that youngsters Romeo, Okello and Dunn (all 17) in particular get a lot of minutes and continue to develop in a positive way.  And I am looking forward to seeing bigger crowds at BMO (cross your fingers) so TFC doesnt out source the team to some american city.  Although I dont imagine the team will get out of the bottom half of the eastern division.  2 more days until season starts!!  

There actually is one in the Canadian Leagues section of the forum, I just had trouble finding the link to that section it on my tablet earlier when I posted that.

Btw, former TFC2 player Jordan McCrary is now with Seattle and played for them against Chivas yesterday.

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I listened to the mlssoccer extra time radio podcast from this week, they had Herculez Gomez on it. He now works for ESPN, mostly in Spanish and said there's a lot of chatter in Mexico along the lines of "uh oh - the gap is closing". While there as a lot of praise for TFC, weirdly to me he said he felt that Van Der Wiel was TFC's worst player in the 2nd leg and that Delgado was one of the best, praising his passing skills in this game. Not sure exactly what he was watching......

 

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26 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

I listened to the mlssoccer extra time radio podcast from this week, they had Herculez Gomez on it. He now works for ESPN, mostly in Spanish and said there's a lot of chatter in Mexico along the lines of "uh oh - the gap is closing". While there as a lot of praise for TFC, weirdly to me he said he felt that Van Der Wiel was TFC's worst player in the 2nd leg and that Delgado was one of the best, praising his passing skills in this game. Not sure exactly what he was watching......

 

Maybe he had a good relationship with Delgado during his year at TFC, hence the support.

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28 minutes ago, BearcatSA said:

Maybe he had a good relationship with Delgado during his year at TFC, hence the support.

Could be, although it still wouldn't account for the Van Der Wiel claim, which he didn't explain his reasoning for, he was only making the point that their (alleged) worst player on the day still had the previous experience of playing in a World Cup final, an example that the team didn't have the typical "deer in the headlights" look in their eyes that most MLS teams in the past would have had because of their big-game experience. I'm not sure what criteria he had in mind here for Van Der Wiel being the worst player.......the harsh hand-ball call?

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Well lets do this Sherlock Holmes style, eliminate all other options and the one left must be true.  Who was the worst TFC player??  Not Gio, Jozy, Oso, Mavinga, Auro, Bradley, Bono, Morrow, Vasquez or Moor.  Left with VDW or Zavellta, maybe Hagglund or Delgado??  

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On ‎3‎/‎15‎/‎2018 at 9:35 AM, Gian-Luca said:

...- but on more than one occasion over both legs he got taken to the cleaners by Tigres players deking him out of his jock-strap and nearly stuffing the ball in the top shelf where they keep the peanut-butter (any other hokey cliches people want me to add to this sentence, just let me know)

Okay, Howie Meeker, will do!

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