2021 Concacaf Champions League

[SthMelbRed]

Well, this is some kind of conundrum. If TFC start giving big minutes to young, Canadian players, it'll be harder to loathe them as much as I have for the past 15 years. 😕

[Club Linesman]

Bradley played very well and he has the heart of a champion.  He will slow down but I think he will still be a big contributor this year.  Doesn’t bode well for Fraser who will likely get sparse minutes which is a shame. He needs to play and probably should leave.

[Gian-Luca]

It almost all went down the toilet once Dorsey was brought on, though he at least won a nice header later on that saved what likely would have been a goal, which I mention because it was the first time he made any sort of positive contribution in any TFC match. But I put the goal against down to him not closing down his man who sent in the cross, he looked tired on the play which he shouldn't be as he had just come on. When Dunfield is calling out a TFC player you know he's not having a great game.

Liked what I saw from Perruzza when he was on the ball, he actually looked like he held up the ball better than Mullins did (Mullins actually had a crap game other than the goal, which was a tap in). A few inexperienced decisions but he will get crafty at times. Reminded me a bit of Francesco Graziani.

Based on this I think Herdman should start talking to Luke Singh about playing for his home country, rather than T&T. It is not as though we have a ton of depth at CB.

Not sure if the Morrow goal should have stood or not, but given the blatantly obvious good goal by Okello that was disallowed by a linesman who was apparently auditioning for the Panamanian re-make of Mr. Magoo, I don't exactly feel broken up with guilt on the night.

[narduch]

They should release Dorsey and sign Singh

[CanadaFan123]

I though Perruzza looked intriguing. He’s extremely smart for a young player, big, technical and as we know he can finish. Pretty confident he would have done a better job than Mullins if given the start. Unfortunately much of his time TFC was bunkering but he still did work, which was nice to see.

[CanadaFan123]

22 minutes ago, Club Linesman said:

I agree Canada Fan, Dorsey played timidly and that won’t work with this team’s make up.  Maybe down to TFC 2 and let a young hard nosed Canadian get on the pitch.

It’s just crazy though. No Canadian would ever get these shots if the shoe were on the other foot. His 3rd year on a team where he hasn’t made a dent. 

[Kadenge]

57 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

And I have to retract what I said about Bradley.  He had a poor patch when I commented but he was pretty effective thereafter.  

 

I think Bradley has been re-energized playing with the youngsters.  Kids bring that to a team and it's infectious

[Kadenge]

On the Okello goal/no goal,  surely the ref noticed the defender head the ball to Okello. Should he not have at least spoken to the linesman?

[Stryker911]

Does anyone know where to find  video of the offside goal?

[Gian-Luca]

1 minute ago, Stryker911 said:

Does anyone know where to find  video of the offside goal?

They show it as part of these highlights:

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/recap-toronto-fc-2-club-leon-1

I would probably put scare quotes around "offside" though.

[Shway]

1 hour ago, narduch said:

They should release Dorsey and sign Singh

They aren't at capacity. Dorsey is also a GA player, so he theoretically doesn't affect the roster.

[Gian-Luca]

Philly are currently pummeling Saprissa 3-0 in the 2nd leg, 4-0 on aggregate, so unless Real Esteli pulls off a miracle 2nd leg comeback, MLS teams will go 5 for 5 in the first round, which I think is unprecedented (certainly didn't happen last time TFC was in it, and I think Seattle blew it last year.

[Shway]

Umm...was anyone else unimpressed with this Leon FC side over both legs? 
I thought they were complete utter shit for Liga MX quality, and being 20 games in season. Also considering that these games were preseason for the reds.

I want to say TFC over performed, but I can't without say first that Leon was surprisingly disappointing. 

[dyslexic nam]

1 minute ago, Gian-Luca said:

Philly are currently pummeling Saprissa 3-0 in the 2nd leg, 4-0 on aggregate, so unless Real Esteli pulls off a miracle 2nd leg comeback, MLS teams will go 5 for 5 in the first round, which I think is unprecedented (certainly didn't happen last time TFC was in it, and I think Seattle blew it last year.

Lots of critics out there, and I don’t see the league through rose coloured glasses, but I have always maintained that MLS is on track to become an extremely strong league in the next decade or two.  No idea if/when it will join the truly elite leagues but MLS teams are getting stronger all the time.  
 

Glad we have three clubs in the league.  

[Shway]

1 minute ago, dyslexic nam said:

Glad we have three clubs in the league.  

Bittersweet for me. Overall I wish in the near future we had them all in CPL tbh. I would rather the league be SPL, than English Championship....but that's another convo.

[Gian-Luca]

Club America are currently down 1-0 to Olimpia (onesoccer has it on their youtube channel, I've switched to that as the Philly game is done like dinner). I think they would go through on away goals if it currently stays as is.

As for Cruz Azul, while lots of people were heaping praise on the Haitian team for the 0-0 draw against them, it looks like they played their A team in the second leg as they destroyed them 8-0.

[dyslexic nam]

Just now, Shway said:

Bittersweet for me. Overall I wish in the near future we had them all in CPL tbh. I would rather the league be SPL, than English Championship....but that's another convo.

Yeah, repatriating them has always been a decent plan B for me.  I wouldn’t freak out over either option. But I do lean towatds the value of having them in MLS as a first choice. I honestly thing they could become factories for truly elite Canadian players - and the CSA always has the ability to influence the CanCon rules.  

[dyslexic nam]

2 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

Club America are currently down 1-0 to Olimpia (onesoccer has it on their youtube channel, I've switched to that as the Philly game is done like dinner). I think they would go through on away goals if it currently stays as is.

As for Cruz Azul, while lots of people were heaping praise on the Haitian team for the 0-0 draw against them, it looks like they played their A team in the second leg as they destroyed them 8-0.

Yeah, TFC’s reward for their heroics tonight is to face CA.  That will be a big ask.  

[Shway]

1 minute ago, dyslexic nam said:

Yeah, repatriating them has always been a decent plan B for me.  I wouldn’t freak out over either option. But I do lean towatds the value of having them in MLS as a first choice. I honestly thing they could become factories for truly elite Canadian players - and the CSA always has the ability to influence the CanCon rules.  

I think it would be better for the overall development of our players and our infrastructure. People scoff at the super teams, or the leagues that have the same 1-4 teams that win. But Covid has strengthen my view on Canadian sports ridding themselves of being dependent on the US infrastructure. We don't need it for Hockey, and we don't need it for soccer. 

MLS is now changing their approach to how they are building teams, but we'll still see a lot of coaches building win now teams at the expense of the young players who are ready now.

But you're right, the CSA holds the ultimate cards on how the CanCon will consistently look. It looks good today when you see 6 Canadians play significant minutes, but it won't always look like that. 

It's still a dream of mine. And even as the this tournament evolves, I would still prefer to see more than 1 "elite" Canadian team make an appearance. 

[narduch]

37 minutes ago, Stryker911 said:

Does anyone know where to find  video of the offside goal?

 

[gator]

I thought as the subs were made and the Canadians were coming out of the match the team lost something, I don't know how much of that was tactical or based on fitness by Armos, there was a fearlessness the way the youngsters played and Leon couldn't get in to their rhythm and play as they wanted from being pressed!  As @Gian-Luca mentioned besides the one defensive header I thought Dorsey was a disaster out there and wouldn't have been surprised if he contributed to a match winner he was so poorly positioned and out of his depth, Fraser's time is up if he wasn't trusted to come in as a sub in this one! Once again it looks huge what we lost for the Olympic Qualifying with the TFC youngsters not available, I think we would have had a shot at qualifying, call me crazy!🤪

[gator]

2 minutes ago, narduch said:

 

Not only did it come off a defender, he was on by a mile when the ball was played forward!

[Trois Reds]

 

12 hours ago, Gian-Luca said:

Club America are currently down 1-0 to Olimpia (onesoccer has it on their youtube channel, I've switched to that as the Philly game is done like dinner). I think they would go through on away goals if it currently stays as is.

As for Cruz Azul, while lots of people were heaping praise on the Haitian team for the 0-0 draw against them, it looks like they played their A team in the second leg as they destroyed them 8-0.

I watched CA's first game against Arcahie.  If Cruz Azul played like they did in that first leg the same against TFC, they"ll be down by four before they know what hit them.  I have never seen a Mexican team play that badly.

 

Edited April 15, 2021 by Trois Reds
Tidying up

[CanadaFan123]

43 minutes ago, Shway said:

Umm...was anyone else unimpressed with this Leon FC side over both legs? 
I thought they were complete utter shit for Liga MX quality, and being 20 games in season. Also considering that these games were preseason for the reds.

I want to say TFC over performed, but I can't without say first that Leon was surprisingly disappointing. 

Club Leon reminded me of watching Canada in years past. Played down to TFCs level and never really created anything. In the first leg they missed about 3+ sitters and it could have been a different story.

[Free kick]

1 hour ago, Shway said:

Umm...was anyone else unimpressed with this Leon FC side over both legs? 
I thought they were complete utter shit for Liga MX quality, and being 20 games in season. Also considering that these games were preseason for the reds.

I want to say TFC over performed, but I can't without say first that Leon was surprisingly disappointing. 

Yes.  I was shocked.  I dont know what kind of side they dressed for this tie but  We’ve seen now a lot of the mexican sides in CCL over the years.  You quickly learn to distinguish the mexican sides from other small clubs in smaller concacaf countries.   In this game i couldnt tell the differnce.    There were some bruttal mistakes and very bad man marking that they committed that lead to TFC goals.   Their quality overall was poor.  
 

As i said earlier,  happy for the win but cant help but wonder what was up with this team.