U-Sector – The Original Toronto FC Supporters Group

Post TFC at Revs: Pros and Cons

Monday, April 12, 2010

A complete shambles.

Those three words can be used to describe a couple of things about TFC’s latest visit to the barren, inhospitable land known as Gillette Stadium. The second half, for example, was most definitely a complete shambles. As was allowing the fastest hat-trick in MLS history (13 minutes) to be scored by a player who had previously notched a grand total of zero goals.

That Nick Garcia’s night was not a complete shambles may surprise even the staunchest of his defenders (assuming they existed, of course. Which they don’t, not any more.)

No, Garcia’s night was not a complete shambles. It was, however, encapsulated by a split second so boneheaded that it completely nullified everything else the man did on the fake turf in Foxborough.

Truth be told, Garcia had a good first half. So did the rest of the team, actually. While TFC’s first half of play Saturday night will never be compared to Brazil circa 1970, they were doing exactly what they needed to do on the road. They were grinding out a result, and on the way to stealing a point (or three).

Then came halftime.

What followed was reminiscent of the worst of the inaugural season. A complete breakdown ensued, embodied by utterly shambolic, amateur-hour defending and a total loss of whatever cohesion the Reds (in white) puit on display in the opening stanza. The 2010 Toronto FC squad entered the locker room at halftime, only to be replaced by the 2007 version.

The best thing that could be said of the result was that Toronto is on a shortened week, and thus they have less time to dwell on the abject failure of the weekend.

Expansion Philadelphia is in town on Thursday, fresh of a morale-boosting 3-2 home opening victory over hapless DC United. The Union will be buoyed by their first ever points in MLS, but they are still a toothless expansion side that were fortunate enough to run into an Eastern Conference foe in disarray. Whether Toronto plays like they did in the first half of Saturday’s game or not will determine if Philly were fortunate enough to run into two Eastern Conference foes in disarray, back to back.

On to the pros and cons:

PROS

• Dwayne De Rosario finding his scoring touch, on a beautiful header
• The total team effort in the first half
• The travelling support, which is still unmatched in this league
• This:

CONS

• Nick Garcia continuing to start
• The ridiculous team defending of the second half
• Joseph Nane’s attempt to outdo Garcia in the failed back pass dept, and succeeding
• Making Zack Schilawski look like a Juan Pablo Angel
• Still no goal scoring threats outside of new captain DeRo

Posted by Rudi Schuller