U-Sector – The Original Toronto FC Supporters Group

An Expected Disappointment

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Ok, so that was entirely predictable.

Anyone who has followed TFC for a substantial amount of time would not have been surprised by last night’s away loss to lowly Kansas City Wizards, in a match that featured two teams that didn’t really look too interested.

That KC pulled off the 1-0 win — thanks to Teal Bunbury opportunistically pouncing on an uncharacteristic mistake from Toronto’s central defence — speaks more to TFC’s horrendous road form than it does to the Wizards’ play during the 90 minutes.

Truth be told, a 0-0 draw would have been completely justified, and the match appeared to be heading that way as neither team looked remotely dangerous for much of the match. The two sides mustered up a combined one shot on target in the first half, a Mista half-breakaway that was parried wide nicely by KC keeper Jimmy Brigitte Nielsen. The second half was more of the same, despite the entrance of attacking catalysts Chad Barrett and Dwayne De Rosario for the Reds.

Toronto’s two leading scorers had started on the bench, presumably to keep fresh for Tuesday’s CONCACAF Champions League away match at C.D. Motagua in Honduras. Perhaps that crucial midweek fixture was on the minds of Preki and his charges, since they were clearly going through the motions last night.

That said, even with the lackluster play, the game was entirely winnable for Toronto, as Kansas City showed exactly why they’ve been hovering near the bottom of the MLS standings since April.

The Wizards only truly dangerous offensive thrust yesterday (aside from a couple of late chances while TFC was pushing for the equalizer) was, in fact, the Bunbury goal in the 62nd minute. Central defender Adrian Cann, arguably this year’s best signing in the entire league on a value basis, made a rare miscue, mistakenly heading the ball backwards toward his goal during a clearing attempt. The ball bounced directly into the path of a charging Bunbury, with the Canadian-born rookie outracing Nana Attakora and heading the ball over a charging Stefan Frei.

Frei, who was caught in no man’s and as a result of Cann’s errant header, did well to cut down the angle and get a hand on Bunbury’s shot, but the Kansas forward’s header was as well-placed as it was powerful, and the ball glanced the bottom of the crossbar before sneaking over the Toronto goal line.

After that it was academical, as the TFC side that has struggled to score goals in recent weeks continued to do so, helped along by numerous displays of time-wasting that the Kansas City players should be ashamed of.

The result is another lost opportunity on the road for TFC. Like the Philadelphia away match two weeks ago, Toronto squandered crucial road points against a vastly inferior opponent, living up to the horrific form away from BMO Field that has become a staple of every TFC season thus far.

Add in the fact that Toronto’s home form has been far from stellar lately, and it’s readily apparent that the Reds have once again found themselves in their annual summer slump.

Time will tell if the 2010 side can deal with it better than previous editions, but with two more games in the next six days, time  — to recover from a lousy loss — is a luxury that TFC doesn’t have much of.

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Pros and Cons from Toronto FC’s away match at Kansas City Wizards, played July 31, 2010:

PROS

• Mista is slowly rounding into form, and had the best chance of the night for TFC.
• Nick Garcia had a decent game at left back. Not stellar, but decent.

CONS

• More dropped points on the road against terrible opposition.
• No will or drive from TFC to actually go for goal. The team seemed to be looking ahead to the Motagua match on Tuesday, instead of focusing on collecting what should have been easy points last night.
• Joseph Nane is back to his awful self, after a good second half on Saturday.
• Adrian Cann’s miscue. Cann has been a rock this year so it’s hard to be too angry about it, but Cann cost Toronto two points with that one errant header.
• Abby Okulaja’s officiating was terrible as usual. He let far too much physical play go, yet he called ticky-tack fouls, mostly against Toronto. Then he allowed diving and time-wasting from Kansas players that would have made the average Central American blush. Horribly inconsistent.
• CommunityAmerica Ballpark. The layout of the baseball stadium means the (tiny) soccer pitch has to run east-west, which is not at all optimal for a game played at sunset. Add in the ridiculous looking stands, and Kansas City can’t get into their under-construction soccer stadium fast enough. Good riddance.

HIGHLIGHTS

Posted by Rudi Schuller