U-Sector – The Original Toronto FC Supporters Group

Red vs. Blue

Monday, August 16, 2010

Forget Real Madrid. Tomorrow night, TFC faces its biggest challenge since the team kicked its first ball in anger back in April 2007.

Mexico’s Cruz Azul storms into town for the CONCACAF Champions League, looking to continue its dominance over the region — especially MLS teams — en route to yet another CCL final.

Sure, Los Cementeros may not be on par with Los Galacticos in terms of pure skill and talent, but the difference between this visit and Cristiano Ronaldo’s last year is that Cruz Azul is actually here to play for something.

The Mexico City club has never actually won the Champions League, despite having advanced to the final in both editions of that competition. This is a fact that does not sit well well with the team, and Cruz Azul will be looking to assert its dominance on the competition at the first opportunity.

That first opportunity is against Toronto.

The Reds are heading into the game an incomplete side, hampered by injuries to key personnel, most notably forwards Chad Barrett and Maicon Santos. Both players pulled up lame in recent games, and both are looking at possibly another couple of weeks before suiting up for TFC again.

This places the weight of the attacking responsibility on Mista, O’Brian White and Fuad Ibrahim. The thought of the three carrying the team’s offence through the thick of the late summer logjam is hardly inspiring, given Mista’s fitness issues, White’s complete lack of form and Ibby’s lack of minutes.

Luckily, the supporting cast is relatively unscathed, specifically Dwayne De Rosario and Julian de Guzman, both of whom will be looked upon to lead the upstart Reds against a highly motivated Mexican powerhouse.

Even Martin Saric is back to full training after a long layoff, which gives Preki a weapon if he feels that Cruz Azul isn’t intimidated enough.

It’s tough to give Toronto a real shot of winning this game, despite a home record that has seen the side unbeaten in over a calendar year. Cruz Azul will be simply the most powerful side to grace BMO’s pitch in the stadium’s history, once motivation and fitness are taken into account.

Tomorrow will not be a friendly kickabout in which both teams are more concerned with playing to the crowd than the final score. Quite the opposite, actually.

Both teams will absolutely be concerned with the final score. Toronto will be playing its best version of Preki-ball in order to keep the score respectable, while Cruz Azul will be looking to set their goal differential as big as possible, as early as possible.

Given that Los Cementeros are fresh off of pumping current Champions League holders Pachuca 4-1 in the Mexican Apertura on Saturday, the Reds will have their work cut out for them.

Fortunately, if there’s one thing that Preki’s team has shown in 2010, it’s that they don’t mind getting their hands dirty.

Posted by Rudi Schuller