Dwayne De Rosario takes on Bobby Boswell at BMO Field. July 1, 2010. (Scotty / TFCpics.com)

Just when you were ready to mourn Toronto FC’s 2010 MLS season, they give you a reason to keep believing.

Following as lackluster an opening half ever displayed by the boys in red, TFC pulled a proverbial rabbit out of the hat just when it seemed like all the magic had disappeared. The head magician was once again Dwayne De Rosario, arguably the most clutch performer in league history, with his faithful assistant Stefan Frei reminding the audience that DeRo isn’t the only one with a few tricks up his sleeve.

The first half was a dreadful show of a team disinterested, seemingly having given up hope and finding itself losing to yet another team — this time the Houston Dynamo in an unfamiliar role of hapless also-ran — below Toronto in the standings.

One could be forgiven for assuming the worst at the half time break, this writer himself compared the opening 45 minutes to a lobotomy.

Then a series of events happened that indicated that TFC was not to be left for dead just yet.

First, an emotionally-charged halftime interview with Chad Barrett showed that not all of the players were content with simply going through the motions of what was rapidly becoming yet another lost season for MLS’ lone Canadian side. Barrett’s heated words were a refreshing reprieve from the lack of passion that had come from the Reds’ players in recent weeks, at least outwardly.

Secondly, Nick Dasovic did something that Preki failed to do in most of his games in charge here, he recognized the failings of his starting lineup and he adjusted accordingly. The insertion of Martin Saric to start the second half gave TFC a little more bite and a lot more skill than Joseph Nane was able to provide in the first 45 minutes.

Thirdly, it was obvious that whatever the new gaffer said to his charges at the break worked, as The Reds came out of the locker room with a renewed vigour and — more importantly — a sense of purpose to their game. This is in direct contrast to the way they played under Preki (especially over the past several weeks), as generally Toronto would begin each match on fire and rapidly lose steam as the game progressed.

Fourthly, we saw the Dwayne De Rosario that TFC supporters haven’t witnessed since that wonderful night in 2009 in Montreal.  He seemingly willed his side to victory on the strength of two world class free kicks just outside Houston’s penalty area, including one with pretty much the last kick of the game. Anyone who questions his leadership needs to watch the second half of this match before saying another word.

Obviously, it wasn’t all perfection out there in Houston last night. Toronto still struggles mightily with set piece defending, which resulted in a goal by Dynamo striker Brian Ching that should never have happened. Indeed, the entire first half was an indictment of everything wrong with TFC this year.

Also, it’s almost impossible to score two goals from the exact same set piece in the same match, yet that’s exactly what happened. One would think that a better team without an octogenarian goalkeeper would have recognized the same play being set up after it worked the first time, so it is perhaps at least a little lucky for DeRo and company that they tried them against Houston and not, say, FC Dallas.

But no matter. The Reds picked up the full three points in a place that they’ve only gotten one in the previous three visits combined, although all it did was keep the team from sliding further away from the eighth and final playoff spot (thanks for nothing, Columbus).

In a perfect world, last night’s emotional win will be the catalyst for an unparalleled run of form that’ll see Toronto squeak into the playoffs a la Real Salt Lake circa 2009. As we all know, TFC is far from perfect, so if they manage to pull off the impossible, it won’t be without a few near-heart attacks and a whole lot of navel gazing along the way.

But it’d be one hell of a ride.

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Pros and Cons for Toronto FC’s 2-1 victory at Houston Dynamo on September 18, 2010:

PROS

• Dwayne De Rosario with two of the best free kicks ever taken by a player in a TFC uniform.
• Stefan Frei once again keeping his side competitive with his stellar play.
• Chad Barrett going 70 minutes and making them count. He is a difference maker on this team.
• Three points gained from one (away) match. So that’s what it feels like.

CONS

• Awful first half that would have killed Toronto’s chances if it were against a better team.
• Another set piece goal given away.
• Maicon Santos’ first touch was terrible all game long. Hopefully it’s just an anomaly.
• The referee’s hair. Apparently he thought Houston was on the Jersey Shore and not the Gulf Coast.

HIGHLIGHTS

Posted by Rudi Schuller

TFC and Dynamo players scuffle at BMO Field. July 1, 2010. (Scotty / TFCpics.com)

In three seasons of visiting Houston’s Robertson Stadium, Toronto FC has been, to put it mildly, crap.

TFC has a record of 0 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw in three visits to the Dynamo’s home stadium, with a goal differential of -5. The Reds seem to reserve some of their worst performances for their trips to south Texas, the past two visits resulting in soul-crushing defeats by a much superior opponent.

Now Toronto is set to play at Robertson again, this time on the heels of a demoralizing loss in the Champions League at Salt Lake in mid-week, and (more importantly) an identity-changing front office purging that promises to change the culture of the club.

It also stands to reason that TFC is at least partially looking ahead to the daunting challenge at Cruz Azul next week, a match that has the potential to be a bloodbath for a team in disarray.

In any other year, tomorrow night’s game would be considered a guaranteed slaughter. Houston has been among the class of the league since moving over from San Jose in 2006, with two MLS Cups and some very attractive football in the years since.

This year is different, though. The Dynamo have kept their core together for nearly a decade, a lifetime in sporting terms. Over the past couple of years, many from that core has either moved on to other pastures, or showed signs of slowing down due to the inevitable effects of age and injuries.

Gone are the free-flowing Dynamo from 2006 -08 that boasted the likes of Dwayne De Rosario, Ricardo Clark and Stuart Holden in arguably the best midfield any team in the league has put together, with all three now playing their trade elsewhere. Elder statesman goalkeeper Pat Onstad is finally starting to act his age, Brian Mullan was just traded to Colorado, and Brian Ching is a shell of his former self up top. Other formerly key cogs have outright retired.

Make no mistake, Houston still has some very good players. I’d take Brad Davis in my midfield any day of the week, and Geoff Cameron is a master of versatility with a real shot at cracking the US National Team.

But as TFC fans are all too aware, a team is much more than two or three good players, and for the first time since landing in Texas, the Dynamo are no longer a force to be reckoned with.

Of course, Toronto will be playing on the road, in a venue in which they’ve never won, following a mid-week game thousands of kilometres away. No matter how poor Houston has been this season — and they are currently behind The Reds in the MLS standings — they are still a team with pride and home turf to defend.

As we saw with the DC United match last week, no team is to be underestimated in this league, not even those going through a litany of changes and extremely poor results.

That is, of course, a two way street, and the paragraph above this one could easily be used to describe our beloved TFC.

Funny how that works.

Posted by Rudi Schuller

“I went to a fight and a soccer game broke out.”

How appropriate is it that on Canada Day 2010 – at the height of the so-called “Summer of Soccer” – that the highlight of a prime time matchup between host Toronto FC and Houston Dynamo is a skirmish more befitting of a hockey game?

Following 60 minutes of listless, dog-days-of-summer MLS doldrums, Toronto wunderkind defender “Young” Nana Attakora found himself literally at the throat of Dynamo annoyance Joseph Ngwenya. TFC’s Julian de Guzman, along with Ngwenya, was sent off in the ensuing scrum after rushing to the aid of his fellow countryman. Attakora was shown a yellow.

It’s hard to blame Attakora for the scuffle, as Ngwenya seemingly was the only person in the stadium to have not heard the referee blow the play dead as Ngwenya was carrying the ball down the wing. The Houston player then ran into Attakora rather forcefully, took exception, then promptly got manhandled by the young Canadian for his troubles.

There are two real talking points from that “fight”:

1. The designated player was the first to jump in and defend his teammate. This cannot be understated as there have been criticisms leveled de Guzman’s way that he wasn’t playing with as much passion as perhaps he should be given his stature and pay scale. I think this episode puts that talk to rest.
2. It took a big melee to finally light a fire under two teams clearly going through the motions. One drawback of MLS is that the schedule cuts right through the height of summer, when just about everyone – professional soccer players included – seem to function at half-speed. The points still count the same in the standings in July as they do in September, but the ability for malaise to set in at this time of year seems very easy.

Regardless, there was still 30 minutes of football to be played following the de Guzman and Ngwenya dismissals, and the crowd was treated to some entertaining stuff in that time.

Of course, it would have been far less exciting had Toronto not been chasing the game for 15 tense minutes toward the end. Houston’s Brian Ching was allowed to muscle his way into the box and nod a corner kick delivery into Stefan Frei’s goal, largely due to the lackadaisical set piece defending by TFC’s Amadou Sanyang.

The 18-year-old Sanyang has claimed a regular spot in the starting eleven thus far in 2010, and it’s been increasingly hard to see why. After a decent rookie campaign last year, the young Gambian has seemingly regressed from the bustling ball of energy he started off as, often sending passes into the feet of opponents or entering into rash challenges that tempt the referee into showing a card almost every time.

Sanyang had a particularly poor game yesterday, in which he was cautioned twice (and thus ejected in the closing moments of the match), gave the ball away on numerous occasions, and also got out-maneuvered by the far more experienced Ching for Houston’s only goal.

He also got away with a pretty blatant head-butt on Ching immediately prior to the Houston striker’s goal. Such lack of discipline right in front of his own net, in a tight match, is unacceptable and he’s lucky to not have been sent off earlier.

While Sanyang is still young and has the raw skills to develop into a solid footballer, one has to wonder why he is seemingly being rushed into first-team action while viable, more experienced options like Martin Saric and Ty Harden languish on the bench.

I suppose it doesn’t matter now, as Sanyang will join his central midfield partner de Guzman in the press box during TFC’s next match, giving the aforementioned Saric and Harden (or perhaps someone else) the opportunity to grab a spot in the starting eleven.

Perhaps a forced shakeup is what TFC needs, given that they have only scored one goal in the past four competitive matches and continue to drop crucial points at home.

It’s not all bad news though. Dan Gargan continues to argue his case as the best bargain picked up over the off-season. The affable right back did yeoman’s work on Thursday, patrolling up and down the right flank with confidence. That he scored the late equalizer was only fitting, as his hard work throughout the season deserves to be rewarded.

De Guzman, before the sending off, was putting on a clinic on how to play central midfield. The diminutive Scarborough native was everywhere on the pitch in his 60 minutes of action prior to the red card, both in disrupting the Houston attack down the middle as well as placing some cutting passes to his teammates on the offensive end.

Hopefully the rumoured addition of his old Deportivo running mate Mista will result in some of those passes leading to more danger, as it was evidenced last night that even with the adjustments made over the past few months, JDG is still one or two steps ahead of his teammates, which has to be frustrating.

With de Guzman out for the July 10 match versus Colorado, the next time he dons TFC red could also be Mista’s debut, as it would coincide with the opening of the MLS summer transfer window.

Let’s hope the new addition proves fruitful, because Toronto cannot look to tie its way into the playoffs.

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Pros and Cons for Toronto FC’s match versus Houston Dynamo on July 1, 2010:

PROS

• Dan Gargan’s awesomeness is finally rewarded
• TFC’s refusal to wither and die following a late-ish goal against put them behind. Previous versions of this team would not have fought to the bitter end like that
• Nick Garcia settling in at left back. He’ll never be mistaken for Roberto Carlos, but he’s been adequate back there and is a better option than Raivis Hscanovics

CONS

• Amadou Sanyang. He’s just not ready to be a full-time starter in MLS
• The officiating was horrid, and is equally to blame for the game boiling over as the players who participated in the two big scuffles
• Continued dropping of home points due to lack of offensive punch. Can Mista help out in this regard?

HIGHLIGHTS

Posted by Rudi Schuller

The Galaxy won their series by a single goal, courtesy of a successful Landon Donovan penalty kick in the 73rd minute of the Galaxy home leg. The 1-0 scoreline in the second leg was a complete reversal compared to the relative goalfest (a sloppy 2-2 draw) that was the Goats’ home leg a week previous.

Team Beckham now faces off against perennial contenders (and often champion) Houston Dynamo, who finally figured out how to score in the 126th minute of a 120-minute series. Slump-ridden Brian Ching, who has looked a shell of his former self in recent months not only for his orange-clad MLS club but also for the US nationals, rediscovered his scoring touch in extra time after Houston and the upstart Seattle Sounders couldn’t tally a single goal between them over the course of two regulation matches.

Ching figured the best way to break out of a scoring slump was in dramatic fashion, spinning nearly 180 degrees to volley a bullet past Seattle keeper Kasey Keller, off the inside of the nearest post, and into the goal. Houston then held on for dear life for the following 24 minutes as Freddie Ljungberg and company tried their damnedest to continue the expansion side’s Cinderella story for at least a few more days. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be, but Sounders fans can still hold their heads high as their side just completed  arguably the most successful expansion launch in MLS history (yes, I’m including Chicago in that statement, who won the Cup in a much less competitive MLS back in ’98).

Speaking of the Fire, Chicago dispatched New England from their seemingly annual playoff matchup, winning 2-0 at home after spotting the Revs a 3-2 lead in the New England leg. Old Man Blanco continues to defy time itself, having tallied the second of Chicago’s goals and thereby clinching the series with one kick of his well-travelled foot.

The Fire now play host the Salt Lake, who flipped confrerences in MLS’ CFL-inspired playoff crossover format as the eighth and final seed. The Utah side gave downtodden TFC fans a small reason to smile by expelling defending champion (and two-time Supporters Shield winner) Columbus Crew.

Columbus inexplicably rested reigning league MVP Guillermo Barros Schellotto in the first leg in Utah, and paid for the foolish mistake by going down 1-0. Upon his return to the lineup, Schellotto did his best to revive the Crew’s chances in their home leg by notching two goals and putting his side ahead in the aggregate with little more than a half of soccer to be played, but Columbus seemed determined to falter, allowing Salt Lake to score three unanswered goals in what was not-too-long-ago an inpentrable Crew Stadium. One has to wonder what impact Schellotto would have had in the first leg of the series, but it’ll never be known.

So the MLS Cup semis are set, with LA hosting Houston and RSL visiting Chicago. If I were a predictions kind of guy, I’d say LA takes the West while Chicago keeps the East crown within the actual Eastern Conference, leading to a star-studded Cup Final in which The Beckham Experiment finally achieves the ultimate success on the field with an LA Galaxy MLS Cup Championship.

But since I’m not a predictions kind of guy, I will not make such proclamations. Unless I’m proven correct, in which case I’ll point back to this piece as evidence of my superior prognostication skills.

Posted by Rudi Schuller