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Toronto FC 0 – Colorado Rapids 1
The Prelude to Battle
Toronto FC hit rock bottom midweek.
Facing the Montreal Impact in the second leg of the Amway Canadian Championship, and boasting a 2-0 lead from their first encounter at BMO Field, Toronto FC suffered a humiliating six-goal loss and crashed out of the competition. Unable to muster up an effective away leg performance, Toronto can now focus exclusively on league play for the first time in four years.
This shift in mentality will be tested for the first time against the Colorado Rapids. Toronto will need to put up a solid performance and build a starting block for the rest of the regular season, and the Rapids present the club’s first chance to do so. A win today in Colorado would help the team regroup and grow once more.
Toronto FC will start the game with a new face, in young Designated Player Matias Laba, who makes the team sheet alongside Jeremy Hall in midfield. Laba, an Argentine U20 international, gets his first chance to show Toronto FC supporters what he’s all about, and with Luis Silva and Robert Earnshaw ahead of him, all eyes will be on Laba on the night.
Meanwhile, Logan Emory returns from injury and starts at left fullback, replacing Ashtone Morgan, who has struggled as of late and has been responsible for a few of the goals Toronto FC has conceded in the last few games. The rest of the line up features many familiar faces, such as Darren O’Dea, Gale Agbossoumonde, Reggie Lambe and Hogan Ephraim. Ryan Richter stays at right fullback, with Richard Eckersley still out; Darel Russell returns from injury, though, and makes the bench.
As for Colorado, the club has been plagued with various injuries so far this season, and have been firmly near the bottom of the Western Conference, too. In nine games, Colorado has picked up nine points, compared to Toronto FC’s seven points in eight games. Drew Moor and Brian Mullan play in defence, and former TFC pair Nathan Sturgis and Nick LaBrocca start, too. The strike force of Danny Mwanga and Atiba Harris offers Colorado a lot of speed up top.
It’s Toronto FC vs. the Colorado Rapids at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park!
The Opening 45
While altitude has always been a hot topic when playing in Colorado, it certainly looked to be a factor in the first 15 minutes. Toronto did not have much energy and the fullback movement was non-existent. In the 11th minute, Colorado found their first shot of the game, which was saved by Bendik. Toronto resorted to the long ball approach early, to little effect.
In the 13th minute, Toronto FC found a chance of their own, when Earnshaw intercepted a pass, quickly switched to Ephraim on the left, and picked it back up, before taking a shot on Clint Irwin’s goal. The deflected save almost landed to Luis Silva, but was gobbled up by the keeper.
After the 15-minute mark, Toronto FC began playing the ball on the ground more, with Laba and Hall beginning to combine in the midfield. Earnshaw found another chance on goal after a succession of passes found him in possession outside the box, but the shot was saved easily.
Earnshaw had a third chance to score near the half-hour mark when Richter’s low cross was dummied by Luis Silva and then hit by the Welsh forward, but the shot was too high, from right outside the net. It was an easy goal but one that Earnshaw scuffed completely.
In the 40th minute, Dillon Powers picked up a yellow card for a rough challenge on Laba. As the final five minutes of the first half dwindled down, Toronto FC mounted one last chance, with Luis Silva taking a shot on goal, but Irwin once again picked it up with ease. Only one minute was added on at the end, and the referee blew the whistle soon after, the two teams heading into the locker rooms even at 0-0.
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If MLS games were 80 minutes Toronto FC would be a dynasty. Another late goal sinks the Reds. #tfclive
- @cbctom |
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The Second Half
The second half started with only one change made, Colorado Rapids head coach Oscar Pareja opting to put Edson Buddle into the game in place of Kamani Hill. Luis Silva managed to win three corner kicks in succession, the final one cleared by the Rapids defence, and the inability to get a head on the ball showed Toronto’s lack of height in the box.
A touch of fatigue began to set in at the hour mark, with Toronto FC slowing down considerably after an energetic opening 15 minutes in the second half. In the 58th minute, Nick LaBrocca came off for Martin Rivero. Toronto FC finally looked to capitalize on a long throw in, courtesy of Hall, but Irwin once again made the save.
Danny Mwanga tore Toronto’s midfield apart with a bursting run forward, before Agbossoumonde took him down outside the box, and Colorado lined up for a free kick: the shot went high, and Toronto avoided conceding.
In the 71st minute, Luis Silva picked up a long ball by Logan Emory, and took on both Colorado centerbacks, before taking the shot; once again, Irwin made a big save, denying Toronto a goal. In the 78th minute, Hogan Ephraim made way for Darel Russell, and Parejo made his final change, taking Sturgis off for Deshorn Brown.
Toronto continued to push forward and created plenty of chances in both corner kicks and long throw ins, Silva in particular getting involved regularly. With only 10 minutes left, Toronto had to defend against Colorado’s reinforced offence. Toronto’s best chance of the second half came when Luis Silva broke and supplied Earnshaw on an open chance, but Earnshaw hit wide and Colorado avoided the goal.
In the 86th minute, Logan Emory failed to clear the ball, and Edson Buddle pounced in the box, beating Joe Bendik and scoring Colorado’s goal. Toronto FC, now down 1-0, conceded yet another late goal. Emory was subbed off for Bostock soon after.
That will do it for this one; Toronto FC concede yet another late goal, the fifth time this season. Edson Buddle punished Toronto after a failed clearance, against the run of play, giving the Rapids a 1-0 win.
Post-Match Reaction
With the expected “of course” that soon spread throughout Toronto FC supporter’s social networks, the post match reaction from Ryan Nelsen was about the same as in games past; Nelsen could say little to explain yet another late goal, telling press, “We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. All we can do is remedy this as soon as possible.”
“The clear cut opportunities we had were pretty good,” said Nelsen. “We defended really well, didn’t really look like conceding and made a bit of a mistake – that’s football.”
On Earnshaw’s form, Nelsen took responsibility for his forward’s inability to find the back of the net.
“He sets extremely high standards for himself and works really hard,” said Nelsen. “To be fair, it’s probably my fault more than anything, I kept him on, he had played Wednesday and travelled and all that, I kept him on because he’s such a good player. Looking back, he probably should have been given a rest but to be fair my options at striker on the bench are pretty limited.”
Matias Laba spoke about his debut, and he was pleased with his first game, saying, via translator, that he thought the league was “a little bit more physical but very comparable [to Argentina].”
Jeremy Hall played beside Laba today, and he spoke after the match.
“I thought we had the better of the chances,” said Hall. “We’re motivated for Wednesday. It’s going to be a tough game against San Jose, a hard working team that plays for 90+ minutes, so we’re going to be in for another battle but we’re going to be ready.”
The Final Word: Five Times Too Many
When Richard Eckersley went down with injury, it seemed that Toronto FC’s vast squad depth would be able to cover for him; how wrong we were.
Eckersley’s absence at fullback has reduced Toronto FC’s defensive flanks to one of the weakest parts of the field. Ashtone Morgan has looked a shell of his former self, which was already a defensive liability, and Logan Emory has had one major defensive mistake in every game he has played in. Ryan Richter has slotted in well enough and Darel Russell isn’t exactly a fullback, but in either case, the left fullback slot has been the Achilles heel of the club for several games now, and Ryan Nelsen needs to sort it out, fast.
Blame the altitude, blame the midweek fixture, blame it on whatever you’d like, but Toronto FC were flat and predictable throughout the 90 minutes. Luis Silva may have provided a spark but the rest of the team was a blanket of dullness. Laba provided little moving forward, Hall looked lost in midfield, Lambe and Ephraim were ineffective on the wings, and Earnshaw missed two or three chances at goal.
Meanwhile, the Rapids dominated the one area of the field they needed to: the middle of the park. Slowly but surely, Parejo put on Buddle, Rivero and Brown, bolstering his forward line without making too much noise, and allowed Toronto FC to move forward and get comfortable. Then, when the tide of the match changed, Toronto’s backline was unable to cope with the number of attacking players, and a bad clearance by Emory gave Buddle his chance to score.
Buddle, of course, is a former Toronto FC player, and those are the players who most often find the back of the net against the Reds, but I digress.
Toronto’s inability to control the midfield comes from just a lazy, fatigued effort from the midfield. Laba did well in a holding midfield role, and was defensively sound, but the lack of wing presence hurt Toronto FC. Each floating ball in by a long throw in or a corner kick was easily met by the heads of the much taller Colorado backline, and the few times Gale Agbossoumonde got a flick on the ball with his head, the likes of Drew Moor or Brian Mullan were covering Toronto’s forwards, providing a clearance.
The worst part? Toronto FC looked like they could have held the 0-0 score or even score one of their own: a single defensive error managed to dismantle Toronto’s effort. And, of course, it was the late goal, the bane of Toronto’s 2013 season, which struck once more like a dagger in the heart of Toronto FC’s viewers.
At this point, a late goal isn’t even shocking anymore; it’s expected, and for a club looking to change culture and build tradition, that is a serious, serious problem.
Toronto FC Lineup
12 Joe Bendik
33 Ryan Richter
6 Gale Agbossoumonde
48 Darren O’Dea
2 Logan Emory
20 Matias Laba
25 Jeremy Hall
19 Reggie Lambe
31 Hogan Ephraim
11 Luis Silva
10 Robert Earnshaw
Substitutions: Darel Russell in for Hogan Ephraim (78’); John Bostock in for Logan Emory (89’).
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