|
|
Toronto FC 1 – 2 Columbus Crew
Playing on the road against their rivals for the Trillium Cup, Toronto FC looked very similar to the team that limped through poor performances against Kansas City and Portand over the last couple of weeks. With Toronto firmly out of the MLS Playoffs picture, players are now playing for spots on next year’s team. Until Paul Mariner changed things up late in the second half with the insertion of forward Quincy Amarikwa into the lineup, Toronto showed absolutely no bite offensively and were easily held in check by Chad Marshall and company.
If it had not been for a heroic performance by right back Richard Eckersley, Amarikwa would have been the hands down Man of the Match for the impressive manner in which he resuscitated a TFC squad that looked essentially lifeless going forward for more than an hour. Whether or not Amarikwa is capable of reproducing his quality performance over a full ninety minutes remains to be seen, but he showed enough against Columbus to warrant a chance to do so in Toronto’s next match.
Things were not completely dire from the defensive side of things, as both Richard Eckersley and Darren O’Dea delivered excellent performances and Ashtone Morgan held his own in a difficult defensive assignment.
The key to the ratings, as seems to be the logic on a scale of 1-10, is not to view it as a “grade”, as in a 6 would be a 60 or a C. The formula is that each player begins the game with a 5 and is the equilibrium from which their performance either improves or degrades moving in increments of .5.
Here is the breakdown of the starting XI:
Freddy Hall – 4.5
Not a terrible MLS debut for Hall, but also not a standout performance. While we will never know for sure, it isn’t a major stretch to imagine that Milos Kocic likely would have saved the first Columbus goal.
Richard Eckersley – 7.5 MOTM
On an evening in which most of his teammates failed to inspire, Eckersley delivered a gutsy standout performance. He did not miss a beat moving back to his favoured position at right fullback and was far and away Toronto’s best player in this match. While some have soured on the Englishman ever since it was revealed that he is one of the highest paid defenders in the league, he shows up for every match and has consistently been one of TFC’s best players all season long. The attack looked much better with him jumping into it on the right flank. He took three hard shots to the head and did not miss a beat in a Man of the Match performance.
Dicoy Williams – 5
It’s a little bit hard to rate Williams given that it was his first start after a long lay off due to injury. He did make a number of timely changes to shut down Columbus scoring chances, but also looked out of place on a few occasions. Unsurprisingly, he looked truly gassed before he was mercifully subbed off in the 85th minute.
Darren O'Dea – 7
Another strong performance by O’Dea, who has been one of the few bright spots for Toronto over the last couple of games. His positioning was excellent and he made a number of important challenges and blocks against what turned out to be a pretty dynamic Crew attack. Also very importantly, O’Dea was very vocal in this game, as he made it clear that he is ready to grab the position of leader on Toronto’s back line and run with it.
Ashtone Morgan – 5.5
Morgan battled talented and experienced Columbus forward Emilio Renteria for pretty much the entire match and more than held his own. It’s been a physically and mentally season for all of the TFC players and the sophomore left back has held up better than most under the turbulence of the last several months.
Terry Dunfield – 4.5
After impressing greatly since Paul Mariner took over as Head Coach at Toronto FC, Toronto had an off game against Columbus. He had an excellent chance to score in the second half, but his shot was well off target. Interestingly, Dunfield generally looked better when Toronto changed their formation in the second half, as he sat back to protect the back four while his teammates bombed forward to create chances.
Torsten Frings – 4.5
While he still did a lot of the good things that people have come to take for granted from him, overall this was another subpar performance by the former German International. Whether he is worn out or losing interest, this match supported the idea that Frings has not been one of the players who has been buoyed by the change at the head coaching position. Toronto looked much more dangerous when pace of Quincy Amarikwa was brought on when the German was subbed off.
Andrew Weideman – 4
Another tough day at the office for Weideman, who has struggled in two games in the starting eleven in place of Reggie Lambe. Outside of one great run at two defenders to earn a free kick in a dangerous spot, his performance likely had TFC fans longing for the return of Nick Soolsma.
Ryan Johnson – 4.5
Johnson was pretty much a non-entity in this match. It’s clear that he has not yet found the same chemistry with Eric Hassli that he enjoyed with Danny Koevermans. The Jamaican International has left it all on the pitch so many times this season, that it’s hard to criticize him overly for his performance against Columbus. It also should not be forgotten that his flick on to Eric Hassli lead to the goal scored by Luis Silva.
Luis Silva – 5.5
Silva looked much better late in the game when he played as an attacking midfielder. The TFC rookie scored a great goal to get the Reds back into the game in the second half.
Eric Hassli – 5.5
It’s important to remember that Hassli did not play all that regularly with the Vancouver Whitecaps in the weeks leading up to his arrival in Toronto. He delivered another decent performance in which he played to his strengths and set up a goal for his new side. It’s clear that Hassli is a very different player from Danny Koevermans and his teammates are still adjusting to playing with him rather than the Dutchman.
|