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Toronto FC 1 Seattle Sounders 3
The Prelude to Battle
Coming off the high that was their thrilling victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy in the CONCACAF Champions League, opened their 2012 MLS campaign in Seattle against the Sounders on Saturday night. Going in it looked like a fixture that would be fraught with both peril and opportunity.
On the positive side of the equation, Toronto went into this match full of confidence, were already well adjusted to the West Coast time zone and climate and Seattle had to travel a significant distance back from Mexico to return home.
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However, looking at this match from a negative point of view, it's never easy to win on the road in the MLS or in Seattle. Furthermore, while Seattle would likely be motivated to redeem themselves in front of a home crowd following an embarrassing 6-1 loss to Santos Laguna in the CONCACAF Champions League on Wednesday, Toronto were going to have fight against a possible hangover brought upon by their emotional and physically draining win over Los Angeles midweek.
With that in mind possible hangover in mind, TFC Head Coach Aron Winter made a number of changes to his lineup against Seattle, with Terry Dunfield returning to the starting lineup, Logan Emory getting his first start as a member of Toronto FC and Eric Avila returning to the lineup following his abscence due to being cup tied for the Champions League fixtures against the Galaxy.
The Opening Forty-Five
It became apparent fairly early that this edition of St. Patrick's Day was going to go the way of the men in green. Sounders forward David Estrada opened the scoring in 17th minute when Toronto was unable to clear a loose ball in the TFC box.
The evening went from bad to downright awful in the 23rd minute when Torsten Frings made an excellent tackle on Estrada to prevent a quality scoring chance. Unfortunately, the TFC captain pulled his hamstring on the play and was subsequently replaced by Aaron Maund.
Seattle continued to dominate the run of the play even that much more with Frings on the sidelines.
Toronto's best scoring chance of the half came in the 28th minute when a red hot Ryan Johnson headed one off the crossbar.
The Second Half
Estrada doubled Seattle's lead early in the second half when he beat Toronto's offside trap and showed a natural scorer's finish putting one behind a helpless Milos Kocic.
In the 54th minute, a perfectly timed tackle in the Toronto box by Richard Eckersley on Mauro Rosales prevented another scoring chance that would have been a sure goal on the Xbox.
In the 62nd minute, Ryan Johnson once again showed that he had come to play when got TFC on the scoresheet with a fantastic shot that Sounders keeper Michael Gspurning had no chance on.
Estrada made it a hat trick one minute later, sealing the game on a nice one-two play with Alvaro Fernandez.
The Final Word: Frings injury could be a major problem
After the jubilation of their quarterfinal win over the Los Angeles Galaxy in the Champions League, this loss was a bitter pill for both Toronto FC and their fans. Ultimately, the main thing for TFC will be how the team responds in their home opener against the Earthquakes next week. It's very hard for any team to go into Seattle and come away with anything, so this one can easily be classified as a blip should Toronto deliver commanding performance next week.
That said, while there was really only one positive to take from this game - his name was Ryan Johnson - there were plenty of negatives and warning signs.
The high defensive line that Toronto is playing is clearly something that opposition offenses are keying on as something they can exploit. Aron Winter is going to have to make some adjustments or his keepers are going to be facing a lot of one on ones in the team's coming fixtures.
While it is not yet known how bad Torsten Frings injury is, it is clear that he is the one player that the team cannot afford to lose for a significant period of time. If his injury keeps him out of the lineup for an extended period, Toronto is going to be in major trouble in both the MLS and the Champions League against Santos Laguna.
Lastly, while Winter generally got his tactics and team selection right against the Galaxy in the last few matches, his choices against Seattle likely contributed to this defeat. His decision to start the game without Joao Plata and Ashtone Morgan deprived the attack of most of the pace that makes Toronto dangerous. Furthermore, his decision not to start Julian de Guzman contributed to a problem with ball movement from the back line up through the midfield up to the forward line. Certainly, players could have been tired or still not match fit so early in the campaign, but Winter's propensity to make so many changes from week to week can be concerning. TFC now have a week to prepare for their home opener against San Jose.
TFC Line-up
30 Kocic
2 Emory
3 Aceval
20 Harden
27 Eckersley
23 Dunfield
22 Frings
18 Soolsma
9 Johnson
8 Avila
11 Silva
Substitutions: (24) Maund in for Frings; (46) Koevermans in for Harden; (57) Plata in for Avila.
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