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Toronto FC 2 New England Revolution 2
The Prelude to Battle
Fresh off what is pretty much universally being called Toronto FC’s best performance ever in their 3-0 Champions League win over Dallas last Tuesday, the Reds arrived back home at BMO Field for their final match of the 2011 Major League Soccer season against the New England Revolution. With the Revolution sitting last overall in the MLS standings, Toronto was certainly positioned to end their season on a high note, which is something TFC Head Coach Aron Winter has been preaching over the last few days. With that in mind, he chose to dress exactly the same lineup as the one that delivered a crucial season defining win against Dallas, with the one exception that Matt Stinson rejoined the starting lineup in place of Doneil Henry.
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The Opening Forty-Five
This one kicked off with Toronto reverting back to the 3-5-3 formation they used often recently with Torsten Frings playing as a central defender. The game started with TFC looking like they were suffering a bit of a post-Dallas win hangover in the early going, as they team gave the ball away a number of times with very poor passes.
TFC keeper Milos Kocic was very busy early on as he saw a lot of more of the ball than the TFC coaching staffing would have liked through the opening ten minutes. New England had the first genuine scoring chance of the game in the 10th minute when forward Rajko Lekic headed a dangerous ball at the Toronto net that required a diving save by Kocic.
With New England dominating the possession, Toronto once again showed how quickly their attacking minded formation can change the complexion of a game when they opened the scoring in the 20th minute. Julian de Guzman played a nice forward ball to Koevermans, who delivered an absolutely beautiful pass in the box to set up Nick Soolsma for a tap in.
As the half progressed, Toronto started to shake off their slow start, with Joao Plata in particular was in resplendent form in the opening half as he buzzed all over the field and caused the New England defenders fits.
The Reds almost made it a two goal lead in the 23rd minute when Koevermans delivered another excellent ball to again set up Soolsma, but New England keeper Bobby Shuttleworth made a huge save to keep his team in the game.
In the 25th minute, Matt Stinson made an excellent sliding clearance to prevent a scoring chance by the Revolution.
New England picked up their play as the remainder of the opening half played out and were rewarded with a tying goal in the 40th minute when Monsef Zerka perfectly redirected a corner kick into the back of the TFC net on a header. Once again, for all of the improvement the Reds have shown down the stretch, Toronto succumbed to poor defending on a set piece.
Toronto had a decent chance to regain the lead in the 45th minute when some nice work by Plata set up an Ashtone Morgan cross that Koevermans unfortunately redirected into the waiting hands of Shuttleworth.
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Winter has got a lot right this year at #TorontoFC ... biggest challenge of the off-season = addressing the backline. Kudos to progress #TFC
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The Second Half
The second half opened in a somewhat disastrous fashion for Toronto FC, with an Eric Avila giveaway allowing Benny Feilhaber to set up Milton Caraglio for an easy goal.
That goal seemed to wake TFC up from their second slow start in one match, as they showed more life and ingenuity but could not engineer a tying goal through the hour mark. With Toronto pressing for an equalizer, Torsten Frings moved up into the midfield in effort to supplement an attack that was struggling to generate quality chances.
New England almost made it a two goal lead in the 76th minute when Kocic came up with a huge save 1v1 on Zerka and then Ty Harden made a vital clearance with Caraglio bearing down to knock in the rebound.
Toronto tied things up in the 83rd minute when who else but Danny Koeversman scored off of a cross by Avila, who redeemed himself for his giveaway at the beginning of the second half.
The remainder of regulation and four minutes of extra time did not produce a winning goal, as TFC concluded their 2011 season which both highlighted the potential inherent in the team was also illustrating the areas of the game that the club will need to improve upon over the offseason.
Post-Match Reaction
At the Post-Match Media conference, Toronto FC Head Coach Aron Winter admitted that the team’s performance against New England was sub par and explained that the win against Dallas in the CONCACAF Champions League had taken a lot out of his squad.
“We didn’t play a good game. We were a little bit flat. I think that the last game against Dallas, we had given a lot, and it’s the first time in our history that we have qualified in the quarter-final of the CONCACAF Champions League. I think those things together are why the team was a little bit flat. It was not a good game,” said Winter.
Winter also used the media conference to provide a brief assessment of Toronto FC’s 2011 season as a whole.
“From the moment I came I always said that the most important thing is rebuilding the team. Of course when we are building the team we have some targets. Targets in the different leagues, the Nutrilite Cup, CONCACAF, and MLS, we want to play well for all those targets. One of those targets in the league is to get the playoffs. But the main goal was building the team. Three months ago, since we have made a lot of trades, we have some better players, but also players that want to be part of the whole process. Also it was important that Torsten and Danny came in, because those things they have were missing in the team. Looking back, we won the Nutrilite Cup and qualified in CONCACAF, and did OK in the league the last three months, we have improved a lot. Looking at those things, I think the season was not so bad.”
Following the game, striker Danny Koevermans was asked his assessment of the team going forward into 2012 and the Dutchman was quick to state that it was not his place as a player to comment on that.
“I don’t know. Come to me in February or March and we will continue talking, but I don’t know. I am not the judge of that, I am not the coaches. I am just glad to be here, I have enjoyed my first three months, I have been to some nice cities and nice stadiums. This league is a good league, and the support with fans in every stadium that we are in, except in Washington, because that stadium is too big for the amount of fans they have. But it was fantastic the first few months, and I hope next year that the season will last for eight months and that we are going to make it,” said Koevermans.
The Final Word: Hope is not just a goalkeeper on Dancing with the Stars
In a match in that was essentially meaningless, Toronto FC as expected suffered a bit of a physical and mental hangover following their huge draining win in the Champions League on Tuesday. The Reds start both halves slowly and played a very sloppy game in multiple stretches of the match. That said, with the draw they did their Canadian MLS cousins, the Vancouver Whitecaps, a favour and ensured that the Western Canada expansion side will not finish alone in last place in the overall MLS standings.
If there was one major cause of concern it came in the form of the defensive breakdowns and struggles on set pieces that really good teams simply do not endure and that Toronto struggled with before and after the transfer window that so many have pointed to as the turning point for this season. These areas will need to be a focus for the coaching staff as the team works to continue its evolution from a team on the rise into a genuine contender.
The positives in this game were consistent with those shown by the team in recent weeks. Danny Koevermans was simply amazing again, as he has provided everything the team could have hoped for in a Designated Player when the team signed him in the summer. Nine goals in eleven league matches is a testament to the fact that he has very quickly established himself as one of the most dangerous centre forwards in the MLS. And as this game attested to, Koevermans can set up teammates for goals as well as he can score them himself. All he needs now is a song of his own and for the supporters to figure out what rhymes with Koevermans.
Playing on the back line and in the midfield, Torsten Frings was equally impressive, as he one against showed a level of class and football intelligence that only comes with a player of his pedigree. And Joao Plata once again brought the pace, boundless energy and ability to break down the opposition that will make Toronto’s goal of bringing him back next season one of their main imperatives for the offseason.
TFC Academy Graduates Matt Stinson and Ashtone Morgan also delivered high quality performances, with the latter again looking very consistent at both ends of the pitch and like a talent who is really finding his comfort zone playing in the North America top flight. And playing at right back, Stinson made some key defensive plays and delivered a confident and mature game that belies his years. Both players are undoubtedly primed to play key roles for Toronto FC in 2012.
TFC Line-up
30 Kocic
15 Stinson
3 Iro
20 Harden
5 Morgan
6 De Guzman
22 Frings
18 Soolsma
14 Koevermans
9 Johnson
7 Plata
Substitutions: (28) Avila in for Johnson; (55) Dunfield in for De Guzman; (74) Zavarise in for Plata.
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