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Toronto FC 0 Columbus Crew 1
The Prelude to Battle
After lacklustre performances in their first two league fixtures of 2012, the pressure was on TFC heading into this match against the Columbus Crew. While they were still looking for their first MLS point of the year, the Reds did come into this match with some momentum courtesy of a fine overall team performance on Wednesday against Santos Laguna in the Champions League. Unlike last week’s home opener against San Jose, the Reds were solid in all areas of the pitch and did not look like they were missing injured team leader Torsten Frings.
With next Wednesday’s Champions League away leg in Mexico next on the schedule, TFC Head Coach Aron Winter made only one change to his starting eleven, with defender Logan Emory starting in central defense in place of Miguel Aceval.
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With target man Danny Koevermans starting to heat up, but suspended for the next Champions League match, Winter was probably going to ride his Dutch striker in this one and hope his team could put this one away early so they could rest a few key players for Wednesday night.
Columbus arrived in town after an offseason in which they made a large number of roster changes. Proven MLS players Chad Marshall and Eddie Gaven are still around to lead the team, but whether or not new faces such as Olman Vargas and Milo Mirosevic will be able to contribute enough for the Crew to remain a top tier team in the MLS is still very much in question. With the Reds never having beaten Columbus at BMO Field, this fixture prevented a decent opportunity for a TFC squad still looking for their first league points to get two monkeys off their backs at once.
The Opening Forty-Five
The opening half was a fairly evenly matched affair with neither team generating a plethora of scoring chances. The Reds had the first opportunity to get on the scorebox in the 11th minute when the ball fell to Koevermans in the Columbus box, but the big Dutchman’s shot went directly into the arms of Crew keeper Andy Gruenebaum.
Columbus had an excellent chance to open the scoring in the 42nd minute following a poor call by the referee, who awarded the Crew a penalty kick when he believed that Ty Harden had brought down Olman Vargas in the box. Replays showed that to be an incorrect call.
Crew midfielder Milo Mirosevic stepped up to take the penalty kick, but was stopped by TFC keeper Milos Kocic, who guess correctly and pushed the ball out of bounds.
Neither side would engineer much in the way of scoring chances in the remainder of the first forty-five and the teams went into the half-time break with the game scoreless.
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#TorontoFC now projected to end the season with 34 points 12 points out of what a playoff team is projected to attain during the 2012 #MLS
- @ENBSports |
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The Second Half
Aron Winter made one lineup change to start the second half, bringing in Luis Silva in place of Nick Soolsma.
The Reds had a scoring chance in the 51st minute when Silva set up Koevermans for a shot that Gruenebaum juggled but eventually gained control of.
A defensive breakdown by TFC and a missed clearance by Logan Emory in the 56th minute allowed Crew midfielder Bernardo Anor to score an unassisted goal to give Columbus the lead.
The Crew almost doubled their lead in the 67th minute when Columbus was on the break and Emilio Renteria sent a shot past Kocic but just wide of the far post.
Toronto would dominate possession and generate chance after chance through much of the second half, but struggled to break through with that final ball or shot that would have enabled to them to even things up.
Post-Match Reaction
At the post-game media conference TFC Head Coach Aron Winter stated that he was both disappointed in the result and finding it hard to reconcile the score line with the performances that both teams delivered on the pitch.
“I think that we’ve played very well, we created a lot of chances. If you’re gonna compare it with Columbus Crew, they didn’t really have a real chance, but they scored. But I think the way we’re playing, yeah, we’re missing a little bit of sharpness with the opportunities we get. That makes a difference; the chances you receive, make the goals and then it’s also much easier to play. But still, I think that we deserve more. Much more,” said Winter.
The Dutchman also stated that he was not overly concerned about TFC’s inability to finish their chances in their first 2012 MLS matches.
“I think if you watch all the games, at the highest level, what you create during the game, let’s say between six and 12 chances, it’s a lot. And if you’re going to compare it with other teams, we’re ahead. We’re creating at least between six and eight chances, it’s a lot. The only difference is that we have to be sharper at the moments you receive, because at those moments, you don’t get the whole game. Then you have to, at least, score. It’s coming. I’m not worried about it. We are demonstrating that we are playing very well, even today; not only today but also last week, we’re missing some players. We’re still playing well. We dominated the game, creating opportunities, and that’s, for me, a very good thing.”
Striker Danny Koevermans was more succinct in his assessment of the match.
“We didn’t score, then you lose the game, it’s as simple as that,” said Koevermans.
Keeper Milos Kocic stated that he felt TFC delivered a performance that played to the strengths of the Columbus Crew.
“I think the reason for that is Columbus is probably the best team in the league in the air. I think we should maybe play more on the ground and stretch them out, because they’re not very quick in the back. Chad Marshall is not very quick but he’s probably the best player in the league in the air. It’s like we played to their advantages, we didn’t play to our advantages, on the ground, we kind of played in the air. I think that didn’t help us,” said Kocic.
The Final Word: TFC not doing themselves any favours with poor start in the league.
Three games into their 2012 MLS campaign, Toronto have not yet earned a single point and you have to wonder if this slow start will come back to haunt them in terms of their goal of making the playoffs for the first time. It’s certainly early days, but with two straight league losses at home, memories of the time when their home pitch was called Fortress BMO Field must seem distant to the club’s supporters.
The old adage that good teams win even when they aren’t playing their best has not yet shown itself to be applicable to this team. In fact, the 2012 edition of Toronto FC first need to learn how to win when they are outplaying their opponents. The final score did not really reflect the run of play as Toronto had more possession and looked more dangerous offensively. Columbus was solid defensively and delivered a goal on the one big mistake that Toronto made.
While there was some nice offensive interplay by TFC, every final ball and shot was lacking in some way. The exasperation that was clearly evident in Ryan Johnson as this one played out pretty much summed up this game. Milos Kocic was heroic in saving a penalty kick, yet Toronto still couldn’t even come away with a draw on their home pitch.
Whether or not the pressure of competing in the Champions League is having an undue effect on their league performances, Toronto is going to have start pulling things together quickly or all the promise that the team showed at the end tail end of last season will end up being nothing more than a false flag. Toronto aren’t playing poorly, but they are not delivering complete performances that result in victories. Make no mistake, there is plenty to build on, but it also no doubt that the natives are getting worried, as a smattering of boos from the crowd could be heard at the final whistle.
In terms of positives, Milos Kocic was once again strong between the sticks and Richard Eckersley delivered another excellent game. Substitute Eric Avila also looked quite good when he replaced Terry Dunfield. Aside from his error on the Columbus goal, Logan Emory had quite a strong game in his first match in front of the BMO Field faithful. Danny Koevermans once again looked dangerous, but he also really needs to start delivering goals at a clip similar to the way he did last season.
TFC Line-up
30 Kocic
5 Morgan
2 Emory
20 Harden
27 Eckersley
23 Dunfield
6 De Guzman
18 Soolsma
9 Johnson
7 Plata
14 Koevermans
Substitutions:
(46) Soolsma in for Silva; (61) Avila in for Dunfield; (84) Burgos in for De Guzman.
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