Saturday, June 27, 2009

Working full time


I do not think I've done hours like this since I was in University. Thank god for Rick and CMS! Thank god for Steve and his golden pen!

77 hours to go.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

On the trot

Well there you have it, three wins in a row. Never mind two were at home against a team that had yet to score on the road and one against a USL-1 B team. Wins are wins and Toronto FC stays in contention for the top of the East with a convincing 2-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls. I will not pretend these two games against New York were beautiful football, but with help on the way in name of Ali Gerba and supposedly more to come, to be in this position is crucial for the Reds. It was, though, a beautiful night to take in a game and soak up some Canadian football.

First thing's first ... oh how I've missed wearing you. I'll never be mad at you again TFC jersey. Fits just like I remembered it two weeks ago.


Tonight I was sitting in the infamous section 105. Ooooooo the flashpoint for the BMO security crackdown. I had to be on my best behaviour or else I'd be pissing in a bottle in the 80th minute. Was that crude? Just sayin' because I wouldn't want to get chucked out on my way to the bathroom.


Whoa what is up with this?! Relax the boys wore pink for breast cancer awareness


UNLIKE THESE EURO FRUITCAKES!!!


Early on the lads weren't gunning it but this match-up of De Ro against Pacheco was in our favour all night long. De Ro was open there the entire game.


After 28 mins (or fourteen games) ... VITTI SCORES!! Nothing fancy like you'd expect from a long-haired Argentine but he's paid to score and he's finally done it!!



Looking pretty good at half time. Until we were subjected to this. These guys simply had to kick these boxes off the table. Someone in the Carlsberg marketing department is getting canned after this useless promotion that resulted in NOBODY hitting the target.


Even the punks couldn't do it! Actually I'm not sure how punk it is to dress like Avril Lavigne from the neck down plus sandals.


Second half gets rolling and right into it De Ro again with class!!! He is on fire, this was a sweet goal and perfect ball from Barrett. Hey as long as we have someone finishing, Chad can be a player here IMO.


Now up 2-0 things get chippy with Dane Richards taking out Serioux. Why is it always the little guys?? This was a good series where Nick Garcia was talking mad shit to him the whole way down the field, then (look at the pic, Brennan is PIIISSSSEDDD) Jimmy B storms in and De Ro as well. I was surprised Serioux didn't chop him down before the game was out.



De Ro is the heart of the team right now. Dichio falls in just behind him ... heart valve? Atrium? Either way our subs up front are only going to get better in the near future.


Lucky for Richards it ended and TFC must be feeling pretty good to get out with a clean sheet in front of the home crowd. Still have some loose ends to clean up but points are points and hopefully more players are on the way.


And here is the perfect shot to end a perfect night of the beautiful game.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Reds sign Ali G

R.E.S.T.E.C.P!


Say Ello to none otha tha ma main man. Dat is right. You wanna know how to make TFC betta? Two words: Keep it real! Dat is right. Ali G indahouse ya know B-O-M field. BOOM! If you iz reading dis in Canada, you may remember him from da World Cup Qualifying against Mexico. If you iz in America ... you iz living in a shit hole.

What does the G stand for? Two tings... Judge... and Jury... Ali G comin' to B-O-M Field to rectalficate iz scorin' woes. Africa ain't just a country that gave us Bob Marley, now wees got Ali G. To all tha clubs in MLS and Richmond Street: You betta check yo'self before you wreck yo'self!

Booyakasha!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Re-evaluation


Wow so I'm still (slowly) coming down from Thursday night's victory over Montreal. Still watching the highlights over and over, thinking about the phone calls/text messages made during the game of "OMG! ... HOLY SHIT! ... IS THIS FOR REAL!?" and yelling to my roommate "YOU HAVE TO COME SEE THIS, YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IS HAPPENING!!" I know all caps are annoying but I was in fact yelling and it is legitimate emphasis. The one thing in particular though that is sticking with me from that game was the performance of De Rosario, Guevara and Dichio, the leaders for pretty much the whole team pulling it together to put out an amazing night of football.

The hot and cold or completely bi-polar emotions and performances this team has provided has been hard to deal with so far this year. Games I was hoping for all out war (Seattle, Chicago, even Houston) we came out flat and listless. Games we should have buried our opponents (Dallas, LA and to an extent Montreal and Vancouver) we left them in the game and paid for it in the end. Thursday night though I really felt for the first time we saw Toronto FC play with guts, grit and desire. It was inspiring to watch and, given what has gone on with the club/organization over the last few weeks (and to another extent from the second home game), has definitely made me rethink what it is I, as a supporter need to do to support the likes of De Ro and Dichio who wear the TFC jersey for all the right reasons but not bend over (or give all my banking information) and blindly follow the suits who run this team. The banner here really says it loud and clear - we don't cheer for the red to keep MLSE in the black. This is about the warriors - the gladiators (not tennis players!!) *insert Ray Hudson voice here* and definitely not to please the accountants who report to the board.



So as I've thought about it I've realized that the picture/stance at the top is no longer necessary, not that I planned on it during the hottest months of the year! Even though I wore black at the last two home games, one was a CCR shirt so I looked pretty fucking cool if I do say so myself. For real though, I now realize that I can and will separate the game from the corporation. If the likes of De Ro, Serioux and Frei are going out on their shield, giving half time interviews in the biggest game and comeback of their season they deserve to be cheered on my feet as loud as I can (until I get thrown out, but that is another story). The best way for me, I feel, to keep MLSE in check and on notice is not giving them my wallet (head's up Beer Store!) and keeping forums and mediums like this honest. For example, I do not think Gerba and Garcia are the answer - throwing big DP money for a player because they are a name is BS. Let's see a plan for the future of this team and line-up, give me a clue where this team is going.

I have no allegiance to anyone other than the game of football. I can call it like I see and will continue to do so because I know if I was reading this I would rather take in an honest perspective (whether I agree with it or not) than read some shit from guy who is trying to please a certain demographic or stay in someone's good books.

So in summary, De Ro is the man, I will save the daggers to MLSE for here and here, and even though it's the worst thing you can do at BMO field outside of the south end, I will stand up and cheer for the TFC - East side!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Somebody pinch me


NO! Punch me in the face!! Un-believable! Toronto FC needed four goals to win the Voyageurs Cup, and how many do they get? FIVE!!! TFC defeats all odds and the Montreal Impact 6-1, a result nobody would have predicted. Sure we had hope, but we also had facts. Like Toronto has been atrocious at finishing this season - except for two players. Amado Guevara and Dwayne De Rosario. What can you say about this guy? Talk about putting the team on your back. I have to admit, after that Montreal goal all I was thinking was, Ok well as long as we win I'll be happy. Then De Ro takes the game by the neck and gave us more than hope but made this win a reality. This was the first game I've seen in a while where Toronto show true grit and guts. De Ro, Guevara, Dichio, just to start the list, this team wanted it and you could see that right after our first goal.

Can not wait for next Wednesday's game, and our first match against the Puerto Rico Islanders!

Toronto FC - 2009 VOYAGEURS CUP CHAMPIONS!!
06/19 UPDATE: From this day forward, before each TFC game I will be drinking a 6-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon and making absurd, flippant predictions of how they will/should win. See below.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The Drive for FIVE


Where's the ambition!? Four goals?? Pfft, so 2007. We're talking about THE DRIVE FOR FIVE IN 2009 YEEEOW!

Whoa, ok I wrote that last night and had had a few. Pabst Blue Ribbon, pure class all the way. I've now sobered up and come back to reality. Are four goals really possible? We've only done it once before and it was the original expansion line-up that pulled it off against FC Dallas - EXACTLY TWO YEARS TO THE DATE (ok off by one day, but the original game day for Montreal is June 17!!). Guys, we can do this! Also when I was walking home (wearing my TFC jersey none the less) a bird crapped on my head! I'm convinced. Luck is on our side. God knows our skill and finishing won't win it for us. I mean, our strikers can't finish (except Dichio and that tells you alot), our defence in my opinion is still a bit rough, and we'll be playing L'Impact in Montréal who will surely have no intention of lying down and letting us roll over them. It is going to be tough, and from what I've seen of this team in crucial games this season, we have not been able to hack it. But there is a first for everything; the first time this season we show guts and heart, and the first time ever we score five goals!!

Bare minimum we need four. Here's a little sample of what that looks like. There are several reasons why this video is amazing and things we need to do. First - WHITE SHORTS. Second - ROBBO'S CELEBRATION, what the hell was that?! Hey, if he can put one in and does his "catch a dream" celebration, we are one step closer. And as much as I love the Goooooooooool, shit it gets annoying eventually.



GO REDS!!!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

We'll take it


Well there it is. Toronto FC wins 2-1 over New York but most importantly ... THREE POINTS. Given the last two weeks that is all we can hope for and we got it. Sure it was hard fought (against one of the worst in the league) and NY scored their first road goal of the season, but let's balance out the good with the bad. Still can't finish chances, but we had lady luck on our side and that's a start. Was it Gary Player (wiki'd Samuel Golwyn?!) who said The more I practice the luckier I get - so as long as we keep practicing hard then I'll take these. We can win our next two, I am sure of it, then the hard ones are coming in the rough months so let's bag the points now. Ok, let's get to this ...

Looks like everyone are friends again! Hey, we love this team ... TEAM, not the suits. HATE SUITS.



Five minutes in - HANDBALL IN THE BOX!! Guevara steps up ...


OH NO


CRONIN!!




DEMON DEACON CELEBRATION!!!


Garcia makes his first appearance. For the time being this guy looks good to calm down our suspect back line. Still think we need a guy over six feet, but for now he will hold it down.


Well missed this one, but Dichio is all business finishing Vitti's missed chance! 2-0 TFC!


"Hey man, this TFC is good shit!"
"Yeah for sure! Too bad we're in the 20th row I can hardly see!"
"Yo you can borrow my binoculars, it's mint I can see De Ro close up"
"Dude, where the hell is Lombardo?"
"Dude, I have no idea - I hope we didn't wear our matching jerseys for nothing!!!"


Second half ... oh no, first road goal of the season. Ouch. Can we find the insurance goal???


ARGHGHGHGHG So close!


Turns out we didn't need it! Hooray TFC 2 NYRB 1


Get stoked Cummins and practice hard for Thursday we're expecting FOUR GOALS!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

There's only two things I hate in this world.

People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch. That's right - THE DUTCH! These guys have some of the best footballers in history - Johan Cruyuff, Johnny Rep, Marco Van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Marc Overmars and Edwin Van Der Sar - to only name a few ... and can't win the big prize (aka World Cup). How is this possible?! They've also had some of the greatest club teams and coaches in history, why has it yet to translate onto the biggest stage? Is it arrogance, insecurity or maybe even self destruction? Well, I won't spoil it for you, but David Winner does a pretty good job of explaining this in his all-encompassing history Dutch football in Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Soccer.

I've laid it out in a couple previous reviews that I did not grow up with football. I can look back and wish I had, but alas, I am left with youtube clips and ideally good books to fill my gaps (errr canyons) in history. I really only know what might be called a basic history of Dutch football, that being their rivalry with Germany, World Cup losses, a Euro win, Ajax of the 70s, 90s and the likes of PSV and Feyenoord. But I never knew WHAT made Dutch football what it is/was. This is what Winner sets out to explain, and does an impressive job in doing so.

Brilliant Orange isn't just a straight up history of the game in Holland but seeks the reasons why, specifically, tactics like Total Football formed and players like Johan Cryuff or Van Basten blossomed. Winner's research is able to find it through history, geography, art and culture. In terms of history and geography, it is probably not a surprise that the idea of space is what drove the development of Dutch football in the late '60s and into the 70s. With so little territory, the dutch are obsessed with the notion of space and how to maximize it, or better, use it most efficiently. This general idea, which Winner explores much deeper, was most famously used on the pitch by manager Rinus Michels for the famous Ajax squad from 1965-1971. This team scored an absurd amount of goals over this period and in 1971 capped off the development of Total Football by winning their first of three European Cups against Panathinikos.


Early on much of the focus is on Ajax, and rightfully so, as most of Holland's greatest players ever came from this era and club. It transitions smoothly away from this and what might seem like dry subject matters of art, architecture and politics. Winner begins to focus primarily on the history of other clubs but mostly the story of the National team and their inability to win the World Cup despite having easily some of the best players, coaches and systems in the world. Hell, they have the right to what some say is the greatest move in football history:



To say Brilliant Orange is the complete history of Dutch football would be an understatement. It goes so much deeper than just naming names and recounting glorious matches. It truly does explain the "neurotic genius" of Dutch soccer and makes you wonder if they could ever get it together and win it all on the biggest stage. I've been lucky enough to read almost all of my football book in stages, where the likes of How Soccer Explains the World, or Soccer Against the Enemy have general chapters devoted to different footballing nations, it is good to get into something that takes you much further than the 1988 European Cup or 1970 World Cup.


After much thought a good summary could be this



orrrrr this, which for myself, and I'm sure others, is why I really wish I had an extra 15-20 years on my life to have seen this time in footballing history to appreciate (although I do) this exert that sums up that Ajax team of the 70s:

Barry Hulshoff later realised he was part of something extra-ordinary. After his playing career was over, he worked as a coach in Greece. On one occasion he found himself in a tiny, remote mountain village. 'An old man was standing in front of me. He took my hands and held them and he cried. It went on for four or five minutes. I was very embarrassed, I just didn't know what was going on. Later my translator explained it. He said there was no television in the village, so this old man used to walk for two hours to reach another village to watch Ajax games on television ... the man has loved Ajax and now, in front of him, he saw one of the players he used to watch. He couldn't understand it and he became very emotional.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Knee Jerk?



Keeper Sutton out. San Jose Defender Nick Garcia in. Striker Ali Gerba ... ? *please hold*

Well there are a few ways this news can be spun but I'm going to do my best to keep it positive. Really the one thing that grinds me is that we had to wait until we were in the shit to make some moves. Maybe I'm just a pro-active kind of guy, but the timing on this feels a bit like 11th hour/damage control. Draw your own conclusions, or non-conclusions from everything last week and the weekend but I can't think of one trade/acquisition TFC has made that we haven't heard about ahead of time, which to me says first thing Monday morning this was in the works. The reason(s) why I'll leave to you, but I think the picture above sums it up. The fact remains, we didn't address crucial issues with this club until the last second. We're in year three of our supposed "five year plan" and we've just made essentially the same move we did in year one (a move for an experienced central defender). I really don't think there is any plan in place and we're stumbling around in the dark just plugging holes when they arise.

*DEEP BREATH*

Ok got that off my chest. Now onto a positive. The one thing that I am happy about is bringing in an experienced defender (whoa just had a flashback to '07), not a converted midfielder. Nick Garcia was on the MLS Cup winning KC Wizards of 2000, played in the back with Jimmy Conrad for several years and Captained San Jose. That in itself should be a good sign. The only bad sign is I get the feeling this wasn't part of proper scouting or an actual long-term master plan but was a kind of "Hey Mo, we need a guy quickfast - you got any ideas?" "Yeah I played with this guy at KC, I'll make a call right now!"

I won't comment on Ali Gerba until it's official but I have mixed feelings and have heard mixed reviews. Given the number of teams he's played for and up and down numbers, I'd put him as a 'hopeful' striker, rather than consistent, proven one - which is what we need. BUT if he comes, hell, all he has to do is convert 1/4 of his chances and that's better than Chad Barrett!!

It's tough luck about Sutton because he's Canadian and likable but with Stefan Frei being the better keeper and Brian Edwards proving last year he is very capable, all that's left is the math - aka $150K salary for a back-up. Frei is with us a few years, Edwards keeps developing as a back-up (wait, a plan?) and when/if Frei goes to Europe as some speculate could happen, BINGO we've got our very own (ok maybe poor man's) Steve Young or Frank Reich waiting in the wings!

Garcia is supposed to be here for Saturday's game against NYRB who have yet to SCORE AN AWAY GOAL. TFC Magic 8 Ball predicts a 1-0 win for TFC!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Why so quiet?

Well that was something. Toronto FC loses 2-1 to the LA Galaxy, a team that has only won ONE game this season and was missing Landon Donovan who accounts for six of their thirteen goals. Embarrassing doesn't even begin to describe it. Questions abound as to what is going to happen and the change we need to right this ship. Trying to stay optimistic but I'm not really down with being one of those fans who cheers for the sake of cheering, or goes to BMO to get wasted - I'm there for the game and seeing the team perform and right now the scowl is getting deeper. Yesterday should have been a slam-dunk and we were given an opponent on a silver platter and we couldn't bury them. That is worrying. It went down like this ...

Well the weather was nice!


This is the South End on a big night.


This was it yesterday - no joke, one flag, hardly any chants. No message - get the message?


People are clearly over this. That first one was "Mo has to Go" but was up for 2 seconds. Wouldn't want to get thrown out on your ear.




Annnnd within five minutes LA is up 1-0. The perfect start!


What a first half. Well with TFC only able to score 1 goal looks like we're heading for a tie. At least I could get a date if I need one.


Oh look, a manufactured TFC fan. They might have to do this more often now to replace all the ones they've kicked out.


What the?! Dichio! Well we've scored our one goal let's hope LA doesn't find another ...


Oh shit. Buddle.


This was an amazing play *insert fecicious tone*. LA has a player down, then this other tool falls down and is sitting there, but it's his boot that is all messed up, but he's lying there like he's in agony!! THEN the LA keeper gets the ball, so he'll kick it out of bounds, right? NO! He plays the ball to his player to start an attack!!! The ball gets intercepted by us, so we should just say EF YOU and keep the play going, but nooooo we get the ball and kick it out of bounds. This was the only time this game I was yelling.



And no joke on the next play Vitti goes for a header and hardly touches this guy.


This was the cherry on top. We're in extra time (five minutes) the ball goes back to Frei who can't figure out how to handle it, he's backing up, looking up, backing up, TRIPS AND FALLS and the ball rolls out of bounds for a LA corner. And of course they take about two minutes to do it and at this point all you can do is laugh.


Why so glum chum?


At least some people care. Don't want to get into a huge commentary about MLSE but there is a sinking feeling that TFC is being run on the same template they run their other teams, which is marketing based, not results based. Pretty sad ...