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The Good
No regular season visits to Dallas next year... credit to Terrence Boyd for pressuring the Dallas defenders into almost scoring a howler of an Own Goal in the fourth minute (but see “bad”, below)... resale tickets for the Atlanta game on Wednesday night should be super cheap... the new turf at BMO Field seems to have survived this weekend’s Argo “game” (snicker) quite nicely... nice pass by Liam Fraser to Justin Morrow in the 21st minute. Credit to Steven Caldwell for calling that out... I love the fight and determination of the Australian WNT. Pity that their penalty kick coach is the same as TFC’s... the story about Ricardo Pepi being discovered while kicking a ball by himself on a dusty, road-side field in Texas. I immediately drove my daughters to the dustiest field that I could find. Note to Kenneth Heiner-Moller: pay a visit to Halton Hills as soon as you’re done in France... great save by Quentin Westberg in the 35th minute... didn’t Homer temporarily adopt a lad named Pepi?... great save by Westberg in the 37th minute... didn’t Homer repeatedly call him “Pepsi”?... great save by Westberg in the 43rd minute (this is crazy!)... Poz’s through-ball to Nick DeLeon early in the second half (DeLeon needed to convert that one)... great save by Westberg in the 47th (guess who was Toronto’s man-of-the-match)... Canada’s dominance over Cuba at the Gold Cup. I know, it was just Cuba. But I enjoyed it. Call it “sadistic TFC-transference therapy”... I just saved a lot of money. I was actually going to try to convince the family to travel to DC to catch TFC’s game in Washington over the long weekend. But, if the team isn’t going to show up, then why should I?
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The Bad
After the fourth minute, Terrence Boyd might as well have been replaced by Homer Simpson’s “typing bird”... playing three at the back. Yet again, the “wing-backs” were useless. So were the three centre-backs... Jacob Shaffelburg is not the problem, but he is not the solution at left-wing either...Vic Rauter’s attempt to describe the heat in Dallas by referencing a groundhog chasing a rabbit. Not sure how many brain cells I’ve killed trying to figure that one out... TFC’s inability to defend against a corner. Note: the second Dallas goal wasn’t Toronto’s only gaffe in that regard... TFC’s “defending” (snicker) on the first Dallas goal... Nick DeLeon is not the problem, but he is not the solution at Forward either... all this talk of the first Dallas goal being off-side. Morrow played Dominique Badji on-side. The goal was clean. There are no excuses... TFC’s “defending” (snicker, snicker) on the third Dallas goal. No imaginary off-side to blame for that one... that Dallas fan with the goalkeeper shirt and the ladybug hat on his head. Why?!
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The Ugly
Using a league game as a training session (see Greg Vanney’s post-game comments). Training sessions are meant for training. Games are meant for winning. Or, at least, trying to win... the amount of shouting and arm waving from Coach Vanney. If you have to do that much in-game teaching at this level of professional football, then your team is not sufficiently prepared... 55 points in TFC’s last 50 games. That’s a 37% success rate. When will this madness end?!... the attendance at Toyota Stadium: less than 14,000... Drew Moor’s giveaway early in the second half. Did he forget that he was wearing a white shirt and that Dallas was in red?... the Reds’ lack of aerial presence... Pozuelo’s two, pathetic free kicks in second-half stoppage time... too many passes back to Westberg. The lads are devoid of any creativity... the thought of playing Atlanta United and then D.C. United and then the LA Galaxy. I believe that Dallas may have been Toronto’s best shot at earning a single point over the next two weeks. Glad we threw that one away... an apparent lack of pride. Lots of shouting at each other and lots of arms raised in frustration, but very little effort to actually win the ball and force the play... Omar Gonzalez can’t fix this mess.