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MLS Pre-season: Toronto FC impresses again

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by GIANFRANCO PANIZO
 
Toronto FC continued its impressive pre-season by following up its 3-0 thrashing of Florida Atlantic University on Saturday with a 3-0 win vs. Swedish club BK Hacken on Monday. Carl Robinson, Pablo Vitti and Dwayne De Rosario scored second-half goals to lead the team to victory.
 
The game, which was played in windy conditions in Sunrise, Fl., opened up in the second half as Toronto began to string passes together, something that was rarely seen in a scoreless first 45 minutes.

Carl Robinson opened the scoring in the 61st minute when he buried a Chad Barrett back-pass from 14 yards out.

The lead would double just four minutes later when Rohan Ricketts raced down the right flank before cutting inside and delivering a perfect cross to a diving Pablo Vitti, who headed home from close range.

Vitti, who had some real moments of brilliance mixed in with some easy turnovers, saw a potential second goal ruled offside, negating a nifty passing sequence.

De Rosario capped the scoring in the 70th minute when he rose above the Hacken defense to head home an Amado Guevara corner kick.

De Rosario was clearly the best player on the pitch on Monday, showing offensive creativity on the flanks all game long. De Rosario started the game on the right flank but swapped sides with Ricketts constantly. Ricketts also enjoyed a solid performance.

One player missing from the friendly was right back Marvell Wynne, who watched from the sidelines after suffering a right quadriceps strain after Toronto's win over FAU on Saturday.
 
"After the match I was just walking and I felt my right quad was sore" Wynne said.
 
Kevin Harmes started in Wynne's place at right back before shifting over to center back in the second half in place of trialist Miguel Garcia. Garcia struggled against the strong Hacken forwards. Rookie Sam Cronin replaced Garcia at half-time and played at right back.

Although the team enjoyed its second decisive victory this week, the team knows there is work to be done before the MLS season.
 
"Trying to get everyone together," said Wynne of what the team can do in order to improve before the MLS season kicks off. "There is a lot of new guys so we are just trying to get them up to base. Make everyone feel right at home and try to build team chemistry because that's very important and goes a long ways."
 
After the game head coach John Carver emphasized to his players that communication was vital. Carver pointed out that although the team has players with language barriers, there was no excuse for the lack of communication the team showed in the first half.
 
Despite Carver's words, the Toronto FC faithful can sit back and enjoy their team's impressive pre-season results. The team will finish out the week training in South Florida before heading back to Toronto.

Comments

  1. Toronto are the real deal this year, they have vastly improved the team at all positions….with the exeption of one more ceterhalf….the strikers are good the midfield is solid and very deep and there is even options in net…it looks like Mo has delivered.

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  2. 3-9 win over Florida Atlantic University on Saturday with a 3-0 win vs. Swedish club BK Hacken on Monday. Both powerhouses Im sure. Could this be the year that tonto fc makes it in the postseason? no, unless they get into the western conference…then maybe

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  3. TFC are looking good. the off-season moves have really helped – the depth of this team is getting to be pretty impressive. they’ve got options all over the field. it will be a real competition to get minutes on this team, with players like cronin, nana gyan, frei and ibrahim all young players who can seriously push the vets, as opposed to the previous years, when options on the bench were scarce.

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  4. I’m a Houston fan, and it stung more than I thought it would hearing about DeRo scoring for TFC.

    I guess I’d gotten used to the idea of playing without DeRo, not the idea of DeRo playing for a different team.

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  5. thanks for the update.
    Interesting about Garcia. I wonder if he struggled because hes not match fit or because hes lacking the talent…

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  6. TFC will be a tough team this season. They have one of the best home field advantages and have done great things for their team. Watch out.

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  7. Ives, do you know why several pro players weren’t called up for the U-20’s for qualifying? Greg Garza at Sporting Lisbon, Vicenzo Bernardo at Napoli, Nazanni? at Bologna, and Ellis McLoughlin at Hertha Berlin. And where is Ibrahim?

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