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Toronto FC vs. Montreal Impact (Running Commentary)

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Good evening folks. I’m at the CONCACAF Champions League qualifier between Toronto FC and the Montreal Impact. I was thinking of heading down to the stands and watching the game from there but I’ve decided to do a running commentary.

If you are interested in following tonight’s match let me know. I will definitely do a running commentary for the first half, but may sneak down and watch the second half in the stands if things are slow here.

If you will be watching the match tonight, or if you just want to keep track of things in this game, please follow the commentary here. Also, feel free to share your thoughts and opinions on the match below.

Enjoy the match.

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FINAL- That’s all from here. Montreal moves on and Toronto FC continues to mire in a funk that isn’t going to get any better with Marvell Wynne and Maurice Edu slated to go to the Olympics. TFC needs to find a reliable forward quickly.

Thanks for following along here tonight.

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FINAL- Here is what I will say about Toronto FC. They need to stop feeding their wingers and get the ball to Guevara. Ricketts and Robert either lose the ball trying to beat someone off the dribble or they send bad crosses on. Guevara needs to get more of the ball and with a d-mid combo of Carl Robinson and Maurice Edu there is no way they shouldn’t dominate Montreal.

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FINAL- Montreal players storm the field to celebrate. They deserve to celebrate. It was a solid performance.

Toronto FC wasted chances and possession and have nobody else to blame.

Matt Jordan is tonight’s man of the match. The guy can still play.

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FINAL- Montreal 1, Toronto FC 1. And Montreal is going to the CONCACAF Champions League.

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92nd minute- I almost spoke to soon. Edu broke in after a turnover but sent his long shot wide.

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92nd minute- Guevara makes a great move and sends a ball in but the header is a waste and this one looks over.

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91st minute- Toronto with one last chance but Cunningham can’t make anything happen and Jordan smothers it.

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90th minute- Can Toronto generate one more chance? They just turned it over so the answer is looking like a no.

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89th minute- WOW. Toronto FC came SOO Close to scoring there. Guevera’s free kick is headed at goal but Jordan makes a diving one-handed save and nobody gets to the loose ball. WOW

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88th minute- Okay, Rohan Ricketts needs to learn that sometimes the simple pass out of pressure is better than turning the ball over trying to make a move. I’ve lost track of how many turnovers he’s had today.

TFC with a long free kick.

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86th minute- The corner was wasted and Julius James is coming in for Marco Velez.

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83rd minute- TFC corner.

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82nd minute- Toronto FC running out of time. Eight minutes left and Guevara is dropping back to the other side of the field to collect the ball. You know, with a team playing a 4-5-1 they shouldn’t have this much trouble keeping the ball and feeding Guevara with passes

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80th minute- I have to say that Matt Jordan has had a good game today. Good to see another MLS alum doing well.

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79th minute- The Montreal forward, Sita-Taty Matondo is FAST. Not sure if he’s actually any good, but the Congolese striker is speedy. Looks like Montreal is just going to pump balls to him and let him run.

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77th minute- Toronto is a bit lost right now. Too many long balls in and not enough passes to Guevara, who could break down Montreal with one good pass. Time is running out.

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73rd minute- The injured defender happened to be Braz, who is coming out of the match. He was pelted with streamers (and some drinks) his entire walk back to the bench.

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71st minute- The Montreal defender decided he didn’t need the stretcher, but then changed his mind. Not sure what’s going on here. He’s on the stretcher now, getting carried off to a chorus of boos.

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69th minute- A Montreal defender is down so we’re stopped while the stretcher comes out.

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68th minute- Montreal isn’t exactly bunkering here but they’re putting good pressure on Toronto.

And here comes Jeff Cunningham. He’s coming in for Ibrahim. I would have liked to see those two play together, but this is Carver’s system.

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64th minute- Montreal is making a sub and the TFC crowd is getting loud. They are into this one. Can TFC’s players respond?

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63rd minute- I can’t put into words how bad that miss was by Brown.

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62nd minute- And here comes Toronto. A corner leads to a free kick from the top left side outside the box. We’re about 30 yards away. Guevara territory.

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60th minute- WOW. Roberto Brown just missed an absolute sitter. The ball came in on a platter from Stefano Pesoli but Brown shanked the shot from seven yards out. WOW.

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59th minute- Montreal is bunkered in pretty well and TFC is going to have to be a little sharper with its passing if its going to find a winner in the run of play.

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56th minute- Montreal with a corner but it looks like that corner was out of streamers.

Wow, TFC got really lucky. Sutton completely lost a corner in but nobody from Montreal could pounce on the loose ball.

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54th minute- Montreal defender Adam Braz treated to a rendition of "B-MO RE-JECT." Nice.

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51st minute- Ibrahim is seeing more of the ball this half. He’s a handful for Montreal right now. The TFC midfield is playing with more purpose this half.

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50th minute- Ibrahim with a nice move to beat one defender, but can’t beat the second defender. Still amazing to see that he’s only 16.

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49th minute- By the way, I’m sitting next to the PR guy for the Montreal Impact and to say he’s a little intense is an
understatement. I thought he was going to have a heart attack when Montreal equalized.

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48th minute- No halftime changes for either team.

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47th minute- I decided to stick around. And we’re off.

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HALFTIME- The crowd isn’t restless yet, but once we get past the 60th minute, things could get real interesting here.

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HALFTIME- What will John Carver do at halftime? He doesn’t need any changed yet, though putting in Jeff Cunningham wouldn’t hurt, and I’m not sure about the 4-5-1 against a team clearly playing for the tie.

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HALFTIME- Okay folks. Who here is following along on the commentary? Let me get a show of comments. If nobody is around then I’ll go wach the secnd half in the stands. If some of you are following here, then I’ll stick around.

Let me know folks and thanks to all of you who are following.

HALFTIME- Toronto FC can’t be happy. It controlled the game early, but didn’t make the most of that control. Knocking the ball around is all well and good, but not testing the goalkeeper a few more times is weak. Also, having three or four free kicks from inside 30 yards, and not being able to create one good chance, is unacceptable. Credit Montreal for bending but not breaking.

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45th minute- Guevara’s kick is headed clear by the wall for a corner. The ball winds up at Guevara about 25 yards out but his volley goes high.

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45th minute- I spoke too soon. Rickets draws a foul left of the arc, about 27 yards out. Guevara better take this one.

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44th minute- Not much going on here.

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41st minute- Robert blasts a kick into the wall. A wasted chance there.

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40th minute- Another foul, but on the left side of the field. Guevara territory.

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39th minute- Robert’s free kick hits the wall.

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38th minute- Wynne gets taken down, setting up a pretty good free kick chance for TFC about 28 yards away on the right side of goal.

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37th minute- This game has evened out a bit. TFC still has more possession but not in control as much as in the first 20 minutes.

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31st minute- Joey Gjertsen with a shot that misses just wide. He was also the taker of the corner on the Montreal goal. Not a bad little player.

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28th minute- Brown looked pretty good on that and Montreal is pressing for another one.

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26th minute- GOAL MONTREAL. Roberto Brown with the header off a corner from about eight yards out. The streamers didn’t work that time. TFC 1, Montreal 1.

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25th minute- TFC knocking it around now. I hate to say it but I see some flshes of Jozy Altidore when I see Abdus Ibrahim on the ball. The kid could be something special.

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22nd minute- TFC fans have broken out their French chant, Montreal fans must be thinking "huh?, but in French".

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21st minute- Sutton gets undercut by Brown after snatching a cross high in the air.

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19th minute- Interesting to see Roberto Brown with Montreal. He looked so good in the 2005 Gold Cup for Panama. He hasn’t done much yet tonight.

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18th minute- Montreal with its first real attacking threat so far, but a cross goes wide.

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17th minute- Montreal can’t hold onto the ball and keeps turning it over. TFC’s midfield is too good to just give the ball to in the attacking third.

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15th minute- GOAL TORONTO FC!!! Rohan Ricketts with a header on the doorstep off a nice ball in from Brennan, who picked him out with a chip to the back post from the opposite side of the box. TFC 1, Montreal 0

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14th minute- Tough to say whether Montreal is playing for the tie or if the Impact are just this bad.

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12th minute- Toronto FC is knocking on the door. Seems like a matter of time.

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9th minute- Toronto has had more of the ball, but no really dangerous chances yet.

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5th minute- The streamers are out as Montreal attempts a corner kick. TFC heads the corner clear.

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3rd minute- Here is Montreal’s lineup:

Matt Jordan, Nevio Pizzolitto, David Testo, Rocc Placentino, Roberto Brown, Patrick Leduc, Stefano Pesoli, Joey Gjertsen, Leonardo Di Lorenzo, Simon Gath, Adam Braz.

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2nd minute- We’re under way and the crowd is very loud. The stadium is probably 65 percent full, but filling up.

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PRE-GAME- There are about 75 Montreal fans tucked in a corner here. They get props for making the six-hour drive here.

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PRE-GAME- The "This is our house" chant is roaring. I think this may be the first time it’s been said with opposing fans in the stadium in any real numbers.

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PRE-GAME– It’s a late arriving crowd here for what is being billed as the biggest game in Canadian soccer history (okay, so maybe it’s the biggest game in TFC history. Canada has been around a while.)

HALFTIME– Okay folks. Who here is following along on the commentary? Let me get a show of comments. If nobody is around then I’ll go wach the secnd half in the stands. If some of you are following here, then I’ll stick around.

Let me know folks and thanks to all of you who are following.

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Comments

  1. I actually got the chance to watch Montreal play in USL in the match they played last Friday, I was pretty impressed so it’s not surprising Toronto got TKO’d by them to me.

    They were doing some ninja-passes on the offensive.

    Reply
  2. I have had a chance to think and stew over last night’s embarrassment and where we go from here:

    Can Carver be questioned for some of the tactical moves he made last night and over this slump? Yes he can. Hoofing wide crosses into the box time after time after time made us look like the TFC from last year that did not score for 800+ minutes. Completely predictable. Carver was the man going with a 3-5-2 formation in Chicago that saw us again dig our graves on the road. He has been the coach for the road games where we have only picked up a single win and looked out coached by opposition coaches more often than not. Indeed he can be blamed for part of this, but only a part…

    Players of questionable ability, effort and heart (Robert, Cunningham, Velez, Edu for example) also need to step up like men and take responsibility for a lot of the problems we now face. Professionals do not take nights off. Professionals run for every ball. Professionals find a way to compete night after night in the face of adversity. Professional players can lose, but it should never be due to lack of effort or intensity.

    Carver has to play the cards dealt to him. and Mo is apparently a pretty shitty dealer. Carver had to play a 16 year old in the biggest game in club history to date as he had no other attacking options. Mo is the one that pretty well states that we do not need Canadians on the team to compete in MLS. Well look now Mo at the fact that we got smoked by two USL teams with plenty of Canucks on their squads and they showed a lot of heart and desire to their collective credit, which our lads apparently could or would not do.

    As far as the rest of this season goes, who the hell knows. Playoffs are to me looking like something that might be hard to realistically pull off. We have 14 games remaining and of them only 6 are at home. We have 8 road games against some of the weaker MLS sides (including 2 against Red Bulls), so there is some opportunity there… At home we have matches with some of the stronger MLS sides (New England, Houston, Chicago for example) still to play, so dropping more home points is far from out of the question.

    This is your team Mo, you put it together. And I hope that you are as sick to your stomach as many of us were and are. And for the sake of the team and their fans I really hope you have something in the works to upgrade the strike force. Too little too late most likely. You had a chance a month or so ago Mo to upgrade our talent level at striker in advance of a critical period in the history of the club and you have failed miserably in doing so. Anything you do now feels like a month too late.

    Last year the pivotal game in our fortunes was the Aston Villa friendly. We saw our team decimated by injury go on to futility for most of the rest of the season. Last night feels a lot like that game after the fact. All I hope is that I am wrong in my assessment. Because I really want the playoffs. That is the only thing that will allow me to get over last night…

    Gutted…

    Reply
  3. and give me a break, Montreal or Van city have an easy road to the CONCACAF champions league, a round robbin tourny or three teams, other USL teams in the states have to win the freakin open cup

    Reply
  4. “Rochester has been in the USOC finals twice, since the inception of MLS.

    96 3-0 loss to DCU

    99 2-0 win over Colorado

    To all those lauding the Limp-act, they’re near the bottom of USL1 this year. ”

    right on, Rochester deserved an MLS team years ago and MLS screwed us over, now that soccer is a flash in a pan in other cities (Montreal, Portland, Seattle) Rochester and its long soccer history is forgotten, the Rochester Lancers won NASL in the seventies and had a succesful franchise, those running the us soccer leagues have no loyality or recognition of the past

    Reply
  5. irishapple21- this happens in all countries… and they have incredibly larger bank to pay players… this is by no means anything to fret or even be concerned… the USL’s happened to be the better team that day… especially against a team who cant seem to find a forward thats out of school…

    Reply
  6. Drew-ROC-> i stand corrected… however, my point is that this happens, but not all that often…. i dont expect it to become a trend in the future either… nothing against the USL or their fans, but simply i dont see them making the finals too often especially with the fact that the winning team gets a slot in the CL…. i know the teams knew it this year, but i think some MLS sides still took it expecting to dominate the field… starting next year i expect teams to be fielding quality sides early on…

    Reply
  7. This match serves as even more notice to MLS that they need to increase the salary cap. MLS teams need to show a consistently better level of play than the lower leagues or it just makes MLS look laughable.

    Reply
  8. Brett-

    Rochester has been in the USOC finals twice, since the inception of MLS.

    96 3-0 loss to DCU

    99 2-0 win over Colorado

    To all those lauding the Limp-act, they’re near the bottom of USL1 this year.

    Reply
  9. Gotta say im pretty shattered by the loss.

    Everything tastes bitter today.

    Avoiding forums like the plague because everyones got an opinion/ideas as to what should be done (or should have been done) and most of it is either obvious or ridiculous. PLEASE SIGN US A STRIKER (OR TWO) MO!!!

    We’d better at least make the playoffs…

    Reply
  10. No a coach shouldnt.

    Especially if its halfway through a season.

    Glad you dont own our team.

    BTW we did not get outplayed by Montreal.

    Sadly that quality play didnt make it to the net.

    Reply
  11. I couldn’t watcht he entire game. I had to leave after the Ricketts goal.

    I can’t wait until next years tourney. Soccer in Canada just got REEEEEEEEEAALLLY interesting…and I’m not a Canuck. Tres bon, Montreal!

    What’s different about this game as opposed to the USOC games is that TFC was fielding a strong team and really wanted it. The MLS teams that have lost in USOC have been heavy with reserve players. The reserves are a wash against the USL. That still doesn’t really explain the Red Bulls loss though. In any case we’ve seen taht any team on any day can pull the upset.

    Reply
  12. since the MLS’s birth a USL team has made the USOC finals only once, altho im to lazy to recal if they won or lost… im not too broken up b/c the MLS still has 3 other spots into the CL…

    1)USOC

    2)SS

    3)MLS Cup

    4)MLS Runner up??

    good for Montreal, altho like i said in a previous thread, it would have looked better if the MLS team actually broke out of Canada… but not worried….

    Reply
  13. Posted by:East River | July 22, 2008 at 10:36 PM

    “John I agree with you. MLS needs to do some soul searching on this issue. A 3 USL team could very well make it to the Concacaf Champions League if Charleston or Seattle wins the US Open Cup and that would make 3 USL team in that competition.”

    NO, that is an incorrect statement.

    Montreal qualified for this years Concacaf Champions League (they filled the last spot). The winner of the US Open Cup this year qualifies for next years Concacaf Champions League. There are 2 USL teams in the competition.

    Reply
  14. Merci mucho for the commentary Ives!

    NO thanks to Winnipeg-based FSC for not having any highlights whatsoever(!?!)

    Pau no cu do toronto!! Allez l’Impact!!

    Reply
  15. Impressive result across the board in this compatition which says a lot about the strength of the Canadian A-League teams. TFC didn’t take this game lightly and still couldn’t win.

    Reply
  16. Ibrahim was bigger than I thought he was, I was probably thinking of Nimo. Looked good while he was in there.

    Toronto has a good look, good feel about the team and the city. Now they just need to add and develop a team.

    Reply
  17. Canada wasn’t completely autonomous until 1982. I have t-shirts older than that. This is clearly the biggest game in the history of Canada.

    Congrats to the Impact. I was pulling for you.

    Reply
  18. Can someone give L’Impact the credit they deserve for winning this match? That’s a good team and I look forward to the day when they’re in the MLS, not soon enough in my opinion. TFC has themselves to blame for the loss. I saw the Vancouver match a few weeks ago and they were beat by another team that’s just as good as they are. Wanna complain, look at TFC’s GM and their manager but please give credit where it’s due and L’Impact deserves it.

    Reply
  19. John I agree with you. MLS needs to do some soul searching on this issue. A 3 USL team could very well make it to the Concacaf Champions League if Charleston or Seattle wins the US Open Cup and that would make 3 USL team in that competition. Even if MLS wins the Open Cup, imagine if the Islanders or the Impact have a better run in Champion League then the MLS would mean. MLS needs to up the competition level in the league. If this does not do it I think Champions League will. But TFC should put this in perspective. Montreal is over 10 years and has a well put together squad. TFC is in its 2nd year and they wrongly thought they could walk all over Montreal and Vancouver. There team has a ton of work to do to get better and this lost may be a huge but painfully reality check.

    Could USL petition US Soccer and CSA that it should have the 1st Divsion sanction league and not MLS? They are making a case for it. Just think about it the Timbers beat Tigers 2-0 in friendly this season.

    Reply
  20. Eugene,

    we have 2 good forwards (arguably 1).

    Dichio is out with a concussion, Ibrahim is 16 but shows promise. Smith needs work and Cunny is useless and needs to be put down.

    God i hate montreal as much as i hate columbus now.

    Reply
  21. Ives,

    Thanks for the play-by-play…nice to see competition for the CONCACAF Champions League spot…money was on Toronto to have the spot, but that’s why they play the games.

    Reply
  22. Well another defeat for MLS to a USL-1 side.

    This is becoming an old plot. MLS wants recognition worldwide and doesn’t like detractors but when you are constantly losing to the 2nd division in your country, maybe 40% of the time, that simply isn’t good. Do Bundesliga 1 sides lose 40% of the time to Bundesliga 2 sides? Premier League sides lose 40% of the time to Championship side? Do Serie A sides lose 40% of the time to Serie B sides.

    Maybe they do and I just don’t notice it, but I seriously doubt it.

    Reply
  23. I didnt watch the game but from what it sounds like they are struggling on the offensive.

    Abdus Ibrahim might be a great player but he can’t play as a lone striker. He needs help up there. Let it be Cunningham or Dichio.

    They have 2 options

    A) Drop Robinson, Edu, or Guevara and play a 4-4-2

    B) Drop Wynne and play a 3-5-2

    Reply
  24. Ives,

    Is Toronto still playing a single forward system? What is the story with that? They have numerous good forwards on the team, why not play a tandem and give opposing defenses bigger headaches? When I watched them play NY earlier, it just seemed that they weren’t putting their foot on the pedal when having a single forward. Would love to hear people’s thoughts, especially if what I’m writing contributed to them losing to Montreal tonight.

    Reply
  25. Hum well the USL teams do it again. I always thought Brown like Nkong got a raw deal at Colorado. Toronto REALLY REALLy neads to pull the trigger on some deals for attacking players. When you are starting 16 yr old forwards your team has serious issues.

    Reply

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