Dub Narcotic
10-25-2009, 02:37 PM
Season in review:
Toronto FC 2009: 10 W, 11L, 9T
GF: 37 (8th) GA: 46 (12th)
Toronto FC's third season often seemed to be about what was happening off the field than on. The drama started early, with Dwayne De Rosario making his long-awaited arrival in Toronto along with Dallas' defender Adrian Serioux and Argentinian loanee Pablo Vitti. From the NCAA draft, Mo Johnson picked up Wake Forrest's Sam Cronin, UCal-Berkeley's Stefan Frei and UConn striker O'Brian White. Quietly also joining the team were two Guinean youngsters, Emmanuel Gomez and Ammadou Sonyang. Leaving the team in the offseason was Tyrone Marshall to Seattle and Todd Dunivant to the Galaxy, while fringe player Jarrod Smith was picked in the expansion draft by Seattle and Marco Velez returned to the Sudbury semi-pro league where he was expected to be a solid sub.
March-April 3W 2L 1T
As is their wont, Toronto started off the season well, including an exciting 3-2 away opening win against KC in their strange temporary home and posting competent 1-0 home wins against Chivas and KC again. Also notable in this stretch was Toronto's first look at Seattle, a tough 2-0 home loss to a Sounders team that started red hot in their first year in MLS. Near the end of the month John Carver handed in his resignation in frustration at the state of the team and league, and his own inability to bring the team to a higher level, leaving Chris Cummins to take over on an interim basis.
May MLS: 1W 2T 2L CCUP: 2W 0T 0L
May was not successful for Toronto in MLS as they played several playoff teams and had several road games, taking only five points in the month. Notable games included a first-ever win over the NE Revolution at home and a shellacking in 100 degree weather at Houston. Toronto had more success in the Canada Cup, putting together two strong wins against Montreal and Vancouver.
June MLS: 2W 2L 0T CCUP: 1W 1L
Looking at a second straight Canada Cup crash out after a poor loss in Vancouver, Toronto rallied back to beat an already-eliminated Impact in Montreal 6-1, winning their first ever trophy and qualifying for the CCL. The team went five-hundred in MLS, getting two wins over Juan Carlos Orozio's Red Bulls at home although a solid road thrashing by Yura Monsavian and the rest of RSL brought the team back to reality. Greg Sutton was released after losing the starting job to Stefan Frei and Nick Garcia came over from San Jose while Ali Gerba was signed after a good Gold Cup run and Johann Smith was released to ply his trade in the lower levels of Croatian football.
July MLS: 1W 1L 1T CCL: 0W 1L 0T
Interesting MLS month that ended near 500% again as Toronto laid a solid home thrashing on San Jose but lost a 3-2 thriller to a late goal against their nemesis, the Columbus Crew. A gritty and experienced Puerto Rico Islanders gave TFC a bore 1-0 loss at BMO Field in their CCL debut.
August MLS 1W 2L 2T CCL:
Not a good month for TFC as they faded in the hot August sun, getting beat in the MLS, the CCL and whupped by Real Madrid in a strangely scheduled friendly. A game that would come back to haunt Toronto happened in Seattle when Dwayne De Rosario slipped with a wide-open goal at his mercy, and Toronto could only salvage a 0-0 tie against the Sounders. Lesley Fellinga was signed in the LB role from the Netherlands.
September/October MLS 2W 3L 2T
Toronto finished the season as they started, at about .500. Two late goals conceded against Chicago and San Jose while leading were killers as Toronto dropped four points that would have got them into the post-season. A 1-0 win against RSL setup Toronto for a last day barnburner with the playoffs near-guranteed with a win, but they were humiliated 5-0 by a revitalized Red Bulls team in their Giants Stadium finale. The end of the season also saw the strange Danny Dichio saga, as he had a behind-the-scenes falling out with management and announced his retirement with several games left despite still being fit to play.
Overall, Toronto was a pretty consistent .500 team throughout the year, starting a bit better and finishing a bit worse. Toronto was again a surprisingly poor defensive team, finishing near the bottom in goals allowed and last in goals allowed on the road by a very wide margin. Toronto had about an average offense and the result is another year out of the playoffs, although there was some improvement over the previous two years both in league position and general ability. I'll have more to say about the various aspects of the team in my positional reviews.
Best Games:
03/21 3-2 win @ Kansas City. Jim Brennan goal and two great goals from Davy Arnaud highlight an exciting season opening win for TFC.
05/09 3-3 draw @ DC United. Rare comeback draw for TFC as they gut out a high-scoring point @ RFK.
05/23 3-1 win over NER at home, a first ever win against a bogey team for TFC and a result that promised more than was eventually delivered
06/18 win in Montreal to win the Canada Cup. A trophy that was tainted by playing against a lesser team and TFC's later flop in the CCL, but sweet when it happened.
07/25 3-2 loss in Columbus against a tough Crew team, with Columbus scoring two goals in the dying minutes to snatch the win. Exciting and well played game.
10/17 Tough and exciting 1-0 win over RSL at home to keep the playoff dreams alive in the penultimate game of the season.
Worst Games:
07/29 1-0 loss to Puerto Rico. PR plays an organized and tedious defensive style that Toronto doesn't come close to cracking and they score a fluke goal to push the tie in their favour. Most depressing aspect in the realization how few tools Toronto has against a well-organized team.
08/04. 0-0 tie to Puerto Rico. This game is played on a loop in hell's footy theatre.
08/22 2-0 loss to Chivas. Boring game in a dead stadium. Chivas are a better version of Puerto Rico and Toronto is helpless.
09/05. 1-0 loss against Colorado. Last game of three game west coast swing and Toronto mail it in in front of one of the worst crowds in the league.
10/24. Infamous 5-0 loss to NYRB with everything to play for as Toronto's playoff hopes go down to some hideous defending and good NYRB forward play.
Toronto FC 2009: 10 W, 11L, 9T
GF: 37 (8th) GA: 46 (12th)
Toronto FC's third season often seemed to be about what was happening off the field than on. The drama started early, with Dwayne De Rosario making his long-awaited arrival in Toronto along with Dallas' defender Adrian Serioux and Argentinian loanee Pablo Vitti. From the NCAA draft, Mo Johnson picked up Wake Forrest's Sam Cronin, UCal-Berkeley's Stefan Frei and UConn striker O'Brian White. Quietly also joining the team were two Guinean youngsters, Emmanuel Gomez and Ammadou Sonyang. Leaving the team in the offseason was Tyrone Marshall to Seattle and Todd Dunivant to the Galaxy, while fringe player Jarrod Smith was picked in the expansion draft by Seattle and Marco Velez returned to the Sudbury semi-pro league where he was expected to be a solid sub.
March-April 3W 2L 1T
As is their wont, Toronto started off the season well, including an exciting 3-2 away opening win against KC in their strange temporary home and posting competent 1-0 home wins against Chivas and KC again. Also notable in this stretch was Toronto's first look at Seattle, a tough 2-0 home loss to a Sounders team that started red hot in their first year in MLS. Near the end of the month John Carver handed in his resignation in frustration at the state of the team and league, and his own inability to bring the team to a higher level, leaving Chris Cummins to take over on an interim basis.
May MLS: 1W 2T 2L CCUP: 2W 0T 0L
May was not successful for Toronto in MLS as they played several playoff teams and had several road games, taking only five points in the month. Notable games included a first-ever win over the NE Revolution at home and a shellacking in 100 degree weather at Houston. Toronto had more success in the Canada Cup, putting together two strong wins against Montreal and Vancouver.
June MLS: 2W 2L 0T CCUP: 1W 1L
Looking at a second straight Canada Cup crash out after a poor loss in Vancouver, Toronto rallied back to beat an already-eliminated Impact in Montreal 6-1, winning their first ever trophy and qualifying for the CCL. The team went five-hundred in MLS, getting two wins over Juan Carlos Orozio's Red Bulls at home although a solid road thrashing by Yura Monsavian and the rest of RSL brought the team back to reality. Greg Sutton was released after losing the starting job to Stefan Frei and Nick Garcia came over from San Jose while Ali Gerba was signed after a good Gold Cup run and Johann Smith was released to ply his trade in the lower levels of Croatian football.
July MLS: 1W 1L 1T CCL: 0W 1L 0T
Interesting MLS month that ended near 500% again as Toronto laid a solid home thrashing on San Jose but lost a 3-2 thriller to a late goal against their nemesis, the Columbus Crew. A gritty and experienced Puerto Rico Islanders gave TFC a bore 1-0 loss at BMO Field in their CCL debut.
August MLS 1W 2L 2T CCL:
Not a good month for TFC as they faded in the hot August sun, getting beat in the MLS, the CCL and whupped by Real Madrid in a strangely scheduled friendly. A game that would come back to haunt Toronto happened in Seattle when Dwayne De Rosario slipped with a wide-open goal at his mercy, and Toronto could only salvage a 0-0 tie against the Sounders. Lesley Fellinga was signed in the LB role from the Netherlands.
September/October MLS 2W 3L 2T
Toronto finished the season as they started, at about .500. Two late goals conceded against Chicago and San Jose while leading were killers as Toronto dropped four points that would have got them into the post-season. A 1-0 win against RSL setup Toronto for a last day barnburner with the playoffs near-guranteed with a win, but they were humiliated 5-0 by a revitalized Red Bulls team in their Giants Stadium finale. The end of the season also saw the strange Danny Dichio saga, as he had a behind-the-scenes falling out with management and announced his retirement with several games left despite still being fit to play.
Overall, Toronto was a pretty consistent .500 team throughout the year, starting a bit better and finishing a bit worse. Toronto was again a surprisingly poor defensive team, finishing near the bottom in goals allowed and last in goals allowed on the road by a very wide margin. Toronto had about an average offense and the result is another year out of the playoffs, although there was some improvement over the previous two years both in league position and general ability. I'll have more to say about the various aspects of the team in my positional reviews.
Best Games:
03/21 3-2 win @ Kansas City. Jim Brennan goal and two great goals from Davy Arnaud highlight an exciting season opening win for TFC.
05/09 3-3 draw @ DC United. Rare comeback draw for TFC as they gut out a high-scoring point @ RFK.
05/23 3-1 win over NER at home, a first ever win against a bogey team for TFC and a result that promised more than was eventually delivered
06/18 win in Montreal to win the Canada Cup. A trophy that was tainted by playing against a lesser team and TFC's later flop in the CCL, but sweet when it happened.
07/25 3-2 loss in Columbus against a tough Crew team, with Columbus scoring two goals in the dying minutes to snatch the win. Exciting and well played game.
10/17 Tough and exciting 1-0 win over RSL at home to keep the playoff dreams alive in the penultimate game of the season.
Worst Games:
07/29 1-0 loss to Puerto Rico. PR plays an organized and tedious defensive style that Toronto doesn't come close to cracking and they score a fluke goal to push the tie in their favour. Most depressing aspect in the realization how few tools Toronto has against a well-organized team.
08/04. 0-0 tie to Puerto Rico. This game is played on a loop in hell's footy theatre.
08/22 2-0 loss to Chivas. Boring game in a dead stadium. Chivas are a better version of Puerto Rico and Toronto is helpless.
09/05. 1-0 loss against Colorado. Last game of three game west coast swing and Toronto mail it in in front of one of the worst crowds in the league.
10/24. Infamous 5-0 loss to NYRB with everything to play for as Toronto's playoff hopes go down to some hideous defending and good NYRB forward play.