Holy Seattle
I think TFC will have their hands full at home next week.
In their first 2 games this team has beaten the top team in the west and the MLS cup finalist convincingly.
I don't know how many of you have watched this team play but they are the top team in the league right now. 6 points. This is no fluke this is an incredibly talented club.
http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news...._mls&fext=.jsp
Well, Red Bulls were awful and RSL didn't generate much in the first half. But yeah, they are a good side.
If Montero continues to play this way, I wouldn't be surprised to see him go to Europe in the summer before next season begins.
I’m really looking forward to seeing them. They’re quickly becoming my second favourite MLS team. They’ve got a number of players I’m looking forward to seeing.
I think they’re going to hit the wall a little playing their first game on the road, however. Conversely, I expect TFC to raise their game at home. Couldn’t really ask for a better team to open the season against.
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^ Seattle is certainly looking like interesting opposition for us next week and I think they could cause some problems. Coming off a win in KC and draw against Columbus is gonna be good for us, though.
Did the USA , of all countries, just fix soccer? - C. Ronaldo, May 27th commenting on the FBI-led investigations into fraud and corruption throughout FIFA.
Montero is a menance on the field, but when RSL got physical with him, he seemed to disapear for a bit, but then out of no where stuck from 30 some odd yards...
Ljundberg did not look special at all, him and Montero were bumping into each other alot
Le Toux is very speedy, gotta watch out for that
Jaqua seems like an opertunistic big man, he is no DD though
Keller, the old man is 39 and wearing what appeared to be track pants...but he got the job done (threw the ball 3/4 the length of the feild)
Alonso (one of the cubans who defected durring olympic qualifing) likes to get in on the action alot, 3 assist already. Its good to see one of these guys carve out a career in North America
Going to be a tuff match on saturday! ALLEZ LE ROUGE!
Meh, we're gonna face an away Seattle team, could be very different.
Btw, NY gave them the win on the first game, and I actually felt that todays score was a little flattering. RSL controlled most of the game. Especially in the second half.
hmmm ... I wonder if teams were afraid of facing us away in year 1
Who's afraid to face Seattle?
Yes,we need a monteiro like player,the more i see vitti, not to impressed with him,I think we need a big time striker (DP).Next week at the home opener vitti will be riding the pine again watch.
i think montero should be the DP in seattle.. I hope the league does whatever they can to keep him in the mls. This kid is making a big impact i think the whole league is starting to take notice..
we defintely have our hands full next weekend . the goal he scored last night was another long distance strike that sailed right over the keepers head. It appears that he can score from any distance.
I wish toronto could get a player as quality as montero.. I am not impressed with vitti in any way.. I really don't see what carver or mojo see in him.. I guess only time will tell.
This is what you get when you decide to sign a solid DP-type player. I know we have DeRo but to really dominate, I think we need to use the DP slot.
And of course...needless to say, get a CB.
Interesting you should say that... how many times HAVE you seen Vitti? Once? Twice? How do you judge someone based on that? Sheesh... give the boy a chance ffs.Originally Posted by tfc007
Re: Montero, for all we know this is just a bit of hot form.. remember Amr Zaki this year in the premiership? He was the hottest thing around come December, and where is he now? Riding the bench. Let some MLS defences adjust to Montero then we'll see how good he is.
I agree with some of the points in the thread about Montero disappearing when he faced physicality. Olave nailed his head into the sideboards at one point (got a yellow) and just stood over him like a boxer after a knockout. After that point Montero was invisible for about 30-35 minutes. RSL really dominated from about the 40th to the 70th, but just couldn't score. Then when RSL forgot about it and backed away from him, he blasted a shot from far out into the net.
So TFC need to monitor him at all times, and not be afraid of being physical (although it seemed the ref yesterday had his eyes glued to Montero to make sure he wasn't roughed up).
I also think both RSL and NYRB didn't test Keller enough. He's gonna make the easy saves, so you need to pepper him with shots and not try to make the perfect shot (as RSL tried on different occasions. Dichio would probably be useful in this regard to disrupt both their defense and the tall Keller.
I'll be curious to see how Seattle deals with their first road game. they've been home now for a while, and look comfortable at home, particularly with the great crowd energy supporting them. Now they have to take the first of many long flights across the continent into a hostile environment.
Lastly, while I would like to have "our own Montero" as someone suggested above, it's not like it's that easy to find a 21 year old like him. 13 other MLS teams didn't sign him either, and 13 other MLS teams don't have players like him. It's a unique situation... and if he does keep doing well, they will lose him soon guaranteed. Would we prefer good players who will stick around for years (De Ro) or great players who will only stopover for a short while?
remember, we won our first 2 games at home last season too and went unbeaten in 9 home games untill it all started to go horribly wrong. seattle still hasnt played a game on the road so its way too early to tell how good seattle really is.
Two words:
Hull City
They've done a good job of scoring early in both their games. That let them set the tone and let them hit back on the counter.
I wonder what they'll look like playing from behind....we'll find out on Saturday.
I'm worried about facing Seattle.
It's clear that this is not an expansion team. Having a base of 7 players from their USL side (and they deliberately signed some MLS-quality players during that final year) has given them a tremendous advantage over a team that starts from scratch. We'll probably see a similar effect with VAN and Portland when they come in.
They are a little thin as far as depth, but they are more like year 2 TFC, with a Montreal quality defense, plus a DP added. A very dangerous team, I expect them to make the playoffs. Saturday's game? Seattle will score a couple against us. It will depend on us penetrating a very good defense and scoring more than they will to win. Personally, I'm expecting a tie.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
1. Hurtado and Marshall is better than our current defense.
2. I don't remember us having any explosive players like Freddy Montero, Steve Zakuani and Sanna Nyassi in our 2nd year.
3. Kasey Keller is already the league's best shot stopper. We had Kenny Stamatopolous and Srdjan Djekanovic manning the nets for most of our 2nd year.
4. They actually do have depth ... several serviceable MLS quality players are available off the bench ... Ianni, Vagenas, Sturgis, Wahl, one of Nyassi or Zakuani when Ljungberg's fully fit.
5. Oh ya ... they weren't cheap enough to spend money on a DP ... and surprise ... it hasn't handicapped them in their ability to put what is apparently one of the best team's in the league already (albeit only judging them form preseason and 2 regular season games)
Seattle is more like a year 6 TFC.
Saw Seattle game last night and was pretty impressed actually. Defensively you can expose them but generally well organized. Likes to counterattack really fast, using fullbacks running on the flanks.
Midfield was solid. Alonso is a real deal DM. And enough depth in mid. And didnt look out of place without Ljungberg playing. Ljungberg is still not match fit so he'll probably be a sub next game.
Montero has bunch of tricks but physical play will keep him honest.
It'll be different for Seattle on the road. Seattle upsetting Toronto is not out of question but I dont think Seattle will be as effective as they are at home.
Seattle is bit of one trick pony at this point. Ljungberg was injured and havent fully integrated into the squad so Seattle relies on Montero to make things happen.
We'll see what happens on Sat
Disagree about the defense.
Seattle's defense looks good for 2 reasons:
(1) Their offense is so strong, it relieves the defense of some of their duties.
(2) Their defense holds it's shape well (much like Montreal).
I don't think there is a lot of talent there, (Marshall certainly wasn't brilliant for us), it just looks good because of those two factors.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
Letting Marshall go was a mistake, we didn't improve on what we had with him, so why????
Marshall was great for us. We miss him terribly at this point. Seattle had a lot of defending to do yesterday because RSL had decent ball posession.
I can see some people on here eating their words, specially those that tried to convince me Seattle was no better then TFC's first year team
At times Marshall was brilliant for us, and like you say, with a strong offense defenders have some relief, which our defence didnt get much of the last two seasons. Marshall was an enforcer for Seattle last night, and guess what, out of 38 MLS goals, none have been against Seattle.
In fact you hit the nail right on the head. Having a strong offense, is as good as having another defender, which is why fixating on a CB for the DP role is so short sighted, and why picking on our defenders for last seasons mistakes was absurd, when our offense was the real problem.
I'm with Bobby, losing Marshall was a bad mistake.
It's a great trick that, maybe we should learn it.
How does it go, you dominate opposing teams, deny them space, wait for them to commit and then burst out at them from nowhere scoring beautiful goals while keeping a clean sheet.
It's a bit of a multi faceted trick, but I guess it's 'one' trick.
I'm guessing it was the cap. He makes almost exactly what Serioux makes.
Which brings me back to something I'm going to start harping on - where did the Edu money go? We got $3.3 million, of which 2/3 was supposed to be "reinvested" in the team (remember Mo wanted to use the money for installing grass?).
The razzle-dazzle around allocations etc is a shell game designed in part to make opaque the fact that a large part of these funds went to ownership, not to the team.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
The cap, or some other backroom deal - it's crazy for us to think that what happens in these deals is transparent.
And yes, what about that Edu money? It does seem to have disappeared...
Does anyone know if any of their supporters are coming to BMO?
How about we at least bitch based on the facts. Do a search and you'll find a discussion of the Edu money, which is regulated by MLS- a portion to be used for allocation, a larger proportion to be used for improvement in team infrastructure (like grass for the field)- the later held in trust by the league.
How about calling out the risk of trading Marshall without having the new CB locked up (the one that has been 'on his way' for weeks)? That's a point of debate at least.
But no, the money has disappeard! Its a backroom deal!
That's all I'll say about that.
Yea those who are still playing down Seattle's team. I don't know what to say... they clearly are a great team... not only they kept a clean sheet on both matches more importantly THE WAY they played the game... everytime they had the ball you could feel the momentum.. felt like they could score at will... They have a great offensive power plus their defence is pretty tight that makes them, a very dangerous and strong club...I unfortunately don;t see the ease in transition and the good ball control in TFC that i saw in seattle last night....
I said it before the season started and i say it again. They are the team to beat this season ...Sad thing is they are the expansion team. You don;t have to wait 5 years.. to build a team that can play soccer...
Last edited by ua-kozak_TFC; 03-29-2009 at 02:04 PM.
I think Seattle will be a good game but if JC assigns Cronin/Robbo to man mark Montero I think we will be fine.
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