Match Day 20 - TFC @ NYCFC Wed July 19 7:30pm - Somebody loses, and somebody wins

[fergiejr]

I think the 2 dropped points were our loss and nycfc's win. Man I hate that "pitch". Watching the El Salvador vs USA game now.

[samuraizero]

Thread title is wrong BTW. Nobody lost and nobody won.

LOL
FAK i missed the game D: stupid work

[Red CB Toronto]

Loved that Ashtone got his first goal, will go a long way for his confidence.

[Auzzy]

I think the 2 dropped points were our loss and nycfc's win. Man I hate that "pitch". Watching the Honduras vs USA game now.

USA vs El Salvador, actually.

[fergiejr]

USA vs El Salvador, actually.

Yeah that one. ;-). I'd like to claim I have been drinking, but alas - no.

[Auzzy]

Yeah that one. ;-). I'd like to claim I have been drinking, but alas - no.

Maybe you should be! I just finished my first 1/2 liter of nice craft cider, I think I'll open the 2nd. Cheers! ("No Boats on Sunday" from Winona, ON. Good stuff!)

[Oldtimer]

Followed the game on twitter while camping. This team never gives up. Wow.

[notthesun]

Agreed. Why not at least try Davies and Edwards on an overlap on the left side? Could give teams fits.

That's what I wanted to see, but for some reason I think Zambrano only sees Edwards as an attacking winger. That's where he played vs. Curacao and he's preferred Adekugbe and De Jong at LB so far.

No disrespect to those guys but even if you think Edwards is worse defensively (which I don't even buy), he does so much good for you offensively that I can't see how you leave him out.

[Hamilton_Red]

That weakened a side & we got an away point. In days gone by that would have been a hiding.

So with no complaints....we should have had 4 or 5 goals... Giovinco's miss would have sealed that game. With our b-team playing we were still the better team. With a full squad we win that game every time.

[mowe]

Nice to get a point, but I can't help but feel we should've won. The goal looked onside but Spencer should've scored in the first place. We go up 2-1 and we're in control the rest of the way.

[General Woolfe]

I love this TFC!

After 30 minutes where we looked the better team and seemed to be cruising to a great away result that turned into the game from hell. I suppose the misses by Vazquez and Séba should have clued us in to what was coming. Losing a DP on an already depleted side, having a marginal goal overturned, only after badgering by our opponents on the linesman who saw nothing untoward initially, then giving up the lead to a side who had all the momentum, by this stage.

Still, inspired by young Raheem the Reds found a way to salvage a point, that felt like three, at the death.

I love this TFC! Tonight showed the spirit we have as a group, and it's not just star players who have us leading the league. This TFC plays as a group and it's so refreshing to see

Onwards and upwards....



p.s. I hope Seba's okay and his injury won't see him miss a start

[pdubs]

My only complaint is Jay Hams not starting. Spencer is a pylon.

With all our missing players ill take a road point in New York.

[UpTheReds]

Missed chances yes but at the end of the day, we'd all have been happy with a point at the start of this game. It's really not a bad result.

[Brooker]

Reaction for the penalty at the death?



Definitely felt like a win. I have no complaints. Felt like a win and NYC felt deflated yet again at home. I'll take it.

Both clubs missed numerous chances. I'll take that kinda draw. Massive point.

[OgtheDim]

I think the 2 dropped points were our loss and nycfc's win. .

I see what you are saying in terms of the game; but in the context of the next few weeks, that point a piece is huge.

I had to remind myself today that we are almost 2/3 of the way through the season. This starts to change the thinking. Results matter more starting now because there is less time to catch up. And when you play a conference rival who is behind you, holding them from getting closer is a good thing.

NYC has Chicago on the weekend. They wanted 6 points out of these 2 games to get going on us and the Fire. Now we are still 5 ahead of them with a game against them in our park, with Bradley & Alitdore back. Even if Seba's injury is longer term and he's not there, I'll take that version of our team on our pitch in front of our supporters. So although we could still in theory end up this month behind NYC, we are just as likely to be 10 points ahead of them or more (NYC tie the Fire, we beat the Rapids and we beat NYC at home).

Oh, and what Hamilton Red said....the A team wins that game.

[Auzzy]

I just loved the way TFC started passing the ball around near the end. NY looked dead despite the tiny pitch; TFC was in control. Could easily have scored a couple more goals over the whole game.

[tfcfans]

Agree with much of what has already been said about the importance of this result overall in terms of keeping the gap between us and NYCFC, and also as a statement by the team in terms of "stepping up" under adverse circumstances and still delivering a solid road performance.....

More than anything what I observed tonight (and keep observing this season), is that this is a VERY confident team who rarely does not appear to be the better team on the pitch most games, and more importantly does not "crumble" or "turn on each other" when things don't go their way, they remain calm (minus a few Seba outbursts - ha ha) and figure it out rather than pity themselves and act petulant....from a Vasquez/Cheyrou/Moor on some nights to a Bradley/Altidore/Beita (Get Well Soon!) on other nights (and Vanney et al) - we have many leaders on this team who are just doing the job and not making excuses, that's the sign of great leadership, and in my opinion what's required to be a champion; you need to "face adversity" (like last December), "deal with adversity" - by sucking it up last winter into the spring and and then start performing night in and night out (this regular season), and then "overcoming adversity" to ultimately become champions (at some point in the 2017 playoffs they will be pushed into a difficult spot and they will have to respond).....I'm hoping that what I am seeing over the course of the last 20 games combined with last years playoffs is preparing them to do what needs to be done to take the final step - so far I've been impressed with the effort and professionalism of this group to bring it (almost) every game despite the trying circumstances sometimes (scheduling/injuries/absences)......this is a TEAM we can all be proud of.....

Good work tonight boys, keep it up!!!

[Hugh Jazz]

I'm really looking forward to the rematch with a more complete squad. Incidentally, it will be my first game at BMO in over two years. Moving out west has been rough in that regard.

[ensco]

Tremendous performances from all the Canadians tonight. Edwards, Ashtone, Hamilton, Chapman. The wrong guys are on the Gold Cup team.

[flambe]

Followed the game on twitter while camping. This team never gives up. Wow.

I'm at a northern Ontario camp resort and got a bunch of Minnesotans (sp) routing for toronto. The fact that that I'm the drunkest and loudest had nothing to do with it!! Gotta love football and the roudiness that comes with it!!

[SirBobSaget]

Awesome comeback to rescue the point but .....why is Spencer getting startsover hamilton? Only time he's useful is if you play directly to feet. He cost 3 pts as the Chapman 'goal' should have been nodded into the wide open net anyway. He's 6'5 but doesn't get involved in aerial battles and doesn't do anything for hold up. He failed to read the play so many times on whio to press on the backline, was standing still while VAzquez tried to cover. its no mystery when Hamilton went on NY were pinned back because he has more sense on how to pressure the backline.

Vanney deserves all the praise, I have all faith in him but don't quite understand why Spencer gets to leap over others who have earned it. He has floated at TFC2 as well.

[backbeat]

and Edwards can't get a minute for Canada....

but he gets stellar minutes for the best team in MLS

I love Canada's future

and TFC's...

I'll take the point but we should've had 3

Love TFC...love Canada...bring on Thursday...

[molenshtain]

Bono also very good tonight I thought. Made a couple big stops.

[PizzaEatingYeti]

19:30

New York City - Toronto FC

2:2

-139

+285

+363

Up here are the odds for this one, taken from 5 Dimes (1/X/2/ in this order).
As you can see, NY City was seen by the oddsmakers like a very clear favorite. Believe me, oddsmakers are not stupid!

For the draw, if you would have wagered $35.09 you would have been paid out $100.

So in light of this, we can see how precious is the point earned by TFC!
Huge point, even if most of us feel we could have won easily, because we had more clean cut chances.

Excellent performance by the whole team, except of course Spencer.
But it's not his fault that he seemed to be from another planet out there. Poor guy is simply far too weak to be played anymore any time soon, unless TFC is leading any team by at least 3 goals...then you could put him on for max 15 minutes every once in a while.

Other that that, I really do not see why the coaching staff would still force the issue with him, if there are so many other better players to get a run-out...

[James17930]

Good work by the guys in the last 20.

I'm normally a Vanney fan but he bumbled the lineup choices for this game. Spencer is not a MLS player at this point period. We would be better off with babouli. At the very least we should be starting Hamilton FFS.

And while Morgan isn't bad Edwards was the offensive catalyst that allowed us to tie the game and push NYFC back. And the only reason he even saw the field when he did was essentially by accident.

Lesson learned, I hope.

I agree - Spencer is a total pylon. Gets knocked off the ball way too easily and is so slow.

Hamilton is a much better option.

[OgtheDim]

Math shows the call was eventually right but how the call was made wasn't

Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/OffsideModeling/status/887871809693011968

[ensco]

There were people saying three weeks ago that Morgan should never see the pitch again.

Vanney is not an idiot. He is seeing things in practice from Spencer that give him reasons to give him minutes. Plus he may have very good reasons around team dynamics, that we will never know, for witholding starts from Hamilton (and Edwards).

You don't have to have speed to play striker, remember Dichio? Lots of guys aren't burners.

Spencer had a seriously classy bing-bang assist in heavy traffic. If you want to get on Spencer for muffing the header, you can give some stick to Vasquez for missing a gimme too.

Spencer had a decent game.

[Blindside16]

I will gladly take that point and run. We managed to find a way to pull out a result with everything surrounding the team (down 8 players, Gio down hurt etc, Vanney getting tossed etc). It becomes more and more clear each game that every player on this team has a very clear objective and are willing to put in the work to achieve it. I am a little disappointed that I will be missing the return match in 10 days, but I will be watching from my hotel room in PEI.

I agree with the other posts regarding keeping the gap over the teams chasing. We are battling Chicago right now, there is no need to allow another team to jump in the race at our expense. Hopefully Chicago and NYC can draw and we can take 3 points on Saturday. If that happens we will be up 3 points on Chicago and up 7 on NYC with 13 games to go. Keep in mind the strength in schedule has us having a slightly easier schedule than the other 2 teams.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/...ining-schedule

[Graeme]

Extremely unlucky moment that huge Seba miss.
Probably a 3 point moment - instead of being 2-0, from where I can't see New York coming back to equalize, Seba hit the ball so that he harmed himself.

It looked like the NYCFC player took Seba out as he was shooting to me. Not sure he would miss the goal if there wasn't that contact. Anyone else see that?

[Derko]

It looked like the NYCFC player took Seba out as he was shooting to me. Not sure he would miss the goal if there wasn't that contact. Anyone else see that?

I thought that as well watching the replay