Did Dempsey avoid suspension for his groin slap to Bloom?
So many players had impressive outings - I don't think anyone truly had a bad game. But yes, Henry's progression especially was noticeable. Hope it continues.
Anyone know where I can find a stream of this game?? everytime I miss a game, it turns out to be pure fireworks!!
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
mls live obviously only live streams??
genius man!, where did you find it
Interesting to look back at the development of that first goal. I hadn't realized what quality Henry showed on that play.
Bradley puts a free kick deep in the box. Yedlin clears nicely, to a Seattle player who just boots it seemingly harmlessly up the field. Henry reads it perfectly. Seattle is zonally marking, and overloading on Bradley, he has 3 different guys within 5 yards of him. Henry sees Osorio is being reasonably closely marked, but it's only 1 on 1. If a good quick no hesitation head pass is made just right, Osorio might beat his man, and if he does, they're dead. Henry charges in, the pass is perfect, Osorio beats his man, you know the rest.
When you look at the replay, you'll see Henry furiously backpedaling to make sure he's not caught if Osorio doesn't beat his man.
You can see all this starting at about 50:30 of the NBC tape posted above.
Plus he had that perfect all-ball tackle in the box that took a sure goal away.
Henry had nowhere near that kind of savvy previously. This is awesome.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
I'm not convinced about Bekker at all. He's just too slow, and doesn't have that desire to be first on the ball. Once Gilberto is healthy DeRo can add another attacking dimension to the midfield. I would guess that Hall is supposed to be our depth in central mid. We're definitely going to need to improve our bench. Our sub options leave something to be desired at the moment. It's a shame about Dike's injury.
The thing that continues to blow my mind as a TFC fan, is just having a striker who can calmly finish shots that are far from "sure goals" to most strikers in this league. That first goal in particular - Defoe reads the incoming pressure, and just calmly fires it in. A lot of MLS strikers would have either missed the net, held on too long and lost their window of opportunity, or fired it directly at the keeper.
He and Bradley are going to be a ton of fun to watch.
- Scott
“Heroism breaks its heart, and idealism its back, on the intransigence of the credulous and the mediocre, manipulated by the cynical and the corrupt.” ~Christopher Hitchens
It's only one game, but we just might have two of the best position players in the league in Bradley and Defoe.
I agree, in soccer it is not straight out speed, but agility and quickness in the first couple of steps. This is especially important in the midfield. Both Bradley and Osorio have this in spades.
Sadly Bekker does not have this quickness and this is largely born into players and can only be marginally improved through coaching. I am not sure he will develop into the player he needs to be to compete at the professional level
Last edited by SKB; 03-16-2014 at 04:52 PM.
^I really like your assessment
For anyone wanting an AM: don't hold your breath, we haven't used one in the past and it would appear have no desire to have one in the future. We play two box-to-box players who flexibility attack or defend.
Look at Julio making his TFC debut vs. the Sounders.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
It sure was nice seeing TFC win there first ever, first kick game
Really nice pictures Red CB, its just sinking in we have some real quality and character on the team.
You might want to link those images instead though, some people are on mobile devices.
What a win!
Couple of cautious observations:
- Caldwell loves to spread his arms when defending a shot. Pretty risky in the box.
- DeRo's heart is still in it, but are his legs?
Ratings
Cesar: 6
-Really was tested just once, and couldn't do anything about Dempsey goal. Probably his best contribution is that the defenders in front of him felt more confident with Cesar and his pedigree in goal, instead of Bendik especially during late game bum clenching time. (No offence to Bendik) He was so happy to win his first game with TFC, and I really hope he stays more than this season.
Bloom: 6
-Bit of mixed game for Bloom who was far more involved of the 2 fullbacks. He attacked more, gave away the ball few times, made some key clearances. Completely faded out once he was moved to RM when Orr was subbed in.
Caldwell: 8 (MoM)
-Was the boss in defence. Made many key clearances and organized the back line. If not for Caldwell, it'd have been a TFC loss.
Henry: 7
-More mature performance from Henry who played a much simple game. Still made that odd bonehead mistake (like letting a throughball go, which ended up at Cooper's feet late game)
Morrow: 6.5
-Less adventuresome than Bloom, but more solid. He was good defensively, and stopped with stupid long ball clearances into nowhere for most part.
Rey: 6.5
-Showed his 1v1 skill, but some poor decision making meant he did not find the open man and instead end up giving the ball away a lot. (he should have found DeRo instead of Bloom on one counter sequence)
Bradley: 7
-Ran his socks off, and was key to disrupting many Sounders attack through the middle. But tried to push forward one too many times and got caught on a Sounders counter which ended up in the Dempsey goal. He's going to have to accept that his first job is to be the defensive midfielder, and pick his moments to attack more carefully. (which he did for most part) Bradley was good, but he still made his share of mistakes giving the ball away, and wasn't as influential with his passing than expected.
Osorio: 6
-Learning to play support role to Bradley is a big adjustment for Osorio. He's still adapting to Bradley's tempo, and forced to play more defensively which is not his thing when Bradley is bombing forward. Made the perfect through ball for Defoe's first goal. But also gave the ball away which led to Sounders counter which ended up in Dempsey goal, and both Osorio and Bradley were caught up field.
Jackson: 5
-Was the worst TFC player. Constantly made poor choices in attack, and defensively kept fouling and a bit of dirty play too.
De Rosario: 6
-Invisible for most part. Hard to get involved in the game, and when he had the ball, he was half step late. Frustrating game for DeRo who was subbed off at 61 min.
Defoe: 7.5
-He scores goal on every debut, and he continued that for TFC. Was used in a poacher role, and made his 2 chances count. Give Defoe a second to make a decision and place the ball where he wants, and he will score 90% of the time. Wasn't involved in the game much, with TFC unable to supply him, but him being on the field forced Seattle to play more deep, when Sounders would have preferred to play a high line to choke out TFC even more.
Nelsen: 7
-Played his best 11 and managed to get the result. If not for Defoe making the most out of his 2 clear chances and Caldwell being a rock, this game would have played out like a typical TFC game vs Seattle, but TFC soaked up the pressure, limited Sounders chances and was good enough on the counter to pick up the 3 pts. Nelsen was very limited at his choice of subs due to injury, but he managed to squeeze out a win at one of toughest venues to get a result at as an away team.
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
Wow, you are a hard grader!
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff