Both teams have to deal with the same situation though, so i don't get the criticism.
Since the knock out rounds are now 4 rounds deep, if you extend the tournament it would interfere with the Liga MX playoffs, so the only way to have more space between the rounds is to start the tournament in early February or late January. There was space between the rounds in the old format because there was only 3 rounds of games. In the old format the Group stage finished before the MLS playoffs for the same reason by the way.
Last edited by troy1982; 04-18-2018 at 09:51 AM.
Missed Vazquez the most last night.
We just got shocked. The whole talk was probably to bring the game to them, they're gonna sit back, etc. The media really played that up and it seemed like Chivas said lets start with an early high press and surprise them and it worked.
Afterwards, they sat back and man marked and literally dared out CBs to become play makers. Not a bad idea if we had healthy Mavinga and VdW but we didn't so we saw Moor and Zavaleta in uncharted territories and not sure what to do.
Our 3-5-2 formation with Delgado and Osorio worked before cause the previous teams wanted to all out attack leaving Seba and Jozy mostly 2 v 2 and all our midfield had to do was transition the ball to them. Chivas didn't push but rather sat man to man. Osorio and Delgado are good 8s but neither are 10s and we lacked the 'cutting edge'
Would have loved to see the 4-4-2 diamond to start the second half with Aketxe, might have worked bit better with his shot as they were so focused on Jozy and Seba. Also would have allowed Bradley to drop deep and pull their midfielders higher up the field, putting the onus on Osorio and Delgado and Aketxe to transition the ball quickly and created havoc at the top of their box.
Still 90 to play and I'm sure the coaching staff will look at the game with fine tooth comb and figure it out.
At the start, the place was rocking and anticipatory - I've never heard that clear an amount of booing of the opponents lineup announcement.
The early goal completely flumoxed things for awhile. But, when Osorio scored, the place erupted. A second goal and that stadium would have gone ballistic.
Not sure on the criticism for Moor for having so much of the ball. Obviously he's not the guy you want doing that, but Chivas was closely marking everyone else and giving him space to run up the middle. Osorio and Delgado can't be relied on to make quick/smart passes in the midfield when under pressure, so what was Moor to do? Smart move on the part of Chivas.
They've got a battle ahead of them, but it's doable. It's a bit sad to read all the naysayers talking about how doomed we are. If we can't go into Mexico and win, why should we deserve to win this tournament? We scored 2 goals on Tigres, why can't we score 2 on Chivas?
This game screamed for a Rahim Edwards
I thought we were really killing them on the overlap on Auro's wing for a bit. That's where the goal came from, and we had a couple more of those opportunities after. Then we kinda stopped going down that wing.
Argh, let’s not mention this. Just too painful.
As much as the totality of the chances created by the midfield were not great, we did have numerous point-blank opportunities. My concern was more with the defending than the attacking.
Salgado (not sure if that’s right) seemed to be taking us apart at the seems all the time. We gave them nowhere near that level of trouble up front to their defenders.
Anyway, what’s done is done. I just hope for the sake of this team we play to our potential in leg 2, all you can ask for really.
You have to know your soccer to understand that we have a chance still. This result separates the partiers/tourists from the core group. A whole bunch of jumped up people won't even watch the second leg on TV now.
(Not talking about most everybody here, obviously)
"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
Toronto FC baby...best team everrrrrrrrrr -Jozy
I bet 60-75% of the people here still think we have a chance. Whereas 100% of the casuals think we have no chance.
My point is that only the connoisseurs can even have the opinion, based on knowledge of these types of ties and what happened yesterday, that this is closer than it looks.
- you have to be capable of seeing that the pitch/conditions created an element of chance, and that didn't break our way last night
- you have to know enough to realize that the fear of the second yellow had a HUGE impact on our aggressiveness
- you have to know/believe that good chances are a better predictor of performance than actual goals
- you have to have the history, of living and dying with this team in the series against Montreal, in which we spent 155 of the 180 minutes chasing them, often down 2 goals (or even 3 goals)
Last edited by ensco; 04-18-2018 at 02:02 PM.
"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
This is what will happen next week, TFC scores in the middle of the second half to make it 1-0 and then in the 85th. minute or very late in the second half TFC score to make it 2-0 , Chivas has a few chances to score but Bono comes up big a few times late in the game, the whistle blows and TFC are Concacaf Champion League champions and are off to the Club World Cup in December, let’s keep the faith this is still doable let’s still have faith they have come too far now to give up, at least last night was not a one game final there is still another game to play.
Last edited by SoccMan2; 04-18-2018 at 02:07 PM.
TFC took their own chef so I'm surprised this happened.
I wasn't really that impressed by Chivas last night, and I think they they got away with a lucky score line. I think that Tigres and Club America were much tougher opponents. That's not to say that we were on top form, but TFC were dominant for most of the game and a few calls our way (the missed PK to Seba) or some better finishing on our part would have had use at a tie or a win at BMO.
This is football and anything can happen. It's going to be a battle to win by at least two in Mexico, but I think we're a much better team and we can do this and win that cup!
Side note: Re-watching the highlights, I'll give credit that the second free kick goal was very good. We'd be in love with Seba if he did the same thing... So credit where credit is due. It may have been helped by the wind or Bono playing the pass, but it was pretty nice.
Well last night sucked. Not a very good game by our boys in red. Still, I'm not throwing in the towel on them and declare them done. They can still win this thing in Mexico. I still believe that TFC are the better side and that Chivas will be under enormous pressure to win it all in front of their fans. TFC have bounced back before after bad matches. They can do it here.
TORONTO FC, 2017 MLS CHAMPIONS!!! (Still the greatest in league history!)
I give TFC a 15% chance TBH to win in Guadalajara. The reasons I think Guadalajara played better here is because Chivas is struggling in Liga MX and this win would at least give Almeyda some job security. Also no offense, but I think Club America and Tigres took TFC lightly thinking they were a cakewalk and didn’t play with urgency at BMO. Chivas did there homework and played a better pressing game here. The way Pizarro carved the TFC defense against the elements don’t give me confidence that he’ll play bad in Guadalajara. Anything can happen though, but the odds aren’t in our favour.
We don't know what the players ate, though. They may have eaten out at some point, for all we know (Jozy does strike me as a somewhat adventurous type). The chef did not likely take his own food, either. Having worked in resorts in Mexico for many years, I have seen people get sick despite taking great care to avoid tapwater and eat well-done meat etc. Sometimes, the local food just has slightly different bacteria that your system isn't used to and that is enough. Not everyone reacts the same to those situations.
Toronto FC baby...best team everrrrrrrrrr -Jozy
This x100, if there is any team that can make a comeback from this, it's this team. We were off our game last night, but what could've happened if we played to our full potential. The next game is all about proving that we can dig deep and prove all the bandwagoners wrong. Beating Tigres and America, making it all the way here, but some people still won't give them a chance when we're realistically losing by 2 goals with 90mins to play. This team will surprise us next week, they're going to prove the doubters wrong.
Re-watched the hi-lights from last night. Really should have been 4-1 at the half after Altidore missed two sitters and Delgado missed one. That was the difference in the game. We destroyed them in the first half. We scored two at Azteca...we can score 2 or more next week.
I *want* to believe that they can do this. But this is Mexico, not Montreal. And 10 years of PTSD following this club is still strong in my bones. They have to do something that has never been done before.
I'm thinking Chivas will come into this game thinking that they just want to possess and play solid defense. They know Toronto has to push so just wait for TFC to do that and counter them. It was clearly working for them and they had numerous chances at the end of the game. TFC just need to be patient because they know that they'll be able to open up Chivas as they did last game and they need their CBs/MF to play the smart ball as opposed to trying to score with wondergoals.
The first leg seemed to have a little bit of that first Championship match feel to it. Where we just couldn't find our way to getting that goal we needed. Now we need that same history and lets hope that leg two will be like our 2nd finals match.
At the very least, this is going to be the most intense/anxiety ridden match to watch.. cannot wait.
No matter his fitness levels, I think we need Vazquez on the bench so that he can come on for the final 20 minutes, if we need a goal--especially if Chivas bunkers totally (either due to tactics or because they go down to 10 men).
Journos told today Vasquez likely to travel to Mexico.
I will be curious to see if Vanney goes to Houston, guess it depends on when the selection for Mexico heads south. When that happens is not even clear at this moment. I would assume any of the top flight who is healthy, thus the 18 from Tuesday night minus Irwin will be skipping Houston?
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!