^Hopefully it's a smokescreen and Jozy plays and scores twice on Frei. A natural progression of goals in the Finals. 0 goals-2016, 1 goal-2017, 2 goals-2019.
^Hopefully it's a smokescreen and Jozy plays and scores twice on Frei. A natural progression of goals in the Finals. 0 goals-2016, 1 goal-2017, 2 goals-2019.
Officials Crew - seen worse
REF: Allen Chapman
AR1: Brian Dunn
AR2: Corey Rockwell
4TH: Rubiel Vazquez
VAR: Edvin Jurisevic
AVAR: Cameron Blanchard
RAR: Brian Poeschel
"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
"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
It's going to be an uphill battle without a healthy Jozy.
Instead of playing Poz out of position, I would prefer starting Mullins as a target man. He has looked good when called upon.
TFC management changes: "like adding a new fish to your aquarium of failure." - Shakes
A couple of times in the season, especially when Mullins came in late, I liked him. Brought lots of energy on offence + the high press on D; got some good shots on goals.
In the game vs. Atlanta I thought he looked really weak though. Within minutes of coming on, he was doing a slow jog when pressing, while his teammates were working their tails off for much longer.
How they say,Never change a wining team,right?
We managed to win last 3 games with this 11, I would start them again,it's worked very well for us until now, no need to change it,definitely not up front. If you want Richie for Endoh or Auro, Ciman for Gonzales fine,but middle and attack should stay as it is.
Endoh or Auro, Ciman for Gonzales fine,but middle and attack should stay as it is.[/QUOTE]
I was shocked our Defence managed to hold out against NYC and Atlanta in front of 60,000 fans in an MLS cup finals it will be very difficult. The conditions in 2016 made it very difficult to play through the midfield and pass which suited Seattle fine. Having dealt with a lot of faking in the last round I expect more of the same its difficult to play against teams that roll around a lot It's soccer. How do you defend a team that fakes that much you lose your physical edge going into tackles and 50 50 balls. I don't see our previous strategy holding up. We need to play on the front foot How do we attack the Sounders? what formation do we use? obviously it's not impossible but in the last 2 finals, it took a long long time to get that first goal, and that was after dominating for such a long time. What makes them so effective Also it would be nice as a community to post some supportive things to our guys on Instagram Delgado has only a little over 3,000 followers maybe a kind message like You got this Marky or your scoring the winner I don't know. I hope our guys have adjusted there clocks and are going through there game day routines, if there not practicing does anyone know if they are in Seattle yet or are they leaving Wed or Thursday? We need to adjust and get the 1st goal I was really happy we scored 2 goals from open play last round, It always hard to guess but I would say that the chances of us getting free kicks and a penalty at home are really slim. So expect a lot of hacking. Jozy is a game changer with his ability to hold up play and create space for others If he starts or plays it changes the dynamic...
Gonzales will play over Ciman, for sure.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
The MLS website is painful this week.
Maybe its because when we hosted I was thinking about getting there etc. etc. so have more time this go around. But gosh the clickbait comparisons are annoying. Everybody is great, everything needs to be analysed, everything needs to be praised. Its been less then a week since we beat Atlanta & I just want the hype to be over with.
Could be. I like the surprise idea too. But the key is Lodero. That is who is in Vanneys mind because he is the only Seattle player he mentioned. How to you control him? Midfield dominance. Which speaks to a 3-5-2 or a 4-4-2 variant, not a 4-3-3 unless it is effectively a 4-5-1. Which could speak to Deleon starting in a 4-3-3 over Benezet
They are all practically tripping over themselves to give Seattle the title. That is fine, I relish the underdog role. They keep bringing up the fact that it sold out in 10 minutes. It is a final why is this shocking news? In 2016 the final sold out in 3 minutes and in 2017 in 5.
I said it prior to last game and I will say it again, all the pressure is on the home team. A first ever cup final at home against a team who's number 1 striker in all likelihood won't play. Couple that with their undefeated playoff streak at home and it is not hard to see why they are the favourites. That is fine, I believe in this team. Lets make Bradley a DP for another year.
Well, they do have almost double the number of seats in their stadium, so it is pretty impressive. As for the MLS pundits all choosing Seattle, I think they're running an experiment since everything has run contrary to their predictions. I remember that Weibe said after everyone picked Seattle, "So congratulations to Toronto for winning the 2019 MLS Cup." This could be in line with that.
Any objective analysis has to have Seattle as a favourite. They are at home. They looked incredible in that LAFC game, we looked lucky in ours. Probably there is no Jozy, our historical difference maker.
But so what? Sounds a lot like how anybody would have talked about us before the 2016 game.
What I think is, they looked beatable in their two previous games vs Dallas and RSL. We have looked vulnerable at times too. It's a 50/50 crap shoot. I hate to say it, but I expect PKs.
"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
^^ Agreed. And to give the MLS website guys some credit, no one is saying it will be a cake walk for Seattle, and a popular opinion among them is Toronto has the horses off the bench to win it if it is tied after 60-70 minutes and will not be intimidated at that point, which is fair.
I am still in a state of shock, that TFC made it this far, with the lineup we have. The 2016-17 teams would beat this squad 9 out 10 times, but having said this, Atlanta should have beaten us too. But, they didn’t, and I think this is another one of those underdog stories like last years Stanley Cup champions. The team simply plays harder and smarter, and full credit must go to Vanney for this, who, if we win, should be manager of the year.
Seattle will be tougher than Atlanta. From what I have seen during their playoff run, they are no fluke. Their team is loaded with talent, having two of the top offensive players in the league, and arguably the top keeper. They are playing at home, on turf.
We should lose by 2 or 3 goals.
My prediction.....TFC 2. Seattle 0
Chipping our backline still makes me nervous. If Atlanta kept doing that, we would have lost. Ciman has played well these playoffs and I hope there is no rust with Gonzalez. I really like Gallardo's speed but not sure if he has fallen out of favour with the team dynamics, but maybe he will be used as a surprise because he is fast and would be unexpected. I don't think we see Jozy, but it could be gamesmanship. I have no idea what to expect. That stadium was built like an orchestra cathedral and it will be loud as hell. Should be a doozy. Maybe Seattle finally gets that shot on goal they have coveted for 2 years...lol
I don't agree necessarily. They would have kept chipping it over the line if they could have because that is one of Atlanta's preferred ways of attack. Toronto made adjustments after being caught badly on the first couple chips so it doesn't come down to Atlanta no longer doing it in my opinion but more that TFC adjusted to negate it and force Atlanta to change their attack. With regards to Ciman, I would take a slightly rusty better defender in Gonzalez over an unnecessary risk taker like Ciman any day. Sure he may have done well enough for most of the time but the unnecessary slide tackles in and around the box every game doesn't sit well with me for this game. The difference will likely come down to one goal in this game and you don't want it to be from one of these stupid moves that he loves to do.
Well Jozy & Omar have left on the plane.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/TorontoFC/status/1192522518286012416