enner valencia, wow there's a name from the past. Remember him playing for West Ham, didn't settle in the pl and they lost some decent money on him
enner valencia, wow there's a name from the past. Remember him playing for West Ham, didn't settle in the pl and they lost some decent money on him
Does the official site count?
https://www.concacafchampionsleague....ab_team=rounds
The MLS Site, Ticketmaster, TFC site, Wikipedia, Google.
Pretty much everything is saying the 7th.
Talking about the actual game, I think that TFC needs a minimum 2 goal lead heading into Mexico, maybe more. It won't do to tie this match, or even win 1-0.
“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
I have no idea what lineup and personnel to recommend vs. Tigres, especially after the last two games. I hope that Vanney and Co. have been watching lots of tape and have something up their sleeves.
I would go back to 1-3-5-2. Save for the final vs Seattle, I don't think we had much success with the diamond last year. If I remember correctly, we started the season with the diamond and really struggled until switched to 3-5-2.
Bono
VDW Moor Mavinga
Auro. Bradley. Morrow
Aketxe. Vazquez
Giovinco Altidore
For me Van de Weil isn't ready and gets another chance against a weak team. Aketke and Vazquez unbalanced. Osori and Delgado deserve a spot by good play. So it's tricky. Zavs is a sub but haggling moor Mavinga isnt perfect either. We aren't balanced. Maybe hasler, actually
I say this with absolute certainty. Same lineup as Saturday (ex Moor in for Zavaleta). That was the point. That is how Vanney rolls.
Patience. We tore Columbus apart in the second half, but for the last touch.
It's coming together.
"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 think Moore & Delgado come in - Osorio & Aketxe sit, & we go with a 3-5-2. Tigres has speed on the outside we havn't faced yet.
^It’s possible Delgado comes in. That is a 50/50 call.
But that 30 meter knuckling screamer off the bar has me drooling, and must be on Vanney’s mind. I think Ager has elements to his game that make him the choice.
"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
I am excited for this, but it's important to be realistic about the likelihood of success in this tournament. We are likely to NOT do well in this.
Going into this year, MLS teams were 3-28 against Liga MX in CCL. Let's say that, we're the champions, we have this huge payroll, we deserve to be rated as twice as likely as the historical average to win, so maybe we are 20% like to win any series against any Mexican team.
The odds of us winning 3 series against Mexican teams, if we are 80/20 underdogs on average in each, is....
125/1
"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 think this thought that we sucked on saturday it is way over blown
as well as the 2nd half we had a number of really top level touches in the first half in the final 3rd that just missed on execution
i am really excited about the possibilities with this group
Tigres is going to be a major challenge, but it will be fun and i do see us winning the shield and league this year
And you think vdw was? Vdw wasn't great, he wasn't even good. Poor defensively and offered nothing attacking. It's his first game yes but he's clearly not ready. In the 3 games so far Auro has shown plenty of energy and movement to open up channels for other players.
At least 2 to 3 x i saw vazques yelling at vdw to move up and get open when he was looking for outlets. If we plan to play more defensive agains tigres then maybe vdw will play. But Auro has definitely done more so far.
Drew moor didn't start yesterday and he's also likely to start on Wed.
"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
Going to make a comparison here and people will likely laugh but here goes.
Ashely Cole
First time he plays for LAG, he looks off the pace and offered nothing.
Now, he's their lockdown LB who opposing attacks actively avoid & he's their captain.
Give him a few games. His technical ability is superb & his athleticism is obvious.
VdW won't start against Tigres...his match fitness isn't there.
I would love a 4-3-3
Bono; Morrow, Mavinga, Hagglund, VDW/Auro; Bradley, Vazquez, Delgado; Giovinco, Altidore, Aketxe
Back in his Ajax days VdW sometimes faced criticism for lackluster play in Eredivisie matches. But he always stepped up huge in big games, especial CL games. He's mostly a big game player. He was brought in for this reason. You don't leave that player on the bench in one of the toughest games in club history, regardless of apparent (one game sample) form. Vanney knows this too. He didn't start VdW yesterday on a tryout basis, he started because he needs him for the CCL.
I think if Delgado comes in it's going to be for Osorio. Right now those two are competing for the same spot, and Delgado offers superior control of the midfield. Yesterday things didn't start working in the midfield until Delgado came on for Osorio. And as much as Aketxe didn't have the greatest debut, he clearly offers a lot of qualities that the other two simply don't. And Vazquez isn't leaving the lineup any time soon.
Agreed that some may not realize how low the likelihood of winning CCL is. I would hope that 80/20 is too severe, but even if each of the three remaining rounds is a 50-50 proposition, which seems pretty optimistic, the a priori odds before playing the first one are 7 to 1 against winning all three. As fairly slim 3:2 dogs in each round, it's about 15 to 1. I'm hoping for the best but not holding my breath.
The players who have earned the spots by quality of play are Osorio and Delgado. They work well with Bradley.
And Vanney usually rewards that quality.
Right now Vasquez has not been his best, Van Der Weil is clearly not ready, and having Aketxe and Vasquez in the same lineup isn't balanced. It makes sense in that context for Vanney to do something like:
Hagglund Moor Mavinga
Auro Delgado Bradley Osorio Morrow
Altidore Giovinco
Vasquez is carrying a knock and has been nowhere near his best. He and Agar are too similar for balance and Agar himself was inconsistent and VdW way off the pace.
We can drool at the potential of Agar VdW etc but right now the best lineup doesn't include them. I am confident they will get up to speed. But they aren't there yet
Tigres are playing right now. Have pretty much a full strength side out against Veracruz.
It sounded like Vazquez's injury wasn't very serious, I got the sense that if the game was more important or we didn't have a more important game coming up, he could've continued.
Given that realistically we need something like a 2-0 or 3-1 win to have a chance of advancing and therefore we need to be scoring multiple goals, I can't see Vazquez being pulled out of the lineup unless he really can't play.