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Monday MLS Breakdown: Substance Over Style
Toronto FC has struggled to score goals at home this season while creating a boatload of chances. Goal.com's Kyle McCarthy explains why an ugly win over New England might give them some time to figure out how to finish the pretty plays they create.
May 25, 2009 7:11:56 AM
By Kyle McCarthy
TORONTO – Despite the aesthetically pleasing, defense carving football Toronto FC had played in spurts at BMO Field this season, the Reds didn't have much to show for it.
Eight points isn't enough of a return from six home matches when visiting teams have to enter the red-clad cauldron on the shores of Lake Ontario. Much of the blame for the poor home form falls on a TFC attack that scored nine goals in four road games, but went scattershot in front of goal on its own turf.
Not that the Reds' shyness in front of goal at BMO Field should have surprised anyone. TFC scored a meager 17 goals at home in each of the club's first two seasons. Their struggles to score at BMO Field hadn't changed despite the improved buildup play in 2009; TFC entered Saturday's match against New England with just four goals at home, a total tied for third-lowest in the league.
"Everybody's been saying that we've been at home and we haven't been scoring our chances," much-maligned striker Chad Barrett said after his side exorcised a few of those demons in a 3-1 win over New England. "Today was good."
Oddly enough, TFC broke through on a day when its offensive fluidity deserted them for long stretches.
"We're looking at it and the chances we made were through some good play," Revolution head coach Steve Nicol said. "They didn't make too many chances through good play."
Those few TFC chances created by tidy play once again went begging. Marvell Wynne finished off a marauding run down the right wing by slicing into the box and tamely sidefooting at Matt Reis. Dwayne De Rosario shimmed away from Darrius Barnes with a clever move on the edge of the penalty area, but placed his shot in an area where Matt Reis could make a smart save rather than tucking it away in the corner.
At that point, it looked like another TFC home match would end in frustration. New England had opened the scoring after Shalrie Joseph headed home a Chris Tierney cross. TFC replied a minute later with a clunky series of touches involving Danny Dichio and Barrett before Guevara sweetly lashed home a Dichio layoff from just outside the penalty area.
New England started the better of the two sides in the second half and the home side looked as if it was out of ideas. A draw looked like the probable outcome until a series of mistakes from the away side handed TFC a chance at redemption.
De Rosario earned his second gilt-edged chance at goal after Emmanuel Osei and Jay Heaps collided at midfield as they went in search of the same ball. Dichio was first on the spot to collect and looped a ball over the top of the Revolution defense. Darrius Barnes kept De Rosario onside and the Canadian international did the rest.
"[Reis] robbed me in the first half," De Rosario said. "Thankfully, I was able to get that one by him in the second half."
Fortune stuck with the Reds two minutes later as Guevara notched his second to put the result beyond doubt. Wells Thompson charitably conceded a free kick on the left wing to give TFC a dangerous set piece opportunity. The Honduran's well-struck service curled through the penalty area, eluded everyone, bounced off the turf and tucked inside the far corner. It lacked the emphasis of his first strike, but it proved just as effective.
Those precious three goals should silence a few of the critics for now. The triumph of function over form should buy TFC some time to figure out how to cap those tidy moves with corresponding finishes and banish the home scoring struggles for good.
"We got three goals at home," De Rosario said. "It could have been more. The main thing is that we're creating chances. Once you're creating chances, finishing is next. We've been having a hard time finishing over the past couple of games. Thankfully, we've bounced back. We finished our chances [today]."
Week Ten – Questions, Thoughts, and Answers
Monday MLS Breakdown Player of the Week – Kasey Keller, GK, Seattle
Two other goalkeepers – D.C. United's Josh Wicks and Chicago's Jon Busch – were arguably just as good or better than Keller this weekend. So why go for Keller? Seattle needed him to perform on a night when central midfielders Freddie Ljungberg and Brad Evans watched from home and the influential Osvaldo Alonso limped off after just two minutes. As he has done all season, Keller came through. Key stops on Nick LaBrocca (times two) and Conor Casey (times two) let Seattle hang around and then grab a late equalizer.
"He's a phenomenal goalkeeper," Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid said. "When the game is 1-1 and you keep us in the game and don't allow us to go down 2-1, that keeps the guys in the game mentally. That's the reason he is Kasey Keller. That's the reason he's played so many games for the national team. That's the reason he played so many years in Europe, because he has the ability to do that."
What was he thinking? Nick Garcia, DF, San Jose
In the buildup to Saturday's 3-1 loss to Houston, Garcia called Houston forward Kei Kamara a "mental midget." The intentions behind the insult were clear; Garcia, irritant extraordinaire, wanted to get under the notoriously irritable Kamara's skin. In another time, place and situation, the tactic may have worked. Unfortunately for Garcia, he forgot to weigh a few factors before lobbing his verbal grenade.
In no particular order of importance: (1) Garcia and his fellow defenders have most often resembled a form of dairy product than a composed defensive unit this season, (2) Garcia would have already been dropped to the bench if there were any other options available to Frank Yallop given his performances to date, so he wasn't particularly likely back up his smack with a dominant performance, (3) Houston had already scored two goals its 3-2 loss in San Jose earlier this season, (4) the Dynamo had won three of their past four games and hadn't lost in five, (5) the Earthquakes looked like death warmed over in their previous match in New York, (6) Houston would take the comment, pin it on their bulletin board and do their best to tear the already fragile Earthquakes apart, and (7) Garcia's teammates and coaches probably wouldn't appreciate his comments much either.
Only one outcome was in the cards once Garcia uttered those words. Houston scored twice in the first 12 minutes and San Jose never had a chance after that.
"Nick shouldn't have said anything and he knows that," San Jose coach Frank Yallop said after yet another loss for the bottom of the table Earthquakes. "We spoke about that."
Others were less circumspect in their criticism.
"I really don't think Kamara nor Houston needs any bulletin-board material when we face each other," Earthquakes defender Jason Hernandez told the San Jose Mercury News after he was welcomed back into the lineup for the first time this season to this maelstrom. "I'm sure they're fired up enough as it is — as we are to play against them."
Because Kamara passed on replying aside from scoring the second goal, the final words on the matter go to the normally mild-mannered Brian Ching, who scored the first goal and didn't appear too impressed by Garcia's jibe.
"They got a dummy in the center of their defense, and that just gives us motivation to score goals on them," Ching told reporters after the game, adding that Garcia was an "idiot" and "probably one of the dirtiest players in the league."
Eleven observations to start the week
1. "We deserved something from the game," Nicol said. "No doubt about that."
2. "To look up at the clock and see in the dying minutes that you have a two-goal lead, it's a great feeling," De Rosario said. "It takes pressure off the defense. It takes a lot of pressure off the midfield. We just had to worry about closing out the game."
3. Louis Crayton should be scared after watching Wicks stand on his head in a 0-0 draw against Real Salt Lake on Saturday night. Very, very scared. Crayton's contract comes up for renewal in July and he makes $171,000. Milos Kocic can warm the bench at a significant discount on that hefty pay packet. Then again, consistency hasn't been a trademark for United goalkeepers this season, so there's always hope for Crayton.
4. The Houston Chronicle wondered in its post-match notebook whether Brad Davis might be in line for a national team call-up this summer. It's a tough call. Davis may or may not have the necessary physical tools to succeed at the international level, but his service certainly wouldn't look out of place. Davis had two assists from set pieces and contributed to the third goal with another fine dead ball.
5. Los Angeles should have won in Frisco and came away with a 1-1 draw against FC Dallas instead. After Landon Donovan's third minute goal, the Galaxy spurned two fantastic opportunities and watched Ray Burse make a fine save on Landon Donovan's low shot. And that was before Marcelo Saragosa got sent off in the 25th minute. "It’s silly that we challenge the goalkeeper two or three times with one on ones and we don’t convert," Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said after the game.
6. Josh Wolff didn't deserve his walking papers for his tete-a-tete with Mariano Trujillo in the 69th minute of Saturday's 1-1 draw between Kansas City and Chivas USA. Moments earlier, Trujillo scythed Wolff down from behind and referee Jasen Anno inexplicably let play continue. Wolff then confronted Trujillo after play stopped and their foreheads met when Wolff leaned down. Should Wolff have done it? Absolutely not. He should have known better than to give referee Jasen Anno the chance to send him off. However, it seems excessive to dismiss Wolff for that relative pittance given the circumstances. To compound the misery, Santiago Hirsig picked up his second yellow card for a nickel and dime foul to reduce K.C. to nine men. "I can’t comment honestly," Wizards coach Curt Onalfo told reporters after the game, mindful of the fact that he had already been fined once by the league this season for derogatory comments towards referees. "I would love to say a lot of things but I’m not going to, because I can’t afford to in every sense of the word."
7. If Chivas USA could make the pinball-like CommunityAmerica Ballpark its home field, they might just do it. It's a perfect fit for their style. The one problem? The Goats' fanbase – which could have once comfortably fit inside CAB with room to spare – has now grown to the point where the circa 10,000 capacity wouldn't be suitable.
8. Need proof of how important Alonso is to Seattle? The Cuban picked up a quadriceps injury as he loosened up before the match. Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid started him after he said he could go and then withdrew him after two minutes when it was clear he could not. Perhaps the absence of Ljungberg and Evans influenced that choice, but the decision speaks volumes about Alonso's influence regardless of the circumstances.
9. "Even with the opportunities they had toward the end, we still should have won the game," Rapids coach Gary Smith said. "We were in a good enough position. We created enough to do that. We need to be more clinical in their box and more frugal in ours. At the moment, we're treading a very fine line."
10. Remember when Chicago head coach Denis Hamlett called Chris Rolfe a sharpshooter in a column I penned a couple of weeks back? The winner in Sunday's 1-0 victory over New York was exactly what Hamlett had in mind when he said it. Great headers by Brian McBride and Logan Pause played Rolfe through on goal. Rolfe's contribution: one touch off the chest, left footed finish into the far corner. Only a handful of players in the league right now can take a difficult chance like that so deftly.
11. New York won't even sniff the playoffs if Juan Pablo Angel continues to finish like he did on Sunday.
TORONTO – Despite the aesthetically pleasing, defense carving football Toronto FC had played in spurts at BMO Field this season, the Reds didn't have much to show for it.
Eight points isn't enough of a return from six home matches when visiting teams have to enter the red-clad cauldron on the shores of Lake Ontario. Much of the blame for the poor home form falls on a TFC attack that scored nine goals in four road games, but went scattershot in front of goal on its own turf.
Not that the Reds' shyness in front of goal at BMO Field should have surprised anyone. TFC scored a meager 17 goals at home in each of the club's first two seasons. Their struggles to score at BMO Field hadn't changed despite the improved buildup play in 2009; TFC entered Saturday's match against New England with just four goals at home, a total tied for third-lowest in the league.
"Everybody's been saying that we've been at home and we haven't been scoring our chances," much-maligned striker Chad Barrett said after his side exorcised a few of those demons in a 3-1 win over New England. "Today was good."
Oddly enough, TFC broke through on a day when its offensive fluidity deserted them for long stretches.
"We're looking at it and the chances we made were through some good play," Revolution head coach Steve Nicol said. "They didn't make too many chances through good play."
Those few TFC chances created by tidy play once again went begging. Marvell Wynne finished off a marauding run down the right wing by slicing into the box and tamely sidefooting at Matt Reis. Dwayne De Rosario shimmed away from Darrius Barnes with a clever move on the edge of the penalty area, but placed his shot in an area where Matt Reis could make a smart save rather than tucking it away in the corner.
At that point, it looked like another TFC home match would end in frustration. New England had opened the scoring after Shalrie Joseph headed home a Chris Tierney cross. TFC replied a minute later with a clunky series of touches involving Danny Dichio and Barrett before Guevara sweetly lashed home a Dichio layoff from just outside the penalty area.
New England started the better of the two sides in the second half and the home side looked as if it was out of ideas. A draw looked like the probable outcome until a series of mistakes from the away side handed TFC a chance at redemption.
De Rosario earned his second gilt-edged chance at goal after Emmanuel Osei and Jay Heaps collided at midfield as they went in search of the same ball. Dichio was first on the spot to collect and looped a ball over the top of the Revolution defense. Darrius Barnes kept De Rosario onside and the Canadian international did the rest.
"[Reis] robbed me in the first half," De Rosario said. "Thankfully, I was able to get that one by him in the second half."
Fortune stuck with the Reds two minutes later as Guevara notched his second to put the result beyond doubt. Wells Thompson charitably conceded a free kick on the left wing to give TFC a dangerous set piece opportunity. The Honduran's well-struck service curled through the penalty area, eluded everyone, bounced off the turf and tucked inside the far corner. It lacked the emphasis of his first strike, but it proved just as effective.
Those precious three goals should silence a few of the critics for now. The triumph of function over form should buy TFC some time to figure out how to cap those tidy moves with corresponding finishes and banish the home scoring struggles for good.
"We got three goals at home," De Rosario said. "It could have been more. The main thing is that we're creating chances. Once you're creating chances, finishing is next. We've been having a hard time finishing over the past couple of games. Thankfully, we've bounced back. We finished our chances [today]."
Week Ten – Questions, Thoughts, and Answers
Monday MLS Breakdown Player of the Week – Kasey Keller, GK, Seattle
Two other goalkeepers – D.C. United's Josh Wicks and Chicago's Jon Busch – were arguably just as good or better than Keller this weekend. So why go for Keller? Seattle needed him to perform on a night when central midfielders Freddie Ljungberg and Brad Evans watched from home and the influential Osvaldo Alonso limped off after just two minutes. As he has done all season, Keller came through. Key stops on Nick LaBrocca (times two) and Conor Casey (times two) let Seattle hang around and then grab a late equalizer.
"He's a phenomenal goalkeeper," Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid said. "When the game is 1-1 and you keep us in the game and don't allow us to go down 2-1, that keeps the guys in the game mentally. That's the reason he is Kasey Keller. That's the reason he's played so many games for the national team. That's the reason he played so many years in Europe, because he has the ability to do that."
What was he thinking? Nick Garcia, DF, San Jose
In the buildup to Saturday's 3-1 loss to Houston, Garcia called Houston forward Kei Kamara a "mental midget." The intentions behind the insult were clear; Garcia, irritant extraordinaire, wanted to get under the notoriously irritable Kamara's skin. In another time, place and situation, the tactic may have worked. Unfortunately for Garcia, he forgot to weigh a few factors before lobbing his verbal grenade.
In no particular order of importance: (1) Garcia and his fellow defenders have most often resembled a form of dairy product than a composed defensive unit this season, (2) Garcia would have already been dropped to the bench if there were any other options available to Frank Yallop given his performances to date, so he wasn't particularly likely back up his smack with a dominant performance, (3) Houston had already scored two goals its 3-2 loss in San Jose earlier this season, (4) the Dynamo had won three of their past four games and hadn't lost in five, (5) the Earthquakes looked like death warmed over in their previous match in New York, (6) Houston would take the comment, pin it on their bulletin board and do their best to tear the already fragile Earthquakes apart, and (7) Garcia's teammates and coaches probably wouldn't appreciate his comments much either.
Only one outcome was in the cards once Garcia uttered those words. Houston scored twice in the first 12 minutes and San Jose never had a chance after that.
"Nick shouldn't have said anything and he knows that," San Jose coach Frank Yallop said after yet another loss for the bottom of the table Earthquakes. "We spoke about that."
Others were less circumspect in their criticism.
"I really don't think Kamara nor Houston needs any bulletin-board material when we face each other," Earthquakes defender Jason Hernandez told the San Jose Mercury News after he was welcomed back into the lineup for the first time this season to this maelstrom. "I'm sure they're fired up enough as it is — as we are to play against them."
Because Kamara passed on replying aside from scoring the second goal, the final words on the matter go to the normally mild-mannered Brian Ching, who scored the first goal and didn't appear too impressed by Garcia's jibe.
"They got a dummy in the center of their defense, and that just gives us motivation to score goals on them," Ching told reporters after the game, adding that Garcia was an "idiot" and "probably one of the dirtiest players in the league."
Eleven observations to start the week
1. "We deserved something from the game," Nicol said. "No doubt about that."
2. "To look up at the clock and see in the dying minutes that you have a two-goal lead, it's a great feeling," De Rosario said. "It takes pressure off the defense. It takes a lot of pressure off the midfield. We just had to worry about closing out the game."
3. Louis Crayton should be scared after watching Wicks stand on his head in a 0-0 draw against Real Salt Lake on Saturday night. Very, very scared. Crayton's contract comes up for renewal in July and he makes $171,000. Milos Kocic can warm the bench at a significant discount on that hefty pay packet. Then again, consistency hasn't been a trademark for United goalkeepers this season, so there's always hope for Crayton.
4. The Houston Chronicle wondered in its post-match notebook whether Brad Davis might be in line for a national team call-up this summer. It's a tough call. Davis may or may not have the necessary physical tools to succeed at the international level, but his service certainly wouldn't look out of place. Davis had two assists from set pieces and contributed to the third goal with another fine dead ball.
5. Los Angeles should have won in Frisco and came away with a 1-1 draw against FC Dallas instead. After Landon Donovan's third minute goal, the Galaxy spurned two fantastic opportunities and watched Ray Burse make a fine save on Landon Donovan's low shot. And that was before Marcelo Saragosa got sent off in the 25th minute. "It’s silly that we challenge the goalkeeper two or three times with one on ones and we don’t convert," Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said after the game.
6. Josh Wolff didn't deserve his walking papers for his tete-a-tete with Mariano Trujillo in the 69th minute of Saturday's 1-1 draw between Kansas City and Chivas USA. Moments earlier, Trujillo scythed Wolff down from behind and referee Jasen Anno inexplicably let play continue. Wolff then confronted Trujillo after play stopped and their foreheads met when Wolff leaned down. Should Wolff have done it? Absolutely not. He should have known better than to give referee Jasen Anno the chance to send him off. However, it seems excessive to dismiss Wolff for that relative pittance given the circumstances. To compound the misery, Santiago Hirsig picked up his second yellow card for a nickel and dime foul to reduce K.C. to nine men. "I can’t comment honestly," Wizards coach Curt Onalfo told reporters after the game, mindful of the fact that he had already been fined once by the league this season for derogatory comments towards referees. "I would love to say a lot of things but I’m not going to, because I can’t afford to in every sense of the word."
7. If Chivas USA could make the pinball-like CommunityAmerica Ballpark its home field, they might just do it. It's a perfect fit for their style. The one problem? The Goats' fanbase – which could have once comfortably fit inside CAB with room to spare – has now grown to the point where the circa 10,000 capacity wouldn't be suitable.
8. Need proof of how important Alonso is to Seattle? The Cuban picked up a quadriceps injury as he loosened up before the match. Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid started him after he said he could go and then withdrew him after two minutes when it was clear he could not. Perhaps the absence of Ljungberg and Evans influenced that choice, but the decision speaks volumes about Alonso's influence regardless of the circumstances.
9. "Even with the opportunities they had toward the end, we still should have won the game," Rapids coach Gary Smith said. "We were in a good enough position. We created enough to do that. We need to be more clinical in their box and more frugal in ours. At the moment, we're treading a very fine line."
10. Remember when Chicago head coach Denis Hamlett called Chris Rolfe a sharpshooter in a column I penned a couple of weeks back? The winner in Sunday's 1-0 victory over New York was exactly what Hamlett had in mind when he said it. Great headers by Brian McBride and Logan Pause played Rolfe through on goal. Rolfe's contribution: one touch off the chest, left footed finish into the far corner. Only a handful of players in the league right now can take a difficult chance like that so deftly.
11. New York won't even sniff the playoffs if Juan Pablo Angel continues to finish like he did on Sunday.
Kyle McCarthy writes the Monday MLS Breakdown and frequently writes opinion pieces during the week for Goal.com. He also covers the New England Revolution for the Boston Herald and MLSnet.com. Contact him with your questions or comments at kyle.mccarthy@goal.com and follow him on Twitter by clicking here.
For more on Major League Soccer, visit Goal.com’s MLS page.
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