A point that, maybe, made a point.
Not a point that many want to hear, but one that might help keep the rest of the season in perspective. Last night was the best and worst that a fan can expect the rest of the way. There were positives and, if you saw the last 20 minutes, you’ll know that there were negatives.
Since it seems that all most TFC fans want to focus on is the negatives we’ll start there.
The last 20 minutes of that game were terrifyingly bad. They couldn’t defend beyond booting the ball aimlessly up field and praying. If God was listening she was indifferent.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
As always the focus will be on the centrebacks. And, there is little doubt that Richard Eckersley, the fullback, and Doneil Henry, the teenager, are not the ideal starting pair. However, what will be missed is that the midfield is equally to blame. It takes a lot of effort to defend in 40C plus heat and it doesn’t help when you can’t hold the ball for more than five seconds. That TFC couldn’t speaks to the point that they had no one in the mid that could give the defenders a target to hit that, in turn, would allow them to have effective possession moving forward to give the back enough time to catch their breath.
They needed a holding midfielder for the last 20. They had one (JDG) on the pitch -- that is pretty good form right now – for the first 70. For reasons known only to Paul Mariner that player was removed and replaced by a wide midfield player (Reggie Lambe), who is most useful going forward.
TFC didn’t really go forward after that player was put on.
Mariner should get a bit of a pass due to the fact that he almost had no other options. Part of that was because of Club Escobar-gate (If the TFC-3 were there Terry Dunfield might have started on the bench with Luis Silva starting, thus allowing Dunfield to replace de Guzman down the stretch), but mostly it was because of the horrible lack of depth.
Toronto FC didn’t get any more talented in the three eventful days between losing in Kansas City and kicking-off in Houston. The not-good-enough-ness of the Reds remains.
The difference between Saturday and last night was that Toronto came out and played with a little bit of heart and desire. They caught Houston off guard (and maybe took advantage of a blown offside call) and played with the defending Eastern Conference champions, on the road, for 70 minutes.
Therein lies the positive and is an illustration of what TFC fans need to focus on if they wish to maintain their sanity the rest of the way. It’s clear now that whatever growth we saw at the end of last season or in the CCL (and anyone that suggests that they could have predicted this mess based on the end of last year and the CCL has a serious case of hindsight blindness), was a mirage. The team isn’t good and they can only get so much better in the transfer window. All you can realistically hope for is for the team to play hard and compete to the best of their abilities. On a good day they may also entertain you.
If that’s not good enough – and all you care about is wins and losses – then you might want to consider giving yourself a TFC timeout the rest of the way. However, if you can separate the failures of the past and focus on the here and now while looking for growth, then there may still be value to find in 2012.
Just not many points.