Along about 65 minutes in to Toronto FC’s sunny, icy home opener on Saturday, a fellow scribe who shall remain nameless sidled up to me on the south terrace of BMO Field.
The home side was up 1-0, a naggingly familiar second-half situation, often described by the nagging, unfulfilled phrase “Gawd, we need a second goal.”
As most Reds fans know, that second goal rarely comes. The opponents frequently equalize, then grab the winner in the dying moments. If there’s such a thing as “Toronto soccer” over the past four seasons, that ain’t a bad working definition.
“I don’t know what all the fuss over this Stefan Frei is,” my fellow writer griped. “His distribution is terrible.”
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
That raised a couple of eyebrows right there. TFC’s young Swiss goalie had – I thought – been dishing the ball off to teammates effectively and well. Well enough that Rycroft and I had spent a good chunk of the first 45 gushing happily about how smartly and precisely he was playing. Rycroft was gone now, so it fell to me to answer the charge.
I sailed out to Frei’s defence, but to utterly no avail. Then came a ringing attack on Frei’s shot-blocking. Okay, I’m thinking, maybe he’s not Greg Sutton that way. Toronto’s old first-call ‘keeper was brilliant at getting some part of his body into the path of the ball. But he didn’t/doesn’t have Frei’s overall game, and Frei cleans, guts and grills him as a distributor.
I’m just deciding in my own mind whether to abandon the conversation, when Frei answers the charge more eloquently and beautifully than anything I ever could have said.
He leaps to corral a Portland Timbers corner kick, claims space, looks around, sees the whole field – and hoofs a 200-foot pass deep, deep downfield. When it comes down, it’s still got plenty of steam, and it’s on a line no Portland defender can ever hope to cross.
TFC newcomer Javier Martina runs onto it easily, and with one majestic, cheeky touch, lobs it gently yet firmly over the onrushing goalie. The south-end support detonates as the ball settles gratefully into the gaping net, sealing and securing a badly needed 2-0 win for the Torontos.
Hell of a nice piece of distribution, right?
My colleague is not impressed.
“That’s not soccer,” he complains. “And it’s not what Aron Winter wants.”
Well now, he might have a half-point about Winter. Frei and Martina went route-one on just two touches. That’s not exactly overlapping triangles, and point-to-point buildup from the back.
On the other hand:
- Frei saw the entire Portland team pushing forward.
- Frei knew he had a friendly following wind.
- Martina already had a fatal angle on the last defender.
- The play counted directly onto the scoreboard, and stayed there.
And you can’t tell me Aron Winter didn’t want a second goal at right about that moment.
After the game, I asked Winter directly about TFC’s movement away from the ball throughout the game. The head man quickly agreed it wasn’t what he wants to see, and that there is a long way to go before Beautiful Football North © is ready for prime time.
Martina himself pointed out the problem a couple of times in the match. Twice, the ball came to him a good fifteen yards from the touchline, and twice he dribbled way wide, all the way out to the edge of the field. Both plays died on the vine.
But I’m not going to say that’s Martina’s fault. Both times, he took a Portland fullback out on the fringes with him, opening up yards of aching, empty space in his wake. Both times, there were Toronto teammates who could see it happening, and easily could have moved to fill the space. Both times, Martina could have gifted them with odd-man cross opportunities – exactly the kind of tempting bon-bon we just never see all that much in this part of the soccer globe.
Sure, it’s only the second game. What seems clear is that most of the TFC players are thinking instead of reacting. The new system of give-and-go-go-go isn’t natural. On a team in transition, where rapid roster turnover is the norm, perhaps they’re cautious about committing themselves to out-of-position play, no matter how strategically advantageous such risks could be.
Certainly, that looks like what’s happening with Dan Gargan.
A huge fan favourite, the tough and eloquent Gargan was an impressive physical roadblock in ex-coach Preki’s dim, miserable strategy a year ago. He led by example effectively, and was able to get forward and mix it up with opposing midfielders in his own crude yet passionate way.
But Winter needs a ball-savvy sprinter at right back. Right now, he hasn’t got one. I still think Gargan’s got more than he’s showing so far, he’s just not instinctively sure of when to stay – and when to go. I hope he can save the situation. There are many days I think he and Frei are the only natural “leaders” on the entire TFC roster.
Yes, “the system” is Toronto’s best way forward. But let none of us kick Frei’s marvelous pass – and Martina’s lovely finish – out of bed on a cold night any time soon.
Gorgeous play, and copious huzzahs to both men for seeing it – and knowing – before the ball even got out of Frei’s mitts.
Onward!