After winning its season opener against the best team in MLS a year ago, Toronto FC is now winless in three games, its latest setback coming in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat away to the Colorado Rapids.
Luis Solignac’s goal in the 18th minute stood as the winner against TFC, who played the bulk of the game a man down before eventually suffering its second consecutive loss.
Here are my three thoughts on the match.
Sending off of Cheyrou was very harsh
Toronto’s Benoit Cheyrou had a nightmare of an evening, as the veteran midfielder picked up two yellow cards in the space of two minutes early in the first half. Cheyrou was cautioned in the 11th minute for his crude (and needless) tackle on Colorado’s Eric Miller. The Frenchman was rightly shown a yellow card on the play—and he might even consider himself lucky that he didn’t draw a red.
Just two minutes later, he went up in the air to challenge for a ball with Bobby Burling. There was contact on the play and Burling certainly “sold” it as though he was caught by Cheyrou’s elbow, tumbling to the ground in a heap and carrying on as if he was hurt. Still, it was a very harsh call from referee Ismail Elfath who was overly anxious to give Cheyrou his marching orders.
There’s contact on almost every play in soccer, but that doesn’t mean it’s always a foul. Refs should try to ensure that games end 11 vs. 11, unless it can’t be helped—tonight could’ve been avoided. At the very least Elfath should have blown the play dead, but kept his card in his pocket. Instead, he made a rash decision and forced TFC to play a man down for over 75 minutes.
Poor decision shouldn’t distract from poor outing
A man down or not, Toronto FC was poor for the majority of this match, at times looking disjointed and lacking rhythm; at other times they were let down by some poor finishing in front of goal.
Colorado hardly looked like world-beaters on the night—even with the man advantage the Rapids played pretty conservatively and didn’t really attempt to force Toronto on the back foot. With the home side missing several players (in fact, coach Pablo Mastroeni only had five players on the substitute’s bench—Toronto could have sneaked a point here against a very average Colorado side that was there for the taking.
Coach Greg Vanney switched to a 3-4-2 formation and brought on Jozy Altidore off the bench down the stretch. The tactical switch breathed a bit of new life in the Reds who put the Rapids under spells of pressure during the final 15 minutes.
But overall, this was a lacklustre showing from the Reds, even taking into consideration they were a man down for most of the contest.
Irwin man of the match for Toronto
Clint Irwin continues to look like a solid off-season pickup by the Reds, and a significant upgrade on former goalkeepers Joe Bendik and Chris Konopka.
Irwin has been, perhaps, Toronto’s most consistent player through its first four games. The former Rapids starter had another solid night in goal for TFC against on Saturday, and he was the main reason why the game didn’t end in a blow out.
Irwin made a number of key saves to keep TFC in the game, he was poised and calm patrolling his penalty area, and he never looked rattled. And he was kept busy—the Rapids outshot Toronto 8-2.
SPORTSNET.CA’s Soccer Central podcast, hosted by James Sharman, takes an in-depth look at the beautiful game and offers timely and thoughtful analysis on the sport’s biggest issues.
Listen here | iTunes | Subscribe to the podcast