TORONTO – Saturday’s 2-2 draw between Toronto FC and FC Dallas at BMO Field was a strange one.
For once it was TFC putting the pressure on late in a game and getting the reward with two goals, one ugly and one spectacular, to claim a point.
But the result, while a fine reward for those fans who stayed to the bitterly cold end, just masked another performance that showed just how far TFC have to go. Until the late burst, it was very much a back to reality kind of game, one that exposed some limitations, especially in midfield.
While Gale Agbossoumonde did a fine job in place of centre back Danny Califf (out with a flu), the same can’t be said for midfielder Jonathan Osorio, who replaced Terry Dunfield (knee injury). It was Osario’s first start, alongside Jeremy Hall, and it ended after 45 ineffective minutes. His stats show how the game passed him by, a mere 13 successful passes and 9 unsuccessful, compared to Hall’s 58 and 10 over 90 minutes. It’s no indictment of Osorio — he’s young and his time will come. It’s more an indication of the lack of depth currently in the squad that he had to be put out there.
There’s a pattern emerging with this team, as once again Reggie Lambe, John Bostock and Hogan Ephraim contributed next to nothing, and TFC rarely looked like getting anything going through midfield. It’s a tough job they have as it’s clear that defence is the main focus of coach Ryan Nelsen, and there’s only occasionally the support of an overlapping fullback to distract the opposition.
In a defensive system like that there needs to be the individual quality to be able to create chances and that trio really haven’t shown they’ve got what it takes, with Ephraim and Lambe particularly invisible on the day.
Bostock, to be fair, was more lively, again showing the skill that makes it all the more frustrating that he can’t convert that potential into positive contributions. His left footedness really limits what he can do on the right wing. He seems very reluctant to go down the flanks, so he almost always cuts back inside, often having to stop to do that after he’s already beaten a player with a nice move. It’ll be interesting to see if he’s given a chance to show what he can do on the left wing; it’s really not working for him out on the right so far
His work ethic was also exposed on both goals conceded by Toronto. The first saw him lined up next to Andrew Jacobson, behind the main group of players awaiting the free kick. As soon as it was obvious the ball wasn’t going directly to Jacobson, Bostock stopped running. Jacobson, of course, didn’t and the flick on reached him, wide open at the back post with plenty of time to hammer the ball home.
For the second, Bostock received the ball from Joe Bendik and went on an out of control run that saw him just evade the first tackle, but not the second, and at that point, when he lost the ball, he just stopped, making no attempt to try and get it ball back. One pass later Dallas’ Blas Perez was slamming the ball home.
For a player who hasn’t really made much of an impression, such displays of laziness can’t be helping his cause when it comes to keeping his place when reinforcements arrive, or when it comes to renewing his loan.
It was Bostock’s substitution (giving way to Justin Braun) that really seemed to change the game, as having the extra man up front, a more traditional target man at that, enabled a more direct style. Obviously at that point TFC had nothing to lose, while Dallas was looking to sit back and hold the lead, but all of a sudden there was a lot more pressure coming from the Reds.
To be fair to Ephraim, it was his cross that led to Braun’s goal so he wasn’t entirely anonymous, but the goal was really the result of another defensive miscue. Raul Fernandes’ and Matt Hedges miscommunication was as bad as either of the back-passes that Robert Earnshaw has capitalised on in earlier games.
Darel Russell’s late equalizer for Toronto was an extraordinary finish the came out of nowhere. I’d hesitate to call Braun’s wind affected cross a chance created, so really neither goal suggests a sustainable improvement in TFC’s attacking play.
The goals provided a great finish, but merely papered over the cracks of what most of the match showed us, that TFC are very much still a work in progress. They’re a scrappy, competitive team, getting the most they can out of a limited squad.
Nelsen said he’s happy to have five points out of five games at this stage. A foundation is being built, but they’re still struggling to generate much offence. The main fault for that lies with the three attacking midfielders. They’ll have to improve or be replaced if TFC are going to progress beyond being happy with a point per game pace.
Duncan Fletcher is a Toronto-based writer and key contributor to Waking the Red, a blog about Toronto FC and Canadian soccer. Follow Duncan on Twitter.