Toronto FC is making it very difficult on media and fans alike this season.
How is it that Toronto FC can fold up tent in places like Kansas City and New York but eliminate a tough Honduran club over a two-leg playoff and beat a Mexican powerhouse at BMO?
It just might be time to admit the unpredictable current edition of the Reds is the way it’s going to be and just sit back. For if not for an injury to Maicon, the starting XI penciled in by Preki on Tuesday just might be the incarnation of the first-year coach’s blueprint. The midfield of De Rosario, the (oft-injured) Martin Sarich and designated players Mista and Julian De Guzman is a rare combination that allows all four to become better by simply playing alongside each other.
Substitute Maicon for O’Brian White, keep the back four and voilà: the Preki (and unpredictable) plan. Must be tough to prepare for a club who even at home can play without rhyme or reason.
Big Jon (Conway) stud
Who knows what Preki saw in opening the door for back up goalkeeper Jon Conway to make his Toronto debut. As I tweeted post-match Tuesday, the 32-year-old was the difference in the win over Cruz Azul, and may have done enough to earn a second look on Saturday against New York.
Open letter to Preki and NYRB coach Hans Backe
Please ensure that former Reds’ folk hero Carl Robinson starts and faces Sarich in the midfield on Saturday. As the kids say: epic.
Height of irony
Again, as I tweeted earlier, the French word for irony must be Anelka. The beyond self-absorbed French striker showed his true bleue colours Tuesday by laughing at the debacle that was France’s World Cup final.
Furthermore, the French need to quit trying to make one of the watershed moments in South African history about only itself.