Every Friday, Sportsnet.ca will chat with Sportsnet soccer commentator Paul Dolan—a former Canadian national team goalkeeper—about the big stories and issues in Major League Soccer.
What’s been your impression thus far of new Toronto FC goalkeeper Clint Irwin?
He’s been excellent and he’s been a settling presence in a position that hasn’t had that stability in several years at TFC. It can’t be overstated how important his save last weekend was in the first couple of minutes against New England’s Lee Nguyen, as a goal there sets a different tone in that game. He’s made key saves at important times and more than anything else you get a sense his teammates feel confident with him in behind them.
His distribution has been solid for the most part and he seems to have good communication with his back four (helped by having played with his centre-back Drew Moor for four years in Colorado). The key for Irwin will be consistency—save the ones you’re supposed to and minimize mistakes, especially those that cost your team points. If he can throw in the occasional game-winning stop, he may prove to be the shrewdest signing this season for TFC.
Vancouver’s scoring woes continue—they have yet to score from open play after last week’s loss to D.C. United. What do the Whitecaps need to do to end this drought? Anything different?
Six games may be a bit more than a small sample size so there are concerns there, but I still feel that given time we will see more goals and chances come from what looks on paper to be a pretty potent front five for Vancouver. Injuries in D.C. meant we saw several new faces inserted into the lineup, and the lack of chemistry as much as anything was the reason the Whitecaps struggled in their 4-0 loss. They’ve played some tough opponents and still managed to create chances, which led to goals from set pieces and penalty kicks. However, they want to get their strikers going as Octavio Rivero, Masato Kudo and Blas Perez have all been held scoreless.
They’re without Pedro Morales for a few weeks now so they’ll not only need someone to step up to score, but they’ll need some creativity through midfield to create chances in the first place. Nicolas Mezquida looked good against LA and then was injured last week, but the biggest disappointment in the chance creation department has been last year’s sensation Cristian Techera, who has been a major disappointment so far this year.
Kyle Bekker scored in the Impact’s win last weekend. Could this lead to more playing time or a bigger role for the Canadian midfielder with Montreal.
It was great to see and you would hope that could help build Bekker’s confidence, but a player’s selection is more down to a consistency over a stretch of games rather than any single moments, positive or negative. The most important thing he is getting right now is playing time to prove himself, and he obviously has the confidence of Mauro Biello. That will be helped by scoring as it proves he may have more dimensions to his game than just an ability to hit a nice switch of play, which is definitely his strength in midfield.
In MLS, support players such as Bekker need to be well-rounded, so showing that you have the ability to pitch in with the occasional goal is very valuable. He’s shown that with goals from long-range last year and with a header joining the attack from midfield against Columbus last week. He’s got a number of strengths, including set piece and passing accuracy, as well as a good strike from distance. It’s just a matter now of showing that game-in and game-out to win more playing time in the Montreal line-up.
Toronto FC on Sportsnet: Watch 11 Toronto FC matches from the 2016 Major League Soccer season live on Sportsnet. Consult the broadcast schedule
What did you think of Nigel de Jong’s tackle on Darlington Nagbe? Did it warrant the three game suspension he was given?
It’s a definite red card offence, but I can see how the referee thought the challenge was only worthy of a yellow—seeing it in real time, De Jong stays on his feet and kind of awkwardly steps in to the challenge. He is late and steps down on Nagbe endangering his safety, and even though he was handed a three-game ban on Friday, I would have only given him a one game suspension, as it wasn’t any more severe than a typical red-card challenge despite how bad Nagbe’s ankle twisted.
This is another example of where I think instant replay field-side could help determine the severity of the challenge and get the red-card decision right on the night. In handing out the additional games retroactively, the league’s disciplinary committee is certainly following up on the message they’ve laid out this year of wanting to stamp these types of tackles out of the game. There is no question he endangers the safety of Nagbe by stamping down on his ankle, but De Jong didn’t tick many of the other boxes MLS is looking for in these situations (wasn’t two-footed, straight legged, or lunging in). Perhaps De Jong’s reputation, which comes from his wild kick to Xabi Alonso in the 2010 World Cup final, hurt him in this situation.
One other side story that isn’t receiving as much attention in this is what appears to be a removal of that game’s referee, Alan Chapman, from doing the Real Salt Lake-Vancouver match this weekend, which he was originally scheduled to do. If this was because he showed yellow instead of red in the Galaxy-Portland game I think it’s extremely harsh as the severity of the tackle in real time was difficult to determine. As much as referees are always a target of criticism, they are under even more pressure this year to get their decisions right or pay the price of not officiating in future games, and I believe that will lead to an atmosphere of erring on the side of more dismissals in upcoming matches.
Sportsnet’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.
