Toronto FC captain Michael Bradley ran towards Ismail Elfath as though he was chasing down an opposing forward, while teammates swarmed around the referee in a collective fit.
Elfath didn’t give Toronto a late penalty decision on Saturday against the Philadelphia Union. In fact, he called Jozy Altidore for a foul on C.J. Sapong on the play in question, and the game ended in a 1-1 draw. After the final whistle, TFC players again surrounded Elfath before he and the rest of the refereeing crew walked off the field to a chorus of boos from the crowd at BMO Field.
It was an unsavoury spectacle to see Toronto’s players react that way, but then again, emotions were running high, and who among us hasn’t lost our cool from time to time, right? TFC felt aggrieved on the non-penalty call, so it hardly came as a surprise to see them react the way they did.
Whatever feelings of outrage that overcame them on the pitch dissipated somewhat following a bit of a cooling down period. Speaking after the game, the players still held Elfath in contempt, but there was also sober and reflective analysis on the quality of the team’s overall performance, and the realization that they weren’t at their very best on the night.
Coach Greg Vanney, not for the first time during his tenure as TFC coach, set the tone as he lay bare the truth about TFC’s shortcomings on the pitch, noting his side’s anaemic start and a first half that was characterized by sloppy possession play and errant passes.
“The first half cost us the [full] three points today, in terms of our performance,” Vanney stated bluntly. “Referee aside, our first half was not good enough and we put ourselves in a little bit of a hole. But once again we had a strong second half to get something out of the game.”
Vanney’s message was pretty clear: Moan about the refs all you want, but TFC had nobody but itself to blame for failing to beat Philadelphia.
The coach’s post-match comments from the media room clearly filtered down to the players in the locker-room. Bradley and his cohorts were still upset with Elfath. The greater disappointment wasn’t with Elfath, but rather themselves. Ultimately, they knew that they were to blame, not Elfath.
Altidore, in particular, was critical of not only Toronto’s performance, but of his own, pointing out how he had a chance to win the game minutes before the Sapong incident when his shot from inside the penalty area smacked across the post. Had he buried that chance, we’d be talking about a TFC win.
“Maybe it’s a penalty, maybe it’s not at the end of the day, but I had the chance to win the game [and] at the same time we put ourselves in that position, which we shouldn’t have,” Altidore explained. “We let Philly into the game. If we don’t start like that I think we win the game quite easily.”
TFC could have travelled down one of two separate paths after the game: the “woe is me” route (in which Elfath served as the clothespin upon which to hang all of their troubles), or the “taking personal responsibility” route (in which they kept the belly-aching about the refs to a minimum and recognized the role they played in what was a disappointing 1-1 draw at home).
Instead of wallowing in self-pity and delusion, Toronto FC, quite rightly, held its hand up.
It was a sign of growing maturity from the Reds that they didn’t carry on about being screwed by the officials. It’s that kind of attitude, coupled with honest self-evaluation, that will serve them well for the rest of the regular season and into the playoffs.
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