TORONTO—Meh.
That about sums up Saturday evening’s 0-0 draw between Toronto FC and the Columbus Crew, a largely tame and uninspired affair played out before 26,252 fans at BMO Field.
This result also capped off what was a pretty meh run of home games by the Reds after starting the Major League Soccer season with eight consecutive road matches.
It’s now two draws in a row, and a winless stretch of three contests for TFC, who disappointingly only took five out of a possible 12 points from this four-game homestand. That’s simply not good enough—not for any team that has ambitions of challenging for top spot in the Eastern Conference.
Coach Greg Vanney bemoaned his team’s lack of finishing at times over the four games in leaving points on the table. He chose to see a silver lining in that both draws came against conference opponents, which meant they didn’t lose any significant ground on their direct rivals. And he pointed out that his side was playing its third game in a week on Saturday—and second in four days—and how this taxing stretch took a bit of a toll.
Still, he freely admitted TFC felt short of its point target for this four-game run.
“No denial that it’s unfortunate. We wanted to and we played to pick up more points this week than we did,” Vanney stated.
Captain Michael Bradley also tried to put a positive spin on things, saying “there’s a lot of good things to take away” from this slate of four consecutive home games.
“We had this blip against Vancouver [a 4-3 loss last weekend]… in the last two games now we’ve got back to conceding very little. The balance has been good. In every game that we’ve played here, we’ve had great chances,” Bradley said.
On the bright side, the defensively improved Reds earned their fifth clean sheet of the MLS campaign on Saturday, and it’s still May—they had five all of last season when they conceded a league-high 58 goals. After 12 games played—a little more than a quarter of the season in the books—Bradley likes where TFC is at the moment.
“I feel good [about this team]. I feel like we have a good group; the mix of characters and personalities is very good. We continue to improve, continue to make strides. There’s a real strong understanding of who we are and what we’re about,” Bradley said.
He later added: “We have a team that can have something to say at the end of the season.”
Another positive was the play of Canadian forward Mo Babouli, who acquitted himself quite well in only his second start for Toronto. The youngster put in a man-of-the match performance, his runs both with and without the ball, and his creativity causing plenty of problems for the Crew’s defence.
“He’s blossoming before our eyes. He’s showing what I’ve always said about him—when you put a challenge in front of Mo… he figures out a way and works his way through to rise to the level [needed],” Vanney offered.
Vanney changed things up with a 3-5-2 formation, using three centre backs—Drew Moor, Josh Williams and Eriq Zavaleta (who made his first appearance of the season), and pushing fullbacks Justin Morrow and Steven Beitashour into midfield. The tactical switch meant Tsubasa Endoh lost his starting place and was on the bench, while Canadian Jay Chapman earned his second consecutive start.
The opening half was pretty blasé, with neither team looking especially dangerous as they struggled to carve out quality scoring chances.
Columbus goalkeeper Steve Clark was called into action in the 36th minute when Babouli pounced on a giveaway and quickly fed Sebastian Giovinco. The Italian unleashed a shot from the edge of the box that Clark palmed away. Babouli showed flashes of great creativity in linking up with Giovinco through the first 45 minutes, but this was the only time that anything concrete came of it.
TFC’s Clint Irwin made an excellent save just before halftime, getting down low to tip away Harrison Afful’s header off a dangerous cross played to the back post.
A Toronto giveaway led to Columbus breaking out on the counter early in the second half. Irwin was bailed out by the woodwork as Justin Meram shot smacked the far post. Moments later Irwin came up big with a crucial save to deny Meram again from in close.
Toronto should have taken the lead in the 68th minute off a glorious setup by Babouli. The Canadian played a sublime, slide-rule ball for Giovinco who beat the offside trap before pushing his shot wide of the near post with Clark sprawling.
Clark bested Giovinco 10 minutes later, stopping his angled shot after the Italian was played in behind the Columbus defence down the flank by a great ball from Beitashour.
NOTES: Toronto FC hits the road next weekend to take on the New York Red Bulls for the second time this campaign—Toronto won 2-0 in New York on the opening day of the season… This was the first of three contests between TFC and the Crew. They’ll meet again on July 13 (in Columbus) and July 31 (in Toronto)… Columbus leads the all-time series with 12 wins and nine draws in 26 games. The Crew have won four of 12 matches at BMO Field, with six draws… Bradley is now off to join the U.S. national team in preparation for the Copa America… Canadian Jonathan Osorio replaced Chapman at the start of the second half to make his 100th appearance for TFC.
Sportsnet’s Soccer Central podcast (featuring Thomas Dobby, Brendan Dunlop, John Molinaro and James Sharman) takes an in-depth look at the beautiful game and offers timely and thoughtful analysis on the sport’s biggest issues.
