That was a pain in the ass to watch. Why did we lose the game? There are many factors, of which we can mention playing an away game at home, and the silly prize of three weeks' break that came with winning the conference. I don't think any other major league is decided on this play off system, and for a good reason. It is stupid and belongs to cup footy.
The rustiness of players was painfully visible from the kick off. Here's my take about the players. Yes, it's subjective like everyone's is.
Sean Johnson kept us in the game during the first half. He was outstanding throughout the match. Maybe he should have guessed that Pozuelo is again doing the panenka, but it's hard to blame him. MotM by a country mile.
Matarrita cost us this tie. He just isn't good enough, and is due his obligatory brain fart every other game. Sadly it came in the worst possible moment. For the good three years that I've closely followed this team, they haven't had a good left back, and I haven't seen an effort to fix this glaring problem. Sweat is no better than Mata, and this flaw should have been addressed a long time ago. Mata's contract is up after this season and shouldn't be re-negotiated.
Callens was as immobile in the first half as everybody else, but his defending didn't let anyone down. He was one of the better players last night.
Chanot's miss was just another costly error, and didn't come out of plain stupidity like Mata's, and without the latter it wouldn't have proved so crucial. His opening of play was non-existent, though, and the club should clearly try to upgrade here. Chanot has a big heart, but isn't a brilliant player.
Tinnerholm was unexpectedly quiet. He didn't have the chance to roam on the right flank, and this was mostly because no one could play a pass to him there. He defended pretty well, but can do so much more, given the opportunity to link up with the attack.
The reason for Tinnerholm's quietness going forward was that his usual supplier, Ring, couldn't give opening passes, because he had to sweep after the clumsy and rusty Parks time after time. Ring made several vital interceptions and tackles, but after winning the ball there was no one to pass the ball to, because Parks was such shambles running around like a headless chicken. For the same reason Ring couldn't feed the left flank or Maxi either.
Maxi was invisible until Toronto's goal, and even after that he couldn't find his normal gear. Maxi was a big disappointment, because normally he is the actual leader of the attack, but couldn't get the ball in the first half because of the Parks-Ring problem, and couldn't do much with it when the team started playing better.
The problem with Mitrita is that his running with the ball is, however dangerous, quite one-dimensional, and Toronto knew this and could shut him out. Only once did he manage his usual dribble-shot, but miscued his kick and the result was a throw-in for Toronto. Also, there weren't free-kicks close enough of the goal which he could have buried. When he was played through, he couldn't control the ball and a great scoring opportunity was missed. In one word, Mitrita was ineffective.
Tajouri-Shradi did run a lot but had only one flash of brilliance. Normally his brilliance results in a scored goal, also this time. He was out-muscled by the Toronto defense far too easily.
Castellanos was also a big disappointment. He made wrong runs, and looked very, very rusty throughout the game. His turn and shot in the second half was one that a month ago he would have buried.
Heber sparked up the attack. He immediately made his presence known, and had the other forwards and Maxi been more mobile, we could have won this game with a goal or two, either scored or assisted by Heber.
Also, Toronto's team is much bigger and physically stronger than ours, and in three out of four air duels they just out-muscled our players. The ref also allowed a lot of pushing, which a few NYC players were uncomfortable with. And finally, Toronto played very well. They used their strengths, even with some important players missing, knew what to do, and how to do it. IMO they totally deserved their victory.
What could have been done? I'm also in the three at the back camp. Replacing Parks with Sands would have changed the form of defending, and subbing him with Rocha could have given Ring the opportunity to move higher up to support Maxi. Ring's frustration was there for everyone to see because he couldn't teleport. It looked to me that Torrent was ready to make substitutions for the extra-time, but Mata's darkest moment robbed him of that chance.
What comes next? I have no idea, but I have a feeling that now was this side's make or break moment, and we'll see a few new faces next season, not necessarily of better quality than those that are already there. This belongs to other topic, but IMHO the club should be looking for more European than South American players, because those Europeans who come to New York and MLS don't so much look at it as a transfer station for European leagues as certainly do many young and raw South American players. If there's also a new face(s) in the dugout remains to be seen. I wouldn't be surprised to see Dome move on now. And who could blame him, if he's unhappy with how the team is built? Lot's of work to do for the front office.
