Trillium Cup 2011: To Be Continued

It’s [BMO Field] a tough place to play with the crowd, but they’re not a very good team. We’re disappointed we can’t get a win here.” –Chad Marshall

All good things must come to an end and the game in Toronto between the Crew and TFC saw an end to the shutout streak of the Crew. It was never going to last the whole season, but we could dream right? The streak ended at 431 minutes with a goal by Tony Tchani in the 41st minute of the game. I would like to thank Tchani personally for killing the Crew and bring them back in one swoop. After scoring the goal, Tchani, who was on a yellow card already, decided to get the fans involved in the match. He jumped over the advertising around the pitch and joined the fans in the front row. Oops. The referee, David Gantar (who refereed his first MLS match), correctly issued Tchani his second yellow card for “Unsporting Behavior.” Tchani’s first card was for the same infraction in the 37th minute for getting in Kevin Burns’ face after a rough tackle. This seems to be what TFC is doing this season, one step forward two steps back. This was nowhere near the close call that the Crew had last year when William Hesmer had to score in the 90th minute to keep the unbeaten streak alive, but this was a well contested game.

TFC started the match in a 4-3-3 which is a very attack minded formation. The Crew, however, came out with the 4-5-1. I know that formation wise Eddie Gaven was a forward, but he tucked in behind Emilio Renteria to make the formation back to the safe 4-5-1. TFC came out attacking for the first half determined not to give up a goal in the first fifteen minutes. The Crew seemed to be on their back heals. Were they not expecting this?  Like I stated before, this is a rivalry game and anything goes. TFC have a chip on their shoulder because they have not been able to take three points from the Crew. They really took the game to the Crew and tried to make them prove that the streak was not a fluke. Tchani was able to get a goal and the complexion changed from there. As mentioned before Tchani was both the hero and the villain. After his red card the tide of the game turned to the Crew’s side.

This game marked the sixth time where Renteria and Andres Mendoza have not played on the pitch together. Mendoza did come on in the 74th minute but at that point there is not much impact that he could have had on the game. A player that did have a good game as a sub was Tommy Heinemann in the 46th minute; he came in for Emmanuel Ekpo. Remember his name; he will have a good career in the MLS. He made an impact on the game on and off the ball with his near misses on goal and his ability to stretch the ten man Toronto squad. Though the Crew did have the scoreless streak broken, they were able to take one point from an away game. At the end of the day Chad Marshall sums it up best, “They’re supposed to be our rival, or whatever you want to call it.  We still haven’t given them three points yet, so we’re happy with that.”

(image courtesy of Getty Images)