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> Monday, April 2nd, 2012 > Sports > Fanshawe FC: Toronto FC fails in first home game Fanshawe FC: Toronto FC fails in first home game Marty Thompson Interrobang Click here to read more Interrobang articles written by Marty Thompson Published: Monday, April 2nd, 2012  Toronto FC took to BMO Field on March 24 just as they had any other season, it seems: with loads of promise and confidence. The result was a 3-0 loss to the hands of the San Jose Earthquakes. This match was also my first to take in from the stands at BMO, and the atmosphere was not what I had imagined it would be. The atmosphere wasn’t there from the beginning, because TFC wasn’t there, either. San Jose took to them early, pressing hard with early crosses. The Earthquakes famously traded away current Red Ryan Johnson, who became a revelation in TFC land. However, you can see why they traded the star striker, as their position up front amazing. Steven Lenhart, along with TFC-killer Chris Wondolowski have such chemistry up front that they could play balls in every direction around Toronto’s defence. They created so much on their own that it made TFC’s offense look dismal. San Jose jumped to a 1-0 lead early, and it seemed like everything was going to plan for them. Reggie Lamb just ran up and down the field in a line, very rarely was he passed the ball, and when he did he just gave it up. Johnson was pushed into the middle, and needed more open players when he got the ball. Danny Koevermans would usually play the middle, but he was a second-half sub. Danny helps tremendously as he can get the ball and create as a target man. But Johnson couldn’t play that style, and had a lot of trouble just getting by the defenders. The wing play was fine. Ashton Morgan runs up with the ball as a wingback, then can always cover his behind by making sweet diving tackles, while Richard Eckersley was great in this one as well. However, these players were asked to push up the second half to try to score one and instead conceded another two. Final score was San Jose 3, Toronto 0. What could have been Toronto’s downfall this match was their lack of height. San Jose played plenty of balls in the air, and Toronto couldn’t win them. They also naturally miss Torsten Frings as he is out with an injury for six weeks, and they miss his creative presence. Julian de Guzman is no replacement to his distribution. Ty Harden will be the first to go at this point. Adrian Cann will come back and Harden will finally leave as a constant back four solution. When you have mobile wingbacks, you need to have a more consistent presence behind in terms of center backs. Harden just doesn’t have the positioning to fit this role, nor does he have the skill to take the ball of attackers like Lenhart. Toronto FC didn’t show anything special on March 24 at home, and will need to step it up, as the points are up for grabs here and they will need them later on.
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