Just like I did when TFC was in Charleston I decided I should do some player ratings again. Player Ratings are strange but I tried to base them around individual efforts. If I got anything wrong I’m sorry, it was hard to watch between the choppy stream, no commentary and difficulty identifying players.
Game Summary
The match started off surprisingly smooth with the ball flowing between teams. Kayizzi took his chance well after being put in alone with the keeper. 10′ later Frei absolutely robbed Chavez twice. Stream froze for two minutes but game seemed to have picked up where it left off. Ferreira then had a little spat throwing his arms out at Kayizzi after he thought he was fouled by Saric. Referee just gave a warning, probably right decision. Kayizzi then with some great work almost set up the second as he cut in from the right after stealing a clearance attempt. Fight breaks out as Garcia appears to swing at a player and is then sent off. The first half comes to completion.
Second half starts off the subs are as confusing as ever. Kocic (trialist just waived by DC) makes a great save on Ferreira then looks like Jammeh cleans up rebound. Dallas controls majority of the possession with exception of one TFC corner-kick. More substitutions are made and my job just got incredibly tough. Kocic then took a knock after diving for a ball. Trialists are unlucky right now considering Garcia is gone. Uphill battle for them. Game slows down as Saric is hurt on the pitch after a good counter-attack from TFC. Making sense of these trialists is hard as even the TFC staff is confused in the live blog. Dallas almost scores as the ball runs through the box. Falls to Dallas player but whiffs. TFC let off the hook. Great play by Ijeh with 5 minutes left, worked well by himself against 3 players to win a free-kick. Kocic makes an awesome save, playing just as good as Frei did in the first half. Blown coverage allows for a good cross but Kocic parries away. Last minute of the game and Dallas get a free kick and it appears Kocic puts it onto the post! Incredible! The ref blows and TFC wins 1-0 over FC Dallas.
Conclusion
Very hard to judge the trialists in this game considering Garcia being sent off but Kayizzi looked very up for it but he was on the field when TFC had 11 men. It was tough to distinguish them apart and I’d like to see all the trialists on the field. De Rosario looks to be in fine form as usual and JDG seems to be gelling. The game really was a story of two goalkeepers on the same team. Without Frei or Kocic playing so well it could of been 4 goals for Dallas. When I saw the free kick dip behind the wall I figured nothing had changed but either Kocic put it on the post or it just simply hit the post. Regardless 1-0 to TFC and playing the game with 10 men. Pleasing effort.
Player Ratings
Frei - 9.5 - Two great saves on Dallas striker Chavez, the first a chip, the second a drive. Frei looks to be in great shot stopping form. Subbed at half after stopping 3 goals.
Attakora – 6.5 - Tested over the top a lot. Didn’t give up much in first half. Looks okay at right back. Was moved to CB after Garcia was sent off. Looks more comfortable.
Jammeh – 6 - Whiffed at a ball early in the game, lucky to not be punished. Did well to clean-up a few times.
Garcia – 1 - Slow, clumsy high foot early on and could be to blame for both of Chavez’s chances. Around 24′ missed a header that almost costed them. Three obvious errors, bad passing. Sent off in the last minute of the first half. It honestly looks like he’s trying to engineer a move away from Toronto.
Kayizzi – 8 - Maybe lucky on the finish, but did well to make the run in acres of space. Almost set up the second late in the first half. Very good. Off at around 65′
De Guzman – 7 - Lively in the first half. Did well to control midfield. Subbed at 60′. Good performance and the game looks to flow through him.
Saric – 7 – Awesome pass to De-Ro, early on, Xabi Alonso’esque. Clumsy challenge for the yellow. Tough task in the second half hard to rate performance, don’t know what Preki told him about his deep-midfield role. Handled the set-pieces but nothing really in scoring range, but played a good ball that almost got a head on it.
Gala – 5.5 – Wasn’t bad, didn’t really see much of him though. Subbed at Half
De Rosario – 7.5 – Looks to of played in Kayizzi. If so great vision and a good pass. Hustled hard. Subbed at half.
Gerba – 4 - Subbed at half. Did very little.
Substitutions (Hard to separate Trialists)
Milos Kocic - 9 – Waived by DC earlier in the week. Really aggressive and sacrificed body to stop a ball coming in the box. Played very well with 2 or 3 good saves.
Cronin - 7 - Played middle of the park. Did well to slow things down considering being a man down.
Nane Joseph – 4.5 - Few touches on the ball. Was caught out of position but was bailed out by an awesome save by Kocic. Needs work to settle in.
Peter Ijeh - 6.5 - Nigerian on trial. Has some awesome dreadlocks. Had a nice pass on counter-attack to find White or Dan Gargan.
White - 6 – Nice to see him in these games. Hopefully that knee holds up all season. Looked like he was played outta position on the left somehow.
Dan Gargan – 5 – Didn’t see much, hard to judge.
Ibad Mohamadu - 6 – Up against it considering the cirumstances and played okay.
Wynne – 6.5 - Came on, nice to see him back, expecting a lot from him to play better then he did last season. Cleaned up well and maybe even brought some cooler heads to the unstable back-line.
Eho! Canada wins Gold but the same joy wasn’t shared by Matt (well it was 3 pints later) but their is still a many of talking points from the previous week. England comes back, Spain wins in France and dont forget the non-shake by Bridge and Terry… We also give our Chelsea team of the decade… Enjoy!
