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April 19, 2008 MLS Toronto FC vs Real Salt Lake (by Rocket Robin)
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Toronto FC (all red, white names and numbers)
........................1 Greg Sutton
16 Marvell Wynne...4 Marco Velez...14 Tyrone Marshall...11 Jim Brennan (cpt)
10 Rohan Ricketts...33 Carl Robinson...6 Maurice Edu...32 Laurent Robert
...............20 Amado Guevara...9 Danny Dichio
Subs:...18 Brian Edwards (gk)...3 Julius James (def)...5 Kevin Harmse (mid)...12 Todd Dunivant (def)...19 Andrea Lombardo (fwd)...23 Jarrod Smith (fwd)
...96 Jeff Cunningham (fwd)
team officials:...head coach John Carver
Real Salt Lake (all white, black numbers)
.....................18 Nick Rimando
17 Chris Wingert...27 Matias Mantilla...6 Nat Borchers...13 Ian Joy
21 Dema Kovalenko...12 Nathan Sturgis...11 Javier Morales...5 Kyle Beckerman (cpt)
..............16 Kenny Deuchar...10 Robbie Findley
Subs:...1 Chris Seitz (gk)...2 Tony Beltran (def)...3 Carey Talley (mid)...4 Jamison Olave (def)...9 Fabian Espindola (fwd)...14 Yura Movsisyan (fwd)
...77 Andy Williams (mid)
team officials:...head coach John Kreis
Game officials:...referee Silviu Petrescu...referee's assistants Amato DeLuca and Kermit Quisenberry...fourth official Paul Ward...(yellow shirts, black shorts and socks)
1st Half:...game starts 12:47pm...TFC defend north end on this warm afternoon with a bright sun in the south...winds gusted around picking up bits of paper thrown earlier when the game wore on.
40 sec...RSL Morales 40 yard freekick from left is cleared from edge of box by defender's foot.
1 min...TFC Brennan rush on left and he crosses over players in box on 20 yard chip.
3 min...TFC Guevara 45 yard freekick bounced up middle has ball just miss charging TFC Dichio and goalie easily catches.
8 min...TFC Robert rush on left and crosses from near cornerflag, RSL Mantilla heads ball away. TFC Robert gets ball back on left and crosses wide right from 20 yards.
10 min...TFC Edu has ball poked away on sliding tackle on right end line 12 yards from post.
11 min...TFC Robert rush on left and bends low cross into box from 20 yards caught by charging goalie ahead of running TFC Dichio.
13 min...TFC Ricketts pokes low 20 yard shot wide left of net from edge of box.
15 min...TFC Guevara 30 yard freekick from left has defender near edge of box head ball away for almost a fast break.
17 min...TFC Robert cornerkick from right has TFC Dichio head ball and defender blocks but play whistled down for pushing in the box.
18 min...TFC Brennan pushes ball on left to charging TFC Robert who rolls cross from near end line but behind TFC Dichio so ball is easily cleared by defender.
22 min...TFC Guevara 40 yard freekick up middle has TFC Dichio climb over defender but miss header from 10 yards.
23 min...RSL Sturgis injured in center circle and needs to be stretchered off field after trying to limp on his own.
26 min...TFC Guevara cornerkick from left has RSL Joy knock ball out near post for another cornerkick.
26 min...RSL sub...Talley replaces injured Sturgis.
27 min...TFC Guevara cornerkick from left has TFC player on right leap and kick 10 yarder back over box. TFC Guevara crosses over net from 15 yards.
28 min...TFC Guevara tripped on edge of RSL box on rush to ball up middle.
30 min...TFC Laurent Robert GOAL...TFC Amado Guevara keeps faking that he'll take freekick and is just waiting for referee's whistled as wall is being ordered to hold its position. Robert is standing on right side of ball and takes freekick from 18 yards that's blasted through wall at ground level and beyond diving goalie Nick Rimando who was guarding left side of net. (post game interviews from other sources quote Robert saying the players in the wall jumped expecting a high shot).
32 min...TFC Ricketts charge up right to ball but can't stop going over end line and injured behind net trying to stop and turn.
33 min...TFC Edu rush to ball on right but he can't stop it before it goes beyond end line.
35 min...RSL Morales 35 yard freekick up middle has defender head ball down and clear.
35 min...TFC Ricketts rush on right on 5 on 2 break but he steps over ball to try to fool defender and rolls ball over end line without passing. Other TFC players are mad at him.
37 min...RSL goalie stips forward to pick up bounced cross from right ahead of TFC Dichio.
38 min...RSL Wingert rush up right and crosses into TFC box that's cleared when RSL player just inside box tips ball up.
39 min...TFC Ricketts rush on right and rolls cross directly to goalie.
41 min...RSL Findley can't get away shot when RSL Beckerman sends him pass up middle.
43 min...TFC Ricketts on right takes 12 yard shot that goalie pushes away on right post. TFC Dichio kicks 16 yard rebound over net.
45 min...half ends 1:32pm.
The halftime show starts really late when the St Andrews Marching Band came out onto the field only five minutes before the restart and stayed in the south end. They were a group of pipers that were here once last year too.
2nd Half:...starts 1:48pm.
45 min...RSL Talley cross from 30 yards on left has TFC Valez clear ball. RSL player then sends a cross wide right.
46 min...there's a big scramble after an RSL cornerkick from right that has ball knocked around and TFC Edu clears ball off the goal line near the left post.
48 min...RSL Morales cornerkick from left has TFC Brennan block but knock ball over end line.
48 min...RSL Morales now takes third cornerkick from left that has TFC Robinson dive and head away ball from inside box.
50 min...RSL Morales 22 yard freekick from left has goalie leap to catch on top right corner of net.
52 min...RSL Beckerman from left crosses to center but ball cleared on edge of box.
53 min...TFC Ricketts cross from right edge of RSL box is blocked by defender's header.
54 min...RSL Joy charge to ball on left and TFC Velez gets foot to chip it over own net for cornerkick.
55 min...TFC goalie leaps in crowd of players and catches popped up ball that RSL player had sent in on a cornerkick from the left.
56 min...TFC goalie catches 25 yard shot from right.
57 min...RSL Morales 30 yard freekick from right has RSL Findley head 10 yarder just over bar.
59 min...RSL Joy cross from left has RSL Deuchar at 12 yards in middle of box head ball pop it back to left outside box and easily cleared.
60 min...RSL Deuchar weak shot wide right from 15 yards on right.
61 min...RSL sub...Williams replaces Joy.
62 min...RSL Beckerman cross from right on run has TFC Velez head ball behind own end line.
62 min...RSL Talley chips ball into box from left after cornerkick from right is knocked through box.
63 min...TFC Wynne long run down right takes chip over RSL box and wide of net for goalkick.
64 min...RSL Deuchar nods 8 yard header from left that goalie catches.
66 min...RSL Deuchar cross over box from 20 yards on left has TFC defender stick foot up to pop up ball and ball flies over to RSL Kovalenko who blasts 8 yard shot well wide right of net as he one-times shot.
67 min...RSL Williams chips ball 30 yards up middle over players on edge of box and bounced wide left.
69 min...TFC Guevara pass up right from 40 yards to TFC Edu who crosses through RSL box.
70 min...RSL goalie bats away ball on left post on shot from 15 yards on left.
71 min...TFC Robinson gets pass touched to him and shoots ball well over net.
72 min...TFC YELLOW card...Velez for grabbing RSL player who was getting by him on right near edge of box.
73 min...RSL Williams blasts 20 yarder well over net charging to rolled freekick from right.
75 min...RSL Kovalenko charge on right and cross near end line that's caught by goalie on right post.
76 min...TFC Dichio touches off ball to TFC Guevara who shoots wide left from 10 yards.
77 min...RSL YELLOW card...Wingert for tugging on TFC Wynne who holds on to him running forward to get to through ball just over center line.
78 min...TFC Robert 40 yard freekick from right has goalie catch ball wide left of post.
78 min...RSL sub...Movsisyan replaces Kovalenko.
79 min...TFC Dichio gets cross from right and touches TFC Robinson who shoots 15 yarder over net.
80 min...TFC sub...Dunivant replaces Robert.
81 min...TFC goalie catches header from 15 yards on rush up middle.
81 min...TFC Marshall slides to knock away RSL Movsisyan rolled cross on through ball on left edge of box.
82 min...RSL Morales cornerkick from left is knocked through box.
84 min...TFC sub...Smith replaces Ricketts.
85 min...TFC Velez beats RSL Findley to ball to kick over own net.
85 min...RSL player's cornerkick from left has whistle blown for player knocks in box.
87 min...RSL Wingert cross from left is over players in box.
89 min...TFC sub...Cunningham replaces Dichio.
89 min...TFC Cunningham has ball tip off his foot from 12 yards to diving goalie on left side.
92 min...game ends 2:35pm.
Final Score:......Toronto FC.....1.........Real Salt Lake.......0..........
Attendance was announced as a sell out of 20219 people. The chosen Man of the Match was Laurent Robert.
The Toronto FC goal may have been a trick play because it looked like Amado Guevara would take it as he was twitching like he was going to take it before the referee's whistle but kept stopping himself. Laurent Robert was standing to his right and stepped up to it quickly and sent in a shot along the ground from the edge of the box. It got through the player wall and newspaper comments acknowledged the players jumped expecting a high shot. The ball rolled to the right corner of the net with the goalie diving for it but he was actually guarding the left side of the net and couldn't get to the ball.
I felt Jeff Cunningham should have been brought on earlier than the 89th minute replacing a tiring Danny Dichio. Last week he came in at 70 minutes and scored the winning goal in the game against Los Angeles Galaxy. Even if he hadn't scored, he would have been an offensive threat that may have caused RSL to keep back another defender and not keep Toronto pinned in their own end hanging on to their lead.
Toronto FC goalie Greg Sutton had nothing to do in the first half and only needed to make one difficult save on a freekick from the edge of the box where he had to make a catch just under the top corner. He took two steps over and reached out and caught it. Defender Marco Velez covered some mistakes playing it safe by taking a Yellow card for a forward who eluded him and kicking the ball behind his own end line a few times on a few occasions. It was in the second half though and the crowd near the cornerflags buried the cornerkick takers with paper streamers.
The giveaway for the home opener was a Bank of Montreal fridge magnet that was a calendar with TFC games outlined. These were given on the way out as they could have hurt if thrown at players on the field.
The game officials included Silviu Petrescu and Amato Deluca who I've seen plenty of times officiating local CSL games over the years and waved hello before the game. DeLuca has let his hair grow back in so there was no mixing him up with Danny Dichio this year.
Real Salt Lake's Andy Williams was born in Toronto and has played for quite a few MLS teams and represented Jamaica 82 times in Internationals.
Toronto FC's record jumps to 2 wins and 2 losses and is the first time they've had a .500 record in their two year's of existence. It has been quite a transition from their 4-0 blowout to DC United two weeks ago where I was beginning to think their record would be worse than last year.
Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
Real Salt Lake (1-2-1) vs. Toronto FC (2-2-0) April 19, 2008 -- BMO Field Scoring Summary: TOR -- Laurent Robert 1 (unassisted) 31 Real Salt Lake -- Nick Rimando, Ian Joy (Andy Williams 62), Matias Mantilla, Chris Wingert, Nat Borchers, Kyle Beckerman, Dema Kovalenko (Yura Movsisyan 79), Nathan Sturgis (Carey Talley 27), Javier Morales, Kenny Deuchar, Robbie Findley. Substitutes Not Used: Tony Beltran, Fabian Espindola, Jamison Olave, Chris Seitz Toronto FC -- Greg Sutton, Marvell Wynne, Tyrone Marshall, Marco Velez, Jim Brennan, Rohan Ricketts (Jarrod Smith 84), Maurice Edu, Carl Robinson, Laurent Robert (Todd Dunivant 81), Amado Guevara, Danny Dichio (Jeff Cunningham 90). Substitutes Not Used: Brian Edwards, Kevin Harmse, Julius James, Andrea Lombardo Toronto FC Real Salt Lake total shots: 11 (Amado Guevara 4) 8 (Kenny Deuchar 2, Robbie Findley 2) shots on goal: 4 (4 tied with 1) 3 (3 tied with 1) fouls: 12 (Carl Robinson 4) 17 (Matias Mantilla 4) offsides: 3 (Danny Dichio 3) 1 (Robbie Findley 1) corner kicks: 3 (Amado Guevara 2) 8 (Javier Morales 8) saves: 3 (Greg Sutton 3) 3 (Nick Rimando 3) Misconduct Summary: TOR -- Marco Velez (caution; Pushing, Holding) 73 RSL -- Chris Wingert (caution; Reckless Foul) 78 referee: Silviu Petrescu Referee's Assistants: Amato DeLuca; Kermit Quisenberry 4th official: Paul Ward time of game: 1:50 attendance: 20,219 weather: Clear -and- 75 degrees All statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial
game officials
Real Salt Lake starters
Toronto FC starters
Bitchy the hawk tied to a perch above the broadcast booth kept the seagulls from flying onto the field.
Laurent Robert races to through ball on the left in the first half.
Danny Dichio turns toward goal to get away a pass to the right wing.
The St Andrews Marching Band entertained at halftime.
Toronto FC wins! The only person not happy in this picture was RSL's Ian Joy.
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