Carver’s Conundrum

Carver released a team update yesterday in what feels like a heads up for bad things to come on Saturday. Thanks to that piss poor call by Jorge Gonzalez (I’m not going to drop that one any time soon) Edu’s out, leaving a hole in the mid-field. Dichio is still seriously concussed so we’re still lacking solid striking capability. In the mid-field we still have Guevara and Ricketts, both looking sharp, but I’m concerned about Laurent Robert, Kevin Harmse, and Tyler Rosenlund. Robert’s been unimpressive, Harmse’s unproven, and Rosenlund? Ok, I have 100% confidence in Carver so if he sees something in Rosenlund, I’m sure its there, but I was at the Independiente game on Tuesday and what I saw was a bit unsettling. Bad corners, weak mid-field play, and a botched effort on goal… not exactly a convincing performance. I was really surprised that Carver kept him on the pitch the whole game.

Then there’s Ibrahim, our only current hope for a striker. He’s young, fast, smart, and possesses some great skills, but how he missed that goal on Tuesday is still a mystery. I was at the rail in the Carlsberg beer garden when that play happened right in front of me. Cunningham made a brilliant play to Rosenlund, who then made a clumsy but accurate pass to Ibrahim who was standing inches from the goal, contrary to the report the ball wasn’t out of Ibrahim’s reach, he completely misfired it and struck the ball with the top of his foot sending it sailing over the wide open net. It was a tough goal to miss and judging by the way Ibrahim held his head, he knew it too. While it was unfortunate and completely forgivable, it highlights our inability to score goals. We dominated Independiente, who were playing without 5 of their starting line-up, and we should have beaten them, the same way we should have beaten Pachuca and Vancouver. I don’t want to harp on this but damn, losing to inferior teams is getting a bit depressing.

Contrary to what people think, I believe our defense is solid, sloppy at times, but solid. I think we’re in good shape for Saturday, Wynne will hopefully be riding the high of being accepted to the US Olympic team (especially after being denied a spot in the All-Star line-up), and hopefully Valez will remain focused for the entire 90 minutes, maybe even rise back up to the level he was at in the beginning of May when he scored that beautiful header against the Red Bulls.

We may not have a lot of depth in our roster and missing Edu and Dichio always hurts us (have we ever won a game without the two of them?) but I don’t think all is grim. I’m hoping that Carver will find the right combination to beat San Jose and give us a much needed boost to both our ranking and our spirit.

MLS Forums

Toronto FC Results

Category: Toronto FC

Tags: Toronto FC

Subscribe   The Offside RSS Feeds

Print

Share