Kansas City 3 TFC 0: The Frustration Continues

By: Sam | April 25th, 2007

Scorers:
KC- Johnson 5′
KC- Zavagnin 55′
KC- Movsisyan 70′

Analysis:
Well, you can’t say much good about a three-nil loss, especially if it’s the third in a row without failing to score a goal and have an average of three put past you per game. However, I maintain that we didn’t play as bad as the score suggests. As far as our eleven went, I think our three newcomers did a great job. Goldthwaite and Wynne were tackling and pressuring left and right and joining in the attack very nicely, and Edu didn’t look the least bit bothered by his injury and gave us a first MLS performance worthy of a high-five. Kansas City’s goals were all deserved and well-worked, and the way I saw it, those three lapses in defending were the only real blemishes on the match. Johnson got the opener before I could even get the feed from MLS, and that was on a routine cross that he got a real solid head on. Zavagnin got the second after a flurry of action in which Sutton got two saves but couldn’t keep away the fatal shot. Sub Movsisyan got the third by toying around in the Toronto area and finally, finally firing home a shot that Sutton got a piece of. That would cap off our first road trip. Nine goals against, and I forget how many we scored.

Player’s grades:
Sutton: 4,5/10 - Once again, couldn’t do much to stop the goals, except the last one where he was a little soft. Some very good saves, like the ones leading up to the second goal, but looked a tad shaky, and bobbled a few balls.
Wynne: 6 - Great showing for the first time Torontonian. Swell job up and down the sideline, making good tackles and contributing in the midfield. Got outran and had the regular first-time-out problems, but he looks like a good fit.
Brennan: 3 - I barely saw him. I must’ve noticed a few tackles he made, but, I mean, a very quiet performance from our captain, you’ve got to expect more.
Reda: 4 - Not much better than his centre-back comrade. Present in the air, made his presence felt on the immediate front, but otherwise he just as well could’ve been playing paddy-cake with Jimmy. Subbed off for Boyens on 73 minutes, who didn’t do anything rash.
Goldthwaite: 6 - Another strong debut. Made a couple of goal-denying tackles on Johnson and was a pest to whoever approached him. A little eager, it would seem, and that could’ve resulted in a booking.
Welsh: 5,5 - We saw some good running from our Scot, who’s looking more confident with each passing match. As in the last two, he had troubles going to the next level with his bursts, but an encouraging match nonetheless.
Nagamura: 4 - Failed to impress once again. Commits fouls when they’re not neccessary and didn’t contribute defensively as he should. A physical presence, no doubt, but he’s got to learn to manage it.
Robinson: 6 - The best player so far this season. Distributed the passes and led the counters really well. Perhaps a bit lazy coming back and can work on his set pieces, but he’s shaping up to be one of the best of the beginning of the season for the whole league.
Edu: 5,5 - First MLS match for the first overall pick. Not bad at all. Looked creative and ready to play with the strikers, but just couldn’t get the right pass. Subbed off for Canizales on 68 minutes, who had a decent twenty minutes himself.
Buddle: 4 - Not half as bad as the first two games, but still ineffective. Had trouble coping with KC’s defense and couldn’t help his teammates as a result of that.
Eskandarian: 5,5 - Solid. Got a few chances and made himself available at all times. This was very encouraging. At this rate, he’s my pick to get our first goal.

Kansas City: Good game from our hosts. Harrington especially impressed me, and Marinelli really has a sense of direction out there. With all those rushes they had, you’d think they could’ve scored even more, but they didn’t. I really can’t say much bad about Johnson and Victorine either. Conrad, on the other hand, was not too impressive for what I had awaited of him.

Officiating: I didn’t like it too much. I know there’s no way around the shirt-off rule, but it still pissed me off to see Johnson booked for showing “In memory of VTech” on hi shirt after scoring. His other bookings were also generally harsh.

Looking ahead: It’s round two of the home-and-away series, Saturday at Beeeeeeeeeeeeeee-Moooooooooooo Field in Toronto! It’s the home opener, baby! Alright! I’ll have the preview for that tomorrow (gosh, no rest for the bloggers) and we’ll hopefully witness our first goal. Fingers crossed…