TFC 3 Chicago 1: We’ll Piss On That Fire, Thanks A Whole Lot

By: Sam | May 12th, 2007

Scorers:
TFC- Dichio 24′
CHI- Rolfe 36′
TFC- Goldthwaite 51′
TFC- Edu 75′

Analysis:
Two words: We won. Remember the name, remember the date, as said Nigel Reed… Not only did we win, but we did it convincing fashion, taking out the mighty (perhaps overconfident?) Chicago Fire in our fifth ever game. Lots to to talk about after this one: Seat-cover throwing, The Scuffle, what we did right, so on and so forth. First off, an overall team impression. Fabulous, in fact. The midfield, albeit giving away a foul or twelve at times, were solid and improved their passing vastly. Seemed we were always getting closer when the ball was around the penalty area and quite simply were impeccable on defense save for a few momentary lapses.
So about the Dichio-Pickens-Gutierrez incident. This was one of the many incidents that showed the referee’s sub-par intelligence. Dichio’s initial challenge was foul-worthy, sure, but Pickens and his boys got way to excited afterwards. Things got out of hand after that, and I’m not saying that Dichio was completely innocent, because when you look at the shot that looks like him trying to have a quick bite of fresh Pickens, you knew something was up. Next came Gutierrez who just wrestled Dichio to the ground, that was just odd. My call would have been a yellow for Dichio, Pickens and Gutierrez.
As far as the goals were, we were fortunate on all three, even though they were very well-worked. We got a lucky bounce on the first, with Edu and Buddle getting their shit together (kinda) and the latter man with a tough cross that Dichio just got to to set BMO on fire. Chicago got one back thanks to poor TFC defending on a corner, with Wynne merely touching the ball to Rolfe, who fired an impeccable shot past Sutton. Toronto went ahead on 51 minutes via Kevin Goldthwaite, who had all the time in the world and fired a left-footed shot past Pickens for his first MLS goal ever. Edu also got his first ever on a similar play, on which he pounded a fantastic left past a sad Pickens.
What else is there to say? Yeaaaaaaaah.

Player’s grades:
Sutton: 5/10 - A few decent saves and a solid effort in the air, he was still out of place on the sole goal he allowed and apart from that didn’t do a whole lot.
Boyens: 5,5 - One of his better performances so far, but still not impressive. Had his moments here and there but mostly just an okay match from the youngster. Needs to get more involved.
O’Brien: 7 - This is why we were missing him. Fast, dangerous, fired some shots and was a whole lot of fun to watch. He could be our best player this year. Subbed off for Pozniak on 77 minutes, who didn’t do much in his MLS debut.
Edu: 7 - Fantastic start to the season. Aside from his great goal, he was helping out everywhere, a real presence in the middle where he was orchestrating the play like a veteran.
Welsh: 6 - Running up and down like a sprinter, like we’ve seen him do so far. Pains me to say this, but these usually amount to nothing. Looks more confident however. Subbed off for Braz on 87 minutes.
Goldthwaite: 6,5 Made up for his so-so game against KC and had himself a good one, including the winning goal. Good tackles and good rushes up front.
Dichio: 6 - For the first half anyway. Scored The Goal, and that’s all we wanted. He’s got to get his temper under control, like Craig Forrest said, if he wants to avoid suspension every other game in this league.
Brennan: 6,5 - Gives away fouls, but always in the mix, perhaps doing Boyens’ job at times. Tackling and running and leading the team as the captain to the first win in history. Bravo.
Buddle: 7 - Two assists and a great game from the man who played like utter shite in earlier matches. Good vision and great control. Subbed off for Lombardo on 70 minutes, who was nothing short of awesome, being a pest and setting up the third goal very very nicely.
Wynne: 7,5 - I knew he’d be good. Blazing speed and clean, effective tackles. The runs he improvises are exceptionnal, I got excited whenever he got the ball. Impressive.
Robinson: 6 - Perhaps the best we’ve seen of him all season. Playing in a more defensive role, he was calm and effective in his tackles and kept the Fire’s midfielders at bay.

Chicago Fire:Like Tom said, the fans showed up but the team didn’t. Barrett and Thiago were invisible, and Pause was totally tame. The defense was not too horrible, with Brown and Curtin making their presence felt now and again, but still the marking on both second-half goals was deplorable. Man of the match for Chicago, for me, was Robinson.

Officiating: Bad. The mucking around in the net was not the only thing I disagreed with. The three other bookings were harsh, and he blew his whistle too often for anyone’s liking. Let the players play, don’t call a free kick every time there’s contact.

Looking ahead: We’re right back in it, with Houston coming to town on Wednesday. We’ve got to keep the same eleven, but with Dichio suspended of course I want to see Lombardo. The thing is, he may be tired, so there’s always Eskandarian. Maybe a half each, we’ll see how that goes.