TFC vs. Chicago Fire 2-2

By: Mark | September 27th, 2009

Last night’s game in Chicago was yet another episode in frustration for Toronto FC. TFC need every point they can get to cling to their slim chance of making the playoffs, and unfortunately they gave up two of them last night.

The frustrating part is that Chicago was definitely beatable, but Toronto still managed to squander the lead twice in the game and may now be too far out of the playoff race to catch up. Let’s see if we can take anything positive out of this draw…

There were some bright spots in the match. Coach Chris Cummins fielded the same lineup as last’s week in L.A., and although that was a loss, I think its important for the starting 11 to play together consistently to develop some chemistry. Sounds funny with only 3 games left in the season, but at least it’s a start! Cummins has changed the line-up too many times to try to find something that will work, but maybe giving the team some time to get to know where everyone is on the pitch will help them, and cut down on the wasted crosses that find nobody in front of the other team’s goal.

Dwayne De Rosario looked good as well – he was constantly working hard and capitalized on Chicago’s defensive blunder to give TFC an early lead. He now has 11 goals for Toronto and continues to show his worth. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Chad Barrett looked pretty good last night too! Cummins always claims that he works hard every match, but this time it actually paid off and resulted in a goal.

Now onto the the dimmer aspects…namely Nick Garcia. Ouch. This guy was supposed to be an experienced and solid defender to help out the back line, but instead he seems shaky whenever the ball comes to him. He scored Chicago’s first goal last night and was helpless on the second. Hopefully Adrian Serioux will be healthly enough for the next match to take Garcia’s place.

Overall, this should have been a win. Toronto played well at times, but just not well enough to get the win. Unfortunately that seems to sum up the entire season as well. We have 3 games left and we need to win all of them to have a chance. Toronto’s next game is at home on October 10 against San Jose. Hopefully the extra week’s rest will help the team to get ready for the final push.