Just a few short hours until we get yet another chance to redeem ourselves against a struggling club: Toronto FC has a whopping zero road wins — and only two wins at home. They do have a few road draws, and tonight, Jason Kreis and the gang will be hoping to avoid that again. There was never a better time to play at the Rio Tinto, and if this broken squad can revive their early season confidence before our forward line returns, all the better.
Nobody, I’m sure, thinks our three consecutive draws is acceptable. We’ve only won a single match in the last five we’ve played, and you have to go back to April to see us string together two consecutive wins. This is the mark of a club with no confidence. We know we’re capable of big things, and to that end, we’ve only twice this season in MLS play conceded more than a single goal — having taken two against Seattle and Columbus. We clearly have all of the parts we need to go all the way, but it won’t be until those parts align correctly that we’ll see this team go on an extended winning streak.
Looking back to the scoreless draw against Chicago, we’ll see at least one forced change in Fabian Espindola. His withdrawal after seven minutes of play was more than just unfortunate, and it was forced by a terrible tackle that saw only a yellow card — one that I believe should have been a straight red. Studs up, diving in, well above the ball? Always a red.
At any rate, there’s no going back now, so we’ll have to play a slightly revised forward line. Aghasyan got his first start for the club and, frankly, was not completely impressive on Wednesday. But with his strike partner replaced by an attacking midfielder in Luis Gil, the hold-up play fell to the Armenian, and this clearly wasn’t his strong point. The return of Jean Alexandre will serve us well (who knew!) and his hold-up play up top should give Aghasyan something to play on.
The midfield should remain largely the same, with Beckerman, Johnson and Grabavoy grabbing the three deeper spots, and the last spot going to one of Collen Warner, Luis Gil, and Nelson Gonzalez. I expect that, as evidenced in recent weeks, Kreis doesn’t think Gonzalez is ready to make an impact as a starter for the club on a regular basis, and Luis Gil is obviously very young. I imagine it’s another start for Warner, then, but not one I’ll be leaping for joy about. My gripes with Warner have been fairly obvious: He’s missing the drive and energy that makes our system tick over properly, and unless he steps up soon, he’ll lose his spot to a more experienced player returning from injury. We could see Andy Williams come into the middle instead of one of the others in a bid to rotate, so there’s nothing set in stone about this.
At the back, expect the usual: Beltran on the left and Russell on the right while Chris Wingert is nursing an injury, and the indomitable Borlave in the middle. With Beltran, there’s a great deal of promise that he’s looking like he’ll fulfill, and in all four spots, we have experience and strength. Keeping us in the match as usual will be Big Nick Rimando, who may be an early legend for this still-young club.
We have several attacking players returning from injury in the next two weeks — Saborio, who may even get a spot on the bench tonight, Alvarez, who is likely a couple weeks away yet, Espindola, who will be hoping to recover quickly from a groin strain, and Paulo Jr., who may appear in the US Open Cup match on Tuesday. Until then, we’ll have to make the best of what we have — and, if I’m to be honest, it’s not a bad spot to be in, considering, of course, you’re having to play your 5th and 6th choices up top. They’ve still got bundles of quality, and when we return to full strength some day, we’ll be unstoppable.
Come on you Claret and Cobalt!
Predicted Lineup
Rimando
Russell - Olave - Borchers - Beltran
Beckerman - Johnson - Grabavoy
Warner
Aghasyan - Alexandre
Subs: Reynish, Schuler, McKenzie, Gil, Gonzalez, Toia, Williams
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