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Posted by
Steve Bottjer,
September 30, 2012
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Email Steve Bottjer
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@bottjerRNO
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New York Red Bulls FC 4 – 1 Toronto FC
The Prelude to Battle
Toronto FC were back in action on Saturday evening for a tough road fixture against Thierry Henry and the New York Red Bulls. The Reds were coming off a win in the Champions League over El Salvador's CD Aguila in San Salvador on Tuesday, so jet lag and tired legs were a likely concern for TFC Head Coach Paul Mariner heading into the game.
However, with Toronto entering play on a ten game winless streak in the MLS, the visiting team was also likely buoyed by the return to the starting eleven of central defenders Darren O’Dea and Richard Eckersley.
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The Opening Forty-Five
Toronto got off to an excellent start in this match and immediately took the game to New York.
The Reds came close to opening the scoring in only the 2nd minute when Luis Silva set up Quincy Amarikwa for a shot that he glanced off the far post.
TFC opened the scoring four minutes later on a world class blast from distance that Ryan Johnson pinpointed into the top left corner of the New York net.
That goal seemed to wake Thierry Henry and the Red Bulls up, as they dominated the run of play in the remainder of the half.
New York tied things up in the 13th minute when Henry delivered a well placed corner kick that defender Markus Holgersson headed past a helpless Freddy Hall into the back of the TFC net.
The Red Bulls then took the lead in the 27th minute when Henry played a nifty pass on the break to a wide open Kenny Cooper, who tapped the ball into the open net.
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There are no silver linings, so don't go looking for them. Don't try to sell positives because nobody with any sense is buying. #TFC
- @JohnMolinaro |
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The Second Half
New York came out of the half time break and took over the game, with their top players leading the charge.
In the 51st minute, Henry showed some nice footwork to get off a well placed shot that tested Freddy Hall.
New York came close again at the hour mark when Red Bulls midfielder Jan Gunnar Solli got off a shot from in close that required a nice reflex save by Hall.
The home team continued to dominate the run of play for the entirety of the second half.
The Red Bulls sealed the win in the 88th minute on some more magic from Henry, who once again set up Cooper for a shot into an open net.
The former Arsenal star added another goal during injury time with a well placed chip shot over Hall.
The Final Word: Reds outmatched by the skill and class of Thierry Henry.
With the defeat, Toronto’s winless streak has now been stretched to eleven games. However, once you swallow that fact, it’s not a stretch to look at this one as a pretty decent road effort by what was essentially an overmatched squad. The work ethic was there for Toronto and they were basically in contention to earn a hard fought road point until another instance of Thierry Henry magic in the 88th minute. The final score line looks like a blowout but the end result was in question until the final minutes of the fixture. Toronto FC and their supporters are probably past the point of moral victories, but this was far from the team’s worst performance of the year.
Overall, the end result in this one was simply the case of a much more talented and experienced club defeating a club that has been battered mentally and physically by injuries, organizational turbulence, player turnover and a very trying and frustrating 2012 campaign.
While Toronto defended ably for much of the match, they simply did not have the creative players to create chances and to trouble the New York back line. The Reds also clearly missed Luis Silva when was subbed off at half-time. It’s also not a stretch to suggest that tired TFC legs played a role in the team’s punchless second half.
Looking at New York’s performance, what else is there to say about Thierry Henry? He is probably the best player to have ever played in the MLS and he is arguably one of the top players to have ever played the game. In this game there was one Superman and twenty-one other mere mortals. The French superstar was simply awesome and was dangerous every time he had the ball at his feet, both during the run of play and in dead ball situations. While the players in the TFC are likely frustrated beyond belief by the occurrence of yet another loss, they simply have to tip their hats to a world class player who simply took over this game and carried his team to a home victory.
TFC Line-up
41 Freddy Hall
25 Jeremy Hall
27 Richard Eckersley
48 Darren O’Dea
5 Ashtone Morgan
19 Reggie Lambe
21 Aaron Maund
23 Terry Dunfield
18 Quincy Amarikwa
11 Luis Silva
9 Ryan Johnson
Substitutions: (46) Andrew Wiedeman in for Luis Silva; (83) Eric Avila in for Reggie Lambe.
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