Joao Plata Archive

0

Mistakes send Toronto FC to sixth straight loss

By
Mark Polishuk
– 04/22/2012

Reggie Lambe, two goals not enough

,Not even the return of Torsten Frings could bring an end to Toronto FC’s losing streak.  In fact, the team captain helped prolong it.  Frings’ mistake in the opening seconds was the first of several defensive miscues for the Reds in a 3-2 loss to the Chicago Fire on Saturday at BMO Field.

The loss extends TFC’s franchise-worst losing streak to six games and the Reds are now just one more defeat away from tying Kansas City’s record of seven losses to begin an MLS season (set in 1999). 

Saturday’s match also saw Toronto tie another ignominious mark, as they were the victims of the quickest goal in the Fire’s franchise history.  Just moments after the opening whistle, Frings committed a sloppy turnover to Chicago’s Patrick Nyarko right in front of the TFC net.  Nyarko passed to a wide-open Dominic Oduro, who fired it home for his third goal of the season.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 8% [?]

Share
0

Winter blames TFC’s latest loss on poor luck

By
Mark Polishuk
– 04/15/2012

Aron Winter

As often as Toronto FC has struggled in its five-plus years of existence, the team had never suffered through a five-game losing streak…until now.

Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Chivas USA continued the Reds’ winless start to the Major League Soccer season. TFC has had three four-game losing streaks (two in 2007, one last season) but this marked the first time in club history that it had taken five defeats on the trot in league play.

While the Reds looked listless in the first half, it’s hard to argue that TFC didn’t deserve at least one point from this game given that the Reds had four outstanding chances in the final 20 minutes. None of those four chances, however, found the back of the net, leaving the team cursing its misfortune.

“Bad luck. It’s the only thing I can explain,” said TFC head coach Aron Winter. “When you lose you can never say that you played well but you have to be always positive since I saw a lot of good things and that’s important. If you don’t create chances or don’t play well then you’re far away from it, but in this situation what can you do better at that moment? I think it’s only bad luck. it’s simple.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 7% [?]

Share
3

Elementary mistakes expose Toronto FC in Mexico

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/05/2012

As the dust settles after Toronto FC’s 6-2 loss Wednesday on the road to Santos Laguna, no one is going to talk about the talent gap on the field — the best team in Mexico against the only team in MLS without a point.

No one is going to talk about just how incredible it was that a poor MLS team was able to get hot and get to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions League.

No, people will talk about the plethora of self-inflicted wounds that brought on a green-and-white flood of second-half goals in Torreon. From Julian de Guzman to Miguel Aceval to Ty Harden, TFC’s valiant effort to get to the finals of the CCL was undone by errors.

At halftime, TFC defied critics by being tied 2-2 with a team that hasn’t lost at home this season. But, by the 64-minute mark of the game, it was all but over.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 10% [?]

Share
1

Terrible TFC defending to blame for three-goal loss in home opener

By
Mark Polishuk
– 03/24/2012

Chris Wondolowski: Scored twice

If there was any question of Torsten Frings’ value to Toronto FC, his absence for most of the last two matches has proven just how badly the Reds need their captain.

TFC dropped a 3-0 result to the San Jose Earthquakes in front of 20,753 disappointed fans at BMO Field on Saturday in the club’s home opener.  It was Toronto’s first full game without Frings, who suffered a hamstring injury early in last week’s 3-1 loss in Seattle and will be out of action until late April at the earliest.  Without Frings holding the fort at defensive midfield and providing cover on the back line, the holes in TFC’s defence were been badly exposed for the second time in as many weeks.

“We’ve had a big loss of Torsten not there to organize the team on the pitch,” said TFC head coach Aron Winter.  “At the moment he’s not available to play [so] we have to fix the back line….We have to resolve those problems.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 10% [?]

Share
0

TFC’s defensive frailties exposed by Estrada, Sounders

By
Steven Sandor
– 03/18/2012

David Estrada

Just three days after winning its biggest match in club history, Toronto FC got a reality check.

Playing against a Seattle Sounders team that had something to prove after it received a 6-1 hiding from Santos Laguna CONCACAF Champions League action, TFC reminded its supporters that its back line is still too slow, too disorganized.

David Estrada scored three times as the Sounders won its MLS home opener 3-1 in front of more than 38,000 fans, but this was far more than one player having a good day. It was a case of a Seattle Sounders — a team which doesn’t have the star power of the Los Angeles Galaxy but plays at a much faster pace — running TFC’s back line ragged.

And, when TFC — already down 1-0 — lost Torsten Frings to injury after he was forced to make a last ditch saving tackle after TFC’s high line had been unlocked, the soft underbelly lost its armour. Frings had been successfully utilized as a sweeper to try and mask Toronto FC’s defensive defencies through Toronto’s two-legged CCL triumph over the Galaxy; without Frings, the Reds were left exposed.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 10% [?]

Share
0

TFC finally gets its preseason underway with 5-1 win over USF

By
Steven Sandor
– 02/18/2012

Luis Silva

Toronto FC finally got its preseason schedule underway, and the Reds got a rather one-sided — and expected — win over the University of South Florida.

First-round draft pick Luis Silva scored two quick goals and set up another as TFC won 5-1 over the University of South Florida. TFC is at the Walt Disney World complex as it prepares for next week’s preseason tournament in Orlando.

Silva gave the Reds a 2-0 lead by the 15-minute mark.

Joao Plata, who set up Silva’s second goal, scored one of his own. Nick Soolsma and Canadian midfielder Terry Dunfield also got on the scoresheet. Dunfield’s goal came off a pass from Silva.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 14% [?]

Share
0

Plata and Toronto FC have “agreed to terms” on new multi-year deal

By
Steven Sandor
– 01/11/2012

Toronto FC announced Wednesday that it “has agreed to terms” with Ecuadorean Joao Plata on a new multi-year deal.

Selected in the fourth round of last year’s draft — because many teams were scared off by Plata’s five-foot-two frame — the LDU Quito product enjoyed a productive first season with TFC, and became a fan favourite. His maestro performance, though, came in arguably Toronto FC’s most important win in its short franchise history — the 3-0 triumph over FC Dallas that guaranteed the Reds’ progression into the quarter-finals of the CONCACAF Champions League. Plata set up Danny Koevermans’ opening goal and then finished the hosts off with two wonderful goals of his own.

But the wording of Toronto FC’s press release is important. “Agreed to terms” was used instead of “signed.” There is a difference. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 9% [?]

Share
0

Hassli finishes third in MLS Newcomer of the Year balloting

By
Steven Sandor
– 11/16/2011

Eric Hassli: 3rd in the voting

There weren’t a lot of surprises when two Seattle Sounders won the year-end awards handed out Tuesday by Major League Soccer.

Kasey Keller, the American great who has now hung up his cleats, was named the Goalkeeper of the Year — and this is as much a lifetime achievement award as it is a nod to the keeper’s 2011 campaign.

And Mauro Rosales, Seattle’s playmaker, won the Newcomer of the Year Award, which goes to the top first-year MLS player who doesn’t officially qualify as a rookie — as in, the player had some previous non-MLS pro experience.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 9% [?]

Share
1

Why was Koevermans AWOL on Newcomer of the Year ballot?

By
Steven Sandor
– 11/08/2011

Danny Koevermans

It would be hard to see either New York Red Bull Luke Rodgers or Vancouver Whitecap Eric Hassli stop Mauro Rosales from being Major League Soccer’s Newcomer of the Year.

The award goes to the top first-year MLS player who isn’t considered a true rookie (as in, he’s played professionally elsewhere).

Rosales had a fantastic season running the Seattle Sounders midfield, and that should have given him the edge in voting, which was completed over the last weekend of the regular season,over Hassli and Rodgers.

But, should there have been another name amongst the finalists?

Danny Koevermans’ name wasn’t on the ballot for voters to select. And while his body of work, 10 MLS games, might not be enough to dislodge Rosales, he deserved to get some notice from the voters. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 8% [?]

Share
0

TFC’s draw with New England a microcosm of an inconsistent season

By
Mark Polishuk
– 10/22/2011

Danny Koevermans

Toronto FC’s last game of the 2011 season could’ve almost served as a microcosm of the club’s entire year.  Some defensive breakdowns that led to opposing goals, Danny Koevermans bailing the Reds out and, in the end, a 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution that left the BMO Field fans satisfied, if not overjoyed, with how their club performed.

“As long as we didn’t lose the last game, you know?  You don’t want to leave disappointed,” said goalkeeper Milos Kocic.  “I’m hoping that it’s gonna stay in this season — the bad results, the bad set pieces that we conceded all the goals on, and we head into next season … keeping our composure.”

TFC’s season finale was essentially an anticlimax after the team’s stunning 3-0 win over FC Dallas last Tuesday that sent the Reds to the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League.  Toronto and New England were both well out of the playoff race, so Saturday’s match was purely about pride for both clubs and, for certain individual players, a last chance to save their jobs for 2012.   
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 5% [?]

Share
Older Entries