TFC host RSL in virtual playoff match
Both clubs sit outside playoff picture with two matches remaining
BMO FIELD, Toronto, Ont., Canada
Oct. 17, 2009 (WEEK 31) / MLS Game #211
4 p.m. ET (CBC; KUTV-2.2)
For Toronto FC and Real Salt Lake, the playoffs will likely truly kick off on Saturday at BMO Field. The winner of the match will keep alive their bid for the MLS Cup Playoffs; a loss and that club will likely see their postseason dreams dashed. Neither teams comes into the match in the top eight overall; Real is now just one point behind New England, which holds the final wild card spot, while TFC is two off the pace. It's final home game for TFC, which has played to two consecutive draws. Real Salt Lake snapped a three-game winless run at midweek with a victory against New York.
REFEREE: Terry Vaughn. SAR (bench): Nate Clement; JAR (opposite): Anthony Vasoli; 4th: Carol-Anne Chenard MLS Career: 120 games; FC/gm: 28.9; Y/gm: 3.9; R: 42; pens: 38
INJURY REPORT: TORONTO FC - OUT: MF Carl Robinson (facial bone fracture); QUESTIONABLE: DF Marvell Wynne (quad); PROBABLE: DF Adrian Serioux (neck); FW Pablo Vitti (quad) ... REAL SALT LAKE -PROBABLE: FW Fabian Espíndola (R hamstring tightness); DF Robbie Russell (illness)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: TOR: Chad Barrett, Dwayne De Rosario, Nick Garcia ... RSL: Nat Borchers, Will Johnson, Clint Mathis, Robbie Russell
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: TOR: Jim Brennan, Amado Guevara, Carl Robinson, Adrian Serioux, Pablo Vitti ... RSL: Tony Beltran, Pablo Campos, Fabian Espindola, Javier Morales, Jamison Olave, Chris Wingert
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (5 meetings): Toronto FC 2 wins, 4 goals ... Real Salt Lake 2 wins, 6 goals ... Ties 1AT TORONTO (2 meetings): Toronto FC 1 win, 1 goal ... Real Salt Lake 0 wins, 0 goals ... Ties 1
• Toronto FC won the season series in the first year the teams met, then the teams split a year ago.
• Real Salt Lake's victory in the second meeting last year was their first-ever against Toronto FC, in four meetings.
• The teams met for the first time ever at Rio Tinto Stadium in the this year's first meeting, a 3-0 Real victory.
• Coaches record: Chris Cummins v RSL: P1 W0 L1 D0 ... Jason Kreis vs. TOR: P5 W2 L2 D1
LAST MEETING
6/27: RSL 3, TOR 0 (Movsisyan 21; Beckerman 44; Mathis 78)
• Real Salt Lake rolled to a 3-0 victory in the first meeting between the teams, June 27 at Rio Tinto Stadium.
• RSL weathered an early storm, then took over the game in the 21st minute. Picking off a weak back pass in the center circle, Yura Movsisyan raced in alone on goal before chipping the ball over TFC goalkeeper Stefan Frei.
• Minutes after Frei robbed him with a remarkable save, Kyle Beckerman doubled the RSL lead in the 44th minute. Dancing around a defender on the byeline, Javier Morales slotted the ball back to the penalty spot where Beckerman made no mistake in side-footing home on the volley.
• Real finished off the rout in the 78th minute. Ned Grabavoy escaped a marker to race up the middle of the park, sliding the ball to Clint Mathis on the right, and he powerfully hit inside the far side netting on the run.
• Here's Kreis's team (4-2-1-3): Nick Rimando - Chris Wingert, Nat Borchers, Robbie Russell, Tony Beltran (Ian Joy 83) - Kyle Beckerman (Tino Nunez 91+), Ned Grabavoy - Javier Morales (Andy Williams 75) - Clint Mathis, Yura Movsisyan, Fabian Espindola. Substitutes Not Used: Raphael Cox, Robbie Findley, David Horst, Chris Seitz
• Here's Cummins' team (4-4-2): Stefan Frei - Nana Attakora, Nick Garcia, Adrian Serioux, Jim Brennan - Dwayne De Rosario, Sam Cronin, Carl Robinson, Amado Guevara (Danny Dichio 46) - Pablo Vitti (Marco Velez 69), Chad Barrett (Fuad Ibrahim 82). Substitutes Not Used: Brian Edwards, Gabe Gala, Emmanuel Gomez
TORONTO FC
Toronto FC played to a second consecutive draw, the San Jose Earthquakes coming back for a devastating 1-1 result on Saturday afternoon at BMO Field. TFC has 36 points from 28 matches, in a tie for fourth place in the Eastern Conference, two points out of the final playoff spot.LAST MATCH
• Toronto FC were back home after a 2-2 draw at the Chicago Fire two weeks earlier that extended their road winless run to seven games. The Earthquakes had been officially eliminated from playoff consideration with their midweek home loss.
• The Reds took the lead just after halftime. Dwayne De Rosario took a pass on the right flank and curled in a cross that skipped through the box and all the way past the left post. Defender Nana Attakora ghosted in behind everyone and knocked the ball home from a tight angle for his second goal on the season.
• But the Quakes put on the pressure down the stretch and finally hit for the equalizer three minutes into added time. Chris Leitch corraled a loose ball and whipped in a cross from the right. The ball took a slight deflection but still fell to the feet of Cornell Glen, and he hammered home a half-volley through a sea of bodies for his third goal of 2009.
• TFC interim head coach Chris Cummins made four changes to the team that played to a 2-2 draw with the Chicago Fire the weekend before. With goalkeeper Stefan Frei injured, Brian Edwards came into the team. Adrian Serioux, Lesly Fellinga and O'Brian White also came into the team, with Marvell Wynne injured, Amado Guevara on international duty and Ali Gerba on the substitutes' bench.
• Here's Cummins' team(4-4-2): Brian Edwards - Adrian Serioux, Nana Attakora, Nick Garcia, Jim Brennan - Dwayne De Rosario, Sam Cronin, Julian de Guzman, Lesly Fellinga - Chad Barrett (Pablo Vitti 81), O'Brian White. Substitutes Not Used: Gabe Gala, Ali Gerba, Emmanuel Gomez, Kevin Guppy, Fuad Ibrahim, Amadou Sanyang
• "I'm fuming with the goal, and I sensed it coming. We dropped deep and we got sloppy and people dropped out of position - we've had a go," Cummins said. "The fans did their part today - you know we asked them to do their part and they did their part. Again we haven't turned up for the last few minutes and we spoiled what would have been a decent performance. I'm fuming to be honest with you."
TEAM NEWS
• The goal conceded by Toronto FC was their 15th in the final 15 minutes of games, the most of any club in the final quarter-hour - and the most of any team for any stretch of the game in the league.
• "That's the story of Toronto FC for the year," goalkeeper Brian Edwards said. "Chris preaches it every day, we work on it, we talk about it. But collectively if we get on the field and don't do it, there's nothing we can do. It's frustrating for him and for us. I can't really explain why we can't do it if we know the problem."
• TFC has now won just once in the last seven games, and just three times in the 11 games since July 11, when they held a share of the Eastern Conference lead. But in each of the last two games, the Reds have allowed the equalizer in the final quarter-hour.
• "We've got to waste time in the last few minutes, put the ball in the corner and kill the game off," said captain Jim Brennan. "We let them come at us, come at us and come at us, and they scored in the last few minutes. Once you start dropping deep you invite them to come at you. Collectively from the front they've got to put pressure on them, and we [the back line] have got to step up."
• Equally as troubling, though, is that TFC has scored just two goals in the final quarter-hour - fewest among the league's 15 teams. One was an own goal on March 28 to secure a late draw with Columbus; the other gave TFC a lead against D.C. on May 9, but United scored on either side of it (including a 90th-minute leveler) in a 3-3 draw.
• "As a group we're angry, we're hungry now and we're not going to throw in the towel - there's not a chance of that happening at all," Edwards said. "We got players in here that want to win, that know how to win and that can win and it's just that as a group we're going to have to dig in and hope for a little bit of luck."
• TFC will be eliminated from playoff contention if it loses or ties vs. RSL AND New England wins vs. Chicago.
• "Until it's mathematically impossible [to make the playoffs], you keep working, you keep driving, you keep trying," Cummins said. "I still believe we're good enough to make the playoffs. [Through] 93 minutes, I'm a hero. Ninety-three and a half minutes, you're the worst coach and worst players in the world. That's the fine line between winning and losing and unfortunately we're on the wrong side of that line too many times."
REAL SALT LAKE
Real Salt Lake kept their playoff hopes fully intact, getting two late goals for a 2-0 victory against the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday night at Rio Tinto Stadium. Real have 37 points from 28 matches on the year, now in sixth place in the Western Conference, but now just one point out of the final wild card spot with two matches remaining.LAST MATCH
• Real were coming off back-to-back losses to Houston and Dallas that had dealt their playoff bid a serious blow, while the Red Bulls were on a four-game winless run as they tried to avoid becoming the third team in MLS history to gone an entire season winless on the road.
• RSL dominated the chances throughout but just couldn't break through, until the 80th minute. Freed down the right flank, Robbie Findley sped down to the edge of the penalty area before putting in a cross that fell to an unmarked Andy Williams crashing the back post, and he sidefooted home a volley for his second goal of the season.
• Then in the 90th minute, Fabian Espindola corralled a loose ball at the left edge of the penalty area, cut inside across the top of the box and curled a magisterial shot past Red Bulls goalkeeper Danny Cepero high inside the right-hand post to put the game away.
• Real coach Jason Kreis made three changes to the team that lost 3-0 at FC Dallas on Sept. 26. Jamison Olave came into the back four for Robbie Russell, and Yura Movsisyan and Fabian Espindola came in for Robbie Findley and Pablo Campos in a new-look attack.
• Here's Kreis's team (4-3-1-2): Nick Rimando - Chris Wingert, Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave, Tony Beltran - Clint Mathis (Andy Williams 63), Kyle Beckerman, Will Johnson - Javier Morales (Ned Grabavoy 82) - Yura Movsisyan (Robbie Findley 69), Fabian Espindola. Substitutes Not Used: Pablo Campos, Nelson Gonzalez, Robbie Russell, Chris Seitz
• "It means we're still alive and we can live to fight another day," Kreis said.
TEAM NEWS
• After making just one start in a span of more than three months, Andy Williams made four starts in a row Aug. 26-Sept. 19. But since that run in the first team, he's come off the bench in the last two games - and popped up to score the eventual winner off the bench against New York.
• "He did exactly what was asked. I felt we were playing really well up until that point, but we needed a little extra spark and Andy Williams was exactly what we needed," Kreis said. "It's fantastic for me to see Andy coming in and being a factor in that match, playing so well and scoring the winning goal."
• RSL came into the game knowing that a loss would end their playoff hopes, and a tie would all but put them to an end. Now they enter the weekend just a point out of eighth place overall.
• "You look at the big picture and we need three (wins), but we just have to take it one at a time and this first one was the most important," said Kyle Beckerman. "We'll take it. I like that we have a short turnaround because we can't think about anything."
• The last time RSL had played the Red Bulls in Utah, it was in the Western Conference Championship, where New York made a Dave van den Bergh goal stand up despite withering pressure to advance to a first MLS Cup Final.
• "All I kept thinking was 'Déjà vu. Is this going to be another game where it's chance after chance and we're in their half the entire second half and we don't walk out of here with three points?' So it's good to see it was different this year," said Kreis.
• To earn a spot in the playoffs, Real will now have to win on the road, at Toronto FC. RSL has won just twice and taken just six points from their travels (tied for second-fewest in the league); the club's 10 road losses are also second-most this season, behind New York's 13 away from home. TFC has won seven times in 14 home starts.
• "We're pretty confident. It's going to be a tough game because they're in the same spot as us, needing a win, but the pressure is on them playing at home," Williams said.
