Short Handed Crew v. TFC preview

By: Matt | March 27th, 2009

While I am a big fan of European soccer, I am not one of those MLS fans who are constantly red in the face from yelling that the MLS should keep the same schedule as European soccer. I get why the season is when it is. Competing against the NFL is like me trying to fight Rampage Jackson. It would be a short fight that would probaly result in me falling down on purpose just to stop the beating that I am getting. I also understand that Ohio, New York, Illinois, Toronto, and Colorado are not the most pleasant places for a bit of footy November through February. Sepp Blatter be damned, I understand why the MLS schedule is the way it is and do not want it to change anytime soon. There is one tiny problem with this whole plan though. The continuation of regular season games during International Match weeks. As long as the MLS continues to schedule regular season games during these weeks, they will continue to punish MLS teams with quality players worthy of representing their country on their national team. There are easy solutions to this problem also. MLS would not even have to expand the regular season schedule. There is usually one ESPN game of the week, usually on Thursday night. Why not add another game to the docket that night to allow teams to field a full strength squad instead of scheduling matches during international breaks. I hate to use this phrase but, European leagues do it, why can’t the MLS do it? I certainly believe that the MLS players are fit enough to play a game on a weekend and then play the next Thursday. Until the MLS finds a solution so that they do not have to play matches on International Weeks, it will continue to punish teams like the Crew who have enough quality players who are good enough to represent their nation.

The point of this long winded, babbling rant is to say that this weekend the Crew will be missing a few players due to international duties. As one of the biggest “club over country” guys on this web site, situations like these result in me banging my head on the wall and nervously looking at injury reports from countries where my team’s players take the field. Frankie Hejduk, Alejandro Moreno, and Duncan Oughton will all be missing this weekend’s match against TFC (Total Fucking Crap amirite?). Pat Noonan will also still be out due to a lower back injury and Robbie Rogers is listed as questionable, but if what Robbie said during the fan forum is true, he will be good to go. Adam Moffat is not listed in the injury report and might be available for this weekend’s match. Moffat of course scored a cracking goal against TFC last year. After Emmanuel Ekpo struggled last weekend playing in a center midfield role, Moffat, a natural center mid and as a Scot a holder of the ability to “Get Stuck In”, might be a better fit for the Polish Rifle’s center midfielder.

TFC will also be missing players due to international duty. The Canadian Reds will be without Amado Guevara and Carl Robinson as they report for Honduras and Wales respectively. Crew fans should be warned, this is not your father’s TFC (well, since I guess they are only three years old, your older brother’s TFC?). As shown by last week’s impressive 3-2 victory over Kansas City, Toronto can put the ball in the back of the net. While perhaps their best offensive threat Guevara will be gone this weekend, Crew fans should not expect a hapless TFC to only get scoring opportunities on penalties and then miss then (Mo Edu…double as fun now that he is on Rangers haw haw). Toronto’s weak point is still their back line and hopefully Guillermo Barros Schelotto, a healthy Robbie Rogers, and company will be able to exploit it. A big game will be needed from Gino Padula, who seemed to have a shaky game in Houston, and Danny O’Rourke, who might be replacing Frankie Hejduk at the right back spot. They need to own the wings to let Schelotto and Rogers have the room to be creative and show the flare and skill they have. I see Toronto scoring first and then the Crew coming back in typical Crew style and putting three unanswered goals on America’s Hat.