So in Puddle's MLS preview last Friday, I glossed over this match pretty well, proclaiming Houston would take it. After all, TFC has stunk in about every way possible in recent weeks, who could blame me, yeah? We'll have to forgive TFC for not buying into that, even thought there did seem to be a few more empty seats than I'm used to seeing at BMO field.
The first half opened with sides seeming to want to play the long ball. That's something that Aron Winter had specifically said he didn't want to see out of TFC, but they were doing it. The Dynamo were keying in on Brad Davis, which is usually a pretty good plan. Davis got a chance on free kick in the 7th minute, but was closer to row D in the parking lot than he was to the TFC goal.
TFC looked somewhat dangerous early too. In the 11th minute De Guzman put a great top shelf shot on target, only to be denied by Tally Hall. All in all, TFC looked the better side and were playing decent footy, but the flow of the game was being disrupted a bit by a lot of fouls. TFC hadchances by Soolsma and Peterson respectively, but both were off target.
Houston had given dynamic rookie Will Bruin a week off, and they were trying to run things to Sergio Koke, as well as Davis. Both were pretty much invisible in the first half. Koke did have a shot on target in the 43rd, but it was saved rather easily by Stefan Frei. We went to the half tied at 0-0.
Whatever Winter said to the TFC boys at half seemed to work, and they came out on the front foot for half number two. Peterson had another decent strike in the 46th, that forced Hall into another save. Then the pressure paid off in 49th when TFC's Soolsma was tackled in the area, earning a PK. The next minute, Joao Plata converted the PK into the roof of the Houston net to give TFC a well deserved 1-0 lead. Over the next 10-15 minutes, Toronto carved up Houston's defense pretty well, but couldn't quite get another goal.
That changed in the 881st minute. TFC captain Maicon Santos had checked in previously, and he took a beautiful ball from Plata and slooted it past Tally Hall to give TFC a 2-0 lead. That seemingly decided things.
Then a funny thing happened. Houston woke up. They started pushing a ton of pressure toward the TFC goal. I don't think TFC took their foot off the gas, Houston just stepped it up. Davis finally found the target in the 87th, but Frei saved it. However, it shortly went back out to Palmer at the top of the area, who cranked it up and scored his first goal of the season cutting the lead to 2-1. The Dynamo continued to press into stoppage time, but couldn't really trouble Frei again, and the match ended 2-1.
Major props to TFC. Despite the fact that they didn't really finish the game all that well, it was one of the better efforts this season. It was nice for the home fans to see a nice win. Disappointing for the Dynamo, and I'll get to see how they respond next week at Rio Tinto. I'm looking forward to it. Will Bruin seems like a great prospect.
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