After Thoughts : Maple Leaf Red In The Emerald City

About 50 of Toronto's "Red Patch Boys" made the trek West

 In what was easily the most anticipated match of the early part of the 2014 campaign, our beloved Sounders faced off against the 100 Million Dollar Duo in front of 39,000+ at CenturyLink Field with both sides eager to prove whose superstars were the real deal. Playing off the last minute heroics of Week 1 it had seemed that Seattle would have the edge on the field.

Someone forgot to inform Seattle.

3 touches resulted in 2 goals. That's the kind of debut outing one doesn't normally expect to have entering Major League Soccer but that was the case on Saturday for England's Jermaine Defoe. Defoe instantly put the rest of the League on notice as he notched he opened the scoring in the 17th minute exploiting a Jonathan Osorio through ball. The second goal would come in the 24th minute when Michael Bradley applied pressure in the midfield (of which would be the case all day) to force an erratic back pass from Seattle’s Marco Pappa that Defoe pounced on to beat the Seattle back line who were comically out of position. It was proving more of a task to coral the Brit than originally had been considered.

Toronto FC celebrate after their first goal

Even worse, Sounders captain and fan favourite Brad Evans went off early after attempting a sliding tackle before the quarter hour and collided with Toronto's Mark Bloom. He returned to the match briefly but with a visible limp. He would depart the match at the 28th minute, replaced by Gonzalo Pineda (his first appearance as a Sounder). As the team walked to the dressing room at the half it was evident that Evans was still in quite a bit of discomfort. A deflated Seattle side would head to the dressing room wondering how they would stop the Men of The North.

As the whistle blew to sound the start of the second half the Sounders came alive. Though they were lambs in the first 45, they became Lions in the second. With 22min left in the match, USMNT cornerstone Clint Dempsey nabbed his first of the 2014 campaign, receiving a beautiful pass from a streaking Obafemi Martins up the right flank. The match was within one & the Sounders could smell the blood in the water. With Remick & Yedlin running up the wings like mad men to contain the Toronto offence, and a cheeky ball placement by Cooper that all but caused a Yellow Card of Toronto GK Cesar, it seemed another week of last minute heroics was on the menu. #PoutineTears would be true after all!  

That would be as far as the Rave Green Lads would get as after 4 minutes of stoppage the ref sounded the end of the match and the Canadians would leave the Emerald City with all 3 points.

38,000+ Rave Green Faithful

While quite a few fans had speculated that Jermain Defoe would need some time to get acclimatized to his new surrounding (myself included), the Englishman came as advertised and immediately provided the type of finishing that TFC has lacked over the years. Michael Bradley dominated the midfield & Jonathan Osario showed flashes of great things to come in possibly his best outing ever for the Reds. 

The second half charge was a welcome sight, and one that's hoped to engulf a full 90min instead of just a half. The youth continue to impress as Remick continues to display his aerial prowess and ability to place crosses in the box from the wing. Yedlin's step-over of the very dramatic Osario collapse was enough to make anyone an instant fan of the young stud & future USMNT star. In a midfield that's still trying to gel, it was hit-or-miss on a few fronts however Alonso worked admirably through out. Coach Schmid had this to say on the second half charge :

"I thought we came out in the second half and carried it to them. I thought we played to win. I thought our attitude was good. I thought some of our guys lifted their game-I thought (Obafemi Martins) lifted his game, I thought (Lamar) Neagle was better in the second half than the first, and Clint (Dempsey) began to see the ball more. From that standpoint I thought it was good. How you deal with adversity is what defines your character. Today was a little bit of adversity and we put ourselves into that situation, and now we have to come back from that."

The Sounders now pack their bags and head to La Belle Province for the 2014 edition of "Toast Wars" against L'Impact de Montreal. Les Bleus are coming off 2 straight losses to start the year & will be without Marco Di Vaio as he continues to serve his suspension.