May 22, 2008 MLS DC United vs Toronto FC pregame news (from MLSnet.com)
05/22/2008 7:44PM
Toronto try for second straight vs. DC
TFC search for back-to-back wins vs. D.C. United
MLSnet.com
D.C. UNITED vs. TORONTO FC
RFK MEMORIAL STADIUM, Washington, D.C.
May 24, 2008 | 7:30 p.m. ET (CSN-DC; RogersSN)
WEEK # 9 | GAME # 58
D.C. United and Toronto FC head to the U.S. capital for the back half of their home-and-home series, having seen recent form continue in TFC's 1-0 win Wednesday at BMO Field - the club's first victory ever against United. Since the teams first met in Washington, on April 5, United have won just once in seven outings and are in the midst of a four-game losing streak. The Reds haven't lost since that 4-1 loss at RFK, now on a club-record six-game unbeaten streak with shutouts in four of their last five outings.
REFEREE: Jorge Gonzalez. SAR (bench): Kermit Quisenberry; JAR (opposite): Craig Lowry; 4th: Mark Geiger MLS Career: 17 games; FC/gm: 28.1; Y/gm: 4.2; R: 5; pens: 6
INJURY REPORT: D.C. UNITED - OUT: MF Ben Olsen (ankle surgery); MF Jeff Carroll (toe surgery); DF Jeff Curtin (groin strain) ...
TORONTO FC - PROBABLE: MF Maurice Edu (quadriceps); FW Danny Dichio (groin); MF Laurent Robert (knee)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: none
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: DC: Marc Burch; Rod Dyachenko
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (5 meetings): United 4 wins, 11 goals ... Toronto FC 1 win, 4 goals ...Ties 0
IN WASHINGTON (2 meetings): United 2 wins, 8 goals ... Toronto FC 0 wins, 2 goals ... Ties 0
• This is the third and final league meeting between the teams this season, all coming in the first two months of the season. The teams have split the first two, each winning on their home ground.
• They will conclude their league season series against each other in three days' time on East Capitol Street in the back end of this home-and-home series.
• D.C. United won all three meetings between the teams in Toronto FC's inaugural campaign. United claimed victories in the first two matches, both in Toronto, before winning the final encounter in the lone match at RFK Stadium.
• Coaches record: Tom Soehn v TOR: P5 W4 L1 D0 ... John Carver vs. DC: P2 W1 L1 D0
LAST MEETING (MLS):
5/21: TOR 1, DC 0 (Dichio 7)
• Toronto FC got an early goal and made it stand up for their first-ever victory against D.C. United, on Wednesday night at BMO Field.
• The game's lone goal came in the seventh minute. As Devon McTavish tried to play the ball back toward his own goal, it wasn't hit well and Danny Dichio slipped around the United center back. Despite McTavish trying to hold him back, Dichio was able to get a boot to the ball and send it rolling past goalkeeper Zach Wells - who had come off his line for the pass - and it rolled inside the right-hand post for Dichio's second goal of the year.
• In the first meeting this season, D.C. United got off to an early start and defeated a 10-man Toronto FC 4-1 on April 5, in their home opener this season, their second successive 4-1 win against TFC.
• United exploded from the gates, scoring twice in the opening five minutes of the game. First Luciano Emilio latched onto a ball that the TFC defense couldn't deal with and prodded it under goalkeeper Greg Sutton from inside the box after just two minutes.
• Emilio then cracked a rising shot that crashed off the crossbar. Devon McTavish headed the rebound goalward, only to be denied by Sutton, but Santino Quaranta came into to knock home the rebound for his goal since his return to the club where he began his career.
• The Reds were left a man down after just 22 minutes when Kevin Harmse was sent off for a harsh two-footed tackle on Gonzalo Peralta in midfield. But United didn't take advantage until after the break, when Marcelo Gallardo came in unmarked at the back post to finish off Quaranta's cross-shot from the right (52).
• United made it 4-0 in the 78th minute as Jaime Moreno scored his MLS record 113th league goal, taking possession of the ball in the TFC area and coolly rolling a tidy finish just inside the far post. Toronto finally broke through two minutes from the end, Maurice Edu rising up to meet a Jim Brennan cross from the left corner and looping a header inside the post.
D.C. UNITED
After losing for the first time ever to Chivas USA to start the road trip, D.C. United continued it with their first loss to Toronto FC in club history, in the front end of the home-and-home series. It was United's fourth consecutive loss and they still sit in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with six points from nine matches, five behind the sixth-place Kansas City Wizards.
TEAM NEWS
• United head coach Tom Soehn made four changes to the team that lost 3-1 to Chivas USA the previous Saturday at The Home Depot Center. Devon McTavish and Fred both returned from injury, while Gonzalo Martinez was able to rejoin the team, coming in for Domenic Mediate, Ryan Cordeiro and Marc Burch, respectively. Luciano Emilio also returned to the starting lineup, in place of Francis Doe.
• Here's Soehn's team (4-3-1-2): Zach Wells - Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish (Domenic Mediate 82), Gonzalo Peralta, Gonzalo Martinez - Santino Quaranta, Clyde Simms, Fred (Marc Burch 74) - Marcelo Gallardo - Luciano Emilio, Jaime Moreno (Francis Doe 85). Substitutes Not Used: Jose Carvallo, Ryan Cordeiro, Quavas Kirk, Dan Stratford
• "When you're going through rough stretches, one mistake, or two mistakes tend to cost you and that was a bad mistake, you know, seven minutes in," said D.C. head coach Tom Soehn. "I thought we came out with a lot of energy, I thought we executed what we came to do today, but a mistake is hard to recover from."
• It was a difficult defeat for United, especially given their past record of success against Toronto. After the 4-1 rout in the first meeting, D.C. had a 4-0 record and an 11-3 goal advantage all-time against TFC.
• In the first meeting, United recorded 11 shots on goal out of 18 total shots. Wednesday's match was a total reversal. D.C. had just 11 shots total, with only three on goal, and only one truly good scoring chance in the match. Toronto FC was limited to just two shots on goal and six shots overall.
• "We had our chances to score we had plenty of set pieces, especially in the first half we weren't quite sharp with that last pass. Yet we still had our chances to do what we needed to do but we didn't put them away," Soehn said.
• For Fred, it was his first game action since suffering an hamstring strain April 26 in the game against Real Salt Lake and missing three full games after that.
• McTavish was playing in his first game since April 17 after recovering from a foot sprain, and was in the lineup as a central defender rather than on the right of midfield in an attempt to beef up a back line that had allowed a league-worst 17 goals going into Wednesday's action.
• "The guys did a good job of picking me up but it's always in the back of your head," McTavish said of his first-half gaffe. "You've just got to forget about it and move on. But it's tough when it happens so early. These things happen and it's a bad time for it to happen considering how much effort we [put in] and the way we approached this game and played this game."
• Both of D.C.'s wins this season have come at home, and the Black-and-Red are hoping that the familiar surroundings can end their struggles.
• "It's definitely a tough situation," Fred said. "It's embarrassing to me, but we've got to go back to work and right the ship. I've been through this before and I have the experience with it, but you never want to go through something like this."
TORONTO FC
Toronto FC extended their club record unbeaten streak to six games with the victory in the front half of the home-and-home series with United. TFC moved into a tie for fourth place in the Eastern Conference entering the weekend, with 12 points from eight matches, level with the New York Red Bulls and seven points off the league-leading pace of the Columbus Crew.
TEAM NEWS
• Despite a couple of niggling injury concerns, Toronto FC boss John Carver was able to maintain the same starting XI for the fifth consecutive match.
• Here's Carver's team (4-2-3-1): Greg Sutton - Marvell Wynne, Tyrone Marshall, Marco Velez, Jim Brennan - Maurice Edu, Carl Robinson - Rohan Ricketts (Jarrod Smith 51), Amado Guevara, Laurent Robert (Todd Dunivant 64) - Danny Dichio. Substitutes Not Used: Jeff Cunningham, Brian Edwards, Kevin Harmse, Julius James, Olivier Tebily
• "You know I think that we really wanted to give these guys one back from taking those four goals in D.C. earlier in the season," goalkeeper Greg Sutton said. "It was important that we can get a 'W' under these circumstances and it gives us confidence going in to D.C. now [on Saturday]. You know I think that we're real confident bunch that we can get three points going down there."
• Since the first visit to Washington for Toronto FC, the Reds have gone 4-0-2 and recorded four clean sheets in their last five games.
• "My game plan after that game was to make sure that we were tough to beat," Carver said. "Every game this season, you look at the stats, Greg Sutton has had less and less to do in general compared to the first couple of games."
• It was the second goal of the season for Dichio, and both of his scores have bookended Toronto's six-game unbeaten streak. Dichio scored the opener in TFC's 3-2 win against Los Angeles on April 13.
• "He's worked ever so hard recently and he got the goal tonight which he deserved," Carver said. "I thought he was outstanding if I'm being quite honest. And it shows you that even if you are getting on in the game that you can still work hard and get your just reward and I thought he got that tonight. I have to compliment him on the other side as well, because he made an unbelievable block to win us the game. That's as good as a goal."
• Carver said midfielders Maurice Edu and Laurent Robert are battling a bad leg and a sore knee, respectively, while Dichio has been nursing a minor groin injury. However, the TFC boss has been able to keep his team constant for more than a month now - though that is likely to change with international duty on the horizon and TFC in the midst of five games in a 15-day span, not long after they had a 16-day layoff.
• "I'm not a guy who rotates the squad to be honest. And I've said this from day one, I'll play my strongest side in the next game. I'll see what we've got from tonight, we'll look at it tomorrow -- we've got a reserve game (Thursday) the guys who didn't play will take part in, so they're ready to come in," Carver said. "But I'm not this type of guy who will rotate the squad, I'll have a chat with the staff and if I feel as if somebody needs to come out of it, then I'll do that, but I'll not do it for the sake of rotating the team."
• Dichio's goal moved him into a tie for the team lead with two, along with Amado Guevara. With MLS veteran Jeff Cunningham and impressive youngster Jarrod Smith waiting for playing time at forward, plus Carver's stated desire for TFC to acquire another striker, there was speculation that Dichio might see more time on the bench.
• "I've been in this game a long time now," Dichio said. "I know forwards go through down patches and strong patches and it's all about the character of the player. I've got a good bunch of guys around me and a good staff who keep encouraging me and if I keep battling for the team, then if goals come they come, but I've got other jobs on the team to deal with as well."
.
.