TFC benefits from Carver's eye in the sky
Filed under: John Carver, Toronto FC
Toronto FC made a host of changes – on the field and the sideline –before playing the best game of their young season on Wednesday.
So, conventional wisdom suggests that with the Kansas City Wizards coming to town tomorrow it'll be more of the same – an attack-focused lineup and head coach John Carver watching from an upstairs box rather than the sideline.
"It seemed to work very well this week so it might be something we're looking at this weekend as well," assistant coach Chris Cummins said of taking Carver's seat on the bench in the 1-0 win over previously-undefeated Chivas USA.
While Cummins said the coaching switch offered Carver "a great view upstairs" of TFC's new three-striker formation, it also afforded the head coach a change of scenery.
Carver was fined $750 (U.S.) for publicly criticizing the officiating after a 3-2 loss at FC Dallas and hinted before Wednesday's game that it might be wise to take himself off the sideline for a bit.
Whether or not Carver returns to his usual post tomorrow, he must have liked what he saw from a lineup that had Danny Dichio and Pablo Vitti join Chad Barrett up front.
They were a threat all night, creating several good scoring chances. Dichio set-up midfielder Amado Guevara for the game's lone goal.
"We worked pretty well and we kind of shared the load between the three of us," said Dichio, who made his first start of the season as TFC looked for more offence in the absence of Dwayne De Rosario, who has a hamstring injury.
"I also think it creates a lot of space for them as well."
De Rosario said yesterday he pulled his hamstring and expects to miss another week, which means he's unlikely to play next Saturday's home game against Columbus.
The veteran Dichio, 34, whose previous playing time this season was as a second-half substitute, admitted he was in "a lot of pain" after the full 90 minutes.
But after several ice baths Thursday and Friday said "I'm feeling refreshed."
Cummins said Dichio looked "fresher than we probably thought" he would and after another light workout today he should be able to start again tomorrow for TFC (2-2-2) if that's the coaching decision.
"Whether we're actually going to play that formation again with the same personnel we don't know yet," Cummins said of the TFC attack.
"We're looking into a lot of different things."
At the back, Marco Velez made his first start of the season in place of Kevin Harmse. He played well as a central defender, anchoring a unit that limited Chivas to one shot on goal and made Stefan Frei's first career shutout a relatively easy one.
"Like every other player I want to be in the starting lineup but it's up to Carver," Velez said of the chance to make back-to-back starts.
One of the keys to limiting chances by Kansas City (3-2-1), Velez said, is ball movement, something TFC did very well against Chivas.
"It made it harder for them to pressure us when we just played one and two touches and moved the ball quick," he said
"We went out with three strikers and tried to get a win because we needed it a lot."