Toronto Lynx: 4, Puerto Rico Islanders: 4
Starting Line-Ups:
Toronto: Theo Zagar, Rick Titus, Jeremie Piette (SUB: Robin Hart, 46th min),
Abraham Francois, Rumba Munthali, David DiPlacido, Jamie Dodds, Sita-Taty
Matondo, Niels Dekker (SUB: El Tabe Huffman, 46th min), Conrad Smith (SUB: Sean
Fraser, 77th min), Dave Simpson.
Puerto Rico: Dan Kennedy, Fernando Zuleta, Chris Gores, Raphel Ortiz (SUB:
Alejandro Gonzales, 85th min), Marco Velez, Alexis Riviera, Petter Villegas,
Johanes Maliza, Noah Delgado, Corey Woolfolk (SUB: Drew McAthy, 83rd min),
Mauricio Salles (SUB: Junihno DaSaliva, 77th min).
(Centennial Park Stadium, Toronto) For those who chose not to take in tonight’s
match against the visiting PR Islanders, and despite the hometown Lynx still
searching for their first win, a thrilling match with a little of everything
was missed. Brave goalkeeping, a teeter-totter scoreline, a come-from-behind
near-victory, and the emergence of two squads considered in the USL to be easy
targets for other “bigger fish” teams.
These are two teams both with a great load to prove (Toronto with a consistent
player pool and credible winning record, and Puerto Rico looking to shake the
demons of a miserable inaugural season in 2004) and seemed, in many ways, to
take it out on each other over a sometimes graceful, most times ackward 90+
minutes of topsy-turvy footer.
Even before the starting whistle was blown, controversy was quietly brewing in
the hometown camp with last week’s sale of star striker Ali Gerba to rivals
Montreal (think Thierren Henry going to play for Manchester United), and the
hometown supporters were in a dour, vocal mood. Strangely though, without the
power forward in Toronto colors, the Lynx were able to almost double their
Goals For stat, getting service from a variety of sources. Then again, so did
the visiting Islanders.
The game was Toronto’s until 2-minutes from the final whistle. Leading by a
wondrous 4-3 on a goal from Simpson in the 91st minute (and having just come
back from a 3-1 scoreline at halftime), the Islanders were able to pot one in
less than a minute later, catching the Lynx still entrenched in the distraction
of a victory mere seconds away, and robbing them of their still-elusive first
win of 2005.
“It’s the same as what we’ve seen all season, the same as usual”, stated
Captain Rick Titus afterwards, “mental lapses. There are only so many times
when teammates can be told to be professional and conduct themselves as such.
They got that last goal because our guys were still too busy celebrating from
our fourth (goal), plain and simple. But, we took advantage of all our scoring
chances, played much better as a whole team, and got 4-goals out of it.”
While the game wasn’t a particularly physical contest, Puerto Rico’s habit of
over-extending the after effects of innocuous challenges would leave a casual
observer thinking it was a session of Fight Club. Salles, despite his finishing
prowess and good work with ex-Rhino Corey Woolfolk, may be the worst offender
of stretching rules and regulations since Charleston’s Justin Evans personal
interpretation of the 50/50 ball. That blight notwithstanding, the visitors are
a much improved squad from last year, passing smartly and using the long ball
technique with great effect.
The first half ended with the Lynx down 3-1, on visiting goals by Woolfolk
(19th min), a cracker bicycle kick from Salles that caught GK Zagar craftily
off his line (25th min), and a penalty kick he also put away 2-minutes from the
half on a take-down in the goal box by the Toronto defense. The Lynx had
managed one through the finished efforts of Conrad Smith, a well-timed blast
off a previous deflection in the 23rd minute.
The mid-game break did wonders for the Lynx, and they came out of the gate
looking to salvage 45-minutes of utter disaster. After a couple of well-timed
substitutions and increased “urgency” (as denoted by Robin Hart), the Lynx
began reading the greater game plan of the visitors in scope and passing
forward more fluidly. First, in the 55th minute newcomer Simpson put home a
short side blast off a Jamie Dodds corner kick. Then came Dodds’ 68th minute
free kick, a complete wonderstroke, curling it just-so over the Rico’s wall
from 30-yards and deftly in the top right corner to tie the match at 3-3.
A couple of scoring chances from either side took place over the next 15-
minutes of play, with both keepers coming up big to keep the stalemate rolling
(Zagar with two in particular, one-handed grabs on breakaways that were
careened wide on impatient finishes from the Islanders attackers). Then,
distracted by the sweet taste of an impending win, the Lynx lost concentration
when most vital and found their goalmouth smothered with an onslaught of blue
attackers, and the tie was tucked home (I believe) on a deflected lob by a
rushing Zuleta.
It’s not a chalkmark in the W column, but certainly a much-improved step in the
right direction. Toronto’s midfield worked solidly the whole match, with
excellent efforts by DiPlacido and Munthali in particular, and the addition of
Matondo from the Montreal Impact injected their offense with pace and gutsy
intention. While the Lynx’ defensive woes are still far from gone, the back
line tightened in supporting Zagar to greater, but not-yet great, effect.
Perhaps that elusive win can be found in their forthcoming matinee game against
the visiting and also struggling Rochester Raging Rhinos on Tuesday May the
31st at 11am.
Card Infractions: Toronto- Dodds (YELLOW, 43rd). Puerto Rico- Delgado (YELLOW,
81st), Gores (YELLOW, 89th).
