{"id":21539,"date":"2013-08-30T11:47:40","date_gmt":"2013-08-30T15:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=21539"},"modified":"2013-08-31T09:46:51","modified_gmt":"2013-08-31T13:46:51","slug":"five-questions-revolution-at-toronto-fc-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=21539","title":{"rendered":"Five Questions: Revolution at Toronto FC"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Scotty1\"<\/a>

Scott Caldwell, seen here battling Jeremy Hall for possession earlier this month, will need to be his usual steady self against a Toronto FC side that feasts on mistakes. (Photo: Kari Heistad\/capturedimages.biz)<\/p><\/div>\n

Some things just defy explanation. Whether it’s Pa Madou Kah’s diss on Clint Dempsey, Dimitry Imbongo’s dye job, or MLS refereeing, there are things in this world that only doom us to hit our head against the wall over and over…and over.<\/p>\n

While\u00a0one could easily breeze through\u00a01,341 words on any of the above topics (especially Imbongo’s hair), the most pressing unsolved mystery at the moment is this one: How on earth have the Revolution failed to win at BMO Field over the years?<\/p>\n

Some may point to the club’s disappointing form in recent years, and there is some truth to that. In the last three years, the Revolution haven’t played the most spectacular soccer. At times, they have looked like a glorified reserve team. So\u00a0in that vein, there is some logic to that argument.<\/p>\n

But that doesn’t take into account that some certifiably good Revolution teams have somehow avoided beating their hosts to a pulp at BMO Field.\u00a0When Michael Parkhurst deposited a 55-yard lob in 2007,\u00a0it appeared to be a fortuitous omen. But Danny “I’m on my last legs” Dichio buried a spectacular volley to level it late at two apiece. It should be noted that the very same Revolution team that couldn’t manage a win that day went on to earn their third straight trip to the MLS Cup final.<\/p>\n

The Revolution\u00a0settled for\u00a0another draw in 2008, then suffered the cruel indignity of 3-1 (!) and 1-0 losses in 2009 and 2010, respectively. A pair of draws in 2011 and 2012 allowed the Revolution to reclaim some of their pride, but to this day, the Revolution remain winless at the grounds of one of the worst teams in MLS.<\/p>\n

True, the Toronto supporters are some of the most passionate in the league. BMO Field isn’t exactly the local soccer field down the street with rusty goalposts. But even with a vocal 12th man, Toronto is perennially 6-8 additional players away from being a respectable team.<\/p>\n

Six games may still be a small sample size, but\u00a0the Revolution’s 0-2-4 record\u00a0in Toronto is still\u00a0a puzzling stat. Perhaps a rare Friday night match will do the trick. Perhaps the momentum of the Revolution’s last two wins will carry them toward a long overdue win at BMO Field. Perhaps the gold-domed Imbongo will even score the game-winner. Who knows?<\/p>\n

But until we see the Revolution walk away with three points from Toronto’s grounds, the world (see: Revolution supporters and a few MLS pundits) will continue to scratch their heads as to how this keeps happening.<\/p>\n

We’ll try to keep the head scratching to a minimum with this week’s set of questions.<\/p>\n

1. Can Kelyn Rowe keep his torrid run going?<\/strong>\u00a0One of the effects of Juan Agudelo’s return – besides the team scoring a lot more goals and generally playing winning soccer, of course – is the amount of extra space that opens up for players like Rowe in front of the area. And Rowe, with all that extra space to work with, has gone bananas in the goalscoring aisle. After tallying\u00a0only twice\u00a0in his previous 22 games, the former UCLA Bruin has bagged three in his last two. Heck, with a little better ball control and smidge more precision, he probably could’ve\u00a0bagged six goals. Against a generous Toronto backline, it may\u00a0be like deja vu<\/em> all over again for Rowe. And while he won’t hesitate to launch any more long-distance rockets, don’t be surprised if he finds even\u00a0easier shots at BMO Field and we see him Roweing his imaginary canoe once again.<\/p>\n

2. Will Jay Heaps make any changes to the lineup?<\/strong> Since overhauling the XI two weeks ago, the Revolution are not only a perfect 2-for-2, but they’ve outscored their opponents 7-1, and have lept from seventh to fifth in the standings.\u00a0 True, two games does not make a season. But there is something to be said about going with what works. Matt Reis has looked strong between the sticks, while A.J. Soares has played some of his best soccer this season in the last two games. Putting Chad Barrett on the wing hasn’t quite\u00a0conjured\u00a0images of\u00a0jogo bonito<\/em>, but\u00a0the scraggly striker\u00a0does have the savvy to help orchestrate chances, even if it’s, like,\u00a0awkward at times. Nevertheless, if there’s one thing we know about a\u00a0Jay Heaps\u00a0lineup, it’s this: Nothing is ever set in stone. Nothing. A strong week of practice can allow a reserve to leapfrog\u00a0a starter during any given week. But if Heaps does decide to change it up a bit, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Saer Sene reclaim his spot on the right.<\/p>\n

3. Can the Revolution avoid another post-explosion hangover?<\/strong> Earlier this year, we saw the Revolution post a 5-0 win over the Galaxy before they\u00a0followed it up with a dreadfully awful\u00a0scoreless draw to conference doormat D.C. United. Now, days removed from their 5-1 win over the Union, the Revolution face a similar scenario with another\u00a0woeful opponent on tap. It may not be a trap game per se,<\/em> but the Revolution must resist the\u00a0notion that things will come easy. In their 0-0 draw to D.C., the Revolution tried using\u00a0the same bag of tricks they employed against L.A., and failed miserably. This week, they cannot slip into a similar scenario. Toronto, despite its lackluster record and general poor form, probably saw the film from earlier this week, and are planning accordingly. In light of this, the Revolution cannot be content to trying the same things over and over expecting the same result. They have to remain creative and unpredictable and, for heaven’s sake, beat a team that is very beatable.<\/p>\n

4. What do the Revolution have to do\u00a0should Toronto successfully clamp down in the rear?<\/strong>\u00a0The Revolution have to be better on set pieces. (The preceding sentence provided by Microsoft AutoText 2010.) There’s just no two ways about it. Earlier this month, Toronto had no qualms stifling the Revolution by fouling, and using brute force to push the likes of Fagundez, Nguyen and Imbongo off the ball. This is what bad teams do when they lack the overall skill to play actual soccer. They sit back, generally distrustful of their defenders, midfielders and forwards, and hope that an adversary’s mistake turns into a scoring chance (as it did four weeks ago, with all due respect to Jose Goncalves). The best way to combat this brand of anti-football\u00a0is to be bold, to take on a defender and go to goal. If there’s a foul, well, make them pay for it on the set piece. While the Revolution escaped danger on defensive set pieces against Philadelphia last week, they have to be\u00a0especially effective on attacking set pieces on Friday.<\/p>\n

5. What can’t the Revolution afford to do on Friday?<\/strong> Although Toronto may be on its way toward another fine ninth place finish, they’re not exactly slouches in the talent department. Not at all. In a sense, the Revolution can certainly attest to Toronto’s ability to field skillful players at a position or two. And while the Reds may not play like a skillful team at times (especially between March and October), all it takes is a momentary lapse for a Matias Laba, a Jonathan Osorio or even a Reggie Lambe to damage a defense. This is how Toronto makes its living. It may not be the stuff of instructional DVDs,\u00a0but it’s somehow kept them out of the basement, a minor miracle brought to you by D.C. United’s\u00a0nightmare season. With plenty of game film at their disposal, the Revolution have to know that all it takes is a mistake – whether it be innocent or egregious – for a team like Toronto to pounce on it and, possibly, make them pay. In other words, the Revolution have to avoid the blooper reel against a team that often\u00a0casts itself as the\u00a0leading actor\u00a0in such reels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A rare Friday night clash yields a rare Friday edition of Five Questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[427,1300,49,1274,71],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Caldwell1.png?fit=495%2C258","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21539"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21539"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21590,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21539\/revisions\/21590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}