Not to rain too hard on Perruzza and Petrasso’s parade, but TFC II’s opener against Orlando City B was always going to be a soft launch for their inaugural D3 campaign. Who better for the under-performing farm team of a recently successful MLS franchise to whale on than the revived farm team of a grossly under-performing MLS franchise?

Needless to say, FC Tucson were always going to make for stiffer competition, even if they’re technically a farm team themselves after the FC Drogba buyout. Granted, the Red Youth were hamstrung by a three-man bench and both scorers the OCB last game otherwise engaged in Texas, the eventual 1-1 was a pretty fair outcome.

After all, TFC II are now either a win or two draws away from their best ever start to a season. Don’t trip over that high bar, kids!

Anyway, here’s some sh*t that went down in the, uh, good-looking Optics Valley. Talking points how Griff one-upped Shaff, a check-in on Adolfo Ovalle’s suspension countdown clock, and how Kyle Bjornethun greeted an old teammate to Arizona.

Poor Gideon Waja

With the depth chart gutted by call-ups to TFC’s various age-groups sides for the concurrent Generation Adidas and Dallas Cups, Rabasca’s team sheet must’ve largely written itself. The only big attacking change was Jordan Hamilton as a lone striker.

There was the surprise return of Caleb Patterson-Sewell in net. Eric Klenofsky was barely tested by OCB but sure didn’t disgrace himself, and God knows where Yann Fillion was. Maybe it was felt a safe pair of hands was needed given the lack of defence.

With injury list perennial Jelani Peters back on it, and Franco “El Mingo” Ramos still MIA (so much for my Bosko 2.0 call), Patrick Bunk-Andersen was the team’s only recognised centre-back. With Panamanian loanee Jésus West on hand, Dante Campbell slotted in beside PBA, and draftee midfielder Trevor Swartz made his pro debut as a makeshift left-back.

Welcome to the big leagues, Trev!



Now, let’s just quickly spare a thought for Gideon Waja.

The way TFC II stockpiled midfielders over the off-season, someone was always going to be sat, even in crisis like this. Still, as the only viable sub on the bench, the Ghanaian was only ever going to see the field if someone got stretchered off. Academy teenagers Nick Christoffersen and Alex Krakowiak were so clearly labelled for emergency use only, they might as well have been sitting behind breakable glass.

The Other Wingman

After he ran rampant in Florida, there was less to see from Shaff in Arizona. Playing wider and deeper on the left end of a 4-1-4-1 didn’t help, and there were at least two guys converging on the kid whenever he got within 25 metres of the corner flag. Not that this deterred Captain Tsubasa from pinging the ball his way whenever he could.

One upshot of all this extra special attention on Shaff was the acreage it opened up for Griffin Dorsey on the right side. More than once, he came swooping up the wing like his beaky namesake, firing off pot-shots and so-so cross balls. The symmetry with Shaff’s shift against OCB was striking, but Griff walked away with something to show for it.

The difference maker on the night was the formation change. With Srbely, Endoh and Ovalle clogging up the middle of the park, there was neither room nor need for Jordan Hamilton to go walkabout Harry Kane-style like Perruzza kept doing.

Ol’ Jayhams actually saw surprisingly little action for most of the game: only 2 of TFC II’s 13 shots were his. But after 80 minutes of hard graft, one of Griff’s many balls into the box (he claimed 5 of those 13 shots) connected with Hamilton’s noggin.

I Said Mind Your Fito, Adolfo!

Yoink!

We can stop the suspension countdown clock on Adolfo “Fito” Ovalle for now. Despite his bobsled tackling against the Cubs, turns out the Chilean might just have been giving as goo as he got in Florida, because he walked away cardless on Saturday.

He also stopped one of the very few FCT counter-attacks that didn’t end up being flagged offside with a very neat little block. Too bad about being pick-pocketed by his ex-Real Monarchs teammate Eti Tavares en route to the hosts’ go-ahead goal.

The Sea Wall

On the whole, commentator Matt Schumacher was a major upgrade on Guy Silverman. For starters, he aced Srbely’s name (no sore bellies here) and Shaff wasn’t suddenly an Ontario native (twice). And yet, Caleb Patterson-Sewell somehow got the better of him.

He eventually settled on “soo-ell”, but not before trying “see-well” and “see-wall” on for size. Personally, I wish he’d stuck with that last one, because Caleb did rather hold back the tide at times. One stoppage-time lunge proved especially vital.

Whether this means Caleb’s back on the TFC II goalie rotation carousel for another year is unclear, but God (and maybe James Grossi) knows why Rabasca brought an academy kid as the backup. I’ll admit I haven’t spelunked my way through the GA or Dallas Cup roster rules, but I’m fairly confident neither were eligible.

Captain Bjornethun’s Revenge

For all the shade I’ve thrown his way, TFC II’s erstwhile left-back has landed on his feet in Arizona. To TMZ’s disappointment, there were no handbags to be thrown between old teammates before or after the whistle. Captain Tsubasa could even be seen hugging Kyle after the final whistle before Srbely came over to chat.

Jayhams didn’t seem in any rush to say hi, but who could blame him?

While Toronto were in the hunt for that equalizer, he and Kyle ended up one-on-one outside the Tucson box. With the ball at his feet, Captain Bjornethun went to clear it, Jordan cocked a leg to block it, and the ball hit him square in the breadbasket.