Just in case Reds fans thought Rabasca’s rabble were the only USL side upstaging their MLS counterparts, take a look at FC Dallas. At time of writing, they’re barely hanging on to a play-off berth (sounds familiar, no?) while their reserves were, prior to Wednesday afternoon, on a seven-game unbeaten streak.

Granted, that run came with the massive caveat that five of those seven games were played within the airy confines of Toyota Stadium, but credit where credit’s due.

Needless to say, this game went rather well for Toronto: exceptionally well to begin with. There was a mid-game wobble when, it must be said, the Texans proved it wasn’t all home field advantage that’s entrenched them at the top of the ladder.

Also, once the Young Reds put themselves back in front, there was some wholly avoidable late-game drama wherein they damn near biffed away the win.



No Strikers? No Problem

With Jordan Perruzza possibly concussed, Shaan Hundal kicking his heels in Ottawa, and Griff Dorsey making up numbers on Vanney’s bench, it looked as though we might see Jacob Shaffelburg or Jordan Faria shoehorned into playing the lone striker role. Enter Matt Srbely.

Against Tucson, Srbely showed what TFC II had been missing without him: an honest-to-God attacking midfielder who could keep Perruzza from getting completely isolated up top. Turns out he also makes for a perfectly adequate centre-forward in a pinch.

Not that I’d endorse using the boy up there more often. It’d be plain wasteful, though not nearly as wasteful as putting Shaff up there instead. As if to make the point, the blond bomber assisted on two goals and struck a number of near-misses.

TeMo Supremo

Left-back Terique Mohammed picked up where he left off against Tucson, carrying on his audition for Ashtone Morgan’s seat on Vanney’s bench once the Gold Cup gets underway.

Continuing in the same form that won him his Team of the Week nod, he pretty much locked down Toronto’s left wing, begging the question why the Texans kept directing so much traffic down that channel.

At one point, the kid was almost double-teamed and still managed to break up the play.

Scoring the winning goal was the least he deserved after the shift he put in. There were some nervous seconds late in the first half after TeMo collided with the Texans’ Gambian captain Alfusainey Jatta. The sight brought to mind unwelcome flashbacks of Drew Shepherd’s ill-fated debut.

Thankfully, nothing came of it.

The Above-Average Dane

Jelani Peters picking up where he left off 740 days ago for @TorontoFCII #TORvNTX #TFCLive — 《TFC II in D3》 (@TFC2inD3) May 29, 2019

With Jelani Peters making his comeback after half-time, Danish defender Patrick Bunk-Andersen (PBA) became the Reds’ only centre-back to have played all available minutes so far. I guess maybe he’s the new Bosko (sorry FRM).

Despite this ubiquity, I’ve not had said much about PBA before as there’s not been much to say about his quiet competence. So what’s changed?

Well, his opening goal (a header – what else?) came in similar circumstances to the one he scored against Tormenta. In the chaotic aftermath of a deflected corner, PBA’s fellow centre-back Julian Dunn of all people scooped the ball off the Texans’ endline for the Dane to fall onto. It was too bad about the yellow card, really.

When Ricardo Pepi scored his inevitable goal in first-half stoppage-time, PBA and friends looked incredulous it wasn’t called offside. Not that it was an unreasonable expectation – the overeager Texans got flagged 14 times over the course of the game – not sure it warranted punting the ball in the linesman’s general direction, though.



Concacafing 101

In second-half stoppage-time, TFC II put on another show of delightfully inept time-wasting, right up there with Jayden “Primetime” Nelson’s throw-in throwaway and Noble Okello’s zombie walk. This time the guilty party was goalkeeper Kevin Silva.

Basically, Kev took a few too many seconds getting up after belly-flopping onto two utterly benign balls. The referee was patient enough to let the first one go, but when Silva did a repeat performance twenty seconds later, he wasn’t so much tempting fate as he was asking fate out for a drink.

It’s still not clear if Kev’s yellow card was for the time-wasting itself, or the passionate display of righteous indignation that followed. Mercifully, the resulting free-kick from inside Toronto’s area only got as far as Dante Campbell’s gluteus maximus.



Okello Watch

I had some some guff prepared about young Noble’s imminent suspension, after a shirt tug brought his total yellows up to four. Feels a bit irrelevant now though, what with Herdman taking him off Rabasca’s hands for a few weeks.

Hard to imagine a scenario in which his Gold Cup experience goes any different to Bosko and Hundal’s current sojourn in Ottawa, but a late-game stunt-double for Atiba could be an option. Also, given that Concacaf finally ditched that bullsh*t rule that let teams change up their rosters after the group stage, he’s there for the duration.

As for TFC II, they’ll miss him for sure but it’s not like they’re short on cover: Gideon Waja could do with a run, and Mehdi Essoussi is still waiting on that pro debut.