So, because a straight-up triple round-robin where each team played each other three times would’ve made too much sense, TFC II’s match with Lansing Ignite on Saturday was the second in a four-game series between the two.

Someone might want to get to work dreaming some Trillium Cup-style bullsh*t trophy, because the kids are already halfway to sweeping it.

The Young Reds’ previous win over the Spark Plugs (a nickname I won’t try shortening) was an act of grand larceny. A fluky first-half free kick and a carelessly conceded late-game penalty put them up 2-0, all while Lansing’s offence spent the game finding new and interesting ways to not score.

The traffic was mostly in the other direction this time round, but the kids didn’t sew up the win half as smoothly as the final scoreline might suggest.



Ch-Ch-Changes

Today’s Starting XI vs. @lansingignite



Kickoff goes at 4PM from the BMO Training Ground #TFCLive // #TORvLAN pic.twitter.com/x7kJdqtFp5 — Toronto FC II (@TorontoFCII) June 8, 2019

After the mass rotation for last week’s trip to Chattanooga, Rabasca changed things up again. Vanney’s erstwhile bench-warmers Griff Dorsey and Tsubasa Endoh returned to the fold, with the latter filling Gold Cup-bound Okello’s spot in the middle of the park.

After his late-game heroics against the Red Wolves, comeback kid Shaan Hundal got the start as lone striker while Jordan Perruzza rematerialized the bench. With Julian Dunn still MIA, the acronymous centre-back pairing of Patrick Bunk-Andersen (PBA) and Franco Ramos Mingo (FRM) got another run-out in front of Kevin Silva.

The Ricketts to Perruzza’s Altidore?

After his game-saving tribute act to super-sub Tosaint Ricketts in Chattanooga, Shaan Hundal got his first start for TFC II since September 16th. After a sleepy first half-hour for both sides, the Brampton Tiger pounced on a header from Matt Srbely.

Then, a tad deflatingly, Hundal unwittingly put on a tribute act to another side of TFC-era Tosaint: his patchiness as a starter. To be fair to the lad, there’s still a lot of rust to work off that built up over the three months he spent being ignored by Nikola Popovic (stay strong Bosko!).

Also, you can’t blame a player for missing the first PK of their pro career. Unfortunately that was one of three chances Shaan had to double his tally. The other two came via Jacob Shaffelburg crosses. He mistimed his run for one, and may have only noticed the other as it was passing between his feet. In his defence, Griff whiffed on that one, too.

So, could’ve gone better, but then again, he’s already matched his goal total from last year with 20 games to spare.

Winging It

With the reinstatement of the 4-1-4-1, Shaff found himself pushed back out to the left wing. It might’ve seemed wasteful, given how productive he was playing more centrally, but proved to be a Godsend against a three-man backline who seemingly never failed to leave someone open.

Without a left-back haranguing him, he made it rain crosses at times. On another day, he might even have doubled his overall assist tally. That said, he forewent a fairly good chance at scoring himself. Faced with an open(ish) net, he preferred to square it to Hundal rather than back himself.

Elsewhere, the Fort Williams Terrier’s terrible luck with referees reached a new low as he was pushed flat on his arse by Lansing’s captain. Another foul, another non-booking.

Thank God Endoh wasn’t Okello in this scenario.

The Decidedly Above-Average Dane

TFC have done improbably well out of this year’s draft. Despite his foibles in this game, Griff’s shown some real promise, and Patrick Bunk-Andersen has been a class above.

This shouldn’t really come as big of a surprise as I’d like it to. Besides the drop in tier, I’m pretty sure the Copenhagener could’ve very well be playing professionally at some level throughout his college ‘career’ (not going to fault anyone for taking a scholarship).

That said, he is now TFC II’s second highest scorer, and for 11 minutes on Saturday, was joint highest with Perruzza.

The scrappy nature of his goal summed up the haphazardness of Toronto’s win. Chasing down the rebound of a Matt Srbely free kick, he just about got a foot on the ball before tumbling over Ignite’s keeper. He might even have not seen the ball cross the line.

Good thing they all count.

The Toronto (Cork)Screwjob?

Amid the inane factoids these solo commentators like to scatter between the play-by-play and sponsor plugs, the announcer for this game made an offhand remark about a theory floated by unidentified parties about the BTG’s turf giving TFC II’s an extra edge.

Supposedly, the Limonta cork-based infill is different enough from standard-issue crumb rubber that it takes the away team additional time to adapt to it.

Personally, I’m not buying it, mainly because there are way more straightforward reasons for why all visitors have flopped thus far: the only Tucson player to really turn up was goalie Ejimadu, North Texas spent as much time offside as they did onside, and Lansing were without Tumi “Glamour Boy” Moshobane or Haitian sensation Selso.