Toronto FC’s Junior Academy team fell 3-0 to host Houston Dynamo in the opening match of the 2010 SUM U17 Cup on Friday night.
The start to the tournament did not reflect the quality that Toronto FC Academy has in its line-up; however three major mistakes cost the young Reds dearly as a physical Houston Dynamo side capitalized on poor decisions.
Miguel Zapata put the Dynamo on the board in the ninth minute when his strike sailed past Toronto goalkeeper Justin Silveria. In the 25th minute, Bryan Salazar crossed the ball to Isaiah Noreiga, who one-timed the ball past Silveria. Salazar netted a goal of his own five minutes later after receiving the ball from Alex Gonzalez. Salazar took two dribbles and buried the shot to put the game out of reach.
The second half started with four new players entering into the fray for TFC and the difference was incredible. For the next 30 minutes the young Reds played solid football and created some quality chances themselves but failing to find the net. A change in formation from 4-4-2 to a 3-4-3 bolstered a performance for the players.
On the night the star performer was Tristan Jackman who was tightly marked and physically abused by the Dynamo defence. Strong performances from Mackenzie Kim, Kaheem Christopher, Praveen Balakumaran added the to the good second half.
“I am adamant along with my staff that given the physicality of the play some of the players were taken aback by this and showed some weaknesses,” said TFC Senior Academy Head Coach Stuart Neely The biggest one for me was a little fear. Houston could sense that and they came at us hard. In such a short match it hurt us to the point that we eventually did not recover.”
“Even with our crucial mistakes, we still played good football but did not recognize when to release the ball into dangerous areas. The second half was great to watch as our players responded with a solid turn around. We battled, we played, but we did not finish – we did set a good tone for the next match tomorrow (Saturday) night vs. Chivas USA. It shows you that in strong competition you need 11 solid performances.”
“We most certainly need to start quicker than we did tonight against a very strong Chivas side. For some it maybe a bad statement to make, but the players are hurting right now…this is a good thing, it shows they care about themselves, their teammates and the club. There are good players here and they will rebound as they did on the second half.”
Scoring Summary:
HOU -- Miguel Zapata 1 (unassisted) 9
HOU -- Isaiah Noriega 1 (Bryan Salazar 1) 25
HOU -- Bryan Salazar 1 (Alex Gonzalez 1) 30
Houston Dynamo -- Fernando Pina, Leo Ayala (Alexandro Ochoa 55), Bradley Bourgeois, Juan Ramirez, Miguel Zapata, Jose Christian Gonzalez, Tamay Sanchez (Christian Camera 55), Jorge Andrade (Jordan Davies 31), Alex Gonzalez (Sebastian Karpen 31), Isaiah Noreiga (Diego Martinez Del Campo 53), Bryan Salazar (Fortune Wamutega 50).
Toronto FC -- Justin Silveria, Eric Ngo, Arthur Casupanan (Praveen Balakumaran 53), Tristan Jackman, Andrew Demarco (Nathan Kelsay 31), Mackenzie Kim, Andrew Curci, Chris Manella (Prasenna Kirupakaran 53), Steven Reel (Marcus Lees 31), Sergio Camargo (Cristian Zannetti 53).
Matches played with 30-minute halves.
