That was horrible.
I've seen a lot of catastrophically unfair games in my life; I am a Canadian soccer fan, after all. And if I sit down and think about it, this isn't the worst. That loss against Honduras in Montreal during 2008 World Cup qualifying, that was pretty horrible. If we go with a "non-national team" category, then the last leg of last year's USSF D2 semi-final against the Puerto Rico Islanders was... well, at least we still have a mathematical chance in the Voyageurs Cup but that particular frustrating game eliminated us.
Still. That game was up there. That was... that was dreadful. That was ninety of the worst minutes I've ever had at a soccer stadium.
I don't even know where to begin with referee Silviu Petrescu: he's on my shit list forever. You never get forgiven for refereeing a game like that unless you're thirteen and blind. How do you miss two clear penalties? Two? And did I see him call an offside on a throw-in? That's sure what it looked like; throw was taken, flag went up, Petrescu blew his whistle. There'd been no obvious contact of a fouling nature. Normally I'd assume I missed it and move on with my life, but in this case, where a referee thinks Dan Gargan delicately feathering a pass back to Stefan Frei and Frei picking it up is just dandy, I find it hard to give the man the benefit of the doubt.
Terry Dunfield had a pretty poor game but he and I were definitely on the same page. After Toronto leveled the game, he was clearly the most frustrated man on the field. He shouted at Omar Salgado when Salgado misplayed a clear chance, he took a (deserved) yellow card for angrily kicking the ball into an advertising board after a whistle, he slammed another ball deep into the crowd for no particular reason. He played mediocre soccer (not the worst, not the best) but he played with a lot of anger; he had the Paul Stalteri eyes going. If there'd been a water bottle to hand, I'm convinced he would have thrown it. And he would have been doing it for all of us.
I can't keep going. I just can't. I haven't got the energy and I haven't got the will. That game took it all out of me. We drew, we conceded an away goal, and I have almost no hope that we'll get the result in Toronto.
I can't believe it.
Man of the Match: Gershon Koffie was very strong in central midfield: confident, assertive, and winning the ball almost with ease. I was very impressed. He's 19 years old and his inexperience shows in some of his decision making but there's absolutely no doubt about his ability. He's a core part of this team already.
Most Disappointing: This is hard to decide. I take Shea Salinas, I guess, because although he was active he made the wrong decision way too many times and a few too many chances died on his boot. But he still played well! It was that sort of game.
Next Up: The Whitecaps attend Toronto FC's Voyageurs Cup coronation in Toronto next Wednesday. Bah.