RSL controlled the flow of this game, for the most part, and after going up 2-0, kept Toronto from ever really looking dangerous. Yura put together one of his best outings of the year and we had a nice cameo by Ian Joy late. Overall, some solid play by the home squad, and a good, and necessary, win.
First half grade: A-
A good first half but not spectacular. The second half saw a few players step it up (most notably Ned Grabavoy) and really lead RSL to the finish. Two goals, but the defense was not perfect and Toronto had a few chances.
Second half grade: A
Nicely done by RSL in the second, scoring the final goal, but more importantly, shutting down the Toronto attack completely.
Game grade: A
A good, solid win at home. Hopefully RSL can build on this without getting the big heads that killed the team after the 6-0 thrashing of the NERds.
Player grades:
Nick Rimando-7 Didn't have a lot to do, but made the saves when necessary.
Chris Wingert-6 Also didn't have a lot to do, but the attacks never seemed to come from his side.
Nat Borchers-6 Passing was iffy at times, but got the job done.
Robbie Russell-7 Nice job filling in for Olave.
Tony Beltran-6 Poor first half, but redeemed himself with a solid 2nd.
(Ian Joy 83)-6 Nice to see Ian back on the field.
Kyle Beckerman-6 Almost a 5, scored a goal, but missed 2 or 3 absolute sitters.
(Tino Nunez 91+)-NA Didn't have enough time for a true rating.
Ned Grabavoy-7 Bad first half, but astounding in the 2nd. Nice assist on the 3rd score.
Javier Morales-6 OK game, nothing too great.
(Andy Williams 75)-6 Nice to see Andy getting some run.
Clint Mathis-7 Hard to argue a goal and an assist.
Yura Movsisyan-7 Nice, composed finish on the goal (for once). Very active, but had a bad case of ballhogacitis.
Fabian Espindola-4 The only weak link on the night. Just awful. Absolutely no effort and zero movement off the ball. Probably could have had 2 goals if he'd followed up on some plays.
Coach grade (Kreis)-7 I'd have started Andy over Ned, but Ned proved me wrong on that one in the 2nd. A 3-0 win is hard to criticize, but I'm still shocked Espi got a full 90 with that sort of (non-)effort.
Ref grade (Jurisevic)-5 The usual inconsistent MLS ref effort.
RSL Man of the Match: Yura Movsisyan
Yes, he made some mistakes, but got himself into good spaces and looked good on the goal.
Douchebag of the Day: Amado Guevara
After his teammate delivered a late, crushing tackle and picked up an obvious yellow, what does Guevara do? Complain for about 5 minutes. Seriously, it was one of the easiest yellow calls you'll ever see and Guevara whined like someone had punched his mother. Grow up, dude.
And now, some low-quality pictures from last night's game courtesy of my crappy camera phone:
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