Toronto 1-1 Bolton (3-4 on pens)

Thanks again to commenter Sairax, I was able to watch the game from the stream she linked me to. I'm beginning to wish we played her team every weekend, as I would be set in terms of blogging content. You've been awesome Sairax! I didn't get the full game experience, due to the fact that I only started watching 30 minutes in, and my horrible internet meant the stream kept going out. I did manage to get the gist of the game, and thanks to the great Toronto FC website (Bolton webmaster take note!) I didn't have to perform the painful highlights search, they're right here.

It must be said, Toronto gave us a game. While I feel the highlights don't really represent the game (Bolton did mount an attack in the second half), Toronto are not a bad side, and it was a pretty good game. Both teams were attacking, producing end to end stuff. This Bolton was definitely not perfect, but it is a far cry from the Bolton of a year ago. The players put together some crisp passing, nice play, and looked as though they were actually enjoying themselves.

Defensively, we're still vulnerable on the breakaway, as that goal shows, though I'm pretty positive it was offside. Occasionally we still resort to the long ball, but in the first half most of the play was coming off Muamba (or MOO-AM-BA as the commentator called him) and Robinson, and in the second half most of it was going through Holden. Which brings me to Holdenballs, and my undying love for him. He's tenacious, enthusiastic, and skilled. He put through some awesome freekicks, which is good considering Matty Taylor's fall from grace. He's definitely someone to watch this season.

The other nice thing about this game was the post match. It was for silverware (hence the penalties) and while the presentation did not quite have the pomp of the World Cup, but it was cute nonetheless. There was not nearly enough shirt swapping in my opinion, but Jussi (or Juuskelainen as the commentator called him) did swap with Kočić, Toronto's keeper, and my, he is packing. I think the Reebok should institute a no shirts post match policy, we would certainly get some more fans.

Alright back to semi-serious blogging, we shouldn't be drawing too many conclusions from this, as it was just a friendly and highly experimental, but things are looking good. I hadn't planned on watching it, but I'm glad I did, and am now even more excited about this season.