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Tebily gives Toronto defensive depth
Comments (2)
Thursday, April 24, 2008 | 08:21 PM ET
Toronto FC bolstered its defence Thursday by signing Ivory Coast centre-back Olivier Tebily.
Tebily, 32, spent the last six seasons in England with Birmingham City, and enjoyed a spell with Celtic in Scotland.
The addition of Tebily, a nominee for the 2001 African Footballer of the Year award, could not come at a better time for Toronto, who have looked suspect in defence this season, their 1-0 win over Real Salt Lake last Saturday notwithstanding.
The team gave up a whopping eight goals through their first three games of the campaign, before finally getting its act together against Salt Lake, but even in that victory their were signs of vulnerability at the back.
The two culprits are Tyrone Marshall and Puerto Rican Marco Velez, who have looked like a train wreck in the middle of Toronto's defence. Velez is playing in his first season in MLS and it shows - he's been way out of his depth and too often has been lost at sea.
Marshall, who the club acquired in a trade last season, hasn't been much better and is a defensive liability.
Tebily, from what I've seen of him in training sessions, appears to be the real deal and more than capable of marshalling the defence. He'll provide the club with a stabilizing presence at the back and will anchor the back line.
What I like most about him is his sense of positioning and ability to read the game and anticipate danger before it develops, an art that appears lost on both Marshall and Velez.
What I'd like to see is coach John Carver change it up at the back and install Tebily (when he's ready to play) and rookie Julius James as the team's new pairing in the middle of defence. That might seem like a risky move, but considering the lack of chemistry between Velez and Marshall, I'm not sure the team has another option.
James is on the road to recovery - he's still carrying an injury from the pre-season and has yet to make his MLS debut - but when he is ready, Carver would be wise to throw him in the deep end of the pool and let him develop a working relationship with Tebily, a veteran he can learn from.
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John F. Molinaro is a reporter for CBC Sport Online whose chief love is international soccer. John served as senior editor of Sports Online's Euro 2004 website, which helped him win a CBC.ca Award of Excellence, and was the driving force behind our coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He holds an honours BA in sociology from York University and a print journalism diploma from Sheridan College, and is also the author of The Top 100 Pro Wrestlers of All Time (Stewart House, 2002).
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Comments (2)
Al
woodbridge
Yes I agree that Velez is out of depth. I was never impressed with Marshall. I sit in section 105 at BMO and personally saw Marshall beat when he failed to follow basic principals of defence.
The pair failed to provide poper pressure and cover for eachother as a tandem and were often suspect to being caught flat at the back (i.E: LA game, especially)
I think the experience of Tebily was strengthen the central spine. In the LA game he would have simply dropped to provide more defensive depth when the LA midfielders were to play through balls to Donavan. Velez and Marshall were often caught flat and ball watching.
I hope James is the real deal. Time will tell..I agree that James could be mentored by the experienced Tebily.
Posted April 25, 2008 08:45 PM
Alex
calgary
I think that the poor level of this players should be pick up in the training sessions before making the decision of signing them.I also think that those errors only reflects that the level of coaching is not the appropiate for the club either..playing flat at the back is okay in the younger levels but not in the MLS..that is a no no..specially with all this tricky players around..we are setting up ourselfs for caos if we don't adapt quickly..I wish well Toronto FC.
Posted April 27, 2008 02:51 PM