The pre-game chants to pump up the 6''3" striker were largely unnecessary on Saturday. He packs his boots with motivation and plays like every game might be his last.
And after slotting home Edson Buddle's smart cross to score the first goal in Toronto FC's 3-1 victory Saturday over a Chicago Fire squad apparently traumatized by playing on plastic turf, it will be his last for a short while.
He matched the milestone of scoring the franchise's first-ever goal in MLS league play, with the millstone of earning the it's first-ever red card. He did both doing what he does best, ####ing his big body around the opposition's box.
A bump late in the first half with Chicago goalie Matt Pickens in the six-yard box set off a handbag-swinging melee that took a group of combatants into the back of the Fire goal. Diego Gutierrez was tabbed as Chicago's nastiest bag-swinger and also given a red card.
The fact Dichio left to a standing ovation says everything about how Toronto fans feel about him. In two games, the busy, bruising ballwinner has been yellow- and red-carded for heavy manners on opposing goalies. Crashing the crease is what hockey-loving Canadians would call it. Rattling a cage is what crash-causing NASCAR drivers might term it. Becoming an instant fan favorite is the net result.
Paired so far with shifty Alecko Eskandarian or the sly Buddle, Dichio's towering frame provides a highly-visible target for up-field passes. He has the strength to hold up the ball and lay off passes to on-rushing teammates or the skill to turn past a defender and go marauding for a goal.
Best of all, he displays body language that says, after leaving England's Preston North End, he's enjoying himself in Toronto's uproarious new stadium on the north shore of Lake Ontario.
The soccer-cynical element of Toronto's sports media had enjoyed themselves through the first four games the team played, playing their winless and goalless status for a few cheap laughts. But what no one touched on was the fact that four of what will be Toronto's most influential players either hadn't played or were just getting into the lineup.
Right midfielder Ronnie O'Brien, right back Marvell Wynne, top draft pick and midfielder Maurice Edu and Dichio had all faced delayed debuts with the team. Saturday's game displayed the result of having the group together to practice for two weeks since their last game, a 1-0 home-opener loss to Kansas City in April.
Wynne plays with such effortless efficiency, it's easy to overlook a player who doesn't look like he's working hard because he's read a play properly or prepared for a game properly and is well placed to shut down an opponent's play and start a counter attack.
Adding O'Brien's smart positioning and skill as a playmaker to the right midfield gives Wynne an obvious outlet coming out of defence. These two looked very comfortable in their first full game together. If it forces defences to pay closer attention to them, left winger Andy Welsh will appreciate less of the extra attention he'd been receiving earlier when he represented Toronto's best attacking option earlier in the season.
Toronto fans also enjoyed a sneak preview of what the future holds when talented local boy Andrea Lombardo, operating as a lone striker, worked the ball deep down the right and curled an inch-perfect cross to an unmarked Maurice Edu.
Edu, the first round draft choice from University of Maryland, was rewarded for an intuitive support run with a pass that left him the time and space to emphatically plant Toronto's third goal. Pressed into a more attacking role after Dichio's sending off, Edu was allowed to advance from his normally defensive midfield role and looked quite sharp in attack.
Lombardo is a member of the Canadian U-20 national team that will host FIFA's World U-20 World Cup starting in June. Tall and strong, like Dichio, he used his size and good positioning to offer a threatening outlet for his defenders in his brief second-half run. He showed no fatigue from having played 90 minutes against Argentina the night before.
As Toronto's fans were chucking promotional seat cushions onto the field in celebration, the players were throwing a number of #### of their back. Including Kevin Goldthwaite's fine winning goal also set up by Buddle, the team not only earned their first goals and their first win, but did it with some style.
Flashman is a nickname derived from my work as a photographer, often in sports but extending into advertising and commerce. My career began at Toronto Blizzard NASL games and has taken me to three World Cups and major sports events across half the globe.
Pro soccer's long absence here in Toronto let me become the fan I used to be, growing up on both sides of the Atlantic, relatives in constant debate about their favorites. I also grew up in an area full of Italian and Portuguese immigrants who were equally expressive.
For the first time, I'm a season-ticket holder,watchi ng the professional game reborn as Toronto FC join MLS. I'll try to explore this perspective, lend my opinion and share some fun stories of my time in the great game.
