Chad Barrett has been a target for some criticism in Toronto this season, as the striker's season-long finishing problems had resulted in just two goals through his first 15 games. And, true to form, even after Barrett scored a brace in Toronto FC's 3-1 win against the Earthquakes in San Jose last Saturday, his finishing prowess still received some barbs -- though of a slightly more good-natured variety.
About a minute after Barrett had opened the scoring against the Quakes, he had another chance after finding room in the middle and taking a well-played cross from Jim Brennan. Barrett got his head on the ball, but his attempt went wide.
"I said what was wrong with you, was the sun in your eyes, or what?," Brennan joked. "He said it just came off his face. He said any other time he would've put it in the back of the net, but he thought it was too easy so he missed it."
Degree of difficulty aside, Barrett's two goals led the Reds to an important road win and allowed him to achieve a career milestone. Barrett's performance earned him the MLS Player Of The Week award for Week 17, the first time he has won the award in his five years as a professional.
"[Being named] Player Of The Week is a great honor," Barrett said. "It's the first time I've done it so it's a big thing for me. It was great to get two goals and help the team."
Barrett's first goal against San Jose came when he converted an over-the-head blind pass from Dwayne De Rosario within the box to give the Reds the lead five minutes into the match.
His second goal came under unusual circumstances. In the 69th minute, De Rosario found Barrett with a long counter-attack pass at midfield. San Jose defender Aaron Pitchkolan was in position to play the ball, but collapsed to the ground with a groin injury. This left Barrett on a breakaway against Quakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon, and Barrett sidestepped the 'keeper at the top of the penalty area and easily tapped in the goal to cinch the game for TFC.
Given how many times Barrett has missed goals due to bad bounces or hitting goalposts this season, the forward tried to keep his concentration and finish the job after getting so much unexpected room.
"It was kind of funny when you look back at it. During the game, you can see my face, the camera has me running right at him and my face just didn't change, I just tried not to hit him," Barrett said. "I was like, 'all right, he's going down, just don't hit him.' I had a little bit of work to do, I haven't scored too many one-on-ones this year. But Cannon was already out on top of his 18, so I just had to take a long touch past him."
The San Jose game doubled Barrett's goal total for the season, and another oft-criticized TFC striker (Pablo Vitti) scored Toronto's other goal in the match. These goals could hardly have come at a better time for either man, given the imminent arrival of newly-signed striker Ali Gerba.
With Gerba set to join the Reds as soon as he concludes his international duty with Canada at the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the onus is on Barrett and Vitti to prove that they deserve to keep their spots in the strike force. Barrett said he is more excited about how Gerba can help the Reds than how the new forward might impact his own playing time.
"With Ali coming in he's only going to make us better," Barrett said. "You can see it as a threat or you can see it as a benefit for the team. I've always been a team player, I've always wanted what's best for the team. Of course I'm going to do whatever it takes to stay in the starting lineup, though."
TFC interim head coach Chris Cummins noted that though Gerba seems to be in good form (two goals scored in three Gold Cup games), the coach isn't going to send hot players to the sidelines just to accommodate a new signing.
"Chad knows he needs to keep doing what he's doing, and that's scoring goals. If he keeps doing that he'll stay in the team," Cummins said. "Same with Pablo Vitti. He knows if he keeps playing in the middle of park, creating goals and stopping goals then he'll stay in the team. Then it's up to [United States international] Sammy Cronin and Ali Gerba to fight their way back onto the team. What a great bench, huh?"
Though Barrett has had his share of high-profile misses, he is still third on the team in scoring, with four goals to De Rosario and Amado Guevara's five. The striker also scored two important goals in TFC's three Nutrilite Canadian Championship matches -- the game-winner in a 1-0 win over Montreal on May 13, and the crucial score in the 6-1 win over Montreal on June 18 that gave the Reds the goal-differential edge needed to win the tournament.
If he can be this productive even amidst a slew of missed shots, an on-target Barrett could be a major weapon for the Reds in the second half of the season.
"Chad's taken a lot of stick and he doesn't mind taking it since he's had a lot of chances throughout the season," Cummins said. "He was clinical on Saturday. He's a little bit disappointed he didn't get his hat trick since he had a couple of great chances as well with headers."
Ah yes, that missed hat trick. Barrett, for his part, observed that Brennan was more troubled about losing an assist than he was about Barrett missing the net.
"Jimmy was a little upset with me, I don't think he's got a point since [the season opener in] Kansas City," Barrett said with a chuckle.
Mark Polishuk is a contributor to MLSnet.com
