Recent Happenings in the World of TFC
By: Mark |
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My posts have been a little few and far between lately – since the end of the MLS season there hasn’t been much action around Toronto FC, other than the hiring of a new coach. But there are a few tidbits of news I thought I’d share:
Goodbye Guevara – Attacking midfielder Amado Guevara has left Toronto FC and signed a 2-year contract with the Honduran club Motagua. I guess whatever issues he and Preki had at Chivas USA couldn’t be resolved, but best wishes to Amado anyway. He was a very exciting player at times for Toronto and scored some crucial goals. His spectacular free kick in Montreal en route to winning the Canadian Championship will stick in my mind for a long time. Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Toronto FC
All TFC players safe in the expansion draft
By: Mark | Add Comments
Well, the expansion draft came and went and we didn’t lose any players. Amado Guevara is safe, as well as Brian Edwards, Carl Robinson and the rest of the players on the unprotected list. Now the question remains, how will Preki get the most out of the players he has to improve on last season’s performance? We’ve got a few months to wait before we find out, and we’ll see if Mo Johnston can also make some trades during the off-season.
Just looking at the roster, I think the mid-field is getting a bit crowded. Does the acquisition of Julian De Guzman make Carl Robinson obsolete on this team? And can both De Rosario and Guevara be used effectively without pushing DeRo up to play a striker role? I think an interesting set-up for the midfield could include Robinson, De Guzman and Sam Cronin with De Rosario playing just behind the 2 strikers. That would be a pretty solid defensive mid-field to help out the sometimes shaky back line, while still providing some offensive help with De Rosario. Then maybe Guevara could be traded for a proven striker or a central defender.
Just some thoughts at this very early stage. We’ll see how things pan out, but I’m looking forward to see what happens!
Category: Toronto FCWhat does the 2009 MLS Expansion Draft mean for TFC?
By: Mark | 2 Comments
Tomorrow MLS will hold the 2009 Expansion Draft so the new Philadelphia Union can select their team for next season. That means they get to select 10 players from the MLS’s 15 teams. Each team gets to protect 11 players and the rest are fair game for the Union to select. Each team can only lose one player in the draft.
So, who did Toronto GM Mo Johnston and new coach Preki decide were worth protection? Well, they got 2 freebies in Stefan Frei and Fuad Ibrahim because they are part of the Generation Adidas Team. So the other 11 players that are safe from the expansion draft are:
Expansion Draft – Protected players:
Nana Attakora
Chad Barrett
Jim Brennan
Sam Cronin
Julian de Guzman
Dwayne De Rosario
Emmanuel Gomez
Amadou Sanyang
Adrian Serioux
O’Brian White
Marvell Wynne
Holy crap, they’re protecting Chad Barrett. And that means these guys are ripe for the pickins’:
Available for Draft:
Brian Edwards
Lesly Fellinga
Nick Garcia
Ali Gerba
Amado Guevara
Carl Robinson
Pablo Vitti
Gabe Gala
Here are my thoughts. Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Toronto FCA New Coach for Toronto FC…
By: Mark | Add Comments
…and hopefully a new beginning as well. Toronto FC signed their new coach this week after a relatively short search. Predrag Radosavljevic (or Preki for short) comes fresh from coaching Chivas USA for the past 3 seasons and brings some MLS experience to the club, both as a coach and former player. Let’s hope that after all the talk of changing the culture at TFC, the hiring of Preki will be the beginning of that change.
Preki is expected to demand that the team plays as a cohesive unit, and the players that don’t fit into that unit will quickly lose their place in the squad. It will be interesting to watch during the off-season if he already has ideas on which players don’t belong, as he and Mo Johnston will likely make some roster changes before the next season begins.
If there’s one player they’ll want to keep, its obviously Dwayne De Rosario, who was Toronto’s top scorer and MVP this season, and was recently named to the MLS Best XI for his efforts this year. DeRo is clearly a bright spot on the team’s current roster, and I hope that he plans to stick around for another go next season. After all, BMO field will finally be getting the grass turf that Dwayne asked for as well.
Hopefully the new turf will be another good addition to help improve the quality of the team next year. For now all we can do is wait and see!
Category: Toronto FCMeltdown
By: Mark | 1 Comment
I have no words. A 5-0 loss to the worst team in the league in Toronto FC’s most important game of the season. I guess that’s a few words actually. With the other results tonight (losses by both Colorado and Dallas), a Toronto win would have clinched their first ever MLS playoff appearance. But instead we’re all left confused as to how the season could end so badly. Just as confused as this guy:
Well, it’s too early to start talking about what needs to be done to improve this team for next season, but hopefully there is a massive shakeup during the off-season. It seemed like Toronto had some very good players on the squad, but the possibility of massive breakdowns occurring at any point in a game was always there, and unfortunately this happened many times to cost the team important wins.
Ugh. I don’t want to dwell on this game too much, so I’ll end this here. Good luck to all the teams in the playoffs – hopefully we’ll see you there next year!
Category: Toronto FCSacrificing my integrity for the sake of TFC
By: Mark | Add Comments
Ok, in an effort to pump up the Seattle Sounders just enough for them to beat FC Dallas this weekend – which would effectively seal Toronto’s place in the playoffs (provided Toronto wins too of course), here is a quick clip for the Seattle Sounders fans. Laurie at the Sounders Offside, I’m looking at you here:
Category: Toronto FCDecoding the playoff picture?
By: Mark | 2 Comments
I’m not going to lie, I’ve given up on trying to figure out how the different scenarios for this weekend’s matches need to play out for Toronto to make the playoffs. The numbers are too much for me, so I’m going to just sit back and hope for a TFC win against New York and everyone else to lose. I guess that’s not entirely possible, but at least we know that if Toronto wins, they have a much better chance of making it in than if they lose!
Luckily there are other people out there to crunch the numbers, and this article by Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com sums up all the possibilities. Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Toronto FCKeeping our hopes alive
By: Mark | 2 Comments
Well, TFC did their part correctly this week with a 1-0 victory over Real Salt Lake at BMO field. That bumps us into 8th place in the playoffs until we find out the rest of the results for the weekend.
This was the final home game of the season, and the Toronto fans gave a nice sending off to fan favorite Danny Dichio before the match with a huge “Thank You” banner across the south end of the stadium.
Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Toronto FCLet’s go Red Bulls (for tonight at least…)
By: Mark | 4 Comments
I will become a very short-lived New York Red Bulls fan if they can beat Real Salt Lake tonight to aid in the cause of TFC making the playoffs. If Real wins, our hopes go further down the drain, and TFC plays Real in Toronto for their last home game this Saturday. I’ll be at that match, and I really hope it still means something! Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Toronto FCAnother Heartbreaker…
By: Mark | 4 Comments
Toronto FC broke out the pink jerseys to support breast cancer research this weekend against San Jose Earthquakes. This one ended in a 1-1 draw, and was mainly a good outing for TFC except for their usual nemesis – the last 15 minutes. To be fair, this time it was only the last 2 minutes that were the problem (San Jose scored the equalizer in the 92nd minute).
This was a real heartbreaker and a big dent to their playoff hopes, but I think there were some positives to the game. Let’s recap:
4 regulars were out of the game for this one including Marvell Wynne, Carl Robinson and Stefan Frei due to injuries, and Amado Guevara who was away with the Honduran national team for a World Cup qualifier. But for the most part, the team looked pretty good and mainly controlled the play over San Jose, especially in the 2nd half when they had an early goal and some other good scoring chances. Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Toronto FC
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