LA Galaxy
Conference: West Position: 3rd
W-L-D: 2-1-2 (0 points, -1 goal differential)
Away Form: 1-1-1 (-2 goal differential)
Recent Form: DWLDW
Last Meeting: Toronto FC 0 – LA Galaxy 0 (June 26, 2010)

The big boys are coming to town. Toronto FC will play their first midweek game of the season against LA Galaxy at BMO Field. Try to spot all of the stars in the Galaxy. Look! There’s Beckham! And Donovan! Is that Angel! Oh look, the Rooney look-a-like that used to play for TFC! Currently, LA sit 3rd in the Western conference with 8 points from 5 games, while TFC are 4th in the East with 5 points from 4 games. This game will be the toughest challenge for the Reds yet. Will they be able to handle Los Galacticos?

LA Galaxy are another one of the original teams that have been in Major League Soccer since the opening season in 1996. They even made it all the way to the MLS Cup final in that first season. In their whole history, the Galaxy have won the Western Conference a total of seven times, more than any other team. They have three Supporters’ Shields under their belts and have won the MLS Cup twice while coming runners-up four times on top of that. Needless to say, they are winners, and they are certainly one of the top teams in the league still. Last season they were expected to make it all the way to the MLS Cup final after topping the Western Conference with the likes of English soccer star, David Beckham, and MLS All-Star, America’s own, Landon Donovan. It didn’t end up being their year as FC Dallas pulled off the upset in the Conference Final by beating LA 3-0 at the Home Depot Centre.

Last season, TFC had both Galaxy games early in the season, so it’s been a while since the two sides have met. LA’s last visit to BMO was all the way back in June of last year where the two sides played out a nil-nil draw. The stadium was pretty bare that day due to all of the chaos surrounding the G20 summit at the time. Beckham was nowhere to be seen, yet again, though he looks set to come to Canada on this year’s trip. Going into this season, there are high expectations for LA as ever. Beckham and Donovan are still with the club. Donovan has been struggling with fitness/tiredness, but it sounds like he will be fit and and ready for Wednesday’s game. Beckham looks like he will be playing as well and his presence is sure to cause us problems out wide and on set pieces, which are his specialty. He already has three assists this season. Even with those two players, the Galaxy still went and brought in another big name during the preseason: Juan Pablo Angel. He is one of the most consistent goalscorers in the league with 58 goals in 102 appearances for New York Red Bulls. If they can’t score on our leaky defense, I’ll be shocked.

In goal, LA have 2010 Goalkeeper of the Year, Donovan Ricketts, who is just the kind of crazy that I like to see in a keeper. They have solid defensive players as well in A.J. DeLaGarza and Omar Gonzalez. American fullback Todd Dunivant should also be starting on Wednesday. The Galaxy have played one more game than TFC but have conceded the same number of goals, though one was a controversial penalty against DC United over the weekend. I still think their defense will be tougher to crack than the ones we have played so far, but we have not been shy in attack and seem to have a few goals in us ourselves. With the TFC defense being so full of holes and LA having so many attacking options, we will really need to score at least a couple in this match if we are going to come away with anything.

LA Galaxy’s midfield and attack is a strong one with Landycakes and Becks, but there are other threats. Juninho was brought in on the offseason on loan from São Paulo and already has two goals to his name this season. Mike Magee scored his first goal last week against DC United off of a Beckham corner and is usually lively out on the left wing. Chris Birchall would normally get the start in midfield, but he picked up a straight red two weeks ago and I believe is still suspended for the TFC match. And how could I forget, the former TFC striker you either loved or hated, Chad Barrett. I’ll go on the record as being a pro-Chad girl myself while acknowledging he had his faults and was definitely being overpaid by TFC. He hasn’t scored yet for the Galaxy, but hey, when has that ever stopped an ex-player before? My guess is he will come back and score a hattrick because that’s how the universe likes to mess with Toronto FC.

Moving along, Toronto FC are currently on a three game unbeaten streak. Sure, there’s only one win in there, but it also means that Vancouver is still our only loss so far this season. We saw some glimpses of great play in our last game against San Jose, but our glaring defensive weaknesses were on show as well. Most of our players will be available so let’s see how wrong I can get the lineup this week:

Frei

Our attack seems to pretty much pick itself these days. I expect a front line of Martina, Gordon, and Stevanovic with Maicon in the hole. Gordon has scored in his last two outings and it would be nice to see him start a little streak. We did get Gordon when we traded Barrett to LA, so a goal against his former team would be quite fitting, don’t you think? Peterson has been doing well lately so we should see him with Tchani solidify the midfield. Frei is a no-brainer in goal, but choosing our backline is the trickiest part. We don’t seem to have settled on a back four, or at least one that’s played a really great game. Cann seems likeliest to be at centreback, but will it be Harden or Nana next to him? Nana’s been subbed off at halftime two games in a row now. That can’t be good news for him. Maybe he will start there again and eventually be subbed off, but I feel like Winter might just start with Harden. He’s put Harden at rightback a couple of times now, but I’m just go on a limb and predict that he will have Borman and Yourassowsky starting in the fullback positions. Actually, I was a bit surprised that Yourassowsky didn’t start the last game against the Earthquakes because I thought he generally looked good against Portland. Was this Winter’s way of sending him a message to keep his discipline in check, or did Winter just want to try something a bit different? I can’t say for certain, but I think we’ll see the comically-named leftback start on Wednesday.

As I mentioned before, this will be our toughest test so far this season, and that could be an understatement. LA Galaxy won the Supporters’ Shield last year, which means they finished top of the overall league table, not just their conference. They have big players and they want to go out and win every game. There aren’t many teams better than them in MLS (I’d say Real Salt Lake are the ones everyone should be terrified of), so we can’t make these silly individual errors or leave strikers in an acre of space in our third of the pitch. The Galaxy are exactly the type of team that can punish you for stuff like that. Toronto FC just played in San Jose on Saturday, will face the Galaxy on Wednesday, and then host DC United on this coming Saturday. It’s a jam-packed week and we have to step up our game if we are going to get any points against LA. Can TFC rise to the challenge against the stars of the Galaxy? Can our defense go 90 minutes without giving the fans collective heart failure? Will David Beckham finally get his butt to Toronto? Will Victoria be with him? And can she give me some style tips? All these questions will be answered soon enough so be sure to watch!

Toronto FC v LA Galaxy will be broadcast on GOL TV Canada Live at 8:0pm ET

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Toronto FC hit the road to face San Jose Earthquakes and came away with their first away point this season. It wasn’t always pretty, but there were some notable strong passages of play. Some of our new acquisitions are starting to show real promise on the pitch as well. Points away from home are few and far between for most MLS teams and TFC have always been poor on the road, but for some reason we seem to do well when we play away to San Jose. A point gained at Buck Shaw is nothing to sniff at and gives us some positives before facing LA Galaxy midweek.

San Jose Earthquakes: Starters: Jon Busch, Jason Hernandez, Brandon McDonald, Ike Opara, Ramiro Corrales (85′), Bobby Convey, Sam Cronin, Simon Dawkins, Khari Stephenson (80′), Ryan Johnson, Chris Wondolowski

Bench: Andrew Weber, Anthony Ampaipitakwong, Bobby Burling, Joey Gjertsen (85′), Chris Leitch, Matt Luzunaris (80′), Brad Ring

Toronto FC: Starters: Stefan Frei, Ty Harden, Nana Attakora (46′), Adrian Cann, Danleigh Borman, Maicon Santos (65′), Jacob Peterson, Tony Tchani, Javier Martina, Alan Gordon, Alen Stevanovic (63′)

Bench: Kocic, Cordon, de Guzman (46′), Gargan, Plata (65′), Yourassowsky, Zavarise (63′)

San Jose got an early shot off within the first couple minutes, but after that it was mostly a midfield battle between the teams to try and gain control. The Earthquakes were doing better getting the ball forward whereas TFC’s buildup wasn’t doing much to penetrate the final third. Most of the play was pretty dull until the 16th minute when Dawkins received a cutback and found himself in some space to have a shot that just went wide of the post. Toronto’s first good shot came soon after when some good play between Gordon and Stevanovic led to a shot from Maicon, but it was too weak. San Jose quickly got themselves to our end of the pitch for Johnson to have a chance on goal. Most of the San Jose attacks were coming down our right flank where I literally didn’t realize Martina was playing until someone mentioned him on twitter.

If it wasn’t going to be Martina’s day, then Stevanovic was trying hard to grab some of the attention. He saw a lot of the ball in the first half and generally did well dribbling down the left flank. TFC’s goal in the first half came after Stevanovic got down the byline and with some help from Borman and Maicon, the ball found its way into the box where Gordon scored his second of the season. I love that we have a big, strong striker that crashes the box, throws himself at balls coming into the area, and gets at the end of headers. So many times we’ve seen a chance go begging because no one thought to position themselves in just the right spot in the opposition area and I like how Gordon brings that to the team.

Our goal didn’t stop San Jose from pressing in attack. While our play was coming mainly down the left, so was San Jose on their left. They were in acres of space at times and there were just too many huge gaping holes in our defense that they quickly tried to exploit. Bobby Convey in particular was able to dribble and get away from our players with ease. Any time they got a sniff at goal, they would take a shot, from 12 yards or 30 yards. Stefan Frei kept safe hands for the most part, but the Earthquakes were able to equalize when Dawkins, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, found himself unmarked in space after some quick passing play and hit a shot past Frei to make it 1-1 in the 38th minute. The worst part was there were at least 5 of our players back and yet no one was able to get a block or tackle in to stop Dawkins. San Jose finished the half on top and I breathed a sigh of relief at the halftime whistle. While we had some good spells in attacking play, we were way too open and needed some more discipline for the second half.

The second half saw Nana come off (second game in a row he’s been taken off at halftime) and de Guzman come on. Peterson seemed to shift over to a rightback position while Harden went in to partner Cann in the centre of defense. San Jose came out trying to continue their momentum from the first half. Wondolowski was looking threatening and gave us a massive scare when he hit a hard shot from close range, but Frei got down to save while Harden made a strong block when Wondolowski hit another shot off the rebound. Having de Guzman on the pitch helped since he was able to, you know, pass the ball to another player wearing red. It’s nice when a player can do that. Maicon may need to take some lessons in that. Julian does look like he’s carrying a bit of weight. I hope we aren’t rushing him back too early and I really hope he doesn’t re-injure himself.

While de Guzman didn’t pick up any bad knocks in the game, Stevanovic most certainly did, and he had to be subbed off for Zavarise. Plata also came on for our new captain Maicon (the armband was passed on to JdG as he went off). Plata is quite small, but he made some great runs down the left flank. His only issue at the moment seems to be decision-making in the final third. TFC’s next good chance came from Gordon who got himself in a good position to the keeper’s left, but his shot was too weak. Perhaps he could have taken that better to put us in the lead. The only other really good chance I can remember was when Martina, who had a more subdued game, hit a shot near post that ended up skimming over the bar. The last half hour of the match basically consisted of the Earthquakes trying to overwhelm us and pin us back under pressure. Cann came up really big during this last part of the game. He was everywhere making blocks and tackles. It was a great performance that kept our precious point intact at the end of the day. In past seasons we would have conceded in the dying minutes of a match, but we held firm and showed some steel to see it through.

Full Time Stats (via MLSsoccer.com): San Jose Earthquakes v Toronto FC
Goals 1-1
Shots 19-10
On target 5-3
Fouls 13-17
Offsides 3-2
Possession % 58-42

There were definitely some shaky moments for TFC, but we also saw some players finding their feet. Tchani is looking like a very good pick up from NYRB. Julian will provide stability in the midfield and hopefully will be fit enough to play 90 minutes sooner rather than later. Stevanovic looked threatening out wide, but there is some worry about him picking up an injury. Peterson looked good playing more defensively. I’ve already said it too much this season, but it’s baby steps for this team, and we’re seeing slight progressions every time along with the bumps in the road. We have a tough challenge with the Galaxy coming to BMO this week so there’s no time to rest. The games will be coming fast at us now and we will start to see really how this team is coming together in the coming weeks.

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San Jose Earthquakes
Conference: West Position: 5th
W-L-D: 1-1-1 (0 points, +1 goal differential)
Home Form: 0-1-1 (-1 goal differential)
Recent Form: DWL
Last Meeting: Toronto FC 2 – San Jose Earthquakes 3 (September 25, 2010)

Toronto FC are back on the road again. We’re flying to sunny California to meet up with San Jose Earthquakes, one of the clubs that has been in MLS since the league’s inception in 1996 (then known as “San Jose Clash”). Currently, TFC have taken 4 points from 3 games (not too shabby) and sit 6th in the Eastern Conference. Or, if you will, joint-third on points! San Jose have garnered the same number of points, but they have found more success on the road than at home so far.

San Jose has seen many changes over the years, from their roots in the NASL to the franchise move to Houston (the team in Houston ended up as an expansion team in 2006 and San Jose’s original team records did not carry over). San Jose were on hiatus during the 2006 and 2007 seasons because of the franchise move, but returned to MLS in 2008 under their former manager, legendary Canadian Frank Yallop. Since the opening MLS season, San Jose has won 2 MLS Cups, both under Frank Yallop, in 2001 and 2003. In 2005 they won the Supporter Shield in 2005 under coach Dominic Kinnear. Last season, despite just barely making the playoffs, they managed to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals (yes, Eastern. Don’t ask) where they lost to eventual MLS Cup winners Colorado Rapids.

This season has seen San Jose make an uneven start, but there are still hopes that the strong finish to the end of their 2010 campaign will carry over into this season. On the other hand, some have cautioned that they could end up back on the low end of the table like they were before their good run to the playoffs. They certainly are a team that could build on any momentum and with a recent away win at FC Dallas and a 2-2 tie last weekend against Seattle, San Jose will be eager to grab their first home win of the season against a Toronto team that is still trying to find its feet. The last time the Reds played at Buck Shaw Stadium, we came away with 3 points after winning 3-1. They greatly outnumbered us in shots, but Stefan Frei came up big, as usual, with several key saves. DeRo struck twice and grabbed his second goal when he was in clear on an empty net. Chad Barrett also scored for TFC while Ramiro Corrales claimed the lone San Jose goal of the night. Our record isn’t bad away to San Jose; in the three games we’ve played there we’ve won twice and drawn once. If we can keep our good fortunes there going, it would be great, but I think it will be a tougher task this year, particularly since our side has yet to achieve real consistency within their play, not to mention we just lost DeRo who was our best and most influential player.

The Earthquakes are still being headed up by coach Frank Yallop. He is well-known and respected within the Canadian soccer community and has 52 caps for the Canadian National Team. He also coached the Men’s National Team from 2004-2006 after leaving his first stint at San Jose. He was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame in 2005. Dwayne De Rosario, our former captain who has now joined New York Red Bulls, played under Yallop for the national team and during the Earthquakes successful cup-winning seasons. Alan Gordon, Ty Harden, and Nathan Sturgis all played under Yallop when he coached LA Galaxy from 2006-2007. You can see, there is a lot of history there and several players that have crossed paths. Most recently, TFC did business with the Earthquakes when they traded Sam Cronin for allocation money in June 2010. I still can’t believe we made that trade. Cronin was well-liked by many people and thought to be a great pickup in the 2009 MLS Superdraft. The only reason he was let go is because he wasn’t a “Preki-type” player. He’s done well ever since he joined San Jose. I can see him being a great player in this league for years to come and it really annoys me that we just let him go for no good reason. He’ll be one to keep an eye on this weekend. I’m sure he’d love to score against us!

I can’t talk about the Earthquakes without mentioning Chris Wondolowski. He had always been one of those players that played second fiddle on his teams and struggled with injury at times. It was in 2010 when he really hit top form and enjoyed a fantastic season with the Earthquakes. He scored 18 goals during the 2010 season, including a hattrick at BMO, and won the MLS Golden Boot. His goals were a major reason why San Jose made it to the playoffs last season. He’s continued scoring this season by scoring twice against FC Dallas. His last 12 goals for the club, stretching back to last season, set a new record as being the only goals scored for San Jose. In other words, only Wondolowski was on target for San Jose as he scored their last 12 goals in MLS. That came to an end last weekend when Khari Stephenson and Simon Dawkins netted against Seattle to become the Earthquakes first scorers in months not named Wondolowski. Wondo is still going to be their biggest threat so our defense needs to stay tight on him and our midfield needs to cut off his supply.

In defense, the Earthquakes look to have a solid enough backline, but it was exposed against Seattle last weekend. San Jose captain and veteran defender Ramiro Corrales will likely start in the centre of defense. They seem to play three centrebacks so we could see Jason Hernandez or Brandon McDonald joining Corrales along with Ike Opara, the talented, young 22 year old defender. In the middle of the park will be Cronin with another big player in Bobby Convey. He has recently reminded people of his talents that had been subdued in recent years by enjoying a great season with San Jose in 2010 and racking up 10 assists in the league. He can be a real terror on the flank, which is bad news for us because we seem to really be exposed defensively out wide. If it’s Gargan who starts on Saturday, be afraid. Be very afraid.

Moving on to the Reds, there have been so many changes to the TFC roster, it’s been hard to keep up at times. DeRo is officially out and Tony Tchani, Danleigh Borman, and Dicoy Williams are in. With all of the new additions, it is difficult for me to guess the starting eleven, but here goes:

Frei

I believe Yourassowsky is back from suspension and will be available. He’s our best option at leftback and did a really good job with overlapping runs, so I think he’s still a starter. If Nana’s fit and healthy I think he will start next to Cann. They are still adjusting to the new style of play with the high line and playing from the back, but they are still the best options we have. The more they play together the better because they have a good understanding of each other from last season and can slowly improve with time. I’ve put Williams at rightback because Gargan seems like he’s been moved to the bench after some less than stellar performances in our opening games. Frei, of course, starts in goal.

As for our attack, I’m interested to see what Winter puts out. He threw Tchani into the mix right away against Chivas USA so I can definitely see him starting on Saturday. I can’t see deGuzman starting the game, what with all the travel and him only just coming back from injury. I think most of us were surprised to see him on the bench, let alone play 45 minutes last week. If we see him, I’m guessing it will be in the second half. Stevanovic, Martina, and our new captain Maicon are all shoo-ins to start. Peterson has been holding his own and should find himself in the midfield again. Gordon grabbed his first goal last week and provides us with a big, strong physical presence that gives us a different option up top. It looks pretty close to our strongest eleven. We really need to take our chances when we get them. In other words, we might not get a lot of chances, so opportunities like the one Maicon royally screwed up last week cannot be missed. Our defense is still our weakest area, but our attacking players need to get back and help out when they can. With DeRo leaving, we no longer have that one guy to turn to when the chips are down. Any success we have on the pitch will truly be a team effort. The faster our guys can start clicking and improving their understanding of each other, the better our performances will get. I think this will be a tough game. San Jose will score, I’m pretty sure of that, though chances of us scoring on the road are better today than they have been in previous seasons. Our record on the road in MLS is quite poor, but what we have on our side is our record against San Jose in their stadium and the fact that they haven’t been great at home thus far. Hopefully, we can get a decent result from this match, or at the very least, see some improvement in our general play. Either would be satisfying for me.

Toronto FC @ San Jose Earthquakes will be broadcast on GolTV Canada Live at 10:30pm ET

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This review was written by Saurabh of Hoffenheim Offside. Thanks to him for his help and make sure to check out his blog!

It may have been important to start playing immediately after losing Dwayne De Rosario in a trade to New York. We got to see new boy Tony Tchani in action right away and he showed glimpses of the vision and creativity that is sometimes lacking in THE MLS. It also backs up claims that he’d be a great prospect, a promising player who could fit so well into the new system Aron Winter is trying to bring to Toronto.

Toronto FC: Starters: Stefan Frei, Danleigh Borman, Nana Attakora (65′), Adrian Cann, Ty Harden, Tony Tchani, Maicon Santos, Jacob Peterson (46′), Javier Martina, Alan Gordon, Alen Stevanovic (70′)

Bench: Milos Kocic, Oscar Cordon, Dan Gargan, Dicoy Williams (65′), Ashtone Morgan, Julian de Guzman (46′), Joao Plata (70′)

Chivas USA: Starters: Dan Kennedy, Michael Lahoud, Heath Pearce, Andrew Boyens, Ante Jazic, Nick LaBrocca, Marcos Mondaini (67′), Ben Zemanski, Jorge Flores, Justin Braun (86′), Alejandro Moreno

Bench: Sergio Arias, Zach Thornton, Gerson Mayen (67′) Francisco Mendoza, Seth Owusu, Mariano Trujillo, Victor Estupinan (86′)

The game itself should have been an easy one but we didn’t make it that way for ourselves at all. The game started off with a goal for Chivas in the first two minutes. After getting tangled up the ball bounced off Attakora and fell perfectly for Moreno to slide the ball past Frei. This would continue with Chivas piling on the pressure and Attakora making a few more mistakes. Just as I started swearing him out though he came up with a few important tackles and blocks to redeem himself. With a combination of luck, poor finishing and good defending we managed not to concede another goal in the following few minutes.

The game did manage to pick itself up with the momentum swinging TFC’s way. One of the best chances of the first half came for Alan Gordon. The ball went out to Javier Martina who then put in a perfect cross. Gordon leaped over the his man to get his head to the ball, unfortunately, he only hit the post. A snap shot by Maicon Santos just a few moments later was parried poorly but the Chivas keeper managed to smother it before the Stevanovic could get to the rebound.

The goal did come eventually, a freekick swung in well and this time Alan Gordon headed it home. The equaliser lifted the crowd after a frustrating first half and you could see by the celebration that it lifted the players as well. The team continued to turn the screw on Chivas and we should have had the lead just before half time.

We all know it’s not an MLS game without a blunder from the referee. Martina picked up a corner and hammered it towards goal. And as hard as he tried, even Maicon couldn’t miss it. Unfortunately the goal was wrongfully ruled off for offside to the outrage of the everyone watching. It’s alright though, I admire THE MLS’s commitment to diversity by letting blind people ref games.

Toronto came out of the gates stronger in the second half with more of the same. It was almost all TFC from then on and you expected us to take the lead. The chance came on the hour mark when a great pass sent Maicon. He could have squared it across the box for a tap in, but being a striker he took the selfish choice. He managed to beat the keeper which sent everyone in the ground on their feet, most already celebrating. But his touch was too heavy and allowed the Chivas defender to get back and put off his shot. It was surprising when our best finisher, Maicon, missed the open goal (sarcasm). Stevanovic was understandably angry, he had made a great run and was in perfect position to roll the ball into the open net.

And it was at that point when I knew the game was over and that there would be no hope. Chivas managed to get a period of pressure on us which forced a few solid saves from Frei. How embarrassing would it have been if we had lost to a LaBrocca strike. Yeah, I felt you flinch. The game would end without any more goals, 1-1. Hard earned first points for Chivas but as a TFC fan we can see this as 2 points dropped.

Full Time Stats (via MLSsoccer.com): Toronto FC v Portland Timbers
Goals 1-1
Shots 8-14
On target 4-7
Fouls 9-18
Offsides 6-0
Possession % 43-57

Despite the slow start it was a positive performance that showed that Winter’s system will eventually work. A stark contrast to Prekiball that’s already having a positive response. Given time we should have a team that’s capable of entertaining and winning, and Aron Winter has taken the team a few steps in the right direction. While we can expect to drop points every now and then to poor teams, the performances in those games are going to be what matters. Do we move the ball well, do we create enough chances, do we defend well? The answer to those questions were “yes” for the most part and you can’t fault that.

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And there it is. It finally happened. After much frustration from DeRo about his treatment from the club and his very public airing of that frustration, it seems we have reached the end of the tether. Dwayne De Rosario has officially joined New York Red Bulls in exchange for Tony Tchani, Danleigh Borman and a First Round pick in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft.

I can’t say I’m surprised by the move, but hearing the news today was certainly a shock. I had heard some rumblings a couple of weeks ago about some teams being in for DeRo, but I immediately forgot about it until today. I really didn’t expect to hear about DeRo transferring to New York on the eve of a match day, and on April Fools Day no less! Still, we all knew he wasn’t happy. He had been made promises that were not kept and he felt he deserved more. So off he goes to NYRB, who, at a glance, must look the favourites to get to the MLS Cup final in 2011. DeRo will play with the likes of Thierry Henry now and with more money in his pocket, I’m assuming. In return TFC free up some cap space by losing their best player while bringing in some fresh talent. It looks to be a good move for everyone involved. And yet, I can’t help but feel saddened thinking of what could have been for DeRo at TFC.

Remember that when DeRo was signed, it was a huge deal. DeRo is one of the best players in MLS history and we managed to get the Scarborough native to come back home and play for Toronto. He had won 2 MLS Cups with San Jose Earthquakes and 2 MLS Cups with Houston Dynamo. He is the only MLS player ever to be named the MLS Cup MVP more than once (in 2001 and 2007). In short, this was a massive signing of a high-profile player who had proven himself a winner in MLS. And he was ours. A Canadian. And we got him.

His two seasons with Toronto FC could be called his greatest on a personal level. He scored 15 goals in the league last season, which was his highest tally ever in a season. In total, he scored 32 goals in 75 appearances, making him Toronto FC’s top scorer of all time. In 2009, he scored a hattrick in the “Miracle in Montreal” to lead us to our first Nutrilite Canadian Championship trophy and he led us to win the trophy again the next year. In short, he was the best player TFC have ever had and he always gave his all on the pitch. Unfortunately, his own success on the pitch did not translate to success for the club and for the first time in his career he did not make the playoffs in 2009 and 2010. The club had brought a great player, but did not surround him with similar talent.

DeRo never made things easy for himself off the pitch. He talked openly about not being given what he was promised by the management; this being what we all assume is status as a Designated Player along with a hefty pay package. With the chaos that was the TFC Front Office headed by Mo Johnston, DeRo grew increasingly frustrated with the management and their unwillingness to give him what he felt he was worth and what he felt he was due after being underpaid for much of his time in MLS after achieving so much. Then came that moment when TFC did sign a DP, only it was not DeRo, but Canadian international, Julian de Guzman. This did not sit well with De Ro and he became even more public about his unhappiness at not being paid more than someone who he felt did not contribute as much to the team as he did. He made some bad decisions like the “cheque-signing celebration” during a critical game in our 2010 season. During the offseason, there was the confusing situation of him “training” with Celtic and perhaps angling for a move overseas. It was not particularly captain-like behaviour and there was also a sense that there may be some tension in the dressing room. Things just didn’t seem to be getting any better and he was stuck in what seemed like endless contract negotiations with TFC that continued under the new management of Winter and Mariner.

Fast forward until today and now we see things a little bit clearer. Winter obviously feels confident enough in moving ahead without DeRo and perhaps he and Mariner did not see the benefit of signing him as a DP. DeRo will do well with the Red Bulls and TFC will move forward under Winter and his new style and emphasis on youth. It’s just that I can’t help but feel sad about this whole thing. DeRo could really have been a legend at this club, but because of unfortunate circumstances, idiotic management, egos clashing, and constant shape-shifting of our beloved team, he may end up being seen as just a mercenary who scored a few goals during a tumultuous period in Reds’ history. It just doesn’t seem right. I’ve gotten fed up with DeRo as much as the next fan. I even felt he should not be captain. However, I do appreciate his talent and how much he gave on the pitch. He was a winner, and still is. He wanted to win, and I’m sure it hurt him as much as it did all of us when TFC kept failing to make the playoffs. Rarely in life are things black and white. Most of the time there is a ton of grey in the middle. There are many things DeRo could have handled better, especially off the pitch. I do think that a lot of fault can be laid at the feet of Mo Johnston and his totally inept management that turned our club into a shambles and a laughingstock. If we had a proper team and a proper manager, I think DeRo could have been an important player on a successful TFC team. Instead, we have to say goodbye now with a bitterness left on both sides.

In the bigger scheme of things, this is a positive move, not only for DeRo, but for Toronto FC. DeRo has a chance at making some more money and achieving something great with a team that has high ambitions. Toronto FC have a new outlook on life under Aron Winter. His focus on youth meant that DeRo perhaps was not the best fit to the team anyway, being on the wrong side of 30. Now we bring in a bright young talent in midfielder Toni Tchani and some defensive depth in Danleigh Borman. Winter is building a squad. A proper squad. He is also encouraging our Academy products and trying to instill a sense of identity and purpose into our club. Maybe we needed to get rid of DeRo as that part of the last era that was filled with so much disappointment. It is a chance to reboot without the drama. That can only be a good thing. So on that note, I’d like to say thank you to Dwayne De Rosario for his time at the club, his performances on the pitch, and his many goals. It could have been different; it should have been different. I hope we can all recognize what he brought to the club and what he contributed rather than focus on the off-the-pitch unpleasantness. And, as with all things, I couldn’t end this post without saying one more time: when in doubt, blame Mo. Best wishes, DeRo. Roll on, TFC!

Check out this gesture from De Ro after his last official game with TFC by honouring a member of the Red Patch Boys who tragically died.

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I am not sure that our new signings will be ready to play tomorrow, but one player we will be seeing on the bench is Julian de Guzman. Winter announced today that he will be fit enough to be included with the squad. Perhaps Julian had a visit with the placenta lady, because I have no idea how he went from being fit in mid April to being fit enough to maybe play tomorrow.

Also, Javier Martina’s second goal against Portland has won MLS Goal of the Week. Go back and watch it like I did. Over and over and over and over again!

Remember to check out the TFC-Chivas Match Preview before tomorrow’s game. Come on you Reds!

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Don’t forget to follow Toronto FC Offside on Twitter for the latest news, links, and updates: www.twitter.com/TFCOffside

Chivas USA
Conference: West Position: 8th
W-L-D: 0-2-0 (0 points, -2 goal differential)
Away Form: N/A
Recent Form: LL
Last Meeting: Chivas USA 3 Toronto FC 0 (Oct. 9, 2010)

Finally, TFC face a team that has been in MLS for more than a week. On Saturday, we will be hosting Chivas USA who are in their seventh MLS season. If the name “Chivas” rings a bell it’s because it is the nickname of the Mexican club C.D. Guadalajara. Both Chivas clubs have the same owner and Chivas Guadalajara is considered the parent club to Chivas USA.

Chivas USA has enjoyed success in the past under current USA head coach Bob Bradley and a certain Predrag Radosavljevic, who you may recognize as “Preki”, TFC’s coach last season before he was sacked along with our former sith lord GM Mo Johnston. Bradley took Chivas to the playoffs in their second season after placing 3rd in the Western Conference. Preki took over for Chivas’ third season where he led the Rojiblancos to a 1st place finish in the Western Conference. They went on to the playoffs, but failed to advance past the conference semis.

Recently, things have not been as rosy for Chivas. They failed to make the playoffs last season and ended up finishing dead last in the Western Conference with 28 points and a -14 goal difference. Only DC United had a worse record in the 2010 season (22 points, -26 goal difference). The last time we played them at BMO was way back in August 2010 when Preki faced his old team for the first time since he left them with a squad in much need of repair. That day saw Chad Barrett score along with Nana Attakora who scored a goal after a classic Delap-style long throw from Dan Gargan that we actually used to good effect for once. Chivas managed to gain a penalty after Adrian Cann got called for a handball in the box. They scored with their chance, but the game ended 2-1 in our favour. Stefan Frei had a Man of the Match performance after making several great saves to keep our butts in the game (a recurring theme in 2010) and Maicon Santos got to face his old team after leaving for Toronto with Preki. He ended up going off injured early in the second half, which, incidentally, was another recurring theme in 2010.

Things were good then for our beloved Reds. We were on an unbeaten streak and Prekiball was working its tedious magic. As you know, the season ended up unraveling into chaos and we even ended up losing 3-0 to Chivas at the Home Depot Centre in October under interim manager Nick Dasovic. (Wow, how many prepositions did I manage to shove into that last sentence? English teachers beware!) This season we are trying to change our fortunes and so are Chivas. They just announced this past week that Robin Fraser has officially been handed the role of Head Coach. He will be Chivas’ sixth coach in seven years. Sounds like another team we know. If we weren’t already similar enough, we even did some transfer business with them when we traded Nick Labrocca for Alan Gordon before the start of the season.

“The Goats” unloaded a few big names in the offseason including American international Jonathan Bornstein and the aforementioned Gordon. Coach Fraser wants to bring things back-to-basics with Chivas and keep things simple while strengthening key areas such as defense. He’s brought in veterans like Heath Pearce and Jimmy Conrad to solidify the backline, however, Conrad is currently out injured which is a big blow for them. They will also be missing Paulo Nagamura in the midfield. It seems the Goats’ injury problems of last season seem to be haunting them again. They also have had their young, up-and-coming players away with the US U20 National Team. They may be getting back their most promising defender, Zarek Valentin, from the National squad, but they are still looking pretty thin at the back, which is good news for us.

Up front for Chivas will likely be Justin Braun who was their top scorer last season with 9 goals. He was struggling with injury in preseason, so he might not be in top form, but he is still their likeliest threat going forward. Other players to look out for will be Alejandro Moreno, who was with his national team Venezuela this past week and scored a goal against Jamaica, and Blair Gavin, who may or may not play after picking up an injury in Chivas’ last match. It should be noted that Chivas have lost both of their games so far this season, and both of those games were at home. If they have that kind of record after two games at home, I have to think they won’t be much better away from home. On top of all that, in their opening matches against Sporting Kansas and Colorado they conceded 4 goals and only scored 2, and both of those goals were scored by defenders in their season opener. On Tuesday, the rojiblancos lost away, 2-0 to Portland Timbers in a US Open Cup qualifier. Basically, 2011 hasn’t treated them much better than 2010 and this is a great opportunity for us to grab another three points at home against a weak team while we are still finding our feet.

Last week we picked up a great result at home against Portland Timbers by scoring two great goals and keeping a clean sheet. We’re now up against a team that’s been around for a while in MLS, but has gotten off to a terrible start and is looking vulnerable. Most of our key players are fit and ready to go this week so our chances of winning are pretty good as long as we don’t do anything too stupid and Frei comes up with a couple of those match-winning saves that he manages to rustle up each game. As usual, here’s my best guess at a starting lineup for the Reds:

Frei

I’ll be honest, I’m doing a lot of guesswork here based on who has already started this season and who seems to be doing well so far. Frei is a no-brainer in net. I put Cann and Harden in the centre of defense simply because we are not completely sure if Nana will be fit enough to start. If he is, expect him to be in the starting eleven in place of Harden. Gargan is in purely for lack of options, though Winter may opt for new signing Dicoy Williams, but I am not sure if he has experience at rightback. Yourassowsky is suspended after picking up 2 yellows against Portland so TFC Academy product, Ashtone Morgan, gets his chance to start and show us what he’s got. DeRo and Peterson seem to have solidified their spots, but Sturgis has struggled to make an impact so I put him on the bench for Stevanovic. Up front I suspect we will see Maicon or Gordon up front with one of them playing on the wing and Martina playing in the other wide role. That’s a hell of a lot of attack on the pitch, so now that I think about it, I’m probably quite off in my predictions, but we’ll see. We definitely need to see some better ball retention in the middle of the park. Julian isn’t expected to be back until mid-April, so the players we field until then need to show some improvement. We can score goals with this team, but our defense is still shaky and prone to sitting to deep and not moving the ball out from the back quickly enough. We also tend to be exposed on quick counterattacks. These are all things that should make for an entertaining yet nerve-wracking afternoon!

I’m doing my best to juggle two blogs at once (I also write for Arsenal Offside), but I will be calling in reinforcements this weekend in the form of Saurabh from Hoffenheim Offside who will write up the review from the game.

Toronto FC v Chivas USA will be broadcast on TSN Live at 1:00pm ET

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Don’t forget to follow Toronto FC Offside on Twitter for the latest news, links, and updates: www.twitter.com/TFCOffside

First of all, my deepest apologies for the headline. I don’t usually do the pun thing, and now you see why.

TFC had its first home game of the season hosting Portland Timbers, the second expansion team of MLS in 2011. Toronto had a dire performance against Vancouver the week before. Things were not looking optimistic and we have never had a good record facing expansion teams at home. In fact, we had never won a game against an expansion team at BMO. The fans were hoping for anything good to come from the game, especially since it wasn’t going to come from the weather.

Toronto FC: Starters: Stefan Frei, Dan Gargan, Adrian Cann, Ty Harden, Mikael Yourassowsky, Maicon Santos (69′), Nathan Sturgis (46′), Jacob Peterson, Dwayne De Rosario, Alan Gordon, Javier Martina (87′)

Bench: Alen Stevanovic* (46′), Oscar Cordon, Gianluca Zavarise (69′), Doneil Henry, Keith Makubuya, Ashtone Morgan (87′), Milos Kocic

Portland Timbers: Starters: Adin Brown (46′), Steve Purdy, Eric Brunner, Kevin Goldthwaite, Rodney Wallace, Ryan Pore (66′), Peter Lowry, Jack Jewsbury, Jeremy Hall, Jorge Perlaza (73′), Kenny Cooper

Bench: Kalif Alhassan, Jake Gleeson (46′), Freddie Braun, David Horst, Sal Zizzo (66′), Brian Umony (73′), James Marcelin

The boys gathered together in their familiar team huddle on the pitch and then the whistle blew for Toronto’s first, very cold, home game of the season. The game started off similarly to the week before. We kept possession and were trying to attack straight from kickoff. Maicon even got a shot off in the first minute, albeit off-target. Martina provided width and pace out wide on the right while DeRo took up the left flank. Our backline looked more assured with Harden and Cann holding it down in the centre and Yourassowsky in at leftback. Thank god for that because Cann just looked terrible against the Whitecaps and look much more assured today in his usual role. Nana was not in the match squad due to injury.

Our attacking intent paid off when Martina scored in the 14th minute for his first ever TFC goal and first ever in Major League Soccer. It was a great team effort with Peterson finding Maicon in the middle of the pitch who played it forward to DeRo making the run up the middle. The defender was right on his tail, but DeRo did really well to hold him off and keep the ball and then lay it off to an onrushing Martina who slotted past the Timbers’ keeper. It was great to see such a quick and fluid play from the team. The goal gave us the perfect start to calm the nerves.

The opening 20 minutes of the match showed the kind of football that Winter is trying to get the team to play. The back four held a high line and caught Cooper offside a few times. DeRo looked dangerous every time he got on the ball and Yourassowsky was doing great with his overlapping runs allowing DeRo to cut in to maintain a threat. Unfortunately, we couldn’t keep up that positive play and the Timbers started to find their way back into the game. They began increasing the pressure and pressing higher up the pitch. We started to see a few stray passes, particularly in the middle where I though Sturgis and Peterson could have done much better in keeping possession. Then we began giving away corners and careless fouls. Gargan in particular was not having a great game. He gives away possession and too many errant passes at times. We all love him for his hard work and enthusiasm, but really he should be a backup to a better rightback for us.

Luckily our defense was able to hold on until halftime. Not much was coming from Portland’s corners and we were much more direct and no-nonsense with our clearances. Sometimes this needs to be done, particularly in set piece situations, so I would much rather the players take the safer option of booting the ball away then dallying about on the ball near our penalty area and then give it away to the other team to get a shot off. Frei had been solid throughout the game, but the only time I saw him have some trouble was during the 20 minute spell before halftime when he flapped once or twice at a ball coming into the area. Otherwise, it was safe hands as always. Some of our defending was last-ditch, but Harden and Cann were pretty good at getting their big frames in the way to get blocks in as well. There are always going to be periods when the opposition puts us under pressure like that. The important thing is that we are able to withstand that pressure and counter when we get the chance. One good thing I noticed was that the closer we got to halftime, the more the Timbers got impatient and just started trying shots from far outside the box. Frankly, they could do that all day long and I wouldn’t mind. Frei is pretty good at catching long range shots and besides, most of those 35 yarders tend to go high and wide. As for us, our forward movement waned, but we managed to make it to halftime without conceding.

Before the whistle, Winter subbed in new guy Stevanovic, who had just flown in on Friday, for Sturgis who again had a bit of an anonymous game. The second half continued much in the same manner the first half ended. The Timbers were getting the better of possession and we tried our luck on the break. The Timbers, much like us in our previous game, weren’t able to get any good chances despite their possession. Their best chance at a goal would likely come through a corner or freekick. Kenny Cooper is bloody huge and a huge nuisance to our backline, so I was always nervous with him close to our goal.

Maicon had a great start to the second half when he found himself one-on-one with the keeper but did not capitalize on his chance well enough as the Timbers keeper, who came on as a second half sub, saved the shot easily. Maicon really should have done better with that chance and I think I would have broken something had we conceded straight after that chance. I have to say that Alan Gordon did really well for me on Saturday. He got the flick-on for Maicon that led to that chance and he was constantly in defenders faces and providing good support to our other attacking players. I’d like to see more from him in the next game, possibly as our target man because I think he did a lot of the little things well and came off as a good team player.

As I mentioned, we were playing much more on the counter and not playing as much in possession. One thing I noticed was that the ball was not moving particularly well on the pitch. Maybe it was just me, but it seemed like the surface was not slick enough for the sort of passing game that Winter would like the team to play. Perhaps it was this plus our players exercising a bit of practicality that led them to more of a direct and “long ball” style a lot of the time. If Frei didn’t see any good movement in front of him and a lot of Portland players, he would just encourage the team to push up and then send a ball up field for one of our big guys to knock down. Ok, so it wasn’t totaalvoetbal, but that will take time to sustain for 90 minutes. Our approach paid off in the 70th minute when Frei gathered the ball after a Timbers corner and picked out Martina about 60 yards out that Martina took down and smashed into the net with a tremendous piece of skill. One of the goals of the week for sure, and Martina’s second of the night. If he could keep doing that for the rest of the season, that’d be great, thanks!

All seemed to be going so well. There had to be something that went wrong. And you bet Yourassowsky something went wrong! Our hilariously named leftback was on a yellow and was being subbed off in the 84th minute after he had picked up a knock when the referee decided he was taking too long walking off the pitch and issued a second yellow to send him off. What can I say? It was one of the dumbest sendings off this side of Robin van Persie in the Champions League last month. I have to say though, Yourassowsky didn’t do himself any favours. The ref was on him the whole game and Yourassowsky was talking back a bit. My approach to every game is, don’t give the ref a reason to book you. It’s the they’re-all-against-us-so-don’t-get-on-the-ref’s-bad-side approach. I could feel the red card coming, I really could. Maybe it was the numbskull ref, or maybe it was the red card that Yourassowsky picked up in a preseason friendly of all places, but I felt that he was going to get sent off. Really, it was a sending off we could have avoided if our guy had just quickened his pace a tad. So, well done young man, you will now be suspended because you picked up a couple silly bookings. Work on your tackling on your time off so next time you don’t constantly foul to pick up that first booking.

TFC were down to 10 men during the last 10 minutes and my twitter timeline was telling me to expect a goal to be conceded by our crappy defense. Well, we didn’t concede, so take that twitter! It wasn’t a stand out performance, but a decent one where we saw flashes of the Winter philosophy. Portland didn’t test us all that much, but we managed to handle what they did throw at us. A good three points and TFC are 7th in the Eastern Conference, or, if you will, joint-third in the Eastern Conference. Yeah, I like that second one better, I think I’ll go with that.

Full Time Stats (via MLSsoccer.com): Toronto FC v Portland Timbers
Goals 2-0
Shots 11-16
On target 5-4
Fouls 18-8
Offsides 1-5
Possession % 45-55

So what, if anything, can we take away from Saturday night’s win? Well, we won. This is after people thought we would be absolutely hopeless and might not even get anything from today’s game on the basis of what they saw against Vancouver. TFC employed a more direct style of play. Whether or not that was intentional, I don’t know, but maybe we needed a bit of that. Our team won’t change overnight, so we can’t try to force things. Saying that, there were some very positive signs in the opening 20 minutes that shows how Winter is beginning to change this team. Our problems lie in our inexperience. The team needs to stick with Winter’s methods in training and constantly try to improve their skill and understanding of the players around them. Often during the match, players seemed to be caught in two minds in whether they should pass the ball or take on a defender or when exactly to release the ball. Again, I think this comes with time and practice and also being surrounded by good players. We’ve brought in Stevanovic, who didn’t look great, but the guy just got here and he certainly seems to have a lot to offer. DeRo is looking as good as he ever did and we still have de Guzman to return to the fold. We’ve gotten through our first tests, but we have only faced expansion teams so far. There are plenty more obstacles awaiting. The kind of little individual mistakes we’ve been making, the sloppy giveaways, and conceding freekicks in dangerous areas are all things that need to be addressed. A good team can really punish us when we leave ourselves exposed and we were lucky to be let off against Portland’s relatively impotent attack. Progression and evolution are slow, but we already see how things are different in little ways, and I also believe that the players are much happier under this management. Now they just need to keep working hard and keep believing.

*Alen Stevanovic along with Joao Plata were officially signed by TFC last week. Stevanovic is co-owned by Internazionale Milan and Torino FC and will spend the season on loan with TFC.

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Don’t forget to follow Toronto FC Offside on Twitter for the latest news, links, and updates: www.twitter.com/TFCOffside

Portland Timbers
Conference: West Position: 8th
W-L-D: 0-1-0 (0 points, -2 goal differential)
Away Form: 0-1-0 (-2 goal differential)
Recent Form: L
Last Meeting: N/A

It’s the 2011 home opener for Toronto FC and who do we face but another expansion team. After playing the Whitecaps in their first ever MLS game, we will be hosting Portland Timbers this weekend in their second ever game in MLS. We made some history in our last match since it featured Vancouver’s first ever MLS goal and the game ended up being Vancouver’s first ever MLS win. I don’t know about you, but I would like very much not to make any of Portland’s history books on Saturday.

So who are these Portland lads anyway? Last season they finished 3rd in the USL Conference of USSF Division 2. Their overall record in the league was 13-7-10 with a goal difference of +11. Not too bad considering the awful streak they had in May, going on an 8 game winless streak whilst competing on two fronts. They made it to the playoffs in post season, facing notable rivals Vancouver Whitecaps. Vancouver got the best of that tie and Portland did not end up progressing from the playoff quarterfinals.

Portland have been as busy as you would expect during the offseason. Last August, the Timbers appointed former Houston Dynamo Assistant Coach John Spencer as Head Coach and he is at the helm for Portland’s inaugural MLS season. He has emphasized youth, athleticism, and and mental toughness as fundamental to his team. He has been described as funny and encouraging as a coach and seems to be well liked by the team. This season will no doubt be a huge test to see if he has what it takes to be a top coach.

The Timbers have made a fair number of trades in the months before the start of the 2011 season. They brought in Jeremy Hall from New York Red Bulls as a third round pick in the SuperDraft. Jack Jewsbury was acquired from Sporting Kansas and should provide some experience in the midfield. Other notable midfield additions include second overall SuperDraft pick, Darlington Nagbe and Sal Zizzo, formerly of Chivas USA.

In goal, Portland has Troy Perkins who faced the huge task of keeping out goals for DC United last season. Needless to say, that didn’t go to well considering United’s leaky defense. Perkins and the United defense conceded 47 goals last season, so Perkins will be hoping for a fresh start with the Timbers and another chance at proving to doubters that he can provide safe hands. As for the Timbers’ defense, they have been solid, particularly in their last two seasons in USL. MLS, however, is a whole other kettle of fish. They’ve already let in 3 goals against 2010 MLS Cup Champions Colorado Rapids. Maybe they are stronger than that game suggests, but with TFC’s focus being attacking this season, we should really have a go at their backline and make sure we test them much more than we did the Whitecaps in our last match.

Portland have kept some of their old team from USL last season. It’s a positive thing that they have players that know each other and have experience playing together, but some of them have not played in MLS, which could be a detriment. As with most expansion teams, you don’t really know how things will turn out until you see them play a few games. They don’t look strong enough to be challenging for a playoff spot, but hey, you never really know in this league. Their biggest threat to us in our upcoming matchup will likely be former MLS All-Star Kenny Cooper. Cooper enjoyed his best years in MLS when he played for FC Dallas from 2006 to 2009. In 2008, he scored 18 goals for FC Dallas, but unfortunately his time with the club was littered with injuries and he left to go abroad in 2009. Now he’s back with Portland ready to make his comeback in MLS. He scored Portland’s first MLS goal ever in their last game against Colorado, which ended 3-1 in favour of the Rapids. That shows he still has something left in those boots. Whether he can replicate his form of days past is unknown, but he is big, strong, as well as good with the ball at his feet, so our defenders need to keep a close eye on him.

From dazzling kit unveilings to club logo controversy, this Portland team is certainly doing what it can to make its mark in Major League Soccer. They will be an interesting team to watch, and certainly people should tune in to see their games against their fierce rivals Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps. Those should be exciting and intense matches that will be great for the league. Right now, they have lost their only MLS game played 3-1, but it was away from home and against the MLS Cup Champions. They may be sitting in 8th place in the Western Conference, but they surely will not want to start the season with two losses in a row, so we need to be ready for a tough game at BMO.

Meanwhile, things are just peachy in the TFC camp. Wait, did I say peachy? I meant miserable. We lost 4-2 in Vancouver and the fans are frustrated and restless. And who can blame them? How many clubs feel like they are in their expansion year 5 seasons in a row? It looks like BMO won’t be packed on Saturday like days of old, which should wake up some of the big guys in the head office. I think, as long as the support that shows up backs the team in full voice it will be ok. Winter mentioned how he is looking forward to having a twelfth man and I think it would be great if BMO gave him and the new team a hearty welcome.

Even though we enjoyed most of the possession in our previous game, we failed to do much with it. Our defense looked shaky, which is an understatement, but we still managed to score two goals away from home. It’s obvious though that we’re still smarting from our opening game loss. Here’s what Adrian Cann had to say about it:

“Everyone was off. We weren’t on the same wavelength; communication-wise, the organization, everything was off. Marking, closing down the space, closing down the man, passing off the man, sequence. All-in-all it was off. It was our first game but at the same time, you have to learn from your mistakes. I think moving forward, we know what we did wrong. We went through everything. I think the players know what they did wrong. I think moving forward you need to improve on the mistakes and build from that.”

I’m not sure if we can play much worse than we did against the Whitecaps. Dear god, I hope we can’t play much worse. In any case, I expect to see an improvement from the team on Saturday and a rethink of our backline. There doesn’t seem to be any new injuries and de Guzman is still out for a little while. Alan Gordon has finally sorted out his passport issues and joined up with the team in Toronto. Here’s my best guess at a starting lineup.

Frei

Ok, so it’s pretty much what I guessed last week’s lineup would be. I only had two picks wrong with Yourassowsky and Zavarise. Frankly, Cann was terrible as a leftback so I am hoping that we see him back together with Nana in the centre of our defense. Harden had a mare, so we won’t be missing him too much if he doesn’t start. I know Yourassowsky is a bit raw still (get your mind out the gutter!) but he has to be the best option we have so far at leftback. The Gargan didn’t have a particularly good game in our last outing, but we don’t have a lot of depth at fullback, so I expect he will be starting. The rest of the team picks itself a bit. Soolsma started previously, but was taken off at halftime due to quite the vestigial performance. He may start again, but I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say Zavarise might get the nod ahead of him. DeRo and Frei keep their spots as always. Maicon scored a great goal for us last week and I think does well for us up front plus Gordon only just joined up with the team, so I think we will see Maicon lead the line again.

We really need a win, and what better time to do it than at BMO against an expansion team? If we lose, or even draw, I suspect the mood around TFC will be more down than ever. I believe we have a good management team now that needs a bit of time, but we need to see some shining lights of progress this weekend to give us all a bit more hope.

Come on you Reds!

Toronto FC v Portland Timbers will be broadcast on TSN Live at 2:00pm ET

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Don’t forget to follow Toronto FC Offside on Twitter for the latest news, links, and updates: www.twitter.com/TFCOffside

It was the first time two Canadian teams have faced off in Major League Soccer. As a spectacle, it was an exciting game to watch for the neutral, and a great advert for soccer in this country. On top of that, we saw many Canadian players on display. The Whitecaps featured two Canadian players and Toronto FC had 5 Canadians take the field. A moment in history for Canadian soccer, but alas, a painful night for fans of TFC. On Saturday night, TFC fans saw that this was going to be another long and potentially painful season; one of rebuilding and restarting from scratch. While the Whitecaps enjoy their expansion season, TFC would be undergoing a fifth “expansion” season of their own.

Vancouver Whitecaps: Starters: Jay Nolly, Jonathan Leathers, Michael Boxall, Jay DeMerit, Alain Rochat, Gershon Koffie, Davide Chiumiento (46′), Terry Dunfield, Russell Teibert (69′), Atiba Harris, Eric Hassli (83′). Bench: Joe Cannon, Greg Janicki, Wes Knight (69′), Jeb Brovsky, Nizar Khalfan (46′), Long Tan, Camilo (83′)

Toronto FC: Starters: Stefan Frei, Dan Gargan, Nana Attakora, Ty Harden, Adrian Cann, Nathan Sturgis (69′), Dwayne De Rosario, Jacob Peterson (71′), Nick Soolsma (46′), Maicon Santos, Javier Martina Bench: Oscar Cordon, Matt Gold*, Keith Makubuya (46′), Ashtone Morgan, Gianluca Zavarise (69′), Milos Kocic, Mikael Yourassowsky* (71′)

I guess I should start at the beginning. A very good place to start, especially since we looked decent in the opening minutes. Both teams were lively and ready for action. It was all a bit frenetic, but then Toronto enjoyed some spells of possession. Our build up play was a bit slow, but Martina was trying to get something happening out wide on the left. It was nice to see us passing the ball around instead of being the team chasing it. Of course this meant we were the first to concede. That’s right. TFC waited four games into its expansion year to score a goal, but it took Vancouver all but 15 minutes. Eric Hassli, the Whitecaps new DP signing, wrote his place into club history by hammering home their first-ever goal with his left foot. While the fans flung plastic rain ponchos onto the pitch and had the game stopped for a few minutes to clean up the pitch, I sat there thinking that we might be in for a goalfest that night. My only worry was if we would have any share in the spoils.

It only took five minutes for us to respond. Maicon sent a nice ball in behind the ‘Caps defense. DeRo picked it up and finished it off nicely into the far corner with his right foot. But wouldn’t you know it? Vancouver almost immediately came back from that in the 30th minute when they found their way through our meek defending and Terry Dunfield who put the ball in the back of the net with an assured strike. Only 20 minutes had gone and we already had seen 3 goals. Was this going to end 5-5?

I can’t really put my finger on when we started to fall apart, but after a half hour you could see that the Whitecaps were starting to enjoy the better of the game. They had pace on the break and took advantage of our defensive weaknesses. The fact that Adrian Cann was used at leftback was not helping at all. He just could not deal with Chiumiento on the wings and we were constantly being exposed there. Our central defensive pairing of Harden and Attakora was not doing well either. Both looked out of sorts and made bad decisions all night long. If we are going to play a high line, then our backline needs to have a good understanding of one another. Vancouver was easily beating our offside trap and getting the best of our defenders. When I saw the lineup at first I thought, ok, maybe Winter wanted four at the back who have some MLS experience and have played together. Unfortunately, with Harden in the centre and Cann at leftback, there was just no solidity. Hopefully we will never see the back four start like this again and we will have Nana and Cann at the heart of our defense. They worked well enough together last season and I suspect we might see them together again for the upcoming home opener.

Do I really have to talk about the second half? Things just went from bad to worse. I thought by taking off the ineffective Soolsma at halftime for Makabuya, we would see a bit of a difference. Really, all I saw was just a painful display from our team. If Vancouver was playing with passion, determination, and spirit, then we were playing with anything but. I remember in preseason de Klerk saying that he wants to see our players playing with passion, so it was disappointing to see that they had such little fight in them in the second half.

Again, Vancouver did well to exploit the space on the flanks and keep our side under pressure. Atiba Harris had a good chance when he found himself in space, but some last-ditch defending and a frantic hoof of the ball saved our blushes. The Whitecaps were able to put themselves ahead with their third goal of the night through a set piece in the 63rd minute. Teibert took the corner and there was a bit of a scramble before Harris slotted it in the back of the net. Terrible defending from us and they punished us for it. Another note to make about our defense. I know Winter wants us to play out from the back, but there are some times when you just need to clear your lines. We’ve given away too many balls in dangerous areas by simply dwelling on the ball too long or making loose passes at the back. The back four did not look comfortable and often gave the ball back to Frei when they were too nervous to play the ball forward or found themselves confronted with an opposing attacker. We needed composure and were sorely lacking on the day.

In the midfield we were just getting bossed. We weren’t keeping possession well, and when we did, we were doing very little with it. Vancouver were being much more direct and were effective in getting the ball up the pitch to create scoring opportunities. Physically, we were losing the battle. Someone needs to tell Winter that MLS can be rough at times and the refs aren’t going to give you calls for a lot of challenges that would be considered fouls in other leagues. Our players aren’t tiny, but they need to be much stronger and hold their own. Otherwise we are going to get crushed this season.

Vancouver were really starting to rub salt in the wound when they put themselves up 4-1 in the 72nd minute. Knight beat the offside trap and found himself in tons of space. He found Hassli, who was also in acres of space, who just needed a simple tap-in for the finish. It was getting embarrassing. Where were our defenders? No one should have that much time and space to score, but they did. We were getting hammered and a lot of it was our own fault. Maicon tried to salvage something for us with a beautiful strike two minutes later, but it wasn’t enough. Some more stuff happened in the last fifteen minutes, but I’ve blocked out much of it and don’t really feel like trying to recall the rest of the awfulness. A good day for Canadian soccer and MLS. A bad day for TFC fans everywhere.

Full Time Stats (via @OptaJack): Vancouver Whitecaps v Toronto FC
Goals 4-2
Shots 13-9
On target 8-6
Fouls 12–5
Passing accuracy 78%-86%
Possession 34%-66%

Frankly, there were not a lot of positives to take from the game. DeRo was ok and even tried a few of his I’m-going-to-do-this-on-my-own moments that came to nothing. Frei did pretty well considering the defense he was working with. I was surprised I didn’t see him rip off his shoelaces and strangle a couple of them during the match. At least he’ll give them an earful every time they make a mistake. Sturgis was almost non-existent. In fact, I don’t even remember anything he did. If his role was to protect the backline, well, he did a terrible job. Petersen doesn’t really work in the middle, but we didn’t have a lot of choices, I suppose. I’m hoping de Guzman will make a difference here, but we definitely look lightweight in the middle and lacking in players who are able to move the ball around well. Martina looks good on the wing, but I didn’t really see much of a threat coming from him in the second half. Gargan was having a nightmare and ended up just fouling people in the last quarter of the game. Overall, the team performance was poor, and that’s putting it lightly.

If there is an upside, it is that I am not sure if we can look any worse this season. I’m sure it’s possible, but I think Winter is smart enough to see where he went wrong and what he needs to adjust to make it so that we don’t completely implode every match. Yes, we need some better players, but the ones we do have need to step it up as well. I know fans are very frustrated right now, but I implore you to please give the team a couple of months. We can look back at this match in context among a number of games to see if we are at all improving, or if we are heading down a dead-end path with our new strategy. We have a game against Portland on Saturday, another expansion team. It is at home and there is a great chance here for us to bounce back in front of a home crowd. We have only played one game, and, fair enough, it was a shocker. The important thing is that the players get a kick up their backside and pick themselves up. They need to show everyone that they are ready to work hard this season and that we don’t suck as bad as our performance this weekend suggested. It’s going to be difficult for all of us to watch, and progress might not come as quickly as we would like. That’s where we are now, unfortunately, so we may as well get behind the team and at least hope for the best. Or just consume alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.

*Yourassowsky and Gold were officially signed on Friday night and added to the team roster

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Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Conference: West Position: (Last Season NASL) 2nd in Conference; Playoff Semifinals

W-L-D: (Last Season NASL) 10-5-15 (45 points, +10 goal differential)

Home Form: (Last Season NASL) 5-2-8

Last Meeting: Toronto FC 0 – Vancouver Whitecaps 0 Nutrilite Canadian Championship (June 2, 2010)

First game of the season, and it’s a big one. Toronto FC hits the road for First Kick to face off with an expansion team who just happens to be our neighbour. Not next-door neighbour. More like the neighbour down the block and around the corner. You don’t really like each other, but it’s ok because you only really bump into each other at the supermarket. Though, come Christmastime, the hell they’ll have the best Christmas lights in town! That’s our thing! We’re the Christmas light kings!

What was I saying? Ah yes, Vancouver! Our very first game will be against Vancouver Whitecaps in their very first MLS game ever. They are coming off of a good 2010 season in the NASL Conference where they finished 2nd and made it to the semifinals of the Playoffs. During the offseason (and even way before) they have been diligently preparing for their arrival into MLS for the 2011 season. They’ve got in place a great Academy system, have been marketing like crazy with video game tie-ins and sexy models, and even signed up a couple of DPs. They’ve been waiting for this and they are as ready as they can be.

Teitur Thordarson is the head coach of the Whitecaps. He does not have the fabled “MLS experience” that so many people go on about, but I don’t think that will be as big of an issue as some think. He has been head coach for three seasons now and not only has he finished strongly each season, but he even led the ‘Caps to a USL-1 title. Even though he has not coached in MLS, he has plenty of people around him who have been involved in MLS. It’s not like the Whitecaps were playing in Siberia either. They played in a North American league where they have faced MLS opposition and Thordarson has most definitely been following MLS during the regular season. The bottom line is that he is well-liked in Vancouver and has the respect of the staff and players. He earned his chance to lead Vancouver into MLS and has the experience and knowledge to do the job.

Of course there are a lot of new faces in their squad as you would expect from an expansion team. Their very first signing was American defender Jay DeMerit. DeMerit was signed from Championship side, Watford, and has been given the Captain’s armband. He will be an important part of their team and give them defensive solidity, which can go a long way in this league. He has been struggling with fitness so it is not certain that he will start on Saturday, but I suspect they will try their best to get him ready and have him in the lineup.

The ‘Caps also made a Designated Player signing in 29 year old French striker, Eric Hassli. He was signed from FC Zurich where he scored 35 goals in 108 games. He may not be a “big star” signing like David Beckham, but if he gets a decent goal return this season, which he looks capable of doing, then it will be well worth the money. Our defenders need to be wary of him as he will be their biggest threat up front. Vancouver have not been prolific during preseason, so if Hassli can be contained it will diminish their goalscoring chances greatly.

Vancouver look solid at the back with Joe Cannon between the sticks and a defense with the aforementioned DeMerit, Greg Janicki, Michael Boxall, and Alain Rochait. Even with TFC playing a more attacking formation this season, it still hasn’t really clicked yet, so to face a solid defense in our first game is going to be tricky. In the midfield, the ‘Caps have Canadian international Terry Dunfield as their playmaker. He joined the ‘Caps after a disappointing time in England’s League Two and it has proven to be a good move for him. He is enjoying his football and has worked his way back into the Canadian Men’s National Team where I saw him play and thought he did really well. He is an important player for Vancouver so we’ll need to keep an eye on him.

Filling out the rest of Vancouver’s midfield and attack are the likes of Nizar Khalfan, Atiba Harris, Russell Teibert, and Omar Salgado who was the number one pick in this year’s SuperDraft. Many of their first team players have limited MLS experience, but have had some success in lower divisions. They also have brought through a few youngsters from their well-run Academy. Overall, they look decent on paper, but as I mentioned earlier, they have been struggling to get goals. Looking at TFC’s defense in preseason, I’d say they would at least get some good chances because we are not looking particularly strong at the back. When we were playing Prekiball it was defense first and some hoofs up the pitch. Not that we didn’t leak goals anyway, but we were stronger at the back than in attack. The situation is reversed now with Aron Winter stressing our attacking play and phasing out the long balls from the back. We still have Stefan Frei in goal who is a huge asset and should be able to keep us in the game if we come under pressure.

So that covers the Whitecaps more or less. Switching over to TFC, we have some new signings that have been recently announced. No new or surprising names, but confirmation on those we’ve seen featured over the last couple of months. Demitrius Omphroy has officially been signed and Mikael Yourassowsky is more or less a done deal. TFC have also promoted four Academy players to the first team: Defender Ashtone Morgan, midfielders Oscar Cordon, Matt Stinson, and forward Keith Makubuya. Cordon seems to be the most exciting prospect. I have heard many good things from different people and Winter seems keen to include him. He probably won’t play tomorrow, but I’m sure he’ll get his chance at some point in the season.

On the injury front, we’ve got a pretty healthy squad at the moment. Notable absences include deGuzman, who will hopefully return in a couple of weeks, and Lindsay who is out for the season. Maicon picked up something during the last preseason match, but it looks like he will be fit for the game Saturday. Omphroy might be a question mark as well. Other than that, we’re good to go. Here’s my best guess at our starting XI:

Frei

This is probably pretty close to what our strongest XI is. Julian will be a big miss in the midfield with his ability to retain possession. Still, it’s not bad. We’ve seen in our preseason matches that this team is not quite there yet, and it probably won’t be for a while longer. It takes time for a team to come together and have enough of an understanding to make this kind of formation and style work. One positive is that we have some actual wingers this season. Hopefully someone will remember to make runs into the penalty area when a good cross comes in. DeRo will be, as always, our biggest scoring attacking threat. I don’t think he will be used as an out-and-out striker, but if we are still struggling in the second half, Winter might switch it up and put him further up the pitch. We also have our new signing Alan Gordon to come off the bench if we need a bigger presence and a more direct option for our target man. I really don’t know how well we are going to play, but I’ll err on the side of caution and not expect too much. All I ask is that they give everything they have and put in the effort.

I am so excited about tomorrow’s game. It will be the first time in history that two Canadian teams will face off in Major League Soccer. Vancouver may only be playing their first MLS game, but we cannot underestimate them. First of all, we’ve never really done well over at their place. Looking at our results from the Nutrilite Canadian Championship over the past three seasons, we’ve drawn there twice and lost once. Not a great record considering we were considered the “big boys from MLS”. I really do not want to lose, but the stats are against us. Even when you don’t consider our head-to-head with the ‘Caps, our record on the road in MLS is dire. The fans will be out in full force cheering for Vancouver, which will give them a huge home field advantage that will surely lift the team. They will obviously also be revved up to start their first season with a win. If we can go there and nick a draw, I will be most satisfied. Our rivalry with them hasn’t been as big as the ones they have with Portland or even Montreal, but they would love to beat us, and we’d love to beat them too. It’s the “Great Canadian Bagel” Derbyas the Yorkies call it: there’s footy on the outside (BC and Ontario) and a whole lotta nothing in the middle. I can’t wait!

Toronto FC @ Vancouver Whitecaps will be broadcast on TSN Live at 6:30pm ET

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