Toronto FC

One wonders how difficult it must have been to the loyal Toronto FC fans to watch the expansion Seattle Sounders make the playoffs in their inaugural season while Toronto, who entered the 2009 season with much promise, failed for the third straight time.

Missing the playoffs by a single point last season, Toronto’s first move was to hire Preki as their new head coach. Preki had previously been the head coach at CD Chivas USA, where in his first season as head coach he led the Goats to first place in the Western Conference and was named MLS Coach of the Year.

A talented player in his own right, Preki can still only do so much as coach though. It comes down to the players' performance on the pitch, and the team looks to be on the fringes.

Toronto will experience a drop-off in production without the services of playmaking midfielder Amado Guevara, a former league MVP, who left the team to return to his native Honduras.

Without Guevara, Toronto will put more weight on the shoulders of Dwayne De Rosario.

The two-time MLS MVP and native Canadian enjoyed a successful first season with his hometown team. In 28 league games De Rosario scored 11 goals, equaling a career high, and notched six assists, his third highest total and most since he recorded 13 in 2005.

Toronto will hope that designated player Julian de Guzman will be able to team up with De Rosario and the club will not miss a beat.

De Guzman signed with the team in mid-September and only appeared in five games. Now Toronto will get a full season out of him and will expect him to be worth the DP slot. De Guzman and De Rosario were teammates with the Canadian National Team, so the two do have a history of playing together.

The Reds will also need increased performance from Chad Barrett.  

The forward is Toronto’s number one target up top, yet his goal scoring was sub-par, managing to only find the back of the net five times. In three seasons with Chicago before being traded he led the team in goals twice. He is well-known for his work ethic and is still a young 24-year-old, so it isn’t hard to imagine that last year was a small bump in the road.

What Toronto needs a lot of help on is defense.

They boast second-year phenom goalie Stefan Frei, speedy right fullback Marvell Wynne, and veteran center back Nick Garcia, yet managed to give up the third most goals in the entire league (46).

They didn’t do themselves any favors, either, when they traded defensive center midfielder Carl Robinson to the Red Bulls.

The hope is that Jacob Peterson, a midfielder that spent that past four seasons in Colorado amassing nearly 100 appearances, can fill in. The problem is that Peterson missed the end of last season because of a torn ACL in his right knee.

He is only 23-years-old still, so if he can recover he could be a valuable asset for years to come.

Still, without a strong attack force, the defense really needs to be shored up. Currently there are only two new faces to the defense and both are inexperienced.

They traded for Ty Harden, who after one season with the Galaxy retired only to return the following season with Colorado, where he appeared in only seven league games.

Toronto also drafted in the second round defender Zachary Herold from the U-17 residency program. The 17-year-old drew some attention from teams around the world, including the German Bundesliga, but settled on a six-year deal with MLS.

The squad had traded its first round pick for veteran defender Adrian Serioux, but they could not renew his contract and instead traded his rights to Houston (for a third round pick nonetheless, certainly a poor series of events from the Toronto front office).

It’s difficult to tell where Toronto currently stands.

They have some talented individual players, but collectively they struggle at both ends of the field. Expect the roster to continue to be influx as the season goes on as the team continues to push for its first ever trip to the playoffs.

One of Toronto FC's most popular players has parted ways with the squad.

Reports are that the veteran Midfielder from Wales has been released by TFC and will go on trial with the New York Red Bulls, which finished seventh in the Eastern Conference just a year after making the MLS Final.

If Robinson, 33, signs with New York, Toronto would still be responsible for paying a portion of his salary, but would receive an undisclosed number of draft picks for the Red Bulls in exchange.

The release of Robinson seems to be a financial move by The Reds as his base salary last year was $300,000 Us, one of the team's larger contracts.

Should he sign with New York, a portion of his salary would be off the books, freeing up some valuable salary cap space for Toronto GM Mo Johnston.

Toronto’s signing of Canadian Julian de Guzman late last season also made Robinson somewhat redundant, as the two play the same holding midfield position.

Robinson has been with Toronto since 2007, their inaugural season in Major League Soccer. Since that time, the Welshman has won the admiration and respect of teammates and fans alike for his commitment, strength of character, and the consistent level of his performances.

He also played a significant role in helping mentor the team’s young players, including Maurice Edu (who was named the league’s rookie of the year in 2007 before being sold to Scottish club Glasgow Rangers the following year) and fellow midfielder Sam Cronin.

Robinson scored three goals in 74 games (73 as a starter) during his three years in Toronto and was viewed as one the team’s leaders, both on the field and in the locker-room.

The Welshman was twice named the team’s season MVP, in 2007 and 2008, and had long talked about ending his pro career in Toronto. But earlier this year, Johnston admitted that he was open to trading Robinson.

Before coming to MLS, Robinson played in England for 10 years, spending time with such clubs as Wolverhampton, Portsmouth, Sunderland, and Norwich City.

Toronto FC’s season opener is March 27, on the road against the Columbus Crew

There's never a dull moment when Total 90 is involved! We've got retirements, transfers, injury news and Kanye West—no, not really.

Toronto FC striker Danny Dichio, who bears more than a slight resemblance to Beldar from The Coneheads, has officially retired from football with six matches remaining in the MLS season. Dichio had originally intended to retire at the end of the season, but has decided to hang up his boots a little early.

Dichio scored the first goal in Toronto FC history, and has been immortalized in song by the club's fans, who sing in his honor during the 24th minute of every match. No, that isn't a joke; it's a wonderful gesture of devotion by a proud bunch of Canadians.

Just as Toronto says goodbye to a fan favorite, they welcome another. Canadian international Julian De Guzman has signed with the club after spending four seasons in Spain with Deportivo La Coruna.

De Guzman's contract at Deportivo ended on June 30, and Toronto has snapped up the free agent. He and his afro will be eligible to play for Toronto this weekend, pending international clearance.

US international defender and popular target of fan abuse Heath Pearce has signed with FC Dallas. Prior to the move, Pearce had been relegated to the Hansa Rostock reserve squad, and hasn't been able to crack the lineup for any of the US National Team's recent matches.

Darren Huckerby's season in San Jose has ground to an unceremonious halt. He has only made 14 appearances for the club in 2009, and underwent hip surgery last Friday, officially putting an end to his 2009 campaign. The fan favorite might even be done with MLS for good, with his contract up in December and a possible return to Norwich on the books.

We've said it before, and will surely say it again—MLS teams need to turn to young talent from this hemisphere rather than giving aging European players one last shot at trophies.

Jermaine Jones, the Schalke midfielder slated to join the U.S. National Team pool in the near future, has suffered an injury setback. Jones underwent surgery for a shin injury in June, but has continued to feel pain. Schalke's metrosexual manager Felix Magath has announced that player and club will decide on a course of action later this week.

While Jones may be going under the knife soon, a key cog in the US defense is returning from injury. Jay DeMerit, who made a massive impact at the Confederations Cup, will be returning to action in the Coca-Cola Championship for Watford this week. DeMerit picked up an unfortunate groin injury while training for the recent US matches against El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago. Needless to say, he was sorely missed, pun intended.

MLS Stat of the Week

In a desperate, shameless attempt to broaden the appeal of this second-rate football rag, we've decided to pander to the statisticians among us. You're welcome.

This week's stat comes to us from the Los Angeles-Dallas match on September 12th.

Los Angeles 3-6 FC Dallas

There have been 366 matches played in MLS so far this season. During those matches, 474 goals have been scored, for an anemic average of 1.29 goals per match.

Ouch.

This match obliterated that average. The teams combined for nine goals, nearly eight better than the league average. That's a pretty impressive output, and the fans surely appreciated the pyrotechnics.

What's more, this match featured two pairs of goals scored in consecutive minutes. Dallas took a 2-0 lead thanks to a Jeff Cunningham goal in the 25th minute, but LA equalized in the 26th through a Jair Benitez own goal. In the 82nd minute, Dallas went up 4-2 through Atiba Harris, and extended the lead in the 83rd minute thanks to David Ferreira.

Where did this offensive explosion come from?

It's also worth noting that this hasn't been the first goal-fest that Dallas was involved in this season. Earlier in the summer, Total 90 was present at the Dallas-Real Salt Lake match that ended 4-2 after a second half hat-trick by super-sub Yura Movsisyan.

With performances like these, it's no wonder that Dallas is tied for the league lead in goals scored, and has the second-worst defensive record as well.

O'Brian White had waited a long time for this. He thought about it while spending endless hours lifting weights and riding the bike in the gym. He dreamed about it at night and while he was running; getting back into game shape. 

The whole time he was rehabbing the knee he injured at the University of Connecticut, he asked himself one question:  When would he finally get to score his first MLS goal?

It came in his very first game.

Amada Guevara took a corner kick for Toronto FC in the 66th minute.  The ball came to Nana Attakora. Attakora made a good pass to O'Brian White who put a nice move on the DC United defender, sidestepping him and pulling the ball with him.  White then blasted a brilliant shot over United goalkeeper Josh Wicks.  The goal made it 2-0 Toronto.  With the win, Toronto leapfrogs DC United and moves into third place in the Eastern Conference.

Jamaican-born, but raised in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, O'Brian White had about 30 family members and friends who were supporting him in the stands.  They cheered loudly for his first goal as his teammates mobbed him on the field.

They knew what a long, hard road White had been down. At one point after White's knee injury in his senior year, there was a question as to whether he would even be drafted. 

In 2007, White received the MAC Hermann Trophy as the most valuable player in US collegiate soccer, but with his season cut short in 2008 who would take a chance on him?

It was Trader Mo Johnson, Toronto FC's General Manager, who took a chance on O'Brian. He drafted him in the first round, despite the fact that he wouldn't be able to return from his injury until mid-season.

Mid-Season is here and White looks good.  TFC will need all his talents as they continue to push for the playoffs.

This article is about the real future of the MLS.  It is not about what should happen in a perfect world, or in an imperfect world for that matter.  Talking about what should happen in soccer is like talking about what should happen in politics, it's fun, it lets you show everyone how smart you are at parties and it has very little use in the real world. 

There will never be a third political party, no matter how much there should be, no matter how much sense it makes.  Ask yourself, 'why'?  The system is structured in a certain way and the barriers to change are very tough to overcome.  Especially when the powers that be don't want or need to change.

Things in the soccer world here in North America have become much the same.  The future of the game is bandied about because we all love it so much and want to see it succeed.  We model our North American game on the better leagues of the world because as fans, we want to see our game become as good as the rest.  We want to some day challenge European clubs, we want to start winning our friendlies with them.

How do we get there?  And what should we do?  They have promotion and relegation shouldn't we? I'm here to say we already do, and we never will.

The answer is we will never have promotion and relegation in the MLS.  We already have promotion.  And we will never have relegation.  Relegation in North American sports in general, is when you move a team from a small television market to a larger television market.  It too is a form of promotion.  Whether we should have something or shouldn't is irrelevant. 

But what if I get 100,000 thousand signatures and go to the commisioner?  They have to do what we say! 

No they don't.  They have to keep their interest protected and make money. Period.

Fans have never reformed a sports league from the bottom up and they certainly never will in the good old USA.  If you don't understand this then study American sports culture instead of European.  If we don't have the will to reform politics, then the appetite for sustained sports activism is decidedly small indeed.

The MLS has the best promotion model in the world.  It can not be forced to move teams down, and out of the biggest money making markets, because they had a bad year.  What it can do is to watch the league below it and cherry pick the best run, most profitable teams to expand its league.  This to me, from a business standpoint, seems to be the best of both worlds.

If an existing team is struggling in its market then find a place where it will be supported, this place will be found usually at the top of the USL-1 standings.  Simple.

Wouldn't it be great if MLB, or the NFL, or the NHL or MLS had promotion relegation; Probably, but I don't really care to waste time talking about it, see you at my next cocktail party.

Right now, Jim Balsilie has the names of the entire city of Hamilton on a petition to bring the Phoenix Coyotes to southern Ontario.  Gary Bettman and the NHL won't even open the envelope before tossing it out with the rest of the junk mail.  Sports in North America is not a democracy. Reform comes from the top.

Here is the best way to reform the MLS, from the top down, or in other words realistically. 

Any effort at reform must target three things, bringing more fans to the games, raising the level of play and the quality of players, and finally succeeding on the international club level.

1.  Find strong markets, good television markets, which can develop strong rivalries.  The MLS has done this with it's recent choices in promotion, ahem, I mean expansion into Seattle, Portland, Philadelphia, and Vancouver. 

These new teams and all existing teams must play in excellent soccer specific stadiums.  There is no place for field turf in the MLS and it should be banned. 

2.  The salary cap must be increased.  We can follow the lead of the premeirship by increasing the salary cap so that some really good teams start to emerge.  These teams will bring prestige and bigger name players to the league. 

The limit on designated players must be lifted.  There must be no limit on the number of star players in the great MLS.

Ask yourself why Red Sox and Yankee games sell 40,000 tickets not just at home but in Toronto, and Tampa Bay and many other markets.  Prestige. 

These high budget teams will do much better In CONCACAF Champions League play and further raise the profile and status of the MLS.  The MLS All-Star team will be better, and these  teams will stand a chance in international friendlies.

Soccer supporters love being the underdog and winning against the odds is so rewarding.  The big club vs small club rivalry would be intensified. 

Change will come to the MLS through the existing framework and culture of the MLS and of North American sports.  This will be our game, it will succeed, our way.  And trust me, it will make tons of money and take on the world.  And win.  Like it or not that is the American way.

It's becoming an annual tradition for top European sides to make their way to American soil in the mid-to-late summer months and take on MLS sides in pre-season friendlies.

Wait, strike that.

Did I say take on? I meant maul. Obliterate. Vaporize. Annihilate. Defenestrate.

Those are all more colorful and more accurate terms for what squads like Barcelona and Real Madrid have been doing to MLS squads in recent years.

Some of the football on display has been beautiful. As an MLS fan, it's been both exciting and painful to watch at the same time, sort of like screening "Die Hard" whilst being punched in the face.

Are these friendlies actually accomplishing anything beyond stoking the egos of European stars? Is the additional revenue that MLS clubs gain from these matches worth the psychological blow dealt by a four-goal defeat?

While the constant beatings might be discouraging to some MLS fans, these matches will prove to be a very good thing in the long run.

We all used to beat up on our younger siblings, and that's exactly what's happening here. Eventually, like our younger brothers and sisters, MLS clubs are going to learn how to carry themselves and discover a few tricks that make them more competitive.

While they might never win all the fights, they'll eventually be capable of pulling off a surprise or two.

If you've been watching closely, you can already see the seeds of this transformation being planted. It's a quick learning process with some of these guys.

This learning curve was on display tonight in the match between Toronto FC and Real Madrid. Los Merengues were carving up TFC in the first half and looked to be well on their way to scoring seven or eight goals.

The passing was crisp, the tackles were strong and precise, and the players were working well together.

It was the antithesis of what Toronto was doing, at least in the first half.

When TFC came out after the halftime orange slices, they were a different team. They were still outclassed by a mile, but they were taking a little more time with possession and were connecting on a greater percentage of their passes. In short, it looked like they were imitating their decorated rivals.

It's not hard to imagine manager Chris Cummins looking at his club during halftime and shouting, "Try to play a little bit more like them!"

Seattle has endured a couple of valuable learning experiences this summer. They lost 2-0 to Chelsea in a very closely contested match and 4-0 to Barcelona in a complete blowout.

But, with these experiences under their belt and a savvy European vet in Freddie Ljungberg to guide their young talent, you can bank on Seattle taking these experiences to heart and becoming a better football team.

Ditto for Los Angeles, who has faced AC Milan and Barcelona in recent weeks. Don't you think that those matches will help the team improve just in time for the run up to the playoffs?

That's just smart scheduling on LA's part.

Some might argue that cramming these friendlies into the middle of the MLS season might cause unnecessary wear and tear on the athletes, but that's just a minor concern. The first-string guys will play for 45 minutes and then the infrequently used reserves get their chance.

It's win-win for everybody with that arrangement. The top guys get 45 minutes of competition against some of the best footballers in the world without getting too fatigued.

The reserves get 45 minutes of action against the understudies to the best players in the world, which is far more experience than they get sitting on the bench each week.

To frame it in another light, think of these friendlies as watered-down international duty. Most players will find that their skills are heightened after a stint with their national team, especially if they're still evolving as players.

It's why Brazil took Ronaldo to the 1994 World Cup, and England took Theo Walcott in 2006. They were building for the future.

These MLS squads are taking their lumps now in the hopes that they will be better clubs in the future. These European friendlies aren't just a great marketing strategy, they're a great footballing strategy.

Toronto FC were as grey and dull as their uniforms for the first 60 minutes of their Tuesday night game in Puerto Rico versus the Islanders.  Both teams struggled to maintain any kind of possession in the first half of play. 

Toronto FC looked worse than the last time these two teams met, looking kind of tired, listless and disinterested;  Puerto Rico, by contrast, looked better, taking more shots and actually having the edge in possession in the first half.

The second half was a bit more inspired for Toronto FC.  They made some substitutions, putting in Barratt and Danny Dichio in an effort to spark the offense.

Dichio's off-the-post at the 77-minute mark was the closest Toronto had come to scoring to that point. Dichio had the best chance in the previous game as well, when his header went for the left side of the goal but was pushed aside by Gaudette.

The Islanders goalie, Gaudette, was again stellar in this match.  He had numerous excellent saves—the best was perhaps pushing an Amado Guevara drive over the top bar.

Steele had a late drive that Stephan Frei had to push over the net.

In the end, Toronto's pressure was not enough.  There was too much individual play.  It was a kind of chaotic, ineffective pressure that Toronto fans have seen a lot of—too much maybe.

Kendal Jagdeosingh was given a red card at the 88-minute mark to put the Islanders down a man.  The reason for the flag was not visually apparent. 

In extra time—with even Toronto's goalie joining the attack—Toronto could not put the ball in the net and as a result, they are eliminated from the Champions League. 

Puerto Rico will go on to the group stage.

Toronto FC needed a big win to get into the CONCACAF Champions League tournament.  They beat the Montreal impact 6-1 and secured their berth. 

Now they need to win or get out.

With their 1-0 loss last week to the Puerto Rico Islanders and the second leg of the home and away two game series kicking off tonight (8pm EST GolTV), Toronto FC again have their backs against the wall.

Here are the possible scenarios: 

1. If Toronto FC win and score at least two goals, then they will move on to the next round.

2. If Toronto win 1-0, then the teams would then play a 30-minute overtime, followed by penalty kicks if the teams remain tied.

3. If Toronto FC plays to a draw with the Islanders, or if the lose then the party is over and TFC is out.

The keys for Toronto are pretty simple in my opinion. 

First they need to continue to press the advantage they had in the first game.  They were the better team despite the score.  They won 11 corner kicks to zero for Puerto Rico.  They had many more scoring chances.  They did not finish well. At all.

Dichio's header that went wide still haunts me.

The strong play of Cronin, Gerba, and De Rosario, must continue to dominate tonight for TFC to have success.  The way the Islanders collapse on their goal it will take some creativity to get the ball in there under control and to score.

Second they must keep their heads on defense.  Puerto Rico scored on the counter attack, their only really strong chance of the match.  TFC must stay sharp.  They must stay hungry. 

They must win, or go home.

Toronto FC began its first journey into the CONCACAF Champions league at home tonight at BMO field versus the Puerto Rico Islanders.  

But Toronto FC lost 1-0, despite having 11 corner kicks to the Islanders' none.

This is the first of a two game series with the Islanders, and the winner of the two games will move on to the round of 16.

The Islanders are one of the USL's strongest clubs. With 26 goals in 22 games, they are the second-highest scoring team in the USL first division.

Toronto FC was dealing with some injuries, most notably to Amado Guevara. Adrian Serioux was also on the bench, even though he passed his fitness test, because Toronto FC didn't want to take any chances with his leg injury.

The Toronto crowd was loud and proud, as always. The club songs were ringing out in unison from the 20,000-plus in attendance.

The Islanders had a lot of possessions early, but Toronto FC got stronger as the game went on.

The best scoring chance in the first 25 minutes was a cross by Barrett that was headed just wide of the right post by Dwayne De Rosario. 

De Rosario had another chance at 28 minutes when he tried a long free kick from just past the half. Noticing the keeper off his line, De Ro tried to score from long distance and almost succeeded. 

Puerto Rico has been kept mostly to the outside in this early going.

Offensive force De Rosario linked up with Gerba for a rush. De Ro won a corner kick, which was not successful. Then, another short corner played back to Brennan, but he was in an offside position, so the play was whistled dead.

Ali Gerba looked pretty intense in his third game for TFC, as he was consistently around the goal looking for something he can use.

The play was consistently in the Islanders end the entire game. Puerto Rico had a brief counter attack at the 35 minute mark, but some smooth and steady play by Gomez kept them out of trouble.

Marco Velez is captain of the Puerto Rico National Team and is a former Islander, but he is on the bench tonight for TFC.

Kendall Jagdeosingh and Jonny Steele had some nice play for the Islanders in the two minutes of extra time at the end of the first half, but the match remained scoreless.

The second half began well, with tons of Toronto pressure. A strong counter attack resulted in a Puerto Rico free kick at the 67th-minute mark. 

A long ball from half made it in to Jagdeosingh, and he put it on the net. Stephan Frei got a hand on it, but Jagdeosingh pounded the rebound in for the goal. 

This was really the Islanders' only chance in the match, and they made TFC pay.

Toronto FC had some exciting and glorious chances late in the game, most notably Danny Dichio's header that went just wide after going off goalie Gaudette's outstreched mitts.

Toronto must now win by one goal in Puerto Rico to force extra time. If nothing was to resolved in the extra time, they would go to penalty kicks.

TFC plays in Puerto Rico on Aug. 4.

Rohan Ricketts joined the MLS and Toronto FC on April 11, 2008.  In Ricketts, Toronto gained a flashy midfielder and one of their fastest players I can ever remember watching.  Rohan would grab the ball and fly up the sideline in an instant. 

He scored four goals for TFC in his first season with the Reds, and the total climbs to six if you include the two he added in the Canadian Championships tournament.  

Ricketts was a very popular and well-spoken player.  He often appeared on TV and had a regular program of his own for a while.  Ricketts also did a lot of charitable work for the community including his "Athletes for Africa—Football for Good" campaign.

Ricketts' popularity reportedly even extended to rapper 50 Cent, who has been photographed wearing a Ricketts jersey.

Ricketts was released from the team on June 17, 2009, after a decline in his playing time.  The move surprised a lot of people.  Rohan had been tweeting about his lack of playing time prior to the release, and he wrote about his time on the bench on his blog:

"Yo what's popping football fans??  Its been a very difficult few months due to a lack of playing time for the Toronto FC.  So much has gone on which has not surfaced and may not ever surface.  I want to say thanks to all the fans who have continued to support me.  I am a strong character and won't let this period get the best of me."

So, where is Ricketts now?  And how do we get him back in Toronto for the Reds? 

While he likely won't be back, we can all wish him well.  Ricketts's latest gig, as of July 22, is a trial with Danish club Odense Boldklub.  This club has won the Danish Championship three times, and its greatest success came in the UEFA Cup in 1994-95.