Toronto FC Discussion Thread

[LittleOzzy]

Vancouver and Montreal have decided to create their own league.

North America will have a new soccer league from April after rebel clubs broke away from the established second tier league to form a new competition.

The seven clubs, previously tied to the United Soccer Leagues (USL), the structure below Major League Soccer, said on Tuesday they had formed a new league and begun the formal process of gaining official recognition from governing bodies. The seven include USL champions Montreal Impact and the team they beat in the league’s final game — Vancouver Whitecaps.

The Carolina Railhawks, Miami FC and Minnesota Thunder have also split from USL to form the new league along with former USL team the Atlanta Silverbacks and a new team from St. Louis.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Socc ... story.html

Makes you wonder what the new USL owners are doing now that they have lost the two teams that made the finals last season. What a mess.

Also, what happens to this new league once Vancouver leaves for MLS?

[Kaizen]

There is that question plus Montreal hasn't fully committed to it.

[LittleOzzy]

Major League Soccer could be headed for a work stoppage next month.

The sport's international union said Tuesday that management is threatening to lock out MLS players after the league's five-year labour contract expires Jan. 31.

"It is difficult to understand why the owners would take this course, when all we are asking for are the same rights enjoyed by other players around the world, not just in the biggest leagues, but in leagues of all sizes," Los Angeles Galaxy star Landon Donovan said in a statement released by FIFPro, which represents more than 50,000 players, including members of the MLS Players Union.

MLS president Mark Abbott disputed much of what FIFPro said.

"Any discussion about a lockout, players strike or other work stoppage is premature and frankly counter-productive to our ongoing mutual commitment to reach an agreement," he said.

FIFPro claims MLS's single-entity structure, in which all players sign with the league rather than individual teams, violates regulations of FIFA, soccer's governing body.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2 ... ckout.html

[LittleOzzy]

Two-time Canadian Under-20 Player of the Year Nana Attakora is hoping January 31st will be another milestone date in his young career. The Toronto FC defender has just finished participating in the Canada U-23 camp and today will start working the Men's Senior team for the first time as they prepare to face Jamaica later this month.

Attakora is delighted that his performances have been recognized by Canada head coach Stephen Hart, and is hoping to earn his first cap in the international friendly in Kingston.

"To finally get a call up means a lot to me," said Attakora. "It is a special moment for me and I just want to learn as much as possible. With the U-23 team I am around players that I know and have been playing with for a long time, so stepping up to the senior team is a different challenge and experience."

Attakora is joined by four other Toronto FC players in the Canada squad for a two week training camp before flying to Jamaica on January 29th. Dwayne De Rosario, Julian de Guzman, Adrian Serioux and Ali Gerba are all in Fort Lauderdale.

http://web.mlsnet.com/news/team_news.js ... &team=t280

[LittleOzzy]

Toronto FC Acquires Jacob Peterson

Toronto FC announced Thursday they have acquired midfielder Jacob Peterson from the Colorado Rapids in exchange for allocation money. Per league and team policies financial terms were not available.

"This is a player that Preki has been wanting for some time," said director of soccer Mo Johnston. "We're looking forward to bringing him into camp and getting him working with the rest of the players."

Peterson, 23, was the Rapids' first pick of the 2006 MLS SuperDraft, (2nd Round, 21st overall) and made his professional debut playing 21 minutes on April 8, 2006 against the Columbus Crew. After establishing himself into the first team in his first season with the club, he was named the team's "Rookie of the Year". In the 2009 MLS season the midfielder appeared in 23 games with Colorado, making 12 starts and adding two goals and two assists. He missed the last month of the regular season due to injury.

A graduate of Indiana University, he won two National Championships with the Hoosiers in 2003 and 2004, scoring a goal in both finals. Peterson was also named a semi-finalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy award.

http://www.mlsnet.com//news/team_news.j ... &team=t280

[LittleOzzy]

Time to sticky this once again.

TFC training camp starts on Monday!

[LittleOzzy]

Toronto FC's full 2010 Major League Soccer schedule will be released on Wednesday, February 3rd at 2:00 p.m. on TorontoFC.ca.

Each MLS team will play 30 games - one home, one away, against each of the other teams - for a total of 240 games from March 25 to Oct. 24, 2010.

The First Kick has already been announced with Toronto FC opening the season at Columbus Crew on Saturday, March 27 followed by a Saturday, April 10 date in New England. Toronto FC's home opener is at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 15th against expansion club Philadelphia Union.

Schedule is about to be released in 10 minutes.

[LittleOzzy]

03/27 - Saturday at Columbus 4:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com

April
04/10 - Saturday at New England 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
04/15 - Thursday Philadelphia 7:00 p.m. ESPN2/Deportes
04/18 - Sunday at Colorado TBD DK, MLSnet.com
04/25 - Sunday Seattle 2:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com

May
05/01 - Saturday at Real Salt Lake 9:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
05/08 - Saturday Chicago 4:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
05/15 - Saturday at LA Galaxy 10:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
05/22- Saturday New England 4:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
05/29- Saturday at San Jose 10:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com

June
06/05 - Saturday Kansas City 4:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
06/09 - Wednesday Dallas 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
06/26 - Wednesday LA Galaxy 7:30 p.m. FSC/FSE

July
07/01 - Thursday Houston 7:00 p.m. ESPN2/Deportes
07/10 - Saturday Colorado TBD DK, MLSnet.com
07/17 - Saturday at Philadelphia 3:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
07/31 - Saturday at Kansas City 8:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com

August
08/07 -Saturday Chivas USA 4:00 p.m. TF
08/11 - Wednesday at New York 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
08/21 -Saturday New York 1:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
08/28 - Saturday Real Salt Lake 7:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com

September
09/04 - Saturday at Dallas 830 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
09/08 - Wednesday at Chicago 8:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
09/11 - Saturday D.C. United 4:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
09/18 - Saturday at Houston 8:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
09/25 - Saturday San Jose 4:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com

October
10/02 - Saturday at Seattle 3:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
10/09 - Saturday at Chivas USA 10:30 p.m. FSC/FSE
10/16 - Saturday Columbus 4:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
10/23 - Saturday at D.C. United 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com

No more then 2 away games at one time is nice... plus the 5 at home together is even better.

[Trilogy]

Two-time Canadian Under-20 Player of the Year Nana Attakora is hoping January 31st will be another milestone date in his young career. The Toronto FC defender has just finished participating in the Canada U-23 camp and today will start working the Men's Senior team for the first time as they prepare to face Jamaica later this month.

Attakora is delighted that his performances have been recognized by Canada head coach Stephen Hart, and is hoping to earn his first cap in the international friendly in Kingston.

"To finally get a call up means a lot to me," said Attakora. "It is a special moment for me and I just want to learn as much as possible. With the U-23 team I am around players that I know and have been playing with for a long time, so stepping up to the senior team is a different challenge and experience."

Attakora is joined by four other Toronto FC players in the Canada squad for a two week training camp before flying to Jamaica on January 29th. Dwayne De Rosario, Julian de Guzman, Adrian Serioux and Ali Gerba are all in Fort Lauderdale.

http://web.mlsnet.com/news/team_news.js ... &team=t280

I played with Nana for a year when I was 15/16.

It's strange because I remember thinking that he was a good player but nothing particularly special at the time.

Good for him, he was a nice guy back then. Played striker for us at the time.

[Kaizen]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2010/02/ ... argentina/

Had anybody heard this? This is huge. I completely missed this announcement because of the Olympics.

The friendly match will mark the first time Canada and Argentina have met in international men's competition. It will also be the marquee game of Stephen Hart's first year as head coach of the Canadian team.

"When you're talking world football, you can't talk about it without mentioning Argentina," Hart said Monday. "They are one of the greatest nations in the game. This is a huge game for Canada and its players."

The game will be held at Estadio Monumental on May 24. Argentina opens its World Cup schedule against Nigeria on June 12, following an often bumpy qualification process and a two-month suspension levelled on Maradona after a profanity-filled tirade against reporters.

[LittleOzzy]

Sounds like we are not playing too great in preseason.

I understand a lot of the top guys are not playing much but it still doesn't give me much hope of a playoff spot.

With expansion it's making it harder each year too.

[Kaizen]

Toronto has released Carl Robinson. Sounds like he will sign with New York. We have been outscored 9-0 in our last two games against them.

[LittleOzzy]

Toronto has released Carl Robinson. Sounds like he will sign with New York. We have been outscored 9-0 in our last two games against them.

Well that sucks... I was honestly getting tired of his play but I didn't think he would leave in this way... just to go to one of our main MLS rivals...

It feels like the original TFC team has been taken part now. When I think about TFC I think Dichio, Robinson and Brennan, only one left at this point.

I just hope that means we are growing as a team and not going in the wrong direction.

[LittleOzzy]

Robinson deserved better

It's unfortunate, but perhaps not all that surprising, that Robinson wasn't given a proper send-off by Toronto FC. There remains a bitter taste in a lot of fans' mouth over the club's handling of Danny Dichio's retirement last season and how the club failed to honour and properly say goodbye to the Englishman.

Pushing people out the door, especially a player such as Robinson who bled for the cause, will come back to haunt the team.

TFC's shoddy treatment of its beloved players hasn't gone unnoticed and it's only a matter of time before other players around the league and the team's loyal fans turn their backs on the club.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/blogs/2010/03/ ... prope.html

[Kaizen]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2010/03/10/mls_player_negotiations/

Toronto FC union representative Nick Garcia believes that MLS players will strike if a new collective bargaining agreement is not negotiated before the season opens in two weeks time.

The league and its Players' Union were unable to reach an agreement during the offseason and allowed the previous CBA to expire in February.

"If we need to walk away, we are willing to do that," Garcia said on Wednesday. "We've had guys anxious to have a work stoppage here for the past couple of months. All the guys in our lockeroom are united."

....

[LittleOzzy]

I don't see them striking.

They have to talk about it, but come game day they will be ready to play.

[LittleOzzy]

The preseason game this Saturday will be streamed on the TFC website!

Seriously what happened to all the TFC fans?

[sideshow]

This team is going to suck this year. It won't be pretty.

[LittleOzzy]

After being out of work for nine months, Canadian goalkeeper Greg Sutton has landed back on his feet in Major League Soccer.

The New York Red Bulls announced Thursday that they have signed Sutton. Financial details and the length of the contract were not disclosed by the club.

Sutton, a 32-year old native of Hamilton, has not been employed since being released by Toronto FC last June. He recently went on trial with New York and impressed club officials enough with his performances in some pre-season games to earn a contract.

The Red Bulls waived Danny Cepero in February, so Sutton is expected to battle Bouna Coundoul for the No. 1 goalkeeper position in New York.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2 ... utton.html

Good to see he was able to catch on with a team.

[LittleOzzy]

Looks like I may be wrong.... Yikes. I don't want them to strike. I'm still hoping this is just part of the plan to try and push a better deal through.

Major League Soccer players have overwhelmingly voted to authorize the first strike in the league's history if contract talks fail, which would wipe out openers scheduled to start March 25.

The league's first labour contract, a five-year deal, was originally set to run out Jan. 31 but was extended twice while negotiations continued. It expired Feb. 25 after the MLS Players Union refused another extension.

Unhappy with the single-entity structure that has seen the league negotiate all contracts since play began in 1996, players want greater free-agent rights and a higher percentage of guaranteed deals.

The threat of labour strife comes as the Philadelphia Union, the league's 16th team, is set to start play. The Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps have been added for 2011.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2 ... r-mls.html