November 5, 2008 - Wednesday Training Notes

Congratulations to Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, and first African American president.

Ben Knight writes about how he wants John Carver to be here next year, but doesn't want Mo Johnston here.

Greg Sutton talks here about how he expects us to make the playoffs next season.

Bitchy the Hawk is making headlines in the UK...well, not really. Here is an article about clubs that currently employ animals, and Bitchy is mentioned.

Pat Hickey at the Gazette thinks that Montréal doesn't need to join the MLS. Click here to read his thoughts.

Kansas City Wizards' DP Claudio Lopez could be heading down to Mexico. Down the Byline writes here that many Wizards' supporters wouldn't be too heartbroken over the move.

2008 Season Review Part 2 - May

On May 1 we faced the New York Red Bulls at BMO Field on a cold and rainy night. Marco Velez opened up the scoring for us, heading home a Laurent Robert free kick. It was his first career MLS goal. Dave Van Den Bergh equalized for the Red Bulls just 17 minutes later from a direct free kick. The match finished in a 1-1 draw.

We were then on a 17 day break before our match against the Columbus Crew. In this time, Chris Cummins was hired on as our assistant coach, as was Nick Dasovic, who is both an assistant coach and the head coach of our academy's.

Round two of the Trillium Cup was on May 17. The Crew were on a tear, coming into the match with a record of 6-1-0. At the same time, we were unbeaten in four, with a record of 3-2-1. It was an entertaining match that yielded no goals, as we drew 0-0 with Columbus. Laurent Robert came the closest to scoring, hitting the post in the second half. Aside from the match itself, Columbus midfielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto put on the quite the show. Cheers to azorean10 for this video.

Following the match, a war of words broke out between John Carver and Guillermo Barros Schelotto. After Carver wondered if the wind was too strong for Schelotto, the Argentine responded by saying that JC isn't that great of a coach. This only added more bad blood between the two sets of supporters.

Four days later, we hosted a struggling DC United side, who were failing to live up to their pre-season hype. Danny Dichio scored the only goal of the match, as we beat DC for the first time in our brief history, 1-0.

Another four days after that, we were against DC United once again, this time from RFK Stadium. After leading twice, 1-0 and 2-1, we ended up losing the match 3-2, conceding two goals in the second half.

On May 27, we started our quest for the CONCACAF Champions League at the Stade Saputo. It was our first ever match against the USL side Montréal Impact, and Marco Velez scored the lone goal as we beat them 1-0.

That Saturday, on May 31, we hosted the Los Angeles Galaxy, looking to do the double over the Californian outfit. There was no Landon Donovan or David Beckham for LA, as they looked very out of sorts. Julius James came on for the injured Olivier Tebily and scored a debut goal, before Jeff Cunningham sealed the deal. We won the match 2-0, making our league record at the end of May 5-3-2.

May League Form: D D W L W
League Record after May: 5-3-2, 17 points
Canadian Championship Record after May: 1-0-0, 3 points
Moment of the Month:

November 4, 2008 - Tuesday Training Notes

Goal.com is reporting that Romanian outfit CFR Cluj are interested in signing Stefano Fiore, who we apparently tried to sign. I can remember MLS Rumors reporting on this earlier this year, but didn't look into it. Could Fiore still be in the frame for us?

Foxsports.com has linked to MLS Rumors' report that Del Piero could he headed our way. Perhaps there is more credibility to this than we think?

Soccer365 also mentions that Craig Forrest mentioned the Italian as a potential DP target.

Attendances this past weekend were pretty bad. This article says that the average from last week's playoff matches was 10,500. Real Salt Lake had only 14,719 at their brand new shiny stadium. It will go up this week though, thanks to Chicago and Houston.

Click here to see some new photos of Red Bull Arena. Things are starting to take shape down there.

Lastly, last week MLS began it's goal of the year voting. We only have one option, and it's Chad Barrett's stunner in Colorado. Click here to vote.

2008 Season Review Part 1 - March and April

We opened our second season in Columbus, Ohio, on March 29, and let's face it, things looked grim. The only improvement we had made was adding John Carver as our head coach. Ronnie O'Brien had been traded for a draft pick and money, and we saw no prospective signings.

Mo Johnston had gone on record at the end of year one saying he was hoping to add several big players to the squad, and minor additions of Marco Velez and Kevin Harmse were hardly satisfying signings. Many supporters headed down to Columbus calling for Mo's scalp, and the performance on the day only reignited the aggravation. Dismal performances by Collin Samuel and Jeff Cunningham up front, coupled with a lack of creativity in the midfield meant a poor result for us. We slumped to an uninspired 2-0 loss. The main story on the day was the 2,500 Toronto supporters that painted Columbus red.

A whirlwind of potential signings followed the loss. It soon became known that Laurent Robert, Rohan Ricketts, and Amado Guevara were waiting in the wings to sign with us. On April 2, Laurent Robert signed.

Robert created quite the hype before our second match, away to DC United. He may have had a positive impact, but it wasn't enough, as we lost 4-1 at RFK Stadium. We conceded two goals in the opening 4 minutes and Kevin Harmse was sent off after 25 minutes, which seemingly put the nail in the coffin.

We were 0-2-0, and the losing feeling was all too familiar amonst supporters. There was still an air of optimism though, which was only increased when Amado Guevara signed on April 9. Two days later, Rohan Ricketts was signed, and Collin Samuel was released.

Guevara's impact was immediate and immense as we travelled to the Home Depot Center for a midday match against the Galaxy. Guevara assisted on our first goal, and took control of the midfield as we beat the Galaxy 3-2. Rohan Ricketts wasn't cleared to play in time for the match. Danny Dichio, Jarrod Smith, and Jeff Cunningham all scored for us, while Landon Donovan notched a brace for Los Angeles.

Heading into the 2008 Home Opener, we were 1-2-0, and with three new major signings, things were looking up for us. The opportunity to get to .500 for the first time in club record came begging, and we were much obliged. Laurent Robert scored a free kick which proved to be the only goal, as beat Real Salt Lake 1-0, and improved to 2-2-0.

Next up was Kansas City on April 26. This was a big match for Amado Guevara. He single-handedly lead us to a 2-0 win over the Wizards, scoring both goals, including a world class free kick. It was our best performance of the season thus far, and at 3-2-0, we were sky high heading into May.

March and April League Form: L L W W W
League Record after March and April: 3-2-0
Moment of the Month:

November 3, 2008 - Monday Training Notes

Someone has actually linked us with Del Piero, and no, it's not MLS Rumors. Martin Rogers of Yahoo! Sports writes about it here. Rogers says:

"Get ready to say hello to Alessandro Del Piero. Really, I hear you say? Well, the rumors linking the Italian superstar with a switch to Toronto FC continue to grow, implausible as it may seem. Del Piero would be an incredible coup for the Canadian club, but surely he will see out his career with his beloved Juventus, right?"

Gareth Wheeler at the Sun talks about how a designated player will only help us improve our on field product. Click here for the article.

According to SI.com, there is a clause in David Beckham's contract with the Galaxy that would allow him to leave the team after the 2009 season. Los Angeles will definitely have to change their fortunes around if they want to keep Becks around.

After dramatically beating Chivas USA on Saturday, some of Real Salt Lake's players offer their thoughts ahead of the second leg this weekend. Click here for the story.

Rogue Cavaliers provides some interesting insight on RSL's 1-0 victory over the Goats at his blog.

American prodigy Jozy Altidore scored his first goal for Villareal this weekend. He came on as a second half subsitute, helping his club beat Athletic Bilbao 4-1.

Harry's a hit at the Lane

Image courtesy of Daylife

So, how good, exactly, is Harry Redknapp?

When it comes to the Premiership, I'm a Tottenham supporter. I was stoked when Juande Ramos was shown the door. I was a little skeptical though, when Harry Redknapp was put in charge. I guess if there is anyone you'd want in charge of taking your side off the bottom of the table, it's good old 'Arry.

Since his arrival at White Hart Lane, Spurs are 2 wins and 1 draw in three matches. He was on the bench for the club's 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers, after being hired a mere 12 hours before, and has enjoyed a 4-4 draw with Arsenal and a 2-1 win over Liverpool since then.

Wednesday's 4-4 draw against Arsenal will be looked at as one of the classics of the North London Derby. Jermaine Jenas scored with in the 89th minute to make the score 4-3, before Aaron Lennon equalized in injury time. David Bentley scored a contender for Premier League goal of the season.

Yesterday, Spurs beat Liverpool, who were fresh off of a win at Chelsea. A Jamie Carragher own goal and a late winner from Roman Pavlyuchenko did the damage, as Tottenham emerged as 2-1 victors. Gus Poyet, Tottenham's former assistant manager, stated a few weeks ago that Darren Bent and Roman Pavlyuchenko cannot play together. Interesting how it was Bent assisting Pavlyuchenko on Spurs' winner!

So, can Harry Redknapp and Tottenham Hotspur continue this fine form? Will they end up contending for a Champion's League position when the season closes?

It might be a bit much to expect Redknapp to get Spurs up to at least fourth, but I don't think a UEFA Cup birth is out of the question. Tottenham is the biggest club Redknapp has managed, so even this could prove to be a learning curve for him. Could this be Harry's big break into the manegerial elite in England? Quite possibly.

Only time will tell for Harry and Spurs, but Redknapp could end up being a White Hart Lane saviour.

MLS Rumors: Toronto FC targeting Alessandro Del Piero

Image courtesy of Daylife

According to MLS Rumors, someone heard Craig Forrest say that we're targeting Juventus legend Alessandro Del Piero to be our designated player.

John Carver has mentioned in the past that he doesn't want someone who's career is coming to a close. He's looking for someone who will be here for at least three or four years. Del Piero is 34, so he hardly fits that mandate. I still wouldn't be surprised, though, if Del Piero is one of Mo Johnston's targets. He is still playing at quite a high level with Juventus, and would likely be a formidable force in MLS for a year or two.

One thing to think about is that the CBA is going to be looked at after 2009. This is likely when the salary cap would be raised, and potentially more DP spots would be allotted. Maybe it's worth taking a gamble on Del Piero for a year before the salary cap goes up and we possibly get a second DP spot.

At the same time, if I were to rate this rumour on its credibility, I would give it a 2/10.

MLS Cup 2008 - Semi Finals, Leg One Recap

Image courtesy of Daylife

All of this weekend's matches are done and things are looking pretty interesting heading into the second legs of every match.

New York Red Bulls 1 - 1 Houston Dynamo - Match Report
NYRB: Juan Pablo Angel 48'
HOU: Kei Kamara 85'

This one was pretty good. New York really stepped it up in the first half today. I was surprised to see Juan Carlos Osario drop his prized signings - Juan Pietravallo, Jorge Rojas, and Gabriel Cichero. The players in their places - Luke Sassano, Sinisa Ubiparipovic, and Diego Jimenez - all did quite well. Overall, though, I thought New York was second best. Houston is clearly the better side, and Kei Kamara's equalizer will prove to be priceless in the return leg. The Dynamo didn't even look like a side playing a playoff match. It just looked like a regular league match. Houston should win the second leg quite easily.

Real Salt Lake 1 - 0 Chivas USA - Match Report
RSL: Yura Movsisyan 90'
CHV: N/A

This match was the most exciting one of the weekend. Real Salt Lake moved forward with wave after wave of attack for the entire match, and it wasn't until the 88th minute that they finally got the breakthrough. Every Salt Lake attack was run through Argentine playmaker Javier Morales, and it's a wonder how Blanco was ranked ahead of this guy in MVP voting. For Chivas, Zach Thornton was a rock in goal, making save after save. Christopher Sullivan kept mentioning he had the reflexes of a cat - but he's what, 350 lbs? In the end, RSL got the deserved win. They are terrible on the road, however, and will likely be on the backfoot at the Home Depot Center.

Kansas City Wizards 1 - 1 Columbus Crew - Match Report
KCW: Davy Arnaud 53'
CLB: Steve Lenhart 90+'

I don't have much to say about this one, because I only watched the first half. The Wizards' colour commentator is almost as bad as Julie Foudy. Both goals came in the second half though, with Davy Arnaud scoring a header before Steve Lenhart equalized in stoppage time.

It's playoff time!

The first leg of the series between Chicago and New England is in the books. A 0-0 draw at Gillett Stadium gives the Fire the upper hand heading into the second leg at Toyota Park.

The other three series begin tonight, and the times are staggered so that we can watch them all! Two of the matches, Houston @ New York and Columbus @ Kansas City are available on MLS Live TV. I will try to find a link to the match between Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA.

Here is some more information to help you get ready for the matches, with my predictions to go along with it.

Image courtesy of Daylife

Houston Dynamo @ New York Red Bulls - Match Preview
4:00 PM, MLS Live TV

The Red Bulls have had a roller coaster year and it will likely end in Houston. Juan Carlos Osario brought in some South American talent to help bolster his options, but each of them have more or less failed. If the Red Bulls (who are shite) stand a chance in this one, Juan Pablo Angel will really have to step up his game. The Dynamo, on the other hand, had a slow start to the year, but have been on fire as of late. I'm not sure anyone is expecting New York to overcome Houston, and all indications are that this series is the Dynamo's for the taking.

Leg One Prediction: HOU 1 - 0 NYRB

Leg Two Prediction: HOU 3 - 1 NYRB

Image courtesy of Daylife

Chivas USA @ Real Salt Lake - Match Preview
6:00 PM, Fox Soccer Channel

Rio Tinto Stadium is the venue for Real Salt Lake's first playoff match in club history. RSL needed a last gasp equalizer from Yura Movsisyan last weekend in Colorado to clinch their playoff spot, and despite a strong start to the season, they finished somewhat on a slide. For Chivas USA, however, the story is the complete opposite. A slow start to the season brought pressure on head coach Preki, but he turned things around as the Goats finished comfortably in second place in the West.

Leg One Prediction: CHV 1 - 1 RSL
Leg Two Prediction: CHV 2 - 0 RSL

Image courtesy of Daylife

Columbus Crew @ Kansas City Wizards - Match Preview
8:00 PM, MLS Live TV

This is where the Crew really have to show their character. Columbus comfortable won the Supporters Shield, leading the way for the majority of the season. They proved time and time again that their good form wasn't a fluke. Now it's time for them to prove it once more, in the MLS Cup Playoffs. Kansas City is coming in on a good run of form, escaping the basement in the East and grabbing one of the wildcard spots all in the last two months. Claudio Lopez, their DP, has picked up his form, and this will have to continue if the Wizards have a chance against the high-flying Crew.

Leg One Prediction: CLB 2 - 1 KCW
Leg Two Prediction: CLB 2 - 0 KCW