So that's the Mickey Mouse cup over and done with, as well as the first two games we've been able to watch and see how things are going with the new regime, so what have we learnt so far, aside from the fact that it's still way too early in preseason to be able to draw any kind of conclusions.
Game 1, a 3-2 defeat against Houston on Thursday night was definitely a mixed bag. Defensively we looked a little unorganised at times, Houston's first goal in particular saw some bad positional play from triallist Mikael Yourassowsky, though given it was his first game after just joining the club, that's forgiveable. Dan Gargan didn't look great on Houston's 3rd either which is a bit more worrying for our chances this season. Gargan seems like a great player to have around in the dressing room, and his versatility means he'll be a valuable part of the squad, and a very useful player to have on the bench in any game, but if he's part of the starting line up when March 19th comes around, that'll be a sad indictment of our squad's depth.
The new possession based 4-3-3 system worked ok here and there, very much still a work in progress, and the defenders often had problems working the ball through to the midfielders, especially when Houston started pressuring more after the first few minutes. Obviously having three players upfront means fewer players back close to the defenders so they're really going to have to work on movement, tracking back and making themselves available for the pass if the defence is going to be able to avoid losing the ball or just hoofing it long. Julian de Guzman's return should really help with that, he's going to be crucial to TFC's chances this year.
When it worked though, it worked really well, TFC's first goal came after a long period of possession, patiently moving the ball from one side to the other before Nick Labrocca played a longer ball through to Jacob Peterson who had made a sudden incisive run and was then able to round the goalie and score.
The second goal came from a penalty after triallist Jamal Gay was pulled down inside/on the edge of the box while running onto a great through ball from Javier Martina. While the tricks that were shown in highlights from Turkey suggested Martina certainly has talent, his play to set up that penalty gives me much more hope that he can be an effective player. I'll take the composure and vision he showed to hold on to the ball, drift inside then play a simple but lethal defence splitting pass, over any number of fancy dribbles.
Jamal Gay looked alright as the main striker up front, but most of the other triallists or draft picks didn't really show much and were outshone by academy players Matt Stinson and Oscar Cordone who both looked impressive in the second half.
Losing on Thursday meant the second game was against Orlando City on Saturday night, and it was another struggle, ending in a 1-0 defeat and an ignomious 4th place finish. Orlando had definitely learnt from Houston and were very aggressive in pressuring TFC's defenders as they tried to get the ball forward. It worked very well for them, as all game TFC struggled to get anything going, and the result was well deserved, with the goal coming from some more crapppy defending, Orlando player/coach Ian Fuller managing to fight off 3 defenders and round Milos Kocic.
Oh well, TFC move on and hopefully things will get better with a bit more time to get used to the system and new players. There's signs of promise, you can tell that what they're trying to do will look good if it all comes together, so it's time to move on and wait for more evidence next week in Charleston.
What's that whistling noise? Why, it's Axl Rose.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Sweet FA Trophy, quarter finals.
After Leyton Orient's late equaliser against Arsenal saved the damp squib that was the FA Cup 5th round last weekend, this weekend it's back to FA Trophy action, and we've reached the quarter final stage.
In my second round review I predicted that Darlington would win their tricky third round tie at Telford, only to lose to a much smaller team in the quarter finals. Well, they did the first bit of that, with a 3-0 win at Telford, and now everything's lined up perfectly for the loss to the small team, with a home game against Salisbury City, currently two levels further down the non-league pyramid than Darlo. Hopefully history won't fully repeat itself as the only other time Darlington played in the FA Trophy, they lost at the quarter final stage to Leek Town, back in 1990, check out the link for all the results of that years competition, and see how teams such as Chalfont St Peter, Erith & Belvedere and Shepshed Charterhouse did.
All 4 ties feature Conference teams taking on teams from further down the pyramid, 3rd round heroes Chasetown have a home match against Mansfield Town, which going by logos is a stag v stag contest
so hopefully it'll be as action packed as this (check out the sweet spin move from the darker one about 30 seconds in!).
Guiseley have a home game against Luton Town, but it's the other match up that offers the romance and intrigue for this round, a big North-East derby between Blyth Spartans and Gateshead.
Local rivals from either side of Newcastle, and both inevitably forced to live in United's shadow, this is a good opportunity for them to get a share of the local limelight, with police escorted supporter's coach convoys and decorated shop fronts giving it a big game atmosphere in depressingly modern and charmingly quaint ways respectively.
Added flavour comes from the fact that there will be twins on opposing sides, Stephen (Blyth) and Phil (Gateshead) Turnbull, who have worked their way down the North-East football ladder together over the years, going from Sunderland to Hartlepool to Gateshead before Stephen struck out on his own to go to Blyth. They even live together, which should make for a fun Sunday at Chez Turnbull.
Prediction time, I got 6 out of 8 in round 3, not too shabby. This time I'll go for Luton, Mansfield, Darlington and Blyth.
Edit: Darlington didn't lose, winning 2-1 and then getting another result in the draw by avoiding Luton, instead we'll be playing Gateshead over two legs with a trip to Wembley at stake. In the other semi final Luton will play Mansfield or Chasetown whose quarter final was postponed.
In my second round review I predicted that Darlington would win their tricky third round tie at Telford, only to lose to a much smaller team in the quarter finals. Well, they did the first bit of that, with a 3-0 win at Telford, and now everything's lined up perfectly for the loss to the small team, with a home game against Salisbury City, currently two levels further down the non-league pyramid than Darlo. Hopefully history won't fully repeat itself as the only other time Darlington played in the FA Trophy, they lost at the quarter final stage to Leek Town, back in 1990, check out the link for all the results of that years competition, and see how teams such as Chalfont St Peter, Erith & Belvedere and Shepshed Charterhouse did.
All 4 ties feature Conference teams taking on teams from further down the pyramid, 3rd round heroes Chasetown have a home match against Mansfield Town, which going by logos is a stag v stag contest
so hopefully it'll be as action packed as this (check out the sweet spin move from the darker one about 30 seconds in!).
Guiseley have a home game against Luton Town, but it's the other match up that offers the romance and intrigue for this round, a big North-East derby between Blyth Spartans and Gateshead.
Local rivals from either side of Newcastle, and both inevitably forced to live in United's shadow, this is a good opportunity for them to get a share of the local limelight, with police escorted supporter's coach convoys and decorated shop fronts giving it a big game atmosphere in depressingly modern and charmingly quaint ways respectively.
Added flavour comes from the fact that there will be twins on opposing sides, Stephen (Blyth) and Phil (Gateshead) Turnbull, who have worked their way down the North-East football ladder together over the years, going from Sunderland to Hartlepool to Gateshead before Stephen struck out on his own to go to Blyth. They even live together, which should make for a fun Sunday at Chez Turnbull.
Prediction time, I got 6 out of 8 in round 3, not too shabby. This time I'll go for Luton, Mansfield, Darlington and Blyth.
Edit: Darlington didn't lose, winning 2-1 and then getting another result in the draw by avoiding Luton, instead we'll be playing Gateshead over two legs with a trip to Wembley at stake. In the other semi final Luton will play Mansfield or Chasetown whose quarter final was postponed.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
New news, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Plenty of TFC and MLS related news was released on Wednesday, inspiring a range of emotions. First up was news of coaching appointments with Toronto's first team and the academy. Back in January when the new management team was initially announced, it was confirmed that Jim Brennan, Danny Dichio, Nick Dasovic and Jason Bent would be staying with the club, but no specifics of postions were given, well that has now been resolved. Jason Bent has been moved up from his position with the academy to become an assistant coach with the first team, Danny Dichio stepped in to Bent's old role as coach of the senior academy team, the under 19s, and Jim Brennan will become the junior academy coach with Nick Dasovic becoming the North American scout.
It could definitely be argued that this is just an extension of the "jobs for the boys" philosophy that has permeated TFC in the past, the investment in the development of certain MLSE favourites taking precedence over ruthlessly building a winning management team. How much difference can Aron Winter, Bob de Klerk and Paul Mariner make when they're surrounded by all the same old people above and below them? That would be a bit harsh though, I'm going to take this at face value, as good appointments.
Jason Bent's work with Stuart Neely in the academy over the last 3 years has definitely produced some good results, with Doneil Henry and Nicholas Lindsey already having signed on with the big club, and 4 other academy products impressing enough while in Turkey to win an invite to Orlando to train with the first team as well. His promotion to first team duties is a good reward for that work, and should help those players who worked with him in the academy to adapt at the higher level.
Dichio taking over from Bent should work well and is a very logical move, a more surprising move is Brennan coming in as the under 17 coach. Initially it seems like quite the comedown from assistant GM to probably the lowest rung on the club's current coaching ladder, but given the renewed emphasis TFC is placing on the academy as an important part of the club's future, this isn't a throwaway appointment. It's also a job I'd think should suit him better, I have more confidence in his ability with a football and to coach the young players than I do in his ability to make it as an executive, making trades, negotiating with agents and competing with other GM's.
As for Dasovic, it's likely he was offered the position that Bent took, but turned it down, not wanting to go from interim head coach back into the assistants ranks. I'll stand by my theory that this scouting position is a very temporary one, TFC looking after him until he can get the kind of coaching role he desires, as a thank you for his work over the years, a move I can very much applaud.
The next bit of news released was that of the new triallists joining the team in Orlando. As rumoured Joevin Jones is one of them, and he's joined by fellow Trinidad and Tobago international Jamal Gay. Gay is a 22 year old forward who previously impressed enough to get a move to the German second division though he didn't get a game there, and he's scored 3 times in 8 games for the T & T national team so there's a bit of promise there.
The other two triallists to join the team in Orlando, you know, where we were supposed to be trialling South Americans, are from Belgium and, surprise surprise, Holland. Belgian defender Mikael Yourassowsky has made it to the age of 27 without ever catching on at any team in particular, and Dutch midfielder Ivo De Heus is another product of Ajax's youth system who hasn't really done much since leaving Ajax. As I said earlier, ya gotta have faith, but there's still no-one really impressive coming along yet.
The other big news of the day was the release of the MLS playoff format for 2011, providing confirmation of the 10 team format and details of how the wild cards will work. Basically the top 3 teams in each conference will qualify in their conference's half of the draw. Teams 7-10, regardless of conference, will then have a 1 game playoff, 7 v10 and 8 v9 at the home of the higher seed to determine who makes the 7th and 8th spots. The lowest seed of the wild card winners, again regardless of which conference they are from will be put in a match-up with the Supporters Shield winner, with the other wild card playing against the other Conference champion.
Still with me? Excellent, as now it's time to point out the goofiness that could ensue from this format combined with the stubborn maintenance of two seperate conferences as opposed to just a single table. The first wierd scenario is that it could potentially mean 7 teams qualifying from one conference, obviously the West would have the best shot at that achievement right now. The ultimate possibility though, would be for two wild card teams in the wrong conferences to make the final. Imagine Toronto (yeah, yeah,hilarious, I know) representing the West and Vancouver representing the East, I think that could see heads explode at ESPN. Given that the wild card crossover team has made the final three years straight, and won the MLS Cup two years running, it's not that far fetched, and the possibility is just another reason for the usual MLS knockers to not take the league seriously.
It could definitely be argued that this is just an extension of the "jobs for the boys" philosophy that has permeated TFC in the past, the investment in the development of certain MLSE favourites taking precedence over ruthlessly building a winning management team. How much difference can Aron Winter, Bob de Klerk and Paul Mariner make when they're surrounded by all the same old people above and below them? That would be a bit harsh though, I'm going to take this at face value, as good appointments.
Jason Bent's work with Stuart Neely in the academy over the last 3 years has definitely produced some good results, with Doneil Henry and Nicholas Lindsey already having signed on with the big club, and 4 other academy products impressing enough while in Turkey to win an invite to Orlando to train with the first team as well. His promotion to first team duties is a good reward for that work, and should help those players who worked with him in the academy to adapt at the higher level.
Dichio taking over from Bent should work well and is a very logical move, a more surprising move is Brennan coming in as the under 17 coach. Initially it seems like quite the comedown from assistant GM to probably the lowest rung on the club's current coaching ladder, but given the renewed emphasis TFC is placing on the academy as an important part of the club's future, this isn't a throwaway appointment. It's also a job I'd think should suit him better, I have more confidence in his ability with a football and to coach the young players than I do in his ability to make it as an executive, making trades, negotiating with agents and competing with other GM's.
As for Dasovic, it's likely he was offered the position that Bent took, but turned it down, not wanting to go from interim head coach back into the assistants ranks. I'll stand by my theory that this scouting position is a very temporary one, TFC looking after him until he can get the kind of coaching role he desires, as a thank you for his work over the years, a move I can very much applaud.
The next bit of news released was that of the new triallists joining the team in Orlando. As rumoured Joevin Jones is one of them, and he's joined by fellow Trinidad and Tobago international Jamal Gay. Gay is a 22 year old forward who previously impressed enough to get a move to the German second division though he didn't get a game there, and he's scored 3 times in 8 games for the T & T national team so there's a bit of promise there.
The other two triallists to join the team in Orlando, you know, where we were supposed to be trialling South Americans, are from Belgium and, surprise surprise, Holland. Belgian defender Mikael Yourassowsky has made it to the age of 27 without ever catching on at any team in particular, and Dutch midfielder Ivo De Heus is another product of Ajax's youth system who hasn't really done much since leaving Ajax. As I said earlier, ya gotta have faith, but there's still no-one really impressive coming along yet.
The other big news of the day was the release of the MLS playoff format for 2011, providing confirmation of the 10 team format and details of how the wild cards will work. Basically the top 3 teams in each conference will qualify in their conference's half of the draw. Teams 7-10, regardless of conference, will then have a 1 game playoff, 7 v10 and 8 v9 at the home of the higher seed to determine who makes the 7th and 8th spots. The lowest seed of the wild card winners, again regardless of which conference they are from will be put in a match-up with the Supporters Shield winner, with the other wild card playing against the other Conference champion.
Still with me? Excellent, as now it's time to point out the goofiness that could ensue from this format combined with the stubborn maintenance of two seperate conferences as opposed to just a single table. The first wierd scenario is that it could potentially mean 7 teams qualifying from one conference, obviously the West would have the best shot at that achievement right now. The ultimate possibility though, would be for two wild card teams in the wrong conferences to make the final. Imagine Toronto (yeah, yeah,hilarious, I know) representing the West and Vancouver representing the East, I think that could see heads explode at ESPN. Given that the wild card crossover team has made the final three years straight, and won the MLS Cup two years running, it's not that far fetched, and the possibility is just another reason for the usual MLS knockers to not take the league seriously.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Just call us "The Toronto Soccer Leafs" and have done with it.
The main bit of news over the last week or so while the club was in Toronto was the official unveiling of the new 2011 home jersey, videos can be found on Torontofc.ca, with De Ro once again showing mid-season media form, staying on message and throwing up some half convincing platitudes about the new jersey and the pride it inspires and all that.
I already hate the fact that it has a sponsor, and have previously expressed disappointment about the embossed maple leaf on the front, and seeing those videos confirmed that it once again had "all for one" on the back, which I also don't like, but it just left me too resigned and dispirited to bother complaining here, but it was seeing the jersey in person this weekend that sent me over the edge into full on "angry and confused old man shaking his fist at a world that's left him behind" mode, so here I go.
What you don't see in the videos and what's hidden between all the crossed arms in these photos is that within the big maple leaf on the chest is another smaller maple leaf, a minor detail you might think, but for me it's just another step further down the slippery slope of TFC's full on MLSE-ification.
Two maple leaves? Why? Yes we're Canadian but we already know that, in case we forget there's the flag on the arm and the maple leaf at the top of the crest to remind us. It's not like we're the only Canadian MLS team any more, Vancouver doesn't have to splash maple leaves all over their jersey why do we? Is this some kind of attempt to brand us as 'Canada's team', make Canadians think it would somehow be unpatriotic to support Vancouver or Montreal or some other local team instead of TFC?
Of course it's not about Canada really, as they're not maple leaves, they're Maple Leafs. God knows MLSE have tried to leverage that whole Maple Leaf brand into selling pretty much anything they can think of, why not try and use it to try and get people to follow the Leafs brand over to their soccer team. "Look! They've got a Leaf on their chest as well, I've got to support them now".
With no recent success to speak of, the hockey team have been relying on hokey emotional manipulation and faux-patriotic blackmail for a while now, "the passion that unites us all" (don't you dare leave, we're all in this together, you have to stay) "spirit is everything" (don't you dare give up, spirit is the most important thing, it's certainly not winning). They've really taken it up a notch though with the whole idea of "Leaf Nation". The famous quote from Samuel Johnson is that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, and if we go along with concept of "Leaf Nation" then that's exactly what's going on with MLSE right now, they're basically saying "To be a Leafs fan is to be part of something special, you could no more leave it than you could stop being a Canadian, you're not a traitor are you? Here, listen to the national anthem! And look at the flags".
When TFC started up, it seemed different to the Leafs and Raptors, more genuine, not as manufactured and controlled, and, in the best sense of the word, amateur. The commercials were fun , the tickets were cheap, management seemed genuinely interested in working with supporters, and letting them create an organic, authentic experience. There was no goal music, streamers were tolerated if not exactly encouraged, hell they even stood by and watched the pitch invasion at the end of 2007.
Sure there were plenty of ads everywhere at BMO Field, and bad half time entertainment, and expensive food and drink and merchandise, and that "all for one" slogan was around then as well, if not quite as in your face as it is now. But all that is to be expected really, and didn't really get in the way of supporters being able to experience the game their way, how they wanted to, without being told when to clap or how to feel, there was a genuine, amateur enthusiasm around the club, and supporters enjoyed that, happily helping to create the buzz and feeling that can't be manufactured. It was all so different from the regular North American sporting experience as exemplified by a Toronto Maple Leafs game where everything about the atmosphere is so closely controlled, with music or promotions taking up every second the puck isn't in play.
It seemed as if TFC had just flown under the radar and been able to do it's own thing, as if once the team and stadium had been secured, they'd all been left alone to play with their new toy, while the big boys got on with making money from the Leafs. Now it seems like the marketing geniuses behind the Leafs noticed the genuine excitement, passion and loyalty generated by TFC, precisely because they were more hands off and let it be a very supporter driven thing, and said "step aside small timers, we'll show you how to properly exploit that sort of feeling". Thus prices were raised and raised and the 2009 home jersey came out with a big Maple Leaf on the front and "all for one" on the back.
Not even the Leafs have had the temerity to make their players and supporters wear their marketing slogan on the actual jersey, but there it was. "All for One" (isn't it heartwarming, everyone, players, management, and especially you supporters, all pulling in the same direction, for the same common goal, don't you dare give up on us, we're all in this together, just don't think too hard what that one common goal is, and keep paying for your ever increasing season tickets).
It could certainly be argued that it was all very successful, TFC was voted brand of the year in 2009 after all, and I'm sure there was still plenty of profit rolling in. Even in 2010 when, after yet another failed season, season ticket prices were raised, Tom Anselmi was initially confident enough to defend the increase as merely a result of supply and demand, as if with all his MLSE experience he knew supporters would complain but keep on paying, or be easily replaced with new people desperate to emigrate to the newest province in Leaf Nation.
But of course it wasn't that simple and we had to go through the townhall apology process, and they backed off a bit, for now, with the price increases. Unfortunately it seems as if, in the face of the indifference and or hostility they saw and heard from supporters, they've reacted in the only way they know how and ramped up the emotional manipulation side of things, initially with that whole "supporter's kit" design competition (please, please, please don't call it that once it's actually in use), and now with the new jersey, this time with added Maple Leaf.
For me, an emotional investment is probably the most important part of supporting a club, I'd much rather watch TFC or my local team back in England, Darlington, than the latest must-see Champions league game, because those are teams I actually care about. But those emotional ties should be organic and genuine, whether it's something passed down from generation to generation like with the Leafs, or being involved in a supporter's group or for many other reasons that would vary from person to person, but they shouldn't be coming from management in any shape or form.
It's the marketing campaigns and thinly disguised guilt trips forced onto fans from above that turned me from a straightforwardly enthusiastic Leafs fan to a conflicted "self-hating Leafs fan". Sure I want the team to win, but I can't help but roll my eyes and make sarcastic comments at the slogans and videos that are put out there, and the portion of the fans that unthinkingly lap them up, and it annoys me that as a Leafs fan I'm lumped in with all of that. I really don't want to feel that way about TFC as well, but they just keep pushing further and further in that direction, and that second bloody Maple Leaf is just the latest step.
I'm a Toronto sports fan and all the teams I care about are run by the same company, and I hate the way they work. FML(SE)
I already hate the fact that it has a sponsor, and have previously expressed disappointment about the embossed maple leaf on the front, and seeing those videos confirmed that it once again had "all for one" on the back, which I also don't like, but it just left me too resigned and dispirited to bother complaining here, but it was seeing the jersey in person this weekend that sent me over the edge into full on "angry and confused old man shaking his fist at a world that's left him behind" mode, so here I go.
What you don't see in the videos and what's hidden between all the crossed arms in these photos is that within the big maple leaf on the chest is another smaller maple leaf, a minor detail you might think, but for me it's just another step further down the slippery slope of TFC's full on MLSE-ification.
Two maple leaves? Why? Yes we're Canadian but we already know that, in case we forget there's the flag on the arm and the maple leaf at the top of the crest to remind us. It's not like we're the only Canadian MLS team any more, Vancouver doesn't have to splash maple leaves all over their jersey why do we? Is this some kind of attempt to brand us as 'Canada's team', make Canadians think it would somehow be unpatriotic to support Vancouver or Montreal or some other local team instead of TFC?
Of course it's not about Canada really, as they're not maple leaves, they're Maple Leafs. God knows MLSE have tried to leverage that whole Maple Leaf brand into selling pretty much anything they can think of, why not try and use it to try and get people to follow the Leafs brand over to their soccer team. "Look! They've got a Leaf on their chest as well, I've got to support them now".
With no recent success to speak of, the hockey team have been relying on hokey emotional manipulation and faux-patriotic blackmail for a while now, "the passion that unites us all" (don't you dare leave, we're all in this together, you have to stay) "spirit is everything" (don't you dare give up, spirit is the most important thing, it's certainly not winning). They've really taken it up a notch though with the whole idea of "Leaf Nation". The famous quote from Samuel Johnson is that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, and if we go along with concept of "Leaf Nation" then that's exactly what's going on with MLSE right now, they're basically saying "To be a Leafs fan is to be part of something special, you could no more leave it than you could stop being a Canadian, you're not a traitor are you? Here, listen to the national anthem! And look at the flags".
When TFC started up, it seemed different to the Leafs and Raptors, more genuine, not as manufactured and controlled, and, in the best sense of the word, amateur. The commercials were fun , the tickets were cheap, management seemed genuinely interested in working with supporters, and letting them create an organic, authentic experience. There was no goal music, streamers were tolerated if not exactly encouraged, hell they even stood by and watched the pitch invasion at the end of 2007.
Sure there were plenty of ads everywhere at BMO Field, and bad half time entertainment, and expensive food and drink and merchandise, and that "all for one" slogan was around then as well, if not quite as in your face as it is now. But all that is to be expected really, and didn't really get in the way of supporters being able to experience the game their way, how they wanted to, without being told when to clap or how to feel, there was a genuine, amateur enthusiasm around the club, and supporters enjoyed that, happily helping to create the buzz and feeling that can't be manufactured. It was all so different from the regular North American sporting experience as exemplified by a Toronto Maple Leafs game where everything about the atmosphere is so closely controlled, with music or promotions taking up every second the puck isn't in play.
It seemed as if TFC had just flown under the radar and been able to do it's own thing, as if once the team and stadium had been secured, they'd all been left alone to play with their new toy, while the big boys got on with making money from the Leafs. Now it seems like the marketing geniuses behind the Leafs noticed the genuine excitement, passion and loyalty generated by TFC, precisely because they were more hands off and let it be a very supporter driven thing, and said "step aside small timers, we'll show you how to properly exploit that sort of feeling". Thus prices were raised and raised and the 2009 home jersey came out with a big Maple Leaf on the front and "all for one" on the back.
Not even the Leafs have had the temerity to make their players and supporters wear their marketing slogan on the actual jersey, but there it was. "All for One" (isn't it heartwarming, everyone, players, management, and especially you supporters, all pulling in the same direction, for the same common goal, don't you dare give up on us, we're all in this together, just don't think too hard what that one common goal is, and keep paying for your ever increasing season tickets).
It could certainly be argued that it was all very successful, TFC was voted brand of the year in 2009 after all, and I'm sure there was still plenty of profit rolling in. Even in 2010 when, after yet another failed season, season ticket prices were raised, Tom Anselmi was initially confident enough to defend the increase as merely a result of supply and demand, as if with all his MLSE experience he knew supporters would complain but keep on paying, or be easily replaced with new people desperate to emigrate to the newest province in Leaf Nation.
But of course it wasn't that simple and we had to go through the townhall apology process, and they backed off a bit, for now, with the price increases. Unfortunately it seems as if, in the face of the indifference and or hostility they saw and heard from supporters, they've reacted in the only way they know how and ramped up the emotional manipulation side of things, initially with that whole "supporter's kit" design competition (please, please, please don't call it that once it's actually in use), and now with the new jersey, this time with added Maple Leaf.
For me, an emotional investment is probably the most important part of supporting a club, I'd much rather watch TFC or my local team back in England, Darlington, than the latest must-see Champions league game, because those are teams I actually care about. But those emotional ties should be organic and genuine, whether it's something passed down from generation to generation like with the Leafs, or being involved in a supporter's group or for many other reasons that would vary from person to person, but they shouldn't be coming from management in any shape or form.
It's the marketing campaigns and thinly disguised guilt trips forced onto fans from above that turned me from a straightforwardly enthusiastic Leafs fan to a conflicted "self-hating Leafs fan". Sure I want the team to win, but I can't help but roll my eyes and make sarcastic comments at the slogans and videos that are put out there, and the portion of the fans that unthinkingly lap them up, and it annoys me that as a Leafs fan I'm lumped in with all of that. I really don't want to feel that way about TFC as well, but they just keep pushing further and further in that direction, and that second bloody Maple Leaf is just the latest step.
I'm a Toronto sports fan and all the teams I care about are run by the same company, and I hate the way they work. FML(SE)
Monday, February 21, 2011
Ya gotta have faith, faith, faith.
TfC flew down to Orlando today, for the next step of their pre-season, with another training camp and games in the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic, referred to from here on in for reasons of laziness and disney related disdain on my behalf, if not originality, the Mickey Mouse tournament. They'll be playing against Houston Dynamo this Thursday, before playing the winner/loser of the other semi final, either FC Dallas or Orlando City on Sunday.
The good thing is that all games are due to be streamed online so we'll finally have a chance to see how the much ballyhooed new system and style are looking after the first few weeks under Aron Winter and Bob de Klerk. We'll also get to see how the new players look outside of a few brief highlights, does Javier Martina have more to him that just a few fancy tricks? Will Nick Soolsma and Elbekay Bouchiba show that they were playing at too low of a level in their recent spells in the Dutch amateur leagues and Qatar respectively.
There should also be new triallists as well, with Winter previously suggesting that this would be the time to evaluate talent from South and Central America. Much like what happened in Europe though, it seems fans shouldn't get their hopes too high for some new exotic foreign signings just yet. The two names rumoured to be joining TFC so far are Joevin Jones and Shadhon Winchester, and while both are Trinidad and Tobago internationals, they also both recently trialled with Colorado Rapids and were released, so it's not exactly thrilling news yet.
The next few days should see other names announced, and then we'll finally get to see everyone play, so hopefully there'll be something a bit more encouraging at that stage. So far all we've got to go on is faith that Winter, De Klerk, Mariner and co are going to be an improvement on previous years, but I've never been one for religion-esque blind faith, hopefully we'll soon get some solid evidence that they're on the right track.
The good thing is that all games are due to be streamed online so we'll finally have a chance to see how the much ballyhooed new system and style are looking after the first few weeks under Aron Winter and Bob de Klerk. We'll also get to see how the new players look outside of a few brief highlights, does Javier Martina have more to him that just a few fancy tricks? Will Nick Soolsma and Elbekay Bouchiba show that they were playing at too low of a level in their recent spells in the Dutch amateur leagues and Qatar respectively.
There should also be new triallists as well, with Winter previously suggesting that this would be the time to evaluate talent from South and Central America. Much like what happened in Europe though, it seems fans shouldn't get their hopes too high for some new exotic foreign signings just yet. The two names rumoured to be joining TFC so far are Joevin Jones and Shadhon Winchester, and while both are Trinidad and Tobago internationals, they also both recently trialled with Colorado Rapids and were released, so it's not exactly thrilling news yet.
The next few days should see other names announced, and then we'll finally get to see everyone play, so hopefully there'll be something a bit more encouraging at that stage. So far all we've got to go on is faith that Winter, De Klerk, Mariner and co are going to be an improvement on previous years, but I've never been one for religion-esque blind faith, hopefully we'll soon get some solid evidence that they're on the right track.
Friday, February 18, 2011
It was 20 years ago today. February.
The latest instalment of my look back at Darlington's 1990/91 season. Click here for August, September, October, November, December and January. Or for the whole season in one handy post, check out this at the superb The Two Unfortunates.
With Brian Little's spurning of Birmingham's advances providing welcome relief and renewed optimism after a 4 game winless streak, Darlington's first game in February was at York City, a chance for revenge after earlier losses in the FA Cup and Leyland Daf Trophy. Steve Mardenborough started in place of Drew Coverdale, John Borthwick got the winner, York's Nigel Pepper was sent off, his incredible 3rd red card against Darlo of the season, and we came away with a 1-0 win. This was followed by a Tuesday night home game against struggling Wrexham, a pretty dull game which ended with another 1-0 win, Gary Gill with the goal.
We then had two weeks without a game, before taking on Aldershot in the match re-arranged from boxing day. With Mick Tait suspended, it was a rare start for Gary Coatsworth, and he helped keep another clean sheet. Goals from Borthwick and Lee Ellison, who missed a couple of easy chances that could have given him a first half hat-trick secured our third straight win, 2-0 and led to Mark Prudhoe leading "We are top of the league" chants with the away fans after the game.
If his talent and personality had endeared him to Darlo supporters, it was the next game, away at Hartlepool, that really sealed Prudhoe's status as fan favourite and club legend. As well as Darlo up at the top of the table, the Monkey Hangers were also doing well, so for one of the few times in history, there were promotion implications for both sides to add to the usual hostility and bad blood. Tait was back, but Andy Toman was still suspended and Hartlepool dominated but just could not find a way past Prudhoe who made save after save, many of them of the spectacular variety and we escaped with a 0-0 draw.
The month ended with a trip to Carlisle, and Phil Linacre was back from injury and straight away back into his goalscoring form from January, he got one, as did Borthwick, and the defence got another clean sheet, a 2-0 win finishing off one of the most successful month's in club history, 5 games, 4 away from home, 13 points, 0 goals conceded, manager of the month for Brian Little and a solid lead at the top of the table, not bad at all.
Sad news at this time though was the forced retirement of David Corner, a huge part of our Conference success the season before, he battled injuries all season before finally having to call it quits.
As always, feel free to add further details or memories in the comments section.
Coming up, March: We finally let some goals in, and start drawing a lot.
With Brian Little's spurning of Birmingham's advances providing welcome relief and renewed optimism after a 4 game winless streak, Darlington's first game in February was at York City, a chance for revenge after earlier losses in the FA Cup and Leyland Daf Trophy. Steve Mardenborough started in place of Drew Coverdale, John Borthwick got the winner, York's Nigel Pepper was sent off, his incredible 3rd red card against Darlo of the season, and we came away with a 1-0 win. This was followed by a Tuesday night home game against struggling Wrexham, a pretty dull game which ended with another 1-0 win, Gary Gill with the goal.
We then had two weeks without a game, before taking on Aldershot in the match re-arranged from boxing day. With Mick Tait suspended, it was a rare start for Gary Coatsworth, and he helped keep another clean sheet. Goals from Borthwick and Lee Ellison, who missed a couple of easy chances that could have given him a first half hat-trick secured our third straight win, 2-0 and led to Mark Prudhoe leading "We are top of the league" chants with the away fans after the game.
If his talent and personality had endeared him to Darlo supporters, it was the next game, away at Hartlepool, that really sealed Prudhoe's status as fan favourite and club legend. As well as Darlo up at the top of the table, the Monkey Hangers were also doing well, so for one of the few times in history, there were promotion implications for both sides to add to the usual hostility and bad blood. Tait was back, but Andy Toman was still suspended and Hartlepool dominated but just could not find a way past Prudhoe who made save after save, many of them of the spectacular variety and we escaped with a 0-0 draw.
The month ended with a trip to Carlisle, and Phil Linacre was back from injury and straight away back into his goalscoring form from January, he got one, as did Borthwick, and the defence got another clean sheet, a 2-0 win finishing off one of the most successful month's in club history, 5 games, 4 away from home, 13 points, 0 goals conceded, manager of the month for Brian Little and a solid lead at the top of the table, not bad at all.
Sad news at this time though was the forced retirement of David Corner, a huge part of our Conference success the season before, he battled injuries all season before finally having to call it quits.
As always, feel free to add further details or memories in the comments section.
Coming up, March: We finally let some goals in, and start drawing a lot.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Ridiculous ground, poor fans.
It's often right about now, as the season ticks past it's halfway point and the harsh realities of constantly losing money kick in, that all the financial crisis stories pick up pace in England. Kidderminster Harriers, Plymouth Argyle and Sheffield Wednesday seem to be this years main crisis clubs, and now, on a much closer personal level for me, it's once again Darlington's turn.
For the vast majority of it's existence Darlington has been a typical lower league team, struggling along from year to year, with some ups and lots of downs, including nearly going out of business in 1983, their centenary year. Chairmen, directors and investors came and went over the years, generally local businessmen who couldn't afford to be losing too much money for too long, and the club kept going at a commensurately modest level, much to the occasional chagrin of more ambitious supporters.
That changed in 1997 when desperate owners actually found someone with proper riches to take over, George Reynolds. He invested heavily in the team, with talk of the Premier League, bringing in players like Marco Gabbiadini, but it didn't quite work out that way, the loss to Peterborough in the 2000 playoff final saw the momentum really disappear and never really come back. He eventually left in disgrace in 2004 and if he'd just come and gone like so many others, it wouldn't be so bad, but his lasting legacy is the big part of his undeniably well meaning but foolish ambitions, The Reynolds Arena (also known in it's 8 years of existence as The New Stadium, The Williamson Motors Stadium, The Darlington Arena, The 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena, The Balfour Webnet Darlington Arena and now The Northern Echo Darlington Arena).
A ridiculous 25,000 capacity stadium on the edge of town, whose construction costs sucked all the money out of the Reynolds era, sending Darlington into administration in 2003, and whose ongoing maintenance costs have bogged the club down ever since, leading to administration again in 2009, it's the ultimate white elephant, and is very much at the centre of the current troubles.
The initial article in the Northen Echo can be read here, and a good summing up of the situation can be read here, but it's the common issue of the team not fully owning it's own stadium that is the root of the problem. The current Chairman Raj Singh, and the former Chariman George Houghton own the stadium and surrounding land, through a holding company, but that holding company took out a loan of 1.7m pounds before Darlington's previous administration journey, before Singh was involved.
The people who made that loan, Philip Scott and Graham Sizer, former senior executives with the Darlington-based care home company Southern Cross Healthcare, have now called in receivers to recover the debt. Singh says an agreement was in place that Houghton would cover the debt, which hasn't happened, and which Houghton denies, and now Singh has made an offer to buy the stadium at a much lower price than the original loan, which has been turned down.
If the receivers can't find a buyer, ownership would revert to Scott and Sizer, who don't seem interested in running the club, but would let the club continue renting the stadium for a quite reasonable 10,000 pounds a year. Without ownership of the stadium though, Singh doesn't want to keep running the club out of his own pocket and says he is prepared to walk away. Whether there's a new owner waiting in the wings prepared to take on the club remains to be seen but is probably doubtful.
At this stage it seems more like public posturing and negotiating through the media than a real imminent crisis, so hopefully a compromise can be found and things can keep going, but unless stadium issues get resolved, the club will always be on the verge of disaster. Ownership is obviously the main issue, and a problem common to many clubs, but the sheer inappropriate hugeness of it, and associated costs involved mean that even if that gets 100% resolved, money problems will keep cropping up as long as the crowds stay at their traditional level.
Proposals to make things work better include building an attached hotel/conference centre with restaurants and other sources of revenue that could subsidise the football team, but the local council seems hostile to pretty much everything that gets proposed for the site, and where's the money going to come from to do that? Another solution being thrown around on forums would be to sell it off to someone else, likely a supermarket chain, and build a smaller ground at a different location.
Even though it's been over 7 years since he left the club, Reynolds ego and grandiose plan are still dragging the club down to the degree that the bleak alternative of seeing the club fold and having to start again from scratch is starting to get discussion as the best way forward.
For the vast majority of it's existence Darlington has been a typical lower league team, struggling along from year to year, with some ups and lots of downs, including nearly going out of business in 1983, their centenary year. Chairmen, directors and investors came and went over the years, generally local businessmen who couldn't afford to be losing too much money for too long, and the club kept going at a commensurately modest level, much to the occasional chagrin of more ambitious supporters.
That changed in 1997 when desperate owners actually found someone with proper riches to take over, George Reynolds. He invested heavily in the team, with talk of the Premier League, bringing in players like Marco Gabbiadini, but it didn't quite work out that way, the loss to Peterborough in the 2000 playoff final saw the momentum really disappear and never really come back. He eventually left in disgrace in 2004 and if he'd just come and gone like so many others, it wouldn't be so bad, but his lasting legacy is the big part of his undeniably well meaning but foolish ambitions, The Reynolds Arena (also known in it's 8 years of existence as The New Stadium, The Williamson Motors Stadium, The Darlington Arena, The 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena, The Balfour Webnet Darlington Arena and now The Northern Echo Darlington Arena).
A ridiculous 25,000 capacity stadium on the edge of town, whose construction costs sucked all the money out of the Reynolds era, sending Darlington into administration in 2003, and whose ongoing maintenance costs have bogged the club down ever since, leading to administration again in 2009, it's the ultimate white elephant, and is very much at the centre of the current troubles.
The initial article in the Northen Echo can be read here, and a good summing up of the situation can be read here, but it's the common issue of the team not fully owning it's own stadium that is the root of the problem. The current Chairman Raj Singh, and the former Chariman George Houghton own the stadium and surrounding land, through a holding company, but that holding company took out a loan of 1.7m pounds before Darlington's previous administration journey, before Singh was involved.
The people who made that loan, Philip Scott and Graham Sizer, former senior executives with the Darlington-based care home company Southern Cross Healthcare, have now called in receivers to recover the debt. Singh says an agreement was in place that Houghton would cover the debt, which hasn't happened, and which Houghton denies, and now Singh has made an offer to buy the stadium at a much lower price than the original loan, which has been turned down.
If the receivers can't find a buyer, ownership would revert to Scott and Sizer, who don't seem interested in running the club, but would let the club continue renting the stadium for a quite reasonable 10,000 pounds a year. Without ownership of the stadium though, Singh doesn't want to keep running the club out of his own pocket and says he is prepared to walk away. Whether there's a new owner waiting in the wings prepared to take on the club remains to be seen but is probably doubtful.
At this stage it seems more like public posturing and negotiating through the media than a real imminent crisis, so hopefully a compromise can be found and things can keep going, but unless stadium issues get resolved, the club will always be on the verge of disaster. Ownership is obviously the main issue, and a problem common to many clubs, but the sheer inappropriate hugeness of it, and associated costs involved mean that even if that gets 100% resolved, money problems will keep cropping up as long as the crowds stay at their traditional level.
Proposals to make things work better include building an attached hotel/conference centre with restaurants and other sources of revenue that could subsidise the football team, but the local council seems hostile to pretty much everything that gets proposed for the site, and where's the money going to come from to do that? Another solution being thrown around on forums would be to sell it off to someone else, likely a supermarket chain, and build a smaller ground at a different location.
Even though it's been over 7 years since he left the club, Reynolds ego and grandiose plan are still dragging the club down to the degree that the bleak alternative of seeing the club fold and having to start again from scratch is starting to get discussion as the best way forward.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Double Dutch. What? There's 3 of them? Bah!
After coming back from Turkey over the weekend, Toronto FC returned to their more familiar, more artificial turfy and slightly less exotic Oakville training base, where the media eagerly awaited on Tuesday for interviews and updates.
Dwayne de Rosario's pre-season media training must be paying off, having clearly shaken off the off-season rust that saw his media day press conference range from moody to hostile and end in vague threats of a strike. Today, he mixed well worn cliches with compliments about the new style of play Aron Winter's introducing, and when asked about his never ending contract dispute said that "We're still progressing and things definitely look brighter, so I'm very pleased about that, and I think we all want to get it behind us and focus on the football". Nicely done Dwayne, professional to the point of being dull, that's mid season form right there.
Aron Winter was a lot less cagey in his interview, confirming a report in a Dutch newspaper that TFC have signed three of the triallists from Turkey, Dutch players Javier Martina, Nick Soolsma and Elbekay Bouchiba.
This seems to be becoming a bit of a trend with TFC, letting news just slip out without any kind of big announcement, the new kits have been available online for a while, and are now also available at Real Sports, without any of the promotional hoopla that previous versions have received.
Anyway, back to the new signings, Bouchiba is a defensive midfielder who had a journeyman career in Holland's first division, making 127 appearances over the years, before spending the last 2 years in Qatar. Soolsma is a forward who played in all 3 of our games in Turkey and going by the twitter updates seemed useful, it sounded like he linked up well with Maicon Santos. Martina was probably the player who made the best impression on TFC supporters during those three games, the brief highlights contained plenty of exciting moments from him that suggest he's a very tricky winger who could cause the average MLS full back serious trouble. A lot more detailed info can be found out about these three here at Red Nation Online.
Obviously twitter updates and a few brief highlights aren't the best way to judge any players, especially without salary details, so I'll not get too excited or disappointed yet. At the very least though, they should be comfortable with the Dutch style that Winter wants to play which will be helpful as the squad gets adjusted to that style early on.
Hopefully there will be further signings announced soon, not only to help shake the nagging feeling I'm getting that Winter's big book of international contacts is about as big and diverse as Mo Johnston's was, just with a shiny Orange cover instead of the Union Jack style that Mo rocked, but also, less cynically and more importantly, we've been gifted an easy start to the season, so let's get that squad built soon so we can hit the ground running for a change.
Dwayne de Rosario's pre-season media training must be paying off, having clearly shaken off the off-season rust that saw his media day press conference range from moody to hostile and end in vague threats of a strike. Today, he mixed well worn cliches with compliments about the new style of play Aron Winter's introducing, and when asked about his never ending contract dispute said that "We're still progressing and things definitely look brighter, so I'm very pleased about that, and I think we all want to get it behind us and focus on the football". Nicely done Dwayne, professional to the point of being dull, that's mid season form right there.
Aron Winter was a lot less cagey in his interview, confirming a report in a Dutch newspaper that TFC have signed three of the triallists from Turkey, Dutch players Javier Martina, Nick Soolsma and Elbekay Bouchiba.
This seems to be becoming a bit of a trend with TFC, letting news just slip out without any kind of big announcement, the new kits have been available online for a while, and are now also available at Real Sports, without any of the promotional hoopla that previous versions have received.
Anyway, back to the new signings, Bouchiba is a defensive midfielder who had a journeyman career in Holland's first division, making 127 appearances over the years, before spending the last 2 years in Qatar. Soolsma is a forward who played in all 3 of our games in Turkey and going by the twitter updates seemed useful, it sounded like he linked up well with Maicon Santos. Martina was probably the player who made the best impression on TFC supporters during those three games, the brief highlights contained plenty of exciting moments from him that suggest he's a very tricky winger who could cause the average MLS full back serious trouble. A lot more detailed info can be found out about these three here at Red Nation Online.
Obviously twitter updates and a few brief highlights aren't the best way to judge any players, especially without salary details, so I'll not get too excited or disappointed yet. At the very least though, they should be comfortable with the Dutch style that Winter wants to play which will be helpful as the squad gets adjusted to that style early on.
Hopefully there will be further signings announced soon, not only to help shake the nagging feeling I'm getting that Winter's big book of international contacts is about as big and diverse as Mo Johnston's was, just with a shiny Orange cover instead of the Union Jack style that Mo rocked, but also, less cynically and more importantly, we've been gifted an easy start to the season, so let's get that squad built soon so we can hit the ground running for a change.
Monday, February 14, 2011
TFC, MLS on TSN
A big portion of the broadcasting schedule for TFC games was released today, with TSN announcing a committment to show 24 MLS games nationally in 2011, the first year of a 6 year deal, 13 of which will be TFC games. Here's the list of TFC games:
Sat March 19, at Vancouver
Sat March 26, Portland
Sat April 2, Chivas USA
Sat June 4, Kansas City
Wed June 15, at New England
Wed June 29, Vancouver
Wed July 6, at New York
Wed July 20, FC Dallas
Sat Aug. 6, at D.C. United
Sat Sept. 17, Colorado
Sat Oct. 1, New York
Sat Oct. 15, Philadelphia
Sat Oct. 22, New England
Other games will be televised regionally, presumably on GOLTV or one of Sportsnet's regional channels.
So, the first thing that jumps out is that it's fairly easy to figure out when the NHL playoffs are on, as there's a big 2 month gap from April to June. Putting such snideness aside though, hopefully this means that TSN will be paying more attention to North American soccer than it usually does, the fact that all TFC's games and most of Vancouver's are on the main TSN channel rather than TSN2 is a positive sign. TSN generally doesn't buy up broadcasting rights and then let them wither quietly, their promotion of the CFL and the Hockey World Junior Championship has played a large part in the popularity of those events, leading to strong ratings, so it would make sense that they follow a similar model with their MLS games, which can only be a good thing.
The TFC section starts with this picture, which even after the immediate ugh effect that seeing Tom Anselmi front and centre has on me, is a hilariously bad picture, with everyone's head's partially cropped out.
This is followed by the following blurb;
It doesn't suggest a great passion for football, but I doubt many Canadians will really care about their motives, if their thirst for ratings means they can raise the profile of MLS as much as they did with the CFL, that will be a very good thing.
Sat March 19, at Vancouver
Sat March 26, Portland
Sat April 2, Chivas USA
Sat June 4, Kansas City
Wed June 15, at New England
Wed June 29, Vancouver
Wed July 6, at New York
Wed July 20, FC Dallas
Sat Aug. 6, at D.C. United
Sat Sept. 17, Colorado
Sat Oct. 1, New York
Sat Oct. 15, Philadelphia
Sat Oct. 22, New England
Other games will be televised regionally, presumably on GOLTV or one of Sportsnet's regional channels.
So, the first thing that jumps out is that it's fairly easy to figure out when the NHL playoffs are on, as there's a big 2 month gap from April to June. Putting such snideness aside though, hopefully this means that TSN will be paying more attention to North American soccer than it usually does, the fact that all TFC's games and most of Vancouver's are on the main TSN channel rather than TSN2 is a positive sign. TSN generally doesn't buy up broadcasting rights and then let them wither quietly, their promotion of the CFL and the Hockey World Junior Championship has played a large part in the popularity of those events, leading to strong ratings, so it would make sense that they follow a similar model with their MLS games, which can only be a good thing.
"This is a long term partnership with MLS and we are looking forward to working with them not only to give fans 'best in class' game coverage but also to help build the profile of the league and grow the game of soccer across the country."That quote from Stewart Johnston, president of TSN, is very encouraging that they'll be doing what they can to boost ratings over that 6 year period, which can only be a good thing for Canadian fans. A quick look at their website however, suggests there's a long way to go for them. Here's their soccer page. It has the story linked above on there now, making it look better than it usually is, it's very sporadically updated, and focussed mainly on European stuff, with their Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps sections tucked away down in the bottom corner.
The TFC section starts with this picture, which even after the immediate ugh effect that seeing Tom Anselmi front and centre has on me, is a hilariously bad picture, with everyone's head's partially cropped out.
This is followed by the following blurb;
With a new manager and head coach, Toronto FC enters their fifth MLS campaign in search of the first playoff berth in franchise history.Then there's links to the 2010 MLS schedule and standings and, TFC roster (warning: if you've successfully blanked thoughts of Nick Garcia, Raivas Hscanovics and others out of your mind, don't click the link) and that's it! Using the search function does actually bring up plenty of Toronto FC articles, so it's not all bad, though they are mainly Canadian Press or Associated Press articles.
It doesn't suggest a great passion for football, but I doubt many Canadians will really care about their motives, if their thirst for ratings means they can raise the profile of MLS as much as they did with the CFL, that will be a very good thing.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
5 home games by April 23rd? St George, that'll be cold!
Thursday saw Toronto FC play the final game of their Turkish trip, against Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb, with the two week training camp ending tomorrow. The other two games they played went well, a 1-1 draw with Partizan Belgrade followed by a 1-0 win over Red Star Belgrade (if I remember the rules of pre-season friendlies correctly, going undefeated against two Serbian teams means we get Serbia's Champions league spot next year? I could be wrong though, maybe it's only the Europa League, who knows?).
Before this game TFC released two trialists, Uruguayan Santiago Gonzalez and Dutch winger and second overall in the 'longest unfulfilled courtship of TFC' stakes (behind the incomparable Paul Dickov), Bas Ent. As those two went, another came in, left back Kevin Westmaas, another graduate of Ajax's academy making sure the Dutch quota was maintained.
That double A means I'll never be able to read his name without thinking of Noddy Holder of Slade yelling iiiit's chriiiiiiiiiistmaaaaaaaaas (at 3:00 of this clip) and it must have seemed like Christmas for Dinamo Zagreb(huh? huh? now THAT'S a segue!) as the young back four of Westmaas, Demetrious Omphroy, Doneil Henry and Ty Harden showed themselves as not ready for prime-time with giveaways that led to goals twice in the first ten minutes. Twitter reports suggested it got better from there and another trialist, Canadian Gianluca Zavarise scored just after half time to make it 2-1 before a late penalty to Dinamo made it 3-1. Alarmingly for a friendly, Zavarise and two Dinamo players were sent off, though both teams were allowed to bring substitutions on so it stayed 11 v 11.
TFC's website's match report is very unconcerned with the Dinamo Zagreb lineup, but I'm going to lazily and stereo-typically assume there was a bunch of players with names ending in ic, which very conveniently leads me to another bit of news since I last posted here, ex-interim coach Nick Dasovic hasn't actually been fully released, but is apparently staying with TFC in a scouting position. Given his coaching ambitions, this smacks of TFC being nice and keeping him around until something comes up elsewhere, which I'm ok with, as long as he stays far enough away from BMO's corridors of power that he can't lead another coup.
The other big news was the looooong awaited release of the full 2011 MLS Schedule. You can see TFC's schedule here A few things stand out, firstly, let's hope we're more prepared to compete at the start of the season than we usually are, as if we don't do well early, we're screwed. 5 of our first 7 games are at home, and our first 3 games are against the two expansion sides and then Chivas, one of the few teams worse than Toronto last year.
That 5 out of the first 7 games stat leads to my next observation, that it's going to be bloody cold. Remember 2010 when despite a generally warm spring, every TFC home game was freezing and or raining? Did you enjoy that? I didn't. Now we're practically guaranteeing ourselves a repeat? Thanks.
That unbalanced schedule gets evened out in July with only 1 of 5 games at home, though with a big gap between Houston away on the 9th and dallas at home on the 20th, expect another meaningless friendly, and as it's not in the season ticket package, expect a big name, with Real Madrid-esque ticket prices.
One good thing is that though the League couldn't shut down for a few weeks while the Gold Cup is going on, it is adhering to the Fifa scheduled international weekends in September and October for World Cup qualifying, so that's definitely a step in the right direction.
The other big change is that the vast majority of saturday games wil be played in the evening rather than the afternoon, which fans seem to be fairly evenly divided on whether it's a good thing or not. Personally I liked the afternoon games better but oh well, it's just good to finally have the fixtures to plan around, I think an August weekend in Chicago is calling me.
Before this game TFC released two trialists, Uruguayan Santiago Gonzalez and Dutch winger and second overall in the 'longest unfulfilled courtship of TFC' stakes (behind the incomparable Paul Dickov), Bas Ent. As those two went, another came in, left back Kevin Westmaas, another graduate of Ajax's academy making sure the Dutch quota was maintained.
That double A means I'll never be able to read his name without thinking of Noddy Holder of Slade yelling iiiit's chriiiiiiiiiistmaaaaaaaaas (at 3:00 of this clip) and it must have seemed like Christmas for Dinamo Zagreb(huh? huh? now THAT'S a segue!) as the young back four of Westmaas, Demetrious Omphroy, Doneil Henry and Ty Harden showed themselves as not ready for prime-time with giveaways that led to goals twice in the first ten minutes. Twitter reports suggested it got better from there and another trialist, Canadian Gianluca Zavarise scored just after half time to make it 2-1 before a late penalty to Dinamo made it 3-1. Alarmingly for a friendly, Zavarise and two Dinamo players were sent off, though both teams were allowed to bring substitutions on so it stayed 11 v 11.
TFC's website's match report is very unconcerned with the Dinamo Zagreb lineup, but I'm going to lazily and stereo-typically assume there was a bunch of players with names ending in ic, which very conveniently leads me to another bit of news since I last posted here, ex-interim coach Nick Dasovic hasn't actually been fully released, but is apparently staying with TFC in a scouting position. Given his coaching ambitions, this smacks of TFC being nice and keeping him around until something comes up elsewhere, which I'm ok with, as long as he stays far enough away from BMO's corridors of power that he can't lead another coup.
The other big news was the looooong awaited release of the full 2011 MLS Schedule. You can see TFC's schedule here A few things stand out, firstly, let's hope we're more prepared to compete at the start of the season than we usually are, as if we don't do well early, we're screwed. 5 of our first 7 games are at home, and our first 3 games are against the two expansion sides and then Chivas, one of the few teams worse than Toronto last year.
That 5 out of the first 7 games stat leads to my next observation, that it's going to be bloody cold. Remember 2010 when despite a generally warm spring, every TFC home game was freezing and or raining? Did you enjoy that? I didn't. Now we're practically guaranteeing ourselves a repeat? Thanks.
That unbalanced schedule gets evened out in July with only 1 of 5 games at home, though with a big gap between Houston away on the 9th and dallas at home on the 20th, expect another meaningless friendly, and as it's not in the season ticket package, expect a big name, with Real Madrid-esque ticket prices.
One good thing is that though the League couldn't shut down for a few weeks while the Gold Cup is going on, it is adhering to the Fifa scheduled international weekends in September and October for World Cup qualifying, so that's definitely a step in the right direction.
The other big change is that the vast majority of saturday games wil be played in the evening rather than the afternoon, which fans seem to be fairly evenly divided on whether it's a good thing or not. Personally I liked the afternoon games better but oh well, it's just good to finally have the fixtures to plan around, I think an August weekend in Chicago is calling me.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Straith miscue causes Canada Greek pain.
Though it goes in the record books as another defeat, Canada's performance had plenty of positives to it, given the circumstances it could have been a lot worse. Injury withdrawls meant that Canada put out an experimental line-up and only dressed 6 subs, one of which was a "kind of injured, only to be used in an emergency" goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld.
The starting goalkeeper was debutant Milan Borjan, a rare example of someone with choices actually choosing Canada, and he had a decent game. He provided a couple of interesting moments, with a giveaway in the second half when trying to pass the ball out to his defence that almost led to a goal and a dubious decision to go up for a corner late in the game, but when it came to the more conventional requirements of shot stopping, he provided a safe pair of hands, as well as a safe pair of, erm, nuts to just stop one shot that went through his legs.
The defence was made up of Jaime Peters and 20 year old Adam Straith as full backs, with Toronto FC's Adrian Cann joined by Dejan Jakovic, both early in pre-season with their respective MLS clubs. Cann in particular looked a bit slow and out of his depth, but it was an error from Straith that proved fatal, an attempted clearance of a harmless cross falling to an unmarked Giannis Fetfatzidis who scored in the 63rd minute.
The midfield was a very attacking one, with Atiba Huitchinson, Will Johnson, Josh Simpson, Simeon Jackson and Dwayne De Rosario backing up striker Olivier Occean in the first half and Rob Friend in the second. It worked well in the first half, as Canada more than held their own, and De Ro was playing well in the hole behind Occean.
The second half introduction of Kostantinos Mitroglou by Greece really made a difference as he attacked from midfield and exposed the lack of a defensive midfielder, creating a few chances and making it seem like a matter of time until they scored. Unfortunately Greece did score before Canada adjusted by introducing David Edgar for his first cap. Whether it was his introduction or Greece relaxing after going ahead, the game entered a bit of a lull, before Canada got a few chances late on. De Ro had a shot from a free kick tipped over, and the unconvincing Rob Friend sent a free header from a corner wide, and that was that.
Given that Greece is ranked 10th in the world, it's not a terrible result or a surprising one, and hopefully the experience gained will help when the Gold Cup and World Cup Qualifying games come around later this year. Though, as this was only a friendly, Borjan wasn't cap-tied, he certainly seems committed to Canada and looked like he could be a good long term bet in goal.
On a less important note, my initial reaction to the new shirt has changed. After seeing it in action, I like it, so will probably be buying one of the red ones when they finally go on sale. Also thanks to Sportsnet for televising the game, you can go here to check out highlights.
The starting goalkeeper was debutant Milan Borjan, a rare example of someone with choices actually choosing Canada, and he had a decent game. He provided a couple of interesting moments, with a giveaway in the second half when trying to pass the ball out to his defence that almost led to a goal and a dubious decision to go up for a corner late in the game, but when it came to the more conventional requirements of shot stopping, he provided a safe pair of hands, as well as a safe pair of, erm, nuts to just stop one shot that went through his legs.
The defence was made up of Jaime Peters and 20 year old Adam Straith as full backs, with Toronto FC's Adrian Cann joined by Dejan Jakovic, both early in pre-season with their respective MLS clubs. Cann in particular looked a bit slow and out of his depth, but it was an error from Straith that proved fatal, an attempted clearance of a harmless cross falling to an unmarked Giannis Fetfatzidis who scored in the 63rd minute.
The midfield was a very attacking one, with Atiba Huitchinson, Will Johnson, Josh Simpson, Simeon Jackson and Dwayne De Rosario backing up striker Olivier Occean in the first half and Rob Friend in the second. It worked well in the first half, as Canada more than held their own, and De Ro was playing well in the hole behind Occean.
The second half introduction of Kostantinos Mitroglou by Greece really made a difference as he attacked from midfield and exposed the lack of a defensive midfielder, creating a few chances and making it seem like a matter of time until they scored. Unfortunately Greece did score before Canada adjusted by introducing David Edgar for his first cap. Whether it was his introduction or Greece relaxing after going ahead, the game entered a bit of a lull, before Canada got a few chances late on. De Ro had a shot from a free kick tipped over, and the unconvincing Rob Friend sent a free header from a corner wide, and that was that.
Given that Greece is ranked 10th in the world, it's not a terrible result or a surprising one, and hopefully the experience gained will help when the Gold Cup and World Cup Qualifying games come around later this year. Though, as this was only a friendly, Borjan wasn't cap-tied, he certainly seems committed to Canada and looked like he could be a good long term bet in goal.
On a less important note, my initial reaction to the new shirt has changed. After seeing it in action, I like it, so will probably be buying one of the red ones when they finally go on sale. Also thanks to Sportsnet for televising the game, you can go here to check out highlights.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
A very good day for football.
So, how did the FA Trophy 3rd round go? Well, first of all, Darlington avoided the bananaskin, and got some very symmetrical revenge for 1985 with a 3-0 win over Telford. Chasetown, who I profiled yesterday came through with a 3-1 away win at Eastleigh, reaching the quarter finals for the first time in their history.
Excellent stuff, as was the result at Woking, where Salisbury City, who are at the same level of the non-league pyramid as Chasetown, won 2-0. Gateshead did defeat Dartford, but the other two Conference clubs Mansfield Town and Eastbourne Borough were both held to draws at home against Alfreton Town and Guiseley respectively. Blyth Spartans and Drolysden drew 2-2 in the other game.
Add in Wolves beating man United and Arsenal throwing away a 4 goal lead against Newcastle, and it was a very entertaining day in England.
In Canada, while not as entertaining, it was certainly more important, as the CSA voted on various reform packages, eventually passing a compromise version that will see changes come into effect by 2015. Not exactly the quick change hoped for, but definitely a step in the right direction.
Overall, a very good day for football.
Excellent stuff, as was the result at Woking, where Salisbury City, who are at the same level of the non-league pyramid as Chasetown, won 2-0. Gateshead did defeat Dartford, but the other two Conference clubs Mansfield Town and Eastbourne Borough were both held to draws at home against Alfreton Town and Guiseley respectively. Blyth Spartans and Drolysden drew 2-2 in the other game.
Add in Wolves beating man United and Arsenal throwing away a 4 goal lead against Newcastle, and it was a very entertaining day in England.
In Canada, while not as entertaining, it was certainly more important, as the CSA voted on various reform packages, eventually passing a compromise version that will see changes come into effect by 2015. Not exactly the quick change hoped for, but definitely a step in the right direction.
Overall, a very good day for football.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Sweet FA Trophy, round 3
Well, the FA Cup 4th round didn't work out too well, all the League Two clubs are gone, there's a few Premiership vs league one ties, with Leyton Orient vs Arsenal as the most interesting, but all the attention is going to go to the thoroughly odious match-up of Crawley at Man Utd. So it's once again time to turn to the FA Trophy for a breath of fresh air.
It's down to the last 16, you can see the ties as well as get a wealth of information about the teams and results in previous rounds here. There's only 5 Conference clubs left, and only 2 of those are in the top half of the table, one of those teams is Luton Town who played against Gloucester City of the Conference North tonight. Going by internet reports, Gloucester had the better of the game, but lost 1-0 to an 84th minute goal after their offside trap broke down. So Luton are through to the quarter finals and are definitely the favourites at this stage. 3 of the 4 other Conference clubs are at home, and the best possibility for an upset is probably the one team that's away, Darlington with a very tricky tie against AFC Telford.
The lowest ranked team still in the competition is Chasetown, currently 10th in the Non-League Premier Southern Division, but who are on form right now, they had a 4 game winning streak, including knocking off Conference Team Grimsby Town in the last round, before losing to Rushall Olympic in the Birmingham Senior Cup this past Tuesday. They face Eastleigh, who are a level above them in the pyramid.
Founded in 1954 and based in Burntwood, Staffordshire, Chasetown are known as the Scholars and play at a 2,000 capacity stadium, the refreshingly non-corporately named Scholars Ground. They've worked their way slowly up to their current position which is the highest division they've ever been in, and getting to the last 16 is also the furthest they've ever been in the FA Trophy. They did make the third round of the FA cup in 2008, making them the lowest ranked team to ever make it that far, though I'm not sure if that record still stands or not. Their average attendance over the last few years seems to be round about 400, but they've got a livelyish forum going at the clubs website, I hope to visit it and see a lot of celebrating on Saturday.
Prediction time, I'll go with a quarter final line-up of Luton, Darlington, Blyth Spartans, Guiseley with an upset at Eastbourne Borough, Chasetown, Dartford with the shock win over Gateshead, Mansfield and Woking.
It's down to the last 16, you can see the ties as well as get a wealth of information about the teams and results in previous rounds here. There's only 5 Conference clubs left, and only 2 of those are in the top half of the table, one of those teams is Luton Town who played against Gloucester City of the Conference North tonight. Going by internet reports, Gloucester had the better of the game, but lost 1-0 to an 84th minute goal after their offside trap broke down. So Luton are through to the quarter finals and are definitely the favourites at this stage. 3 of the 4 other Conference clubs are at home, and the best possibility for an upset is probably the one team that's away, Darlington with a very tricky tie against AFC Telford.
The lowest ranked team still in the competition is Chasetown, currently 10th in the Non-League Premier Southern Division, but who are on form right now, they had a 4 game winning streak, including knocking off Conference Team Grimsby Town in the last round, before losing to Rushall Olympic in the Birmingham Senior Cup this past Tuesday. They face Eastleigh, who are a level above them in the pyramid.
Founded in 1954 and based in Burntwood, Staffordshire, Chasetown are known as the Scholars and play at a 2,000 capacity stadium, the refreshingly non-corporately named Scholars Ground. They've worked their way slowly up to their current position which is the highest division they've ever been in, and getting to the last 16 is also the furthest they've ever been in the FA Trophy. They did make the third round of the FA cup in 2008, making them the lowest ranked team to ever make it that far, though I'm not sure if that record still stands or not. Their average attendance over the last few years seems to be round about 400, but they've got a livelyish forum going at the clubs website, I hope to visit it and see a lot of celebrating on Saturday.
Prediction time, I'll go with a quarter final line-up of Luton, Darlington, Blyth Spartans, Guiseley with an upset at Eastbourne Borough, Chasetown, Dartford with the shock win over Gateshead, Mansfield and Woking.
Success? No, no, we can't have that.
Well this is just too depressing for words really. It's being widely reported today that Canadian Women's Team Coach Carolina Morace is planning to quit after this year's world cup. An internal memo was leaked and can be read in full here, but the real kick to the guts part of it is this sentence; “The Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) has a strategy to achieve their goals that differs from my strategy,” said Morace."
I think the last couple of years have shown that Morace's strategy is working pretty well, as the team has really improved since she took over to the point where they are now a legitimate contender for the world cup. Without knowing the exact reasons behind her request, it's difficult to be accurately angry, but it seems like this is just another example of CSA incompetence, finally something good happens, and within two years they manage to upset Morace enough that she wants to quit. If reports about prize money not being distributed to players are correct, that would be disgraceful.
There are already many many good reasons to hope that the CSA reform being voted on this weekend goes through, it's way too long and complicated and full of political intrigue to get into here, but go check out Ben Knight's columns, he's been doing a great job keeping up with it all, hopefully this can be another nail in the coffin of the old guard.
I think the last couple of years have shown that Morace's strategy is working pretty well, as the team has really improved since she took over to the point where they are now a legitimate contender for the world cup. Without knowing the exact reasons behind her request, it's difficult to be accurately angry, but it seems like this is just another example of CSA incompetence, finally something good happens, and within two years they manage to upset Morace enough that she wants to quit. If reports about prize money not being distributed to players are correct, that would be disgraceful.
There are already many many good reasons to hope that the CSA reform being voted on this weekend goes through, it's way too long and complicated and full of political intrigue to get into here, but go check out Ben Knight's columns, he's been doing a great job keeping up with it all, hopefully this can be another nail in the coffin of the old guard.
The Greek Friendly.
Canada announced the full squad today for it's friendly game next Wednesday against Greece (10am EST Sportsnet one or http://www.sportsnet.ca/).
1- GK- Lars Hirschfeld
2- D- Jaime Peters
3- M- Marcel de Jong
4- D- Dejan Jakovic
6- M- Nik Ledgerwood
7- M- Pedro Pacheco
8- M- Will Johnson
9- F- Rob Friend
10- F- Simeon Jackson
11- D- David Edgar
12- D- Adam Straith
13- M- Atiba Hutchinson
14- M- Dwayne De Rosario
15- M- Josh Simpson
16- M- Tosaint Ricketts
17- F- Olivier Occean
22- GK- Milan Borjan
There's not that many surprises really, with the game being in Europe and MLS and whatever USL/NASL level leagues actually exist being in pre-season mode at best, the squad was always going to be more European based. One of the three North American based players is Dwayne De Rosario and it should be interesting to see what role he plays.
Canada is coming off two impressive games against Honduras and Ukraine with Simeon Jackson, Josh Simpson and Atiba Hutchinson playing off the main striker, either Rob Friend or Olivier Occean. It will be interesting to see if Coach Stephen Hart disrupts that to accomodate De Rosario's undoubted talents, personally I'd rather see him start with Jackson, Simpson and Friend with De Rosario on the bench to come on later if we need to try something different. I think that will probably happen, mainly because TFC and De Ro are just starting their pre-season as opposed to the European based players who are in mid season form and fitness, but I'd like to see that set of forwards given a long term run with the 2011 Gold Cup coming up and 2014 World Cup qualification not starting until 2012. If De Ro can check his ego, and his Canadian shoulder has historically been just as chippy as his TFC one, then he should play a valuable role off the bench, but whereas TFC has no option right now other than to have De Ro as the focal point of their offence, Canada does have options, and I'd like to see them given a prolonged chance.
A player who could increase the competition further up front, Blackburn's David "Junior" Hoilett declined an invitation to play. He's been saying for a while he wants to concentrate on his club career, and after a recent change of manager, he's now getting an extended first team run at Blackburn so it's not surprising he turned Canada down again at this time. Hopefully this summer he'll want to play in the Gold Cup, and even more hopefully he'll finally ease the worries of many times rejected Canadian suporters and choose us over Jamaica.
Another veteran who should be phased out is Paul Stalteri, whose absence from this squad was explained by Hart as being due to the fact he hasn't been playing for his club side recently. His likely replacement as captain, Kevin McKenna had to pull out of the squad with an injury, so the question of who will wear the armband on Wednesday is up for grabs, personally I'd go for newly crowned player of the year Atiba Hutchinson. It's more than likely that Adrian Cann or Nana Attakora will be pulled away from TFC pre-season in Turkey to fill in for McKenna in defence.
Greece are ranked 10th in the world, whereas Canada are now ranked 80th, so getting a result will be difficult, but this should be a great test, as should a game against Belarus, which though unconfirmed so far, is set to be played in Turkey this March. It feels strange to say it, but kudos to the CSA for organising some quality friendly opposition, experience that should be very helpful when World Cup qualifying starts next year.
1- GK- Lars Hirschfeld
2- D- Jaime Peters
3- M- Marcel de Jong
4- D- Dejan Jakovic
6- M- Nik Ledgerwood
7- M- Pedro Pacheco
8- M- Will Johnson
9- F- Rob Friend
10- F- Simeon Jackson
11- D- David Edgar
12- D- Adam Straith
13- M- Atiba Hutchinson
14- M- Dwayne De Rosario
15- M- Josh Simpson
16- M- Tosaint Ricketts
17- F- Olivier Occean
22- GK- Milan Borjan
There's not that many surprises really, with the game being in Europe and MLS and whatever USL/NASL level leagues actually exist being in pre-season mode at best, the squad was always going to be more European based. One of the three North American based players is Dwayne De Rosario and it should be interesting to see what role he plays.
Canada is coming off two impressive games against Honduras and Ukraine with Simeon Jackson, Josh Simpson and Atiba Hutchinson playing off the main striker, either Rob Friend or Olivier Occean. It will be interesting to see if Coach Stephen Hart disrupts that to accomodate De Rosario's undoubted talents, personally I'd rather see him start with Jackson, Simpson and Friend with De Rosario on the bench to come on later if we need to try something different. I think that will probably happen, mainly because TFC and De Ro are just starting their pre-season as opposed to the European based players who are in mid season form and fitness, but I'd like to see that set of forwards given a long term run with the 2011 Gold Cup coming up and 2014 World Cup qualification not starting until 2012. If De Ro can check his ego, and his Canadian shoulder has historically been just as chippy as his TFC one, then he should play a valuable role off the bench, but whereas TFC has no option right now other than to have De Ro as the focal point of their offence, Canada does have options, and I'd like to see them given a prolonged chance.
A player who could increase the competition further up front, Blackburn's David "Junior" Hoilett declined an invitation to play. He's been saying for a while he wants to concentrate on his club career, and after a recent change of manager, he's now getting an extended first team run at Blackburn so it's not surprising he turned Canada down again at this time. Hopefully this summer he'll want to play in the Gold Cup, and even more hopefully he'll finally ease the worries of many times rejected Canadian suporters and choose us over Jamaica.
Another veteran who should be phased out is Paul Stalteri, whose absence from this squad was explained by Hart as being due to the fact he hasn't been playing for his club side recently. His likely replacement as captain, Kevin McKenna had to pull out of the squad with an injury, so the question of who will wear the armband on Wednesday is up for grabs, personally I'd go for newly crowned player of the year Atiba Hutchinson. It's more than likely that Adrian Cann or Nana Attakora will be pulled away from TFC pre-season in Turkey to fill in for McKenna in defence.
Greece are ranked 10th in the world, whereas Canada are now ranked 80th, so getting a result will be difficult, but this should be a great test, as should a game against Belarus, which though unconfirmed so far, is set to be played in Turkey this March. It feels strange to say it, but kudos to the CSA for organising some quality friendly opposition, experience that should be very helpful when World Cup qualifying starts next year.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
That's not going to help with the negotiations Dwayne.
So TFC's first game of 2011 is now over, with Toronto holding Partizan Belgrade to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday morning, a report and brief highlights of which can be found here. Given that we're only a few days into training and the entire team was substituted at half time, it'd be foolish to try and read too much into the game, but a result against a good team certainly seems encouraging.
Nana Attakora scored the only goal with a delightfully delicate lob over the goalie/intended cross that accidentally went in, and 6 of our triallists got into the game at one time or another. One of the second half triallists was King Gyan Osei and sticking with the royal theme, TFC's own princess, Dwayne De Rosario missed a 1st half penalty, which can't help his case for a new and improved contract.
Also on Wednesday the "authentic" home shirt for next year was revealed, and as I feared it does have a big Maple Leaf embossed on the front, as if the one on the sleeve and the one at the top of the crest wasn't enough to emphasise TFC's Canadianness. I don't really understand why they've done this again, presumably it's all marketing based, to try and appeal to the rest of Canada beyond Toronto, or maybe it's another way of trying to exploit MLSE's Maple Leafs brand, who knows. I assume TFC and Adidas have done their research and gimmicks like that sell more shirts, so fair play to them I suppose, it's still the best one they've come out with so far in my opinion, so I shouldn't complain too much.
Nana Attakora scored the only goal with a delightfully delicate lob over the goalie/intended cross that accidentally went in, and 6 of our triallists got into the game at one time or another. One of the second half triallists was King Gyan Osei and sticking with the royal theme, TFC's own princess, Dwayne De Rosario missed a 1st half penalty, which can't help his case for a new and improved contract.
Also on Wednesday the "authentic" home shirt for next year was revealed, and as I feared it does have a big Maple Leaf embossed on the front, as if the one on the sleeve and the one at the top of the crest wasn't enough to emphasise TFC's Canadianness. I don't really understand why they've done this again, presumably it's all marketing based, to try and appeal to the rest of Canada beyond Toronto, or maybe it's another way of trying to exploit MLSE's Maple Leafs brand, who knows. I assume TFC and Adidas have done their research and gimmicks like that sell more shirts, so fair play to them I suppose, it's still the best one they've come out with so far in my opinion, so I shouldn't complain too much.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Random notes on minor happenings.
With the opening press conference and talk of strikes and lockouts now behind us, and the team and De Ro's mouth safely out of the media glare in Turkey, pre-season really gets under way on Wednesday with Toronto FC's first training game, against Partizan Belgrade of Serbia. With no new news on the De Ro contract saga, there's been very little information from training camp, just the usual cliches and fluff pieces, which is all I'd want really, dull, uninteresting and professionally run are all good things at this stage.
The much anticipated list of triallists attending camp with TFC didn't exactly set pulses racing, hopefully some of them will be able to make the squad and contribute, but there doesn't seem to be any star players in the group. That list, along with details about the players can be seen here.
The main news so far was that last year's Interim Coach Nick Dasovic didn't go to Turkey with the team, and his future is being worked out as it seems his time with the club will probably be coming to an end. It seems with Aron Winter and Bob De Klerk taking up the main coaching positions, there was no room for Dasovic at the level he wants, so he'll probably try his hand elsewhere. I wish him the best of luck, but I'm in no way disappointed by this, in fact I'm pleasantly surprised and re-assured by one aspect of this in particular.
Many times Tom Anselmi has spoken about the importance MLSE places on developing coaches and management in North America, and how they were investing in Dasovic, as well as Danny Dichio, Jim Brennan and Earl Cochrane. To that end, when Preki was brought in back in 2009, he was asked to take Dasovic under his wing, and Dasovic was instrumental in the firing of Preki when things went bad towards the end of the 2010 season. The fact that MLSE is now ready to let their investment leave, rather than force Winter to find a place for Dasovic that he'd be happy with is a good indication that Winter, Paul Mariner et al have the power and independence to do things their own way. Of course, nothing is official yet so things may turn out differently, but that seems to be the case for now at least.
The one bit of news that will definitely affect things this season slipped out today which was the 2011 replica home jersey as seen below.
I like it, it's simple with no unnecessary embellishments. It is, as the link above shows merely the replica version. The "authentic" Jersey still hasn't been released yet, presumably there'll be a grand unveiling at some point, so there's still time for me to be disappointed with extras like the embossed Maple Leaf and "All for One" marketing slogan on the collar that marred the previous effort, but hopefully they won't have gone too far with all that this time around. If it stays like this, I could be tempted to buy one, even with a sponsor on it.
The much anticipated list of triallists attending camp with TFC didn't exactly set pulses racing, hopefully some of them will be able to make the squad and contribute, but there doesn't seem to be any star players in the group. That list, along with details about the players can be seen here.
The main news so far was that last year's Interim Coach Nick Dasovic didn't go to Turkey with the team, and his future is being worked out as it seems his time with the club will probably be coming to an end. It seems with Aron Winter and Bob De Klerk taking up the main coaching positions, there was no room for Dasovic at the level he wants, so he'll probably try his hand elsewhere. I wish him the best of luck, but I'm in no way disappointed by this, in fact I'm pleasantly surprised and re-assured by one aspect of this in particular.
Many times Tom Anselmi has spoken about the importance MLSE places on developing coaches and management in North America, and how they were investing in Dasovic, as well as Danny Dichio, Jim Brennan and Earl Cochrane. To that end, when Preki was brought in back in 2009, he was asked to take Dasovic under his wing, and Dasovic was instrumental in the firing of Preki when things went bad towards the end of the 2010 season. The fact that MLSE is now ready to let their investment leave, rather than force Winter to find a place for Dasovic that he'd be happy with is a good indication that Winter, Paul Mariner et al have the power and independence to do things their own way. Of course, nothing is official yet so things may turn out differently, but that seems to be the case for now at least.
The one bit of news that will definitely affect things this season slipped out today which was the 2011 replica home jersey as seen below.
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