Pre game: Toronto FC at Vancouver Whitecaps. We're going to lose aren't we?

So here we are finally, at the end of camp, new faces have come and gone, big cheques have been offered and then ripped up, baby has been put in the corner (no, wait, nevermind, that's just wee Joao Plata, bless him) and there was just time for one more dramatic performance from the star of the show.  They had the time of their lives, but now it's back to real life with the start of the new season.  2011 MLS First Kick is finally upon TFC.

A flurry of activity in the last week or so means Toronto can actually field a full starting eleven and substitution bench, and it's nice to be finally able to say that.  After the signing of Gianluca Zavarise, the return of Adrian Cann and the trade for Alan Gordon, the new additions were all young, draft pick Demetrious Omphroy, and academy graduates Ashtone Morgan, Oscar Cordon, Matt Stinson and Keith Makubuya bringing the average age of TFC's squad down to an alarmingly low level, and generally increasing the "pre-season 2012" feel of things.

(edit: Late Friday, Belgian defender Mikael Yourassowsky and draft pick Matt Gold were also officially signed up as well.)

So it is that TFC's rebuilding project, hoping for good things but really preparing for 2012 and beyond arrives in Vancouver for the game this saturday.  How are the Whitecaps, actually an expansion team, looking?  Well, ok I suppose.  To me, a not always paying attention observer from Toronto, Vancouver seem like the anti-TFC.  They've been running along competently for a long time as a USL team, and since confirming their ascension to MLS, they've methodically and dull-ly gone about building a strong behind the scenes team, with a wealth of football knowledge.  No drama or rash decisions here, they kept Bob Lenarduzzi in the picture, kept Teitur Thordarsen as coach, rewarding him for a job well done at USL level and maintaining a sense of continuity the like of which TFC haven't been able to come close to even dreaming about yet.

They then built a team in a similar fashion, steadily adding pieces, some from their USL team, some from the expansion draft, and also adding players from overseas such as USMNT defender and new captain Jay De Merit.  They topped it off with a bunch of late signings of draft picks or homegrown players.  Even their DP signing was on the dull side, striker Eric Hassli, probably a good signing, but with no marketing pizzazz at all.

Though they've definitely had their issues with ticketing and supporter relations, the important on the pitch stuff has been, if unspectacular, competent and professionally put together.  That's as good a description of any as the team itself, they look like they'll be solid at the back, but could have worries with scoring goals, Thordarson is a decent coach who'll have them well organised, but they're unlikely to be all that adventurous.  Expect a lot of 0-0 games for them this year, they'll be a bit on the boring side, but probably they'll be getting results and success, if not this year, then probably quite quickly, as I said, the anti TFC whose reactionary incompetence over their first 4 years was entertaining and distressing in equal measures.  I'd like to think it's a bright new era for TFC, with new attitudes and winning mentalities, but this off season has shown we've still got a long way to go in that regard.

So what does it all mean for this game?  Well what probably seemed like a good idea at the time, a big Canadian match-up, combined with a winnable game against an expansion team, could well become, if not their worst nightmare, a very bad dream for TFC.  For a supporter base soured by the first 4 years but very ready to give Aron Winter a chance, looking forward to some more attractive football, and still tentatively hoping for good things despite an unimpressive pre-season, losing to an expansion team, a Canadian expansion team at that, in their first ever MLS game would not be a good way to kick things off, but that's more than likely what will happen.

While there's a few obvious and definite starters, Stefan Frei, Adrian Cann, Nana Attakora, Dwayne De Rosario and Maicon Santos, the rest of the team should be very interesting.  Up front, Alan Gordon only met up with the team in Vancouver, so probably won't be thrown into action right away, so we're more than likely looking at Santos with Jacob Peterson and Javier Martina out wide.  In midfield and at the full back positions, well it depends on just how pragmatic Winter wants to be, how much he wants to chase points in this particular game.  Does he go with experienced MLS players like Dan Gargan, Ty Harden or Nathan Sturgis, or does he go with the chance to let some youngsters get valuable experience and play Omphroy, Morgan, Stinson or Cordon.

It'll probably be a bit of both, but either way, I don't really see it working well for Toronto.  Vancouver will be able to sit back, keep their defensive shape and organisation and watch TFC pass it around and hope to hit them on the break, and if TFC's pre-season is anything to go by, more than likely that strategy will work well.  With home field advantage, and taking advantage of the emotion of their first MLS game and all that, Vancouver will do well, and as well as stifling TFC, will probably create plenty of chances.  TFC will be reliant on Frei keeping the Whitecaps out and De Ro creating something out of nothing to be able to get something out of the game.  I'd love to say otherwise, but I'll predict a 1-0 win for Vancouver.

Oh my god! You traded Chad! You Bastards!

Well, I guess those of us who thought that Earl Cochrane had done all the necessary chopping of dead wood from last year's squad and that Aron Winter, Paul Mariner et al would move swiftly on to the rebuilding stage were wrong.  At Wednesday's Superdraft! TFC did a lot more than just draft players.   They first of all traded away Chad Barrett to LA Galaxy for the ubiquitous future considerations, in what was essentially a salary dump. Reports vary on whether TFC is still paying a portion of his salary or not, though the club has said that they won't be.  Jon Conway was also traded to Chicago Fire for a 3rd round pick, and 4 players were drafted.  Demetrius Omphroy, Matt Gold, Junior Burgos and Jaoa Plata will now have a chance to make it in Toronto.

I won't pretend to know much about any of those players yet, you can find more details here, or more colourfully, here.  Suffice it to say that lower round picks don't have a history of working out great, so if 1 out of those 4 ends up sticking with the club long term, that will probably be considered a success.

Trading Jon Conway also isn't really that big of a deal, Milos Kocic should be an able backup to Stefan Frei, so the $70,000 Conway is due to make this year can be put to better use in areas of greater need, which is pretty much every other position.  By all accounts, Conway was a great teammate and all round good guy, so I wish him nothing but the best, and his last act as a TFC player, saluting the crowd while walking off after his red card for upending Columbus' Steven Lenhart is certainly a fine and memorable way to go out.

The trade of Barrett though, well that's a big one.  Chad Fucking Barrett!  For most people that would be said with an exasperated tone after another wasted opportunity, for me it was always with a defiant glee when he'd done something right, scored a goal or had a particularly good game.  I always liked Barrett, even back in 2009 when he was, how to put this nicely, not so prolific, and when Barrett vs Vitti arguments regularly raged on the supporters forums, I was always on his side as his contribution was always so much bigger than mere goals scored or not scored.  In 2010, when he added more composed finishing to his undeniable workrate, well, can you say MVP?  I did,  It was no co-incidence that everything fell apart last year after he and Maicon Santos were injured.

In 2009 it was always a bit of a pleasant surprise when Barrett scored, and that attitude carried over for me into 2010.  The game against Chicago in May when he scored twice, I was positively giddy, it was as if the special kid in school had got an A, one that he'd actually earned.  Probably the best thing I could say about his improvement in 2010 would be that that sense of surprise disappeared, later in the year, before and after his injury, a Barrett goal was a lot more routine, I expected him to finish a good chance, and he usually did.

But this is what happens in sports, so I'll move on, and for now, I'll trust that our new management have impressive plans on how to spend all the salary cap space now at their disposal, and I'll also admit that Barrett was overpaid, so hopefully there's better value for money out there.

For now, though, I'll say goodbye with highlights of some of his finest work.  If I had any sort of technical skills, I'd put the highlights together into a single youtube video with a suitably admiring soundtrack.  One quick glance at my blog however, will tell you I don't have those technical skills, so instead here's a bunch of different clips of his best moments.  Just imagine you're listening to "Nobody does it better" in the background.

First off, his goal against Montreal in the 2009 Voyageurs Cup, at 7:50 of this video.




Then there's his 1 goal 2 assist second half performance in the Montreal Miracle, starting at 3:30.




This is the game mentioned above where he scores twice against Chicago, starting at  0:40.  My season tickets are in section 227, so the fact that he always ran to that corner after scoring in the north end was great, he had some really good celebrations there.



Next up is his goal against San Jose in 2010, not the greatest goal, but another great celebration 1:30 in.



And I'll finish up with his contribution to our triumph over Motagua, here's his goal in the first leg starting at 0.33



And his 2nd leg goal, at 1"36, where he really shows off just how much he sweats in a game.  Good luck with that LA heat.



Thanks for everything Chad, I'll miss you.