At Least it was Exciting

I have come up with a new moto for Toronto FC.  It is that if you can't be good you should at least be exciting.  They lived up to that moto against DC United in what had to be one of the most exciting games in recent memory.  The game was a 3-3 draw in the end but along the way to that final scoreline there were talking points left right and centre. The game kicked off with DC United's keeper being sent off in the 7th minute...

Let there be no Excuses!

So yesterday I posted about how supporters tickets are going on sale now and that regular ticket sales for Canada's home games will begin sometime early next week.  With tickets about to go on sale it is time for the people who care about the Canadian men's national team to stand up and do there part.  The CSA has done there part by promising that they will be turning all of their spare focus to contacting clubs and other organizations...

CSA confims WCQ Schedule

Earlier today the Canadian Soccer Association confirm what most of us were already assuming to be true.  That is that all 3 home games in the second round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying will be played at Toronto's BMO field.  The games are St. Lucia on Sept. 2, Puerto Rico on Oct. 11 and St. Kitts and Nevis on Nov. 15.  These dates and locations come as no real surprise since it had been speculated for weeks that the games would...

Another Day, Another Deal

So this afternoon Toronto FC made yet another players move.  This time it was a trade with FC Dallas that saw TFC swapped Maicon Santos for Eric Avila.  At first look many might wonder why TFC have moved Santos as he has basically been the teams top scorer all season but that fact of the matter is that for the most part Santos has failed to live up to his price tag.  He was one of Toronto's top paid players and as such the club should...

TFC in the Champions League

So it was another busy week for TFC, which by this stage is not even the slightest bit of a surprise since they all seem to be busy ones, as they played their opening game in the CONCACAF Champions League and made a few more player moves.  I am going to start with the CCF match though as it was clearly the highlight of the week for me.TFC were taking on Real Esteli FC in the home leg of their qualification round.  Many fans were hoping...

The Time is Here

Brazil 2014 might seem like a long ways off but the fact of the matter is that 32 teams have already been eliminated from the running for qualifying.  The teams already out include the likes of India, Philippines, Yemen, Palestine, Hong Kong, Laos, and Maldives.  So they are not the traditional powers in the sport by any means which is why they had to take part in the earliest round of qualifying but as Grant Wahl pointed out the 32 teams...

New Look TFC = Same Result

So we have talked about all the roster moves that TFC has made in the past month or so and there were a lot of them.  To be honest I am not even sure if Winter is all done making moves even now so who knows what else could be in store.   Last week though we got the chance to see this very changed TFC side in action twice after a fairly long layoff and sadly all we got as fans was a lot more of the same.Against FC Dallas Winter put...

Women's World Cup Lookback

This post was full intended to be written quite a while ago but things got busy and it kept getting shelved.  The good news is now I can write about the WWC with a bit of distance and hopefully give a more assessment but lets face it no matter how long I wait it will still be my own skewed view.  The first thing that I have to say is that this summers Women's World Cup is the most enjoyable FIFA event outside of a men's world cup that I...

Becoming a Coach

So this blog is going to be more of a personal one but seeing as the point of this blog is to be about my journey to get more involved in supporting local soccer it does still fit.  This summer my brother started coaching, as an assistant coach, but he has yet to begin the process of training and certification to become an official coach in the provence of Ontario.  I intend to enter the...

Busy day in Winter's wonderland

When Toronto FC announced that they had signed Frings and Koevermans it was made clear that these two signings were just the beginning of the moves that we could expect from the club during the summer transfer window.  Today all that promise of activity came to life as the trade activity kicked off.  The first deal of the day saw TFC picking up Canadian midfielder Terry Dunfield from rival club Vancouver Whitecaps.  This deal saw Toronto...

A Lesson on Real Esteli F.C.

On July 27, Toronto FC will play the first leg of their CONCACAF Champions League qualifying match at BMO Field versus Nicaraguan side Real Esteli F.C. TFC qualified for the continental competition for the second year in the row by winning the Voyageurs Cup as Canadian champions over Vancouver Whitecaps. For Reds fans, the day the draw was announced was probably the first time they had heard of...

Whitecaps add a Designated Player

So last evening the Whitecaps official twitter account tweeted that at 9:30 PST this morning, July 12th, they would be making a major player announcement.  This tweet of course started off a huge amount of speculation all over my twitter feed as every fan of Canadian soccer seemed to have their own couple of suggestions for who it might be.  The early front runner was of course Owen Hargreaves...

A Whole Other Class: TFC-NYRB

So this part week Toronto FC were taking on the New York Redbull in what was always going to be a tough test for TFC but what they did on the day was prove that they are still a long ways from reaching the levels of the top teams in the MLS.  This game almost made the match against the Union seem like a close match since at least TFC were able to find the net on that occasion.I have to be honest and say that despite the Red Bulls poor form coming...

Here We Go Again

Earlier this week, Toronto FC found themselves on the wrong end of another blow out as New York Red Bull stampeded the Reds to a dominate 5-0 win. Goals from Thierry Henry, Luke Rodgers, Joel Lindpere, and Juan Agudelo (2) matched TFC's worse defeat in their five season MLS history. It has been a rough season for Stephen Frei and the Toronto back line that due to numerous injuries this season was patched together with Richard Eckersley playing...

Women's World Cup Wrap-up: Canadian Edition

It is honestly hard for me to know where to even begin in writing this post.   That is a rarity for someone like me who so often has far to much to say.  So I will begin by saying that todays match between Canada and Nigeria has left me feeling just down right bad.  Nigeria were a team that many had written off as just being in the World Cup to make up numbers but instead they played Germany and France closely and then found a way...

Nutrilite Canadian Champions!

For the second time this week Toronto FC were taking on the Vancouver Whitecaps.  Having beaten them 1-0 in a fairly dull league match thanks to a penalty earlier in the week TFC were feeling confident that they would be able to get the result they needed in the second attempt at the second leg of the NCC final.  In case you have forgotten, it was a good while ago, Toronto FC were totally...

Dreams Shattered

After all of the emotional high that came from Canada putting up such a strong fight against the best team in the world I had allowed myself to believe that they would beat France with relative ease and actually be a factor in this tournament.  Sadly that is not to be.  Maybe I was being a bit overly dramatic yesterday when I wondered to myself and all of twitter why I let myself actually believe in a Canadian Soccer team because like always...

TFC's Big Day

Toronto FC fans everywhere knew that we would be able to expect a fair bit of activity once the summer window opened as it was clear that the club was in need of improvement, and in some cases just more bodies, in almost every position.  It was also clear that some of the clubs under performing players were in danger of being moved on.  With that in mind today's announcement by the club that they had gone out and secured two new designated...

More Mexicans Sent Home

News has once again broke that a group of 8 Mexican internationals have been sent home just days before the start of the Copa America. The 8 players, which include future star Jonathan dos Santos, were charged as part of an alleged sex scandal.Along side Jonathan dos Santos, Nestor Vidrio, Javier Cortes, David Cabrera, Nestor Claderon, Israel Jimenez, Jorge Hernandez and Marco Fabian have also been sent home. Mexico, who decided to send an under-22...

Early Impressions of the FWWC

After just three match days in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, one thing has stood out for me from following the matches. In previous tournaments, teams like the United States and other top sides would run rampant over all other opponents. In the 2007 tournament, winners Germany did not concede a goal to emphasis their dominance. But this time around in the 2011 addition, increasing parody has been on display with only one of the six matches...

Women's World Cup Underway

So if you live on twitter like many of us seem to do these days you have probably noticed that for the past 2 days the name Christine Sinclair has been trending and for good reason.  In case you are the one person out there who would be reading this and not already know about her performance I will fill you in.  On Sunday Christine proved that she should be the captain of Canada as well...