I like Leiweke and think he will be a good fit to help drive TFC forward. Actually happy to see him clean house and have an actual direction that he wants to move towards immediately.
Team had such strong support and they have just thrown that away due to their ineptitude.
I went to the game in Portland on Saturday. That atmosphere was incredible. Better than anything I've ever attended, including a Euro 2008 quarter final.
As a TFC fan the result was obviously a bummer, but expected. I just wanted to see one TFC goal, but with no Ossorio, Laba, Henry, Morgan... you knew it was going to likely be ugly.
I ran into Jeremy Hall's mom, brother, cousin and girlfriend while hanging out in Portland, and they took a picture and sent it to him... haha. That was kind of a neat experience.
Then I check my phone in the airport on the way home and see Urruti is traded...
This team. My god. Flames, Soccer Canada, TFC.... I feel eternally tortured as a sports fan.
They'd better sign 2 insanely good DPs or else the whole franchise is just going to plummet further into the void. I don't know who would sign for TFC besides someone going purely for money. The reputation of the team is so BAD.
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^ I enjoyed Portland back in July, but I am envious as you got to see the full atmosphere at Jeld-Wen (as opposed to the "international friendly" atmosphere).
Hopefully you had a lot of beer as well.
I'm trying to find a silver lining in your sporting world, but I'm drawing blanks. Swap Toronto for Vancouver and their free fall from the playoff picture, and we're not that unlike. I actually would like to see Toronto (and all Canadian MLS teams) do well. Their success is tied in with the development of Canadian players, so healthy MLS teams are good for everyone.
[QUOTE=Jimmy Stang;4386873Hopefully you had a lot of beer as well.[/QUOTE]
I hit the point of cutting myself off, then a Timbers fan spotted us and took us out for beer and whiskey after. I was a mess walking to the 830 train to Seatle the next morning
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They'd better sign 2 insanely good DPs or else the whole franchise is just going to plummet further into the void. I don't know who would sign for TFC besides someone going purely for money. The reputation of the team is so BAD.
They have $26 million put aside for 2 DPs. Time will tell.
If they didn't have so much already invested in Urruti, and hadn't already dumped Silva for allocation money, the trade MIGHT not look that bad. Dike is an improvement over Braun and Wiedeman, and is much cheaper than Earnshaw. He just needs to stay healthy. The 1st round pick should turn into a decent player, but that's in 2015. And then the magical allocation money.
For the first time in the history of TFC, it looked like there was an actual plan, with young pieces in place. Laba, Urruti, Osorio, Henry, Morgan, Bekker. 3 first round picks in 2015.
But TFC is making itself, and everyone who supports it look like a joke. I thought the rotten element was gone with Mo Johnson, but I was wrong. It's so sad, as the TFC supporters were the best in the league. MLSE took that for granted, and just #### all over everything. All they ever do is talk of making moves, wait and see, next transfer window, we have allocation money to spend, blow it up, wait till next season. Rinse and repeat.
This team is the worst managed team in North American pro sports.
I was totally on board with the young guy- build it slow plan. I agree, so many good pieces were in place. Henry and Morgan went from looking like unmitigated disasters on the back line to studs of late. Ossorio was a very pleasant surprise. Laba quietly solidified everything and gave guys like Ossorio more opportunity to go forward. Even Reggie Lambe started to play alright. Alvaro Rey looked seriously dangerous coming off the bench in his first few matches.
I have no idea what happened to Earnshaw... that guy looks like a shattered shell of his early season self. I guess that's what too much time on TFC will do to you.
I'm still choked we never got to see Earnshaw and Koevermans play some games together.
Steven Caldwell has solidified the backline immensely. I can't see Richard Eckersley staying on board with his hefty salary, but Caldwell, Henry and Morgan should be staples of the backline for the next few years.
My main criticism of Nelsen has been his unwillingness to play Kyle Bekker. At this point in the season, get the kid some minutes and evaluate him through those minutes.
I frankly have thought Bekker looks like a lazy piece of crap in need of an attitude adjustment every time I've watched him play.
After the game Nelsen was asked about him and said he will absolutely be playing down the stretch, and had a lot of good things to say, so hopefully after some more exposure my opinion of him will change.
Wonder if David Miller dropping his seasons and attacking MLSE over the instability and the CFL at BMO publically will have any impact. I've read at least 50 season ticket holders online say they are letting their seasons go if the Argos come into BMO. Gotta think the will lose alot more than that.
In other odd news it seems like somebody is attacking canadian soccer websites.
Red patch boys, Voyageurs, canadian soccer news all have gone down in the last few days. Really odd, especially given the announcement this week that the national soccer stadium isn't going to be just a soccer stadium anymore.
RPB has been down pretty much since mid-August. It was back up for a few days just after Labour day. Dunno if they are having server issues or what...The facebook page is still up and running.
The main issue with CFL at BMO is that they fought to get real grass in there for sooooo long. CFL games means the turf would be going back in. If MLSE actually does buy the Argos, you gotta think NFL to Toronto will happen sooner or later.
TFC acquire keeper Chris Konopka from Philly. Looks like this is further confirmation that Frei is out. Can't have a $200K keeper. It's a shame he couldn't stay healthy the last few years as it cost him his job.
The Voyageurs and Canadian Soccer News boards were hacked by Syrians. They've been down most of the week.
I've been talking lots with my friends in Toronto who are seasons ticket holders. How about this for a conspiracy theory.
Kevin Payne (former TFC prez and GM) and Don Garber (commish of MLS) are at the TFC-Chicago game together on Wednesday. So lets back track a bit.
MLS threatens MLSE that they need to get their #### together or they will lose their franchise. Yes this can happen in MLS.
They (MLS) suggest Payne to come in and straighten things out. He gets to work shedding bad contracts (Hassli, Dunfield, Califf, O'Dea), moving young American talent out (Silva) to a more appropriate venue. They pass on Dempsey "for the good of the league", even though they have the cash and are looking for a big name DP.
They bring in a "league DP" Urruti, and ship him to a team who actually wanted him within a month. They then "fire" Payne on the basis of ineptitude, even though he has built championship teams in MLS. He did the clean up, and hands it over to Leiweke who is pretty cozy with MLS already, and wrote new rules to bring Beckham into the league.
They essentially hit reset, put turf back in at BMO, finish a new hybrid MLS/CFL stadium. The few hardcore soccer fans they have left are alienated. They build a new core of support by bringing in an Italian DP and you Italian talent ala Montreal.
Coach Nelson will be gone at the end of the year. He was Payne's guy. He has no coaching experience. And there is no way he should have survived the management purge. Better coaches have been fired by TFC for doing more. Nelson's main connection was to get European and New Zealand players on short term loans.
TFC will move forward and try to court a whole new group of people. Their fanbase from the last 7 years is worn thin, hates the team management, hates the team ownership, hates the shared stadium (rugby or CFL), and hates the turf. When I was on the season ticket waiting list, they made you purchase Marlies tickets. Now they can't give tickets away. Wednesday's game was announced as 15 000 in attendance. There was maybe 6 000 people there. And they heckled and boo'd like crazy.
It's just a theory, but it will be pretty interesting to see how things unfold in the next 6 months...
Nice chip over the Colorado keeper by Diego Valeri tonight:
Urruti was good and bad for the Timbers in his first big chunk of minutes. You could see how he draws attention, yet finds a way to get himself open. He did not endear himself to the home fans tonight with his post-contact theatrics. The Timbers are not known as a team of divers, and it isn't received well.
So, TFC hired Tim Bezbatchenko, a 31 year old rookie GM that worked in the league office. Looks like they are placing a lot of trust in Ryan Nelsen, and that does not bode well for the team in my opinion.
Watched both Vancouver / Montreal and TFC / Sporting today. Teibert came on as a sub in the 65th minute and I didn't see much of him. Camilo bagged 2 goals off the bench and looked dangerous as well.
The TFC game was rough to watch. Doneil Henry was positioned horribly on the first KC goal. Mark Bloom let his man go completely which led to the second KC goal. Bekker came on in the 81st minute and played a horrible ball back to Caldwell, which resulted in a studs up tackle and a straight red to Caldwell. What a wasted season for Bekker.
Thing with a market as huge as Toronto, I don't think MLS will ever leave no matter what happens - if they ever start winning they will fill a building again quickly.
I have been hearing that the Argos are in negotiations with a few suburban municipalities to finance and build a new smaller stadium, I think there is a chance that the BMO stuff may blow over. Also Braley is looking to sell the Lions and the Argos in the next three years.
Don't mind the new GM hire for TFC. Wouldn't be disappointed if they turf Nelson, though might not be bad to keep some stability for once. Osorio and Laba have really thrived under him.
I think the TFC/SKC game set a new low for MLS officiating. Too many weird/horrible decisions to list.
I'm still not understanding what people see in Bekker. And it really puzzled me to see him in for Rey. Rey and Convey were the reason for every single TFC chance. Plus that patchy beard is amazing.
Apparently there is now an MLS app on Apple TV. Even if you don't subscribe to MLS Live, there is supposed to be highlights, features, and other fun stuff. I haven't been home yet today to try it, but I see this as a nice step for the league. NHL, NBA, and MLB have apps on Apple TV already, so it is nice to see MLS entering the platform as well.
Swap Toronto for Vancouver and their free fall from the playoff picture, and we're not that unlike. I actually would like to see Toronto (and all Canadian MLS teams) do well. Their success is tied in with the development of Canadian players, so healthy MLS teams are good for everyone.
