The Week That Was - September 24th

Here are the updated standings:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3qPRqJFXHoRcGhVdkV2R20zaUk/edit

Toronto FC

Before the game, last Friday September 20^th, Tim Leiweke and Toronto FC announced they had found their GM, another MLS Head Office suggestion and former Senior Director of Player Relations and Competition with MLS Tim Bezbatchenko.  With MLS he oversaw the budgets of many different MLS teams and has an intimate understanding of contracts and league rules.  He was brought in here to have control of the budgeting side of Toronto FC’s team and to assist in player selection; he will not be the be all and end all in player acquistion like the “typical” general manager in North American Professional Sports.  So Leiweke has finished putting together one team now the hard work begins trying to turn Toronto FC into a team.

What a team they currently are, and with Jonathan Osorio’s 2 game suspension announced the day before the Kansas City game I knew it was going to be a long day for TFC.  The game ended 2-1 in Sporting Kansas City’s favour not that unexpected but the way in which the game went down was not.  The Kansas City goals were both by C.J. Sapong who took advantage of lackluster defending by Doneil Henry on the first and Mark Bloom on the second.  Toronto also took advantage of a bad pass reception by Aurelien Collin who gave up the ball to Rey who passed to Russell and he slotted it in the bottom left hand corner.  But that was not it for Collin, already sitting on a yellow when defending Alvaro Rey who was making his way along the right side of the 18 yard box Collin deliberately elbows Rey in the face.  Collin looked to see where Rey was before throwing his elbow out, this could have been a red card and was definitely a yellow card but neither was shown.  Furthermore a penalty was not called even though it looked to be inside the box.  In addition to this, in the 91^st minute Toronto had a free kick at about half and sent everyone up, the kick was headed on further into the box and when Justin Braun went up to head the ball on frame Collin tackled him preventing him from getting to the ball and again no card was shown but even worse no foul was given and in turn no penalty.

Here we are with 4 games left and currently the same point total as last season of 23 supported by the higher number of draws this year because we have one less win compared to last year.   And it doesn’t look like that will change much we arguably have one last shot at tying the win total of last year.  That is the next game coming up against DC United but with Osorio and Caldwell out and then all of the injured players it looks bleak.  At least we will have a good draft pick, oh wait we traded it.

Movers of the Week

The biggest movers in the West were the Portland Timbers who through a win vs. Colorado and the highest max points of a non-playoff team dropping by 2 they moved 5 points closer to clinching a playoff spot.  While FC Dallas had the largest drop of 5 points with a loss vs. New York and the 5^th place points going up by 2.   In the East, New York, Kansas City, and Houston were the biggest winners all moving 6 points closer to clinching the playoffs through each of their respective wins versus Dallas, Toronto, and Chivas and the highest max points of a non-playoff team dropping by 3.  Whereas Chicago had the biggest drop through a loss and the 5^th place points rising by 1, they fell 4 points closer to elimination.

The under 10 club makes it return finally with one member San Jose Earthquakes who are 9 points away from being the next club eliminated from the playoffs.

Predictions

Last Week

Colorado Rapids @ Portland Timbers	POR Win	Correct POR Win 1-0
Vancouver Whitecaps @ Montreal Impact	MTL Win	Wrong VAN Win 3-0
Sporting Kansas City @ Toronto FC	SKC Win	Correct SKC Win 2-1
DC United @ New England Revolution	NE Win	Correct NE Win 2-1
Chicago Fire @ Columbus Crew	Draw	Wrong CLB Win 3-0
Chivas USA @ Houston Dynamo	HOU Win	Correct HOU Win 5-1
San Jose Earthquakes @ Real Salt Lake	RSL Win	Wrong SJ Win 2-1
Seattle Sounders @ LA Galaxy	LA Win	Wrong Draw 1-1
FC Dallas @ New York Red Bulls	NY Win	Correct NY Win 1-0

Last Week’s Prediction Record	5-4
All Time Record	42-42

This Week

Philadelphia Union @ Sporting Kansas City	SKC Win
DC United @ Toronto FC	TFC Win
Real Salt Lake @ Vancouver Whitecaps	Van Win
Houston Dynamo @ New England Revolution	Draw
Montreal Impact @ Chicago Fire	MTL Win
LA Galaxy @ Portland Timbers	POR Win
Columbus Crew @ FC Dallas	CLB Win
New York Red Bulls @ Seattle Sounders	SEA Win
San Jose Earthquakes @ Chivas USA	SJ Win

The Week That Was- Sept 17th

Here are the updated standings:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3qPRqJFXHoRdHRENDVDaGluUnM/edit

Correction: Last week I did not update the standings correctly I missed Seattle’s win vs. Chivas and Columbus’ win vs. Houston.

Toronto FC

So we are now mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, although we were really out in June.  We got a draw at home versus Chicago, 1-1, and lost on the road to New York 2-0.  The one real bright spot of the week our only goal scored was followed by the goal scorer, Robert Earnshaw, needing to be subbed off after pulled a leg muscle because the ground gave way as he took his shot.  That’s how it is for TFC.

The superficial story line of the week has been, with the release of a part of the MLS 24 under 24 list, Jonathan Osorio and Matias Laba made the list, at 24 and 21 respectively.  These “awards” do not really matter if their talent goes wasted on an uncompetitive team such as Toronto.  An actual MLS team needs to be built starting now and continuing into the off season with the addition of players of influence.  Leiweke, Nelson and co. need to get it right next year or it will be the sign that MLS soccer will, in my opinion, fully succeed in Toronto.  Too much has gone wrong in the seven years of playing, and another season like this one could end it all.

Movers of the Week

In the Western Conference Colorado and Seattle tied with moving 6 points closer to clinching a playoff spot through their wins and Dallas’ lose.  While on the other side of the table, FC Dallas dropped 4 points closer to being eliminated from being in playoff contention.  In the East, NY moved 4 points closer to a playoff spot with a win against Toronto and the highest max points of a non-playoff team dropping by 1.  Chicago had the biggest drop of 4 points through a draw vs. TFC and the point total of the 5^th place team moving up by 2.

The under 10 club currently has no members, all of the possible members DC United, Toronto FC, and Chivas USA have all been eliminated from playoff contention while 2-3 clubs are just outside the below 10 zone. 

Predictions

Last Week

Chicago Fire @ Toronto FC	TFC Win	Wrong Draw 1-1
Real Salt Lake @ Seattle Sounders	SEA Win	Correct SEA Win 2-0
Columbus Crew @ Montreal Impact	MTL Win	Wrong CLB Win 2-1
LA Galaxy @ DC United	LA Win	Wrong Draw 2-2
Toronto FC @ New York Red Bulls	NY Win	Correct NY Win 2-0
Houston Dynamo @ Philadelphia Union	Draw	Wrong HOU Win 1-0
New England Revolution @ Chicago Fire	Draw	Wrong CHI Win 3-2
FC Dallas @ Colorado Rapids	COL Win	Correct COL Win 2-1
Vancouver Whitecaps @ San Jose Earthquakes	SJ Win	Wrong Draw 0-0
Portland Timbers @ Chivas USA	POR Win	Wrong Draw 1-1

Last Week’s Prediction Record	3-7
All Time Record	37-38

This Week

Colorado Rapids @ Portland Timbers	POR Win
Vancouver Whitecaps @ Montreal Impact	MTL Win
Sporting Kansas City @ Toronto FC	SKC Win
DC United @ New England Revolution	NE Win
Chicago Fire @ Columbus Crew	Draw
Chivas USA @ Houston Dynamo	HOU Win
San Jose Earthquakes @ Real Salt Lake	RSL Win
Seattle Sounders @ LA Galaxy	LA Win
FC Dallas @ New York Red Bulls	NY Win

The Week That Was - Sept 10th

Here are the updated standings:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3qPRqJFXHoRVHh2UVBsWEFtbTg/edit

Toronto FC or as shown through events of this past week “Shitshow”

What a game.  The team was able to get a goal just as the first half was ending, and when their opponents came at them they were able to sustain the pressure and punish their attacking mentality by playing the counter attack and were able to score three more times.  Oh wait, that was Portland not Toronto.  Seriously though, Toronto FC did have a ten minutes stretch where they looked like they could get back into the game.  But it must be bad when we, the players, and the coach cling to that ten minutes and see it as some kind of growth.  This team is just bad. Alright the second goal which opened the flood gates was just a mistake by Agbossoumonde, but the next two occurred because of players being out of position after needing to cover for someone else.

But the game this weekend, for how bad it was, was the least of Toronto FC’s worries this past week.  Before the game, Kevin Payne Toronto FC President/General Manager left the club as seen here.  But after his release and the game this past weekend, his most hyped acquisition Maximilliano Urruti was traded to Portland along with an International Spot in exchange for 26 year old striker Bright Dike, not a fake name, a 2015 first round draft pick, and allocation money.  This one transaction is a microcosm for how Toronto FC has been run; each person in a position of power is pulling in their own direction while in the media they portray a united front on how they will collectively change the culture of Toronto FC.  How is it allowed by the organization to have people on completely different pages of the type of players to bring in?  It looks like the team is now Tim Leiweke’s to run, he wants to and probably will bring in two big Designated Players with the supposed $26 million that he has secured to use on these acquisitions. 

Movers of the Week

In the Western Conference Seattle, Colorado, and Portland all tied each getting 3 points closer to clinching a playoff spot.  While Vancouver had the biggest drop in the West this week, getting 6 points closer to elimination through a loss and 5^th place team points going up by 3.  Whereas in the Eastern Conference Montreal, New York, and Kansas City all got 6 points closer to clinching a playoff spot through a win and the highest max points of a non-playoff team dropping 3 points.  Coincidentally all teams in the Eastern Conference not in the playoffs all got 3 points closer to elimination all through losing their respective game. 

The under 20 club is getting filled up with almost everyone with the season coming to an end, so next week it will become the under 10 club. But for this week Chivas USA, Toronto FC, Columbus Crew, San Jose Earthquakes, Vancouver Whitecaps all are under 20 points till being eliminated. Former member, DC United, was eliminated from playoff contention this past weekend.

Predictions

Last Week

Houston Dynamo @ Columbus Crew	CLB Win	Correct CLB Win 2-0
Chivas USA @ Seattle Sounders	SEA Win	Correct SEA Win 1-0
Vancouver Whitecaps @ FC Dallas	FCD Win	Correct FCD Win 3-1
Columbus Crew @ Sporting Kansas City	SKC Win	Correct SKC Win 3-0
Chicago Fire @ Seattle Sounders	SEA Win	Correct SEA Win 2-1
Colorado Rapids @ LA Galaxy	LA Win	Wrong COL Win 1-0
Toronto FC @ Portland Timbers	POR Win	Correct POR Win 4-0
New York Red Bulls @ Houston Dynamo	Draw	Wrong NY Win 4-1
Montreal Impact @ New England Revolution	MTL Win	Correct MTL Win 4-2
DC United @ Chivas USA	CHV Win	Correct CHV Win 1-0
Philadelphia Union @ San Jose Earthquakes	PHI Win	Wrong SJ Win 1-0

Last Week’s Prediction Record	8-3
All Time Record	34-31

This Week

Chicago Fire @ Toronto FC	TFC Win
Real Salt Lake @ Seattle Sounders	SEA Win
Columbus Crew @ Montreal Impact	MTL Win
LA Galaxy @ DC United	LA Win
Toronto FC @ New York Red Bulls	NY Win
Houston Dynamo @ Philadelphia Union	Draw
New England Revolution @ Chicago Fire	Draw
FC Dallas @ Colorado Rapids	COL Win
Vancouver Whitecaps @ San Jose Earthquakes	SJ Win
Portland Timbers @ Chivas USA	POR Win

Herdman Here To Stay

Just as Toronto FC is going through another tumultuous management change, the Canadian Women’s National Team held a press conference to announce a friendly against Mexico on Sunday Nov. 24^th at BC Place.

But the bigger news was that the CSA has signed a contract extension with John Herdman coach of the CWNT that will have him remain the coach until 2020.  This will see him helm the Canadian team through the next two World Cups, Olympics, and the eventual retirement of Christine Sinclair. 

The last few months have been filled with speculation that he would take over the England Women’s National Team coach after former coach Hope Powell was fired. Herdman being from England was a top choice after the firing but with this contract extension the CSA has locked him up for the run into the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

With Herdman staying Canada still has a chance at getting deep into the knockout rounds of the tournament because without him the same last place performance in the 2011 World Cup would have been more likely.  Enough cannot be said about how much he has changed the program around with his focus on the mental attitude of the players and his focus on creating a national curriculum to development of the women’s game in Canada, and being able to get everything out of a certainly aging team at the 2012 London Olympics.

With his extension he will be able to implement and see the results of his plans, which along with the extra money the CSA probably threw at him is probably why he is sticking around.  With his home country calling, it had to take a lot not to go back, but in England only a head coaching job was available to him they will two people one as coach and the other as Technical Director of the Women’s  team in England.  Having both roles in the Canadian setup is probably why we still have a chance to reach that podium again in 2015, but after that it will be a whole new landscape for the Canadian Women’s National Team.

Here We Go Again

So the changing of the guard begins.  Kevin Payne has left/been fired after mutually agreeing with Tim Leiweke, President and CEO of MLSE, that it was the only option.  After promising throughout his whole tenure new signings would be coming and many did not come.  He needed time to solve the cap issues of the team, which were mostly solved by releasing key players on the team. And, in my opinion, the final straw was his interview during the AS Roma friendly, when fielding questions about unnecessary friendlies and the supporters’ mentality towards them, he literally said that the supporters would have to get used to it. 

Right then, I knew that he would not survive and was ready to go through another regime change.  Payne just does not know how to have success in this MLS 2.0 world, so the official reasoning of Payne and Leiweke having differing views on how to go forward with Toronto FC being the reason he was let go is truer than it seems.   In addition to Payne, Head Scout Pat Onstad and Director of Team and Player Operations Earl Cochrane will both be leaving the club.

Leiweke will now be able to bring his guy in to be President/General Manager of Toronto FC but has stated that whoever it is, Ryan Nelson is the coach of Toronto FC.  I hope this is just posturing for good relations for the rest of the season, because if one of the requirements of being the President of TFC is that you have to use this specific coach, the person they bring in will have no actual effect on this team and the exact same fucking thing will happen again.  Welcome to TFC Land, where you dreams are nightmares and the same one happens every night.

Oh wait the nightmare is getting worse, during the Leiweke conference call everything he was saying about the release of Kevin Payne and company was good until questions of the Argos were asked.  Leiweke did not immediately shut down the idea of the Argos moving to BMO Field which would also bring turf back, and changes to BMO Field stands.  If this comes to fruition it could be the end to the nightmare but in the sense that MLS soccer would no longer be in Toronto.  Furthermore, if turf is put in that would be the end of CMNT/CWNT games in Toronto.  Just as soccer is beginning to take off across the country, it will be dead in Toronto.  

The Week That Was - September 3rd

Here are the updated standings:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3qPRqJFXHoRMkM0Z2xQWjZuR2c/edit

Toronto FC

So a week passes but the result is the same a 1-1 draw with New England Revolution.  New England started the game off quickly with a goal in the 2^nd minute after an unfortunate bounce off a Richard Eckersley blocked shot.  But after the initial 10-15 minutes of possession domination by New England and a huge save by Bendik that kept it 1-0, Toronto started getting back in the game and had sustained pressure that was deserving of a goal in the last 10 minutes of the first half. It was finally rewarded in injury time with an Andrew Weideman goal after the ball pinballed around the 18 yard box with two possible handball calls.  The game continued on with both teams going at each other with no success until the 88^th minute when a cross was put into the back of the net by a Steven Caldwell header but was disallowed because of a phantom pushing foul call by the ref.

For the last 8 games of the season, with little chance of making the playoffs, Nelson should start playing the new additions of Alvaro Rey and Maximiliano Urruti, who supposedly are not completely match fit.  But as professional soccer players 24, and 22 years, you would think they would be able to play more than, 3 and 12 minutes respectively even without having had a regular preseason.  These last eight games can serve as an introduction to the league for them and they will be more prepared for when it really matters, next season.

Movers of the Week

In the Western Conference Real Salt Lake, LA Galaxy, and Seattle Sounders all were the biggest gainers of the week after each winning their respective game and with Vancouver’s tie saw all three get 5 points closer to clinching a playoff spot.  While the biggest drop that happened was by the San Jose Earthquakes who through the combination of their loss and the 5^th place team’s point total increasing dropped 5 points closer to being eliminated.  New York Red Bulls and Sporting Kansas City tied for being the biggest gainers, through their teams’ win and Houston Dynamo’s draw, moving 5 points closer to clinching.  While Columbus Crew and DC United were the biggest losers dropping 4 points through a loss and the 5^th place team point’s total going up by 1.  The under 20 points till eliminated club of DC United at 2, Chivas USA at 8, Toronto FC at 10, now as predicted includes San Jose Earthquakes and Columbus Crew both at 17.

Predictions

Last Week

New England Revolution @ Toronto FC	TFC Win	Wrong Draw 1-1
Portland Timbers @ Real Salt Lake	RSL Win	Correct RSL Win 4-2
Seattle Sounders @ Columbus Crew	SEA Win	Correct SEA Win 1-0
Montreal Impact @ Philadelphia Union	MTL Win	Wrong Draw 0-0
DC United @ New York Red Bulls	NY Win	Correct NY Win 2-1
Colorado Rapids @ Sporting Kansas City	SKC Win	Correct SKC Win 2-1
San Jose Earthquakes @ LA Galaxy	LA Win	Correct LA Win 3-0
Houston Dynamo @ Chicago Fire	Draw	Correct Draw 1-1
Chivas USA @ Vancouver Whitecaps	VAN Win	Wrong Draw 2-2

Last Week’s Prediction Record	6-3
All Time Record	26-28

This Week

Houston Dynamo @ Columbus Crew	CLB Win
Chivas USA @ Seattle Sounders	SEA Win
Vancouver Whitecaps @ FC Dallas	FCD Win
Columbus Crew @ Sporting Kansas City	SKC Win
Chicago Fire @ Seattle Sounders	SEA Win
Colorado Rapids @ LA Galaxy	LA Win
Toronto FC @ Portland Timbers	POR Win
New York Red Bulls @ Houston Dynamo	Draw
Montreal Impact @ New England Revolution	MTL Win
DC United @ Chivas USA	CHV Win
Philadelphia Union @ San Jose Earthquakes	PHI Win