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Well for those of you that don't know Toronto Football Club or TFC as the Reds faithful would refer to them will be kicking off their fifth season in historic fashion. Toronto FC will be playing their season opener in Vancouver against the expansion Whitecaps this Saturday. This will mark the first time two Canadian franchises will play against one another in Major League Soccer. As First Kick fast approaches TFC fans are filled with questions to be answered during this season to come.

The first question would be, who are these guys? Only a fraction of the players who were on the roster last year have returned. Not such a bad thing when you consider some of the questionable signings of a year ago but new faces often take time to gel. On top of player personnel an entire new management has been put into place. These new suits are of Dutch influence and have implemented a Dutch style system. How will the players respond to the new system? How will this new system hold up against the North American style of play?

Dwayne De Rosario, for those who don't know who he is you should! He is the closest thing we have to a bonafide superstar on any of the Toronto professional sports teams. This man dominates his sport in Major League Soccer and has dominated for close to a decade now. Don't get me wrong, I understand MLS is not Italian Series A or EPL but these MLS players are the same players that for the most part enabled the USA to have a strong showing at last year's World Cup, so MLS, in my books is improving in quality of play, so let’s give some credit where credit is due. But yes this home grown here (he's from Scarborough) has won 2 MLS MVPs, scored two game winning goals in the MLS cup, won the MLS cup (Major League Soccer's Superbowl) 4 times and it goes on and on. Last year was his most productive offensive year in MLS, scoring 15 goals, about half of TFC's total goal output. The question is how much longer will we be able to see a true superstar in our own backyard. DeRo as his fans like to call him has been calling for a new contract, which in my opinion is well deserved. Toronto FC management seems not to be interested in keeping their star player happy by offering him a new contract and so the stalemate continues, but for how long. How much longer until the bottom falls out and either DeRo gets his pay day or moves on to new opportunity.

Last question is how will the fans react to yet another potential season without reaching the playoffs. Toronto FC fans can be proud of the fact that they have set the standard in the MLS. An empty seat hasn't been common during home games of TFC's first four seasons. That was then and this is now. At the end of last year there was somewhat of a fan revolt. Having missed the playoffs for the fourth year and then jacking ticket prices up for 2011 left many fans feeling alienated. Many did not renew their season tickets. What this means is both good and bad. On one hand fans that have rabidly supported the Reds are fed up and are no longer supporting the team. Its never good to have fans walk away, especially the those contributing to the crazy BMO atmosphere. On the other hand there has never been a better opportunity for casual fans to get their hands on a set of tickets. The hope is that those casual fans come to a game and fall in love with the MLS brand.

A whole new season is upon us opening a world of possibilities!

TFC until I die!

Qu'est-ce que vous chantez?


A real question:
Is there a TFC friendly bar in Milton?

That is a good question but no, I don't think there is a TFC friendly bar in town.

I still don't regret this decision.

Wow, that pretty much sucked yesterday. Losing to expansion Vancouver and in such poor fashion to boot! It looks like its going to be a long season.

Better Showing in Week 2?

For those of you not paying attention TFC opened their 2011 season with a less than stellar outcome. One can only hope for a better showing than the one they put on last Saturday against the expansion Vancouver Whitecaps. They can't do much worse!

Huge defensive laspes were prevalent throughout the game. Terrible give aways and lack of coverage were contributing factors to Vancouver's goal production. Ty Harden get my vote for the Bench Him For the Rest of The Year Award, either that or someone has to explain to him that the guys wearing shirts that look different from his are NOT his teammates. Adrian Cann, the 2010 MVP, is it really that hard moving from center D to outside D? When I played defence I didn't think so but he's the pro so what do I know?

I liked the "new" possession game though, I get the concept and if TFC can just execute this style of play it may just work.....if they can execute! The issue I had with this style of play was once TFC was down 3 to 1 they were seemed to lack any sense of urgency. They just continued with their attempt at a slow moving possession ball, does this system not have another gear or is it always going to be stuck in first?

Enough with the bad, I'm depressing myself. Gotta give it to Maicon Santos, great goa! What a rocket, its up for goal of the week.

Dwayne DeRosario, its all been said before. After an opening goal from Vancouver things started to come undone but not before our skipper tied things up at one, restoring hope, temporarily atleast, to the Reds faithful. PAY THE MAN! He is the heart and soul of the team, how bad would Saturday have been without him?

Speaking of how bad would it have been without him, thank God for Stephan Frei. When debating the merits of soccer I'm often confronted with the question "How is there not more scoring since the nets are so big?". Well often it's more difficult to score because the defence are helping out, when there is just one man between you and the ball going in, chances are its going in. That being said Saturday could have been much worse without Frei. He saved at least two breakaways and made some other outstanding saves throughout the game.

Next on tap is the Portland Timbers visiting BMO Field for Toronto's home opener. Portland much like Vancouver are an expansion MLS team. Will TFC have better luck this Saturday? Lets hope so!

Any team connected to MLSE puts great doubts in my mind with regards to having success on the field/ice/court. Would love to see someone like Basilli buy the teacher's share.

Probably their best chance to win since Portland didn't look good in their first game....but Kenny Cooper has always played well against TFC.

I think the new players will step up when they experience the atmosphere at BMO for the first time.

Probably take a bit longer to get that second win.

Lets Talk Winning People!!!

Week #2 saw some much needed success on the field come TFC's way as they beat the expansion Portland Timbers by a score of two to nothing. Thats right I said it and in a soccer blog none the less. We're North American in any other sport when a team fails to score they have nothing, not nil. A big pet peeve of mine, why do North American fans have to be subject to such pretentious, wannabe English drivel when listening to commentators, players and / or even fans? It the wing not the flanks, but I digress.

The defense was much improved. Don't get me wrong, I watched the game, there were defensive lapses for sure. What I mean is when they did give the ball away they actually countered with defense! What a concept! I don't recall any two or three on Os like there were in Vancouver. Basically what I'm saying is when someone messed up there were others there to cover. All this backed by another solid game from Stephan Frei. You almost forget about the guy because he's so consistant.

Speaking of Frei, what a freaking great assist on a great goal. Martina, a first year TFC player out of the Netherlands scored a great one touch goal after receiving at least a 70 yard pass from the keeper Frei. That goal was Martina's second of the day, the first, a nice little arch tap into the net inside of the box. That first Martina goal was the result of a great play and pass made by team captain Dwayne DeRosario (PAY HIM!).

Next on tap the Goats, Chivas USA at home at BMO Field. I'll be one sitting in section 131, first row.

PAY HIM!

http://www.tsn.ca/soccer/story/?id=360367

DeRo Traded to NYRB!

I just heard! This absolutely sucks! I've got tickets for tomorrow's game and don't feel like going or to any other game for that matter. In fact I am really questioning my alligence to TFC.

Seriously the guys was and still is one of the greatest of all time in MLS. As far as I see it MLSE chose to save a couple of bucks instead of spending a million or so (drop in the bucket for MLSE) to keep quality, skilled players in their line up.

A big FU to TFC today.

Now reports are saying DeRo is being shopped but has yet to be traded.

STAY TUNED!!!

So apparently its a done deal, DeRo is gone.

FU TFC!

I dont keep track of the other players in the leauge... what did we get for him? and was it worth it?

We got some 21 year old defender who was picked I think second overall two years ago and we got some 26 year old midfielder plus a first round pick for this year's draft.

These kids seem to have some talent. They both played yesterday and looked pretty good but I still don't think all of that replaces what DeRo brought to the team. They all seemed kind of flat out there and disorganized without him yesterday. So far I'd have to say NY won the trade.