MLS commissioner Don Garber and president Mark Abbott were in Ottawa on Tuesday and gave a glowing review to the city’s bid for one of two spots available for the league’s 2011 expansion plans.
During his visit, Garber called TFC the “blueprint” for the model MLS team and said the league would like to continue to expand into Canada but said U.S. television contracts and commercial opportunities would be taken into consideration, so it’s possible that neither Vancouver or Ottawa could win a spot in this round of expansion.
“We talked in the U.S. about it becoming a soccer nation. Well, we believe Canada is already a soccer nation,” Garber said. “It doesn’t make sense to put odds on it, but we do want more teams in Canada. If it doesn’t happen in the short term, it will happen in the long term, but that decision hasn’t been made yet.”
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As per MLSR….
Please do NOT disclose my name but I had the fortune of having dinner with someone close to TFC over the weekend and they gave me some insight into what the “big picture” is about the club’s future plans in a conversation lasting about 45 minutes. I’ll give you a brief synopsis:
Bringing DeRo back was a priority that now that it has been completed means they can now focus on even bigger things such as:
1- A grass pitch at BMO Field (this is certain to happen, the only question now is when).
2 – Seat expansion to 30,000-35,000 eventually.
3. The construction of either a full or partial roof over the seating.
4. A real partnership with a top tier English Premier League club.
5. Young Designated Player from South America as striker.
6. Real investment in its youth academy and the building eventually of a residential academy where young players can live and go to school.
7. More community involvement, perhaps the building of a TFC sports centre where fans can become members and play soccer, basketball as well as work out the TFC way in a TFC branded and themed gym and spa.
8. Plans to become a continental superpower in CONCACAF’s Champions League. The goal this year is to win it and get a spot at the FIFA Club World Cup.
9. The building of a TFC youth academy in Brasil to keep an eye on and perhaps sign young players.
10. An eventual trade for a 2nd DP slot.
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Lacrosse team on the way?
BMO Field may be getting a new tenant.
According to Inside Lacrosse, a group in Toronto is close to landing a Major League Lacrosse franchise that would take the field this summer.
According to the report, the team would be affiliated with the National Lacrosse League’s Toronto Rock, but would not be owned by the team. The MLL will decide whether to add the Toronto team by Feb. 1.
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Check out this video of Mo Johnston after the DeRo Press Conference.
Early in December, MLS Rumors had us linked to Trinidad and Tobago international midfielder Keon Daniel. Kristian Jack at The Score was on it quickly, and confirmed the rumours shortly after. In the linked interview, Mo mentions he is still looking at having him come in for pre-season. The 22 year-old has 5 goals in 15 appearances with the Soca Warriors and has previously had trials with Manchester United and West Ham United. He is apparently a set-piece specialist.
Another name that he mentioned was Gregory Richardson. The Guyanese striker currently plies his trade with Joe Public FC in Trinidad and Tobago, and scored a hat-trick for them in their 4-0 win over the New England Revolution in the CONCACAF Champions League. Mo is confident that he will be in training camp this pre-season as well.
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Toronto FC announced Friday that defender Nana Attakora-Gyan, and defender/midfielder Gabe Gala have been named to the 18 man training camp roster by Canadian head coach Tony Fonseca.
The camp runs between January 25 to February 4 and will be held in Florida. This will be the final camp before the squad will gather again in March for the 2009 CONCACAF Men’s U-20 Championship. The tournament runs March 6-15 in Trinidad & Tobago. Canada has been drawn into a group with Mexico, Costa Rica and the hosts T & T. The four Group B teams will play a round-robin series at Marvin Lee Stadium in Macoya, T & T beginning on March 6. The top two teams will advance to the semi-final’s and also qualify for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt that runs from September 25 – October 16.
Both Attakora-Gyan and Gala were members of the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup team that was held in Toronto at BMO Field. Both players were also involved in three friendly matches in various locations in 2008 that saw Canada face opponents such as Argentina, the Swiss Confederation, and the United States. Most recently Attakora-Gyan was named the 2008 Canadian U-20 Player of the Year.
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Dwayne De Rosario stole the show on Thursday, as he finally put pen to paper and signed a 4-year deal with Toronto FC, in a move that Mo Johnston called the biggest signing TFC has made, and will make ever, at least in the next 3 to 4 years. From that comment, I had to push the Designated Player issue once again, something I am getting almost as tired about asking, as I’m sure the TFC brass are getting about hearing the question. Fact is though, it is a big issue. From what I heard from the men who run TFC, it is a case of don’t hold your breath!
Mo alluded to the opinion that he feels De Rosario is a DP calibre player, something I have agreed with in the past, and that he see’s this signing as that type of move. However, Mo says that he is still looking, but will not be forced into making a mistake. I found one comment very interesting; he says that he does not want to sign the typical DP type, who is approaching, or who is in his mid-30’s. This is a refreshing mindset given the unsuccessful transactions that have seen the league introduce some ineffective 30 somethings over recent years. Of course you get the odd gem, Cuatomac Blanco being the shining stone of course, but so far there have been more misses than hits. So we can rule out TFC targeting a Luis Figo, Alex Del Piero, Nuno Gomes type, at least for the time being.
Mo fully admits, his ideal DP would be Julian De Guzman, as he has all the qualities TFC desire, namely he is a Canadian star! As much as Mo has been maligned for putting his club ambition ahead of Canadian development, this is an example of just where he stands on the issue, ie, if there was enough Canadian quality, he’d be signing them. That is an argument for a different day though. Of course at the moment, Julian has no intention of leaving Europe.
Mo went on to tell me that he still has irons in the fire, and that he is always thinking outside the box. For example he says there is a young South American, who he was interested in signing, perhaps as a DP, but nothing came of it. For the record, Pablo Vitti is still very much in the works, the hold up is being that his club Independiente are making the move complicated. If the loan deal does go through, Mo and John Carver will be ecstatic, both men raved about his ability. He would not be a DP obviously though.
Speaking to MLSE VP and COO Tom Anselmi, I was further inclined to believe that the DP has been put on the back burner. Anselmi says that it is far from a priority at the moment, and was also firm in the assertion that De Ro will have a DP like impact on the team. I asked him whether the ownership still has a blank cheque ready to be filled in if the right man is available, and he gave an emphatic yes. However he went on to say that it is more likely that IF the club goes that route, it will not be until the summer at the earliest, when there are more players available. Of course, a mid-season signing is also more cap-friendly, and as Mo mentioned, with several players already in the 200k + bracket, it won’t be easy to manage too many more big salaries.
I still feel that this would be a perfect year to acquire a DP, especially with the the spine of the current team entering their swansongs. If TFC want to win with Carl Robinson, Jim Brennan, Greg Sutton, Amado Guevera, and Danny Dichio, then this might be the year to do it! However the caution and patience being shown is commendable, and I do believe it is down to football, and not budget, that we may not see a DP here this season.
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Dwayne De Rosario asked to be traded to his hometown Toronto FC even though the Major League Soccer team plays its home games on artificial turf at BMO Field.
De Rosario’s former team, the Houston Dynamo played on grass at home.
Whenever De Rosario visited BMO Field either with the Dynamo or with the Canadian national team he would be asked about the artificial turf and he would say that he does not like it.
Nothing has changed his feelings about artificial turf, he said Thursday after the news conference to introduce the all-star midfielder and his new four-year contract.
He’s willing to deal with it but he also expressed optimism that there might be grass at BMO Field some day.
“There have been some promising discussions going on about there being grass which John [head coach Carver] and Mo [manager Johnston] spoke to me about.” he said. “I’m looking forward to that.”
He knows the grass won’t be installed at BMO Field by the next growing season and that it will be a long process.
“A lot of things come into to play,” he said. “But I’m hoping sooner than later there will be grass.”
More likely the team will have a grass training field first.
“I’ve never played on turf since I was a kid,” De Rosario said. “Now I’m 30 so I know it takes a toll out of you. I know we have great trainers.
“If we could train on grass I think that would help a lot. But for me personally I need to train a little bit on the turf so see how the ball rolls and get used to it again.”
BMO Field’s artificial turf was a reason that TFC traded another all-star midfielder, Ronnie O’Brien, last February to the expansion San Jose Earthquakes. O’Brien was returning from knee surgery and it was felt that he needed to do most of his playing on grass because of it.
Toronto received allocation money and San Jose’s 2009 first-round draft pick in that deal, the second choice overall as it turned out, and took Wake Forest midfielder Sam Cronin with the choice last week.
Now O’Brien has been released by San Jose. The move took place on Thursday and was for salary purposes. O’Brien made $259,000 last season and San Jose could not reach an agreement with him on a new contract.
“The number they came back with was really low,” O’Brien said. “It wouldn’t have taken much more to keep me here.”
One reason San Jose let O’Brien go is that the Earthquakes apparently are clearing salary cap space for a forward.
General manager John Doyle said he tried to trade O’Brien but there were no takers.
Toronto FC says it has no interest in bringing O’Brien back.
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A source in the know told me last night that MLSE has purchased GolTV, Canada’s all-soccer network, for about $10-million from Insight Sports in Toronto. GolTV is a digital service that airs European and South American soccer programming.
Toronto businessman Larry Tanenbaum has interests in both MLSE and Insight.
Insight has invested at least $6 million in GolTV since its launch in 2005. The channel lost more than $2 million in each of its first two fiscal years.
MLSE will use GolTV to carry a schedule of games involving its Major League Soccer team, Toronto FC.
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Ronnie O’Brien, a vital part of the Earthquakes’ midfield last season, won’t return to the club, General Manager John Doyle said Thursday.
The Quakes couldn’t reach a contract agreement with the former Major League Soccer all-star and let him go this week just ahead of the opening of training camp Monday.
O’Brien, who lives in San Jose, wanted to stay. “The number they came back with was really low,” he said of negotiations. “It wouldn’t have taken much more to keep me here.”
With Brazilian midfielder Francisco Lima signing with an Italian club this week, San Jose now has lost two of its most seasoned international players. But Doyle said the Quakes will rely on Arturo Alvarez and second-year player Shea Salinas to cover the right wing where O’Brien had been so effective. They also drafted defensive midfielder Brad Ring last week to help fill the void Lima leaves.
“We had to move Ronnie aside to give Arturo a chance to develop,” said Doyle, who added Alvarez played out of position after coming to San Jose in a July trade with FC Dallas.
One reason the Earthquakes seemed willing to part with O’Brien, their second highest-paid player, is the need to sign a strong center forward, which will be expensive.
The Irish player knew when he arrived in San Jose last year in a trade with Toronto FC that he would have to take a salary cut in his option year. But he didn’t expect his tenure to suddenly end.
Doyle said he tried to place O’Brien with another MLS club but found no takers for a trade.”It’s probably going to be a little late for MLS teams as most of them have now filled their rosters. But Ronnie is a very talented footballer and I’m sure we’ll find something suitable for him,” his English agent David Baldwin said in an e-mail.
“I had a good time here,” said O’Brien, who thanked Quakes fans for their support. “There’s no point going through the ‘he said, she said.’ It doesn’t help anybody. The team will move on and I’ll move on.”
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In its first two seasons, Toronto FC has consistently packed its stadium and turned a profit, which are two accomplishments much more established MLS teams can only dream about. In year three, it is committed to getting things right on the field, and completed a vital step in that process by signing attacker Dwyane De Rosario, a native of nearby Scarborough, Ont., to a new contract.
Terms of the four-year deal aren’t known. What is known is that TFC didn’t upgrade De Rosario to a Designated Player, as D.C. United and Columbus have done with Luciano Emilio and Guillermo Barros Schelotto, respectively. But since the new contract supersedes the two years that were remaining on his previous deal, under league rules it can use allocation money to increase his compensation, and/or buy down his cap number.
A source said DeRosario turned down a trade to Toronto two years ago that would have made him a DP at a salary of $500,000 per year. Since TFC is rather flush with allocation money it has accumulated through trades as well as missing the playoffs in its first two seasons, it’s likely De Rosario is making more than he turned down back then.
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