Your Top Three (Realistic) Picks for Our Int'l Friendly

[Shakes McQueen]

Sel-explanatory thread. Give us your top three picks, for who you think would be a good, and attainable team to bring over to play the Reds this summer. Bonus points for creative or thoughtful picks. :D

Here are mine:

1. Hull City (would be fun to test ourselves against them)
2. Deportivo de la Coruna (bringing JDG to town to play TFC would be cool)
3. Boca Juniors (legendary Argentinian club, and it's always good to be on friendly terms with Argentina's football industry :D)

I considered adding Arsenal to that list, as Wenger is eccentric enough that he might actually go for the idea, but they have a partnership with Colorado, which would likely prevent anything.

- Scott

[Pachuco]

I like your ideas of Deportivo or Boca alot. I'll add Corinthians to your list. Getting a chance to see Ronaldo play would be awesome. And being that he'll be looking to get back on the first team I don't see why he wouldn't play

[Mikey]

I'd like to see us play a game against whoever wins the F.A cup, (as long as they bring the cup with them).

[Stouffville_RPB]

Newcastle (John Carver is an easy link. Plus how much have we dreamed of seeing Michael Owen @ BMO. Martins is a huge talent though I doubt he'd play.)
Blackburn (I have a man crush on Roque Santa-Cruz and am not afraid to admit it)
Fiorentina (Hugely talented team that may need extra cash to keep Gila, Mutu, Pazzini, Montolivo, and Frey happy. Oh and a Frei vs Frey keeper match would be cool.)

[Eastend]

- Ajax
- winner of A league
- Boca

[Afra]

I suppose Inter is a little far fetched but last time I was in Sicily, I did a fair amount of shit talking with my cousins who are all Inter fans. I promised them that TFC would hand them their asses - I guess it would be better if they stayed on the other side of the ocean.

[Damien]

I think some of you don't see the big picture when it comes to friendlies.

Why not make good use of them and make contacts with teams in Brasil/Argentina/Colombia/Trinidad/Africa where we can actually scout some of the players from those teams and bring them in. Just look how we got Vitti.

[canadian_bhoy]

It's gonna be the Hvns.

[Stouffville_RPB]

I think some of you don't see the big picture when it comes to friendlies.

Why not make good use of them and make contacts with teams in Brasil/Argentina/Colombia/Trinidad/Africa where we can actually scout some of the players from those teams and bring them in. Just look how we got Vitti.

I agree that would probably be best for the club. I was just stating what I would like to see in a one game friendly, with clubs that might come here.

[tlear]

1. Dynamo Kyiv or Spartak Moscow, first is the team I grew up supporting the second is the team I grew up hating
2. Palmeiras
3. Borussia Monchengladbach

[jwfm1985]

I would love to see - Tottenham, Rangers or Boca Juniors

I dont know much about the Mexican league, and seeing as the champions league is making it more and more relevant for TFC, it might be nice to play one of their top clubs again to see the competition up close. Would much rather see that then a 6-0 blow-out at the hands of Barcelona, Chelsea or Man U (sorry Boban)

[bdiddy]

1. AC Milan - With Beckham so we can boo him again!
2. Ajax - If your not dutch... your not much!
3. Bayern Munich

[Jay P]

Boca
Derby County
Rangers

[Nodoubtguy]

1) Penarol
2) Alkmaar Zaanstreek
3) Gremio

[akoto]

Ajax
Boca
Celtic

wildcard..... Ebbsfleet United :)

[Detroit_TFC]

I like the idea of Newcastle.

[mclaren]

1) Schalke
2) Sunderland
3) Accrington Stanley

[Daveisonfire]

Valencia
Deportivo La Coruna
Borussia Monchengladbach

Hon. mentions:

FC Nordsjælland
Gillingham
FC Copenhagen
FC Koln
MK Dons
AEK Athens
Inverness CT
CFR Cluj

:canada:

[Chapman]

Sunderland
Norwich
Tampere United

[GabrielHurl]

It'll be Rangers I'm guessing

[Damien]

Most of you guys are dreaming. I thought this was suppost to be a realistic thread.

If we're dreaming, then:

Man Utd
AC Milan
Barcelona

[Cas87]

1. Rangers (One of Mo's former Teams, and the one that hasn't already made a N.A. trip)
2. Boca Juniors (Continue the trend of S.A. teams visiting us becuase they are still playing, which = top fitness and good tests)
3. FC Copenhagen (Carlsberg sponsorship shared and Atiba plays for them)

[GabrielHurl]

1. Rangers (One of Mo's former Teams, and the one that hasn't already made a N.A. trip)
2. Boca Juniors (Continue the trend of S.A. teams visiting us becuase they are still playing, which = top fitness and good tests)
3. FC Copenhagen (Carlsberg sponsorship shared and Atiba plays for them)

They played Dinamo Zagreb at the Rogers Centre in 2005

[MartinUtd]

Leeds United
St. Johnstone
and Fenerbance so I could heckle the shit out of them

[RPB_RED_NATION_RPB]

Id love to play a CC side....playing a Prem side usally sucks due to the fact they sit there top players....

I think playing a CC side would make for an interesting game!

[TFC OZZ]

1. Newcastle
2. Celtic
3. Rangers

[loconet]

If dreaming...

Barcelona
Arsenal
AC Milan

A bit more realistic ..

Newcastle
Boca
Werder Bremen

[joel]

Boca Juniors would be sweet!

[David_Oliveira]

I think we could see
Newcastle
Rangers
Celtic

in the near future.

[trane]

I would like the following to play a friedly against the Crew,


1) Birmigham City ( Zulus)
2) Partizan ( Grobari)
3) Lazio ( irudicibili)


So that the fucking HSshites can get what they wished for, some real hooligans in their stadium, otherwise, I do not give a shit about friendlies.

For TFC,again I realy do not care

1) Everton
2) AC Milan
3) Roma/ Bayern Munich

Just because these are teams I would like to see play.

[twistedchinaman]

Nagoya Grampus (Japan)
Sunderland (England)
UNAM Pumas (Mexico)

Alt: Melbourne Victory (Australia), Guangzhou GPC (China)

[Suds]

Outside of the Premiership there are some teams I would love to see. Although, I'm not sure how large of a draw they would be.

Nott'm Forest
Leeds Utd.
Crystal Palace

Other teams:
Ajax
Panathinaikos
Werder Breman
Boca Juniors

[BleedRed]

Fiorentina
Boca Jr
CFR Cluj

Ohhhh man what I'd give to see Mutu

[Yeoman]

Boca
Derby County
Rangers

hey that's my list too
just put Boca at the bottom and i'd agree with it.

[bhoybobby]

Celtic
Liverpool
Real Madrid

[TFC07]

Manchester City
Deportivo La Coruna
Boca Juniors


Honourable Mention:

Olympique Lyonnais, Napoli and Newcastle United.

[ilikemusic]

Celtic
Ajax
Werder-Bremen

[supernothingman]

Fiorentina (Hugely talented team that may need extra cash to keep Gila, Mutu, Pazzini, Montolivo, and Frey happy. Oh and a Frei vs Frey keeper match would be cool.)

Pazzini's at Sampdoria now.

[supernothingman]

AS Roma
Feyenoord
St. Etienne

[drewski]

guess this is turning into a dream sequence after less then 2 pages...nice lol

Budapest Honved
Levski
Valencia

I'd love for one of the big boys like ManU or Real Madrid to come to town but I don't think it would happen for any number of reasons

[devioustrevor]

Deportivo la Coruna (Obvious reasons, considering their owner is in the same neighbourhood as Roman Ambramovic wealth-wise, you'd think they'd be better)
Preston North End (A Championship team being more likely than a Premiership team, although we did host Aston Villa. Also, my grandfather spent time with them in the late 40's and early 50's)
Real Potosi (We had a Bolivian in camp, might as well bring in a Bolivian team to scout for potential players)

[ExiledRed]

Any USL team.

this way we can play the game, without sacrificing our best players for the important matches that are bound to be three days before and after the friendly.

[Merlin]

Newcastle, Rangers, Boca Juniors.

Sorry to burst anyone's bubble, but doesn't San Jose have a partnership with Spurs? Doesn't this sort of make it unrealistic that we play them?

[Dave67]

I'd go after Birmingham, Reading or West Brom. Try and get a club knocking on the door of the premiership or go after one that might go down.

[ExiledRed]

For the international teams, these games are all about training and maybe picking up a little cash. They don't interfere with their competitions.

For us, they're all about the cash, and serve to hinder our chances in our important competitions.

Playing against Aston Villa, cost our team's health in a big way.

It's a useless fixture, and will probably get stuck midweek between two away games, I'd like to see more of a reaction against these games.

[jaahuuu]

Fiorentina


- Ajax


1) Schalke
Somebody already beat me to the ones i was going to say.

Maybe go totally opposite and get somebody like Al-Ahly, FC Seoul, or the Orlando Pirates.

[NF-FC]

NONE, friendlies should be for pre-season only!

[graeme117]

1) Schalke
2) Sunderland
3) Accrington Stanley

Who are they? ;)

[nfitz]

NONE, friendlies should be for pre-season only!But they are!

Besides, if we have a 2-week break, a friendly in the middle would help keep things going.

[colman1860]

1. 1860 Munich (German club steeped in tradition, could definitely use the money. Also has Nic Ledgerwood, a strong Canadian number 6 starting for them. Unfortunately, I'm the only person who wants to see them, but hey, it would be nice.)
2. Hull City (Listeners of World Soccer Daily and readers of theoffside will know how set Hull is on making a footprint in North America - they wouldn't charge a fee anywhere near what Villa/Benfica must have charged us)
3. Olympiacos (Would be a huge success with Toronto's Greek community. Champions League team most year, probably not a ridiculous appearance fee)

[Super]

Newcastle
Celtic
Deportivo La Coruna

[ACSertL]

1. TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (I want to see a German team and Bayern will probably be in the Middle East or Asia)

2. Pachuca, thoroughly enjoyed the game last season

3. Gamba Osaka :)

[Pinkie]

Toronto Lynx!

[Stouffville_RPB]

Pazzini's at Sampdoria now.

On loan I believe. I'm fairly certain he wasn't sold to them.

[Joe Kool]

I primarily watch EPL, SPL, Championship and La Liga aside from MLS so pretty much any team from those leagues would make me happy. I am sure many of teams named here from other leagues are pretty decent too and would be a good game still if they came but for me, it would be nice to see a team I know. One thing for sure, no matter what team comes, some will be happy and some will not. Most realistic pick that I would really like to see would be Rangers.

[ExiledRed]

Who are they? ;)

oh the nostalgia,

thanks for that graeme

[Keyman]

No friendlies, they bore me to death. They're just extravagantly wasteful.

A week off would be much more beneficial to me, and the team.

[jloome]

MLS has long acknowledged a problem getting "euro snobs" to watch the game here, so the league's various franchises would do best to get teams that draw those fans to their local stadium, so that they can judge first-hand whether they want to follow MLS.

I suppose Toronto doesn't really have the issue; the logical choices, to me, would be a couple of teams from the portugese first division (Porto, Benfica) etc. along with a team from either Italy or England, (say Napoli and Newcastle, for argument's sake.)

[Beach_Red]

MLS has long acknowledged a problem getting "euro snobs" to watch the game here, so the league's various franchises would do best to get teams that draw those fans to their local stadium, so that they can judge first-hand whether they want to follow MLS.





I wonder if that's really true. I think the biggest mistake the NHL has made is trying to satisfy non-fans. Adding things like overtime and shootouts because people say that's what's keeping them from the game has lost fans like me and has it really gained them a lot of fans who will remain fans?

[mighty_torontofc_2008]

Celtic

Man City

Santos (brazil)

[Technorgasm]

1. anyone we could actually face in CONCACAF

2. Watford

3. Leeds

[supernothingman]

On loan I believe. I'm fairly certain he wasn't sold to them.

Pazzo was sold.

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/jan14k.html

[RedWookie]

West Ham Utd
Leeds
Chivas

[Redcoe15]

PALERMO. So we can make fun of their pink unis. :D

[jloome]

I wonder if that's really true. I think the biggest mistake the NHL has made is trying to satisfy non-fans. Adding things like overtime and shootouts because people say that's what's keeping them from the game has lost fans like me and has it really gained them a lot of fans who will remain fans?

They're not non-fans. They're big fans; they just won't follow MLS becuase it's considered too low on the pecking order. So the comparison is a bit moot.

[Baggio2TFC]

Dreaming:

Juventus
Man U
Real Madrid

Reality:

Palermo
Stoke City(too see who has a better throw, Wynne or Delap!!)
Porto

[Razor]

Liverpool
uh, Liverpool
and Liverpool

but I will settle for Bayern Munich, Roma and Real Madrid

[BuSaPuNk]

Dreaming:

Man U
Juventus
Bayern Munich

Realistic:

Celtic
Rangers
QPR
Benfica

[King Jeff]

I'm surprised only one person has mentioned Valencia so far. If ever there was a team that needed to do anything possible to gain a little extra cash, it's them.

David Villa and David Silva at BMO :thumbsup:

[Daveisonfire]

I'm surprised only one person has mentioned Valencia so far. If ever there was a team that needed to do anything possible to gain a little extra cash, it's them.

David Villa and David Silva at BMO :thumbsup:

The exact 3 reasons they top my list.:)
I'm surprised that they haven't been mentioned more as well.

[drewski]

I'm surprised only one person has mentioned Valencia so far. If ever there was a team that needed to do anything possible to gain a little extra cash, it's them.

David Villa and David Silva at BMO :thumbsup:

orly?


guess this is turning into a dream sequence after less then 2 pages...nice lol

Budapest Honved
Levski
Valencia

I'd love for one of the big boys like ManU or Real Madrid to come to town but I don't think it would happen for any number of reasons

;)

[Daveisonfire]

^Haha I saw that too, but just didn't feel like correcting him

[Across_The_Pond]

There's only one for me - Swansea City.

[Nuvinho]

how about Luton Town - maybe they can get some gate revenues, and pay JC the money they owe him.......hahaha!!!

[Technorgasm]

^^

STEVENAGE UNITED!

or

SEXY TIMES FC!

[Technorgasm]

ANYONE but United.
it is in friendlies, as it is in Life.



I think I am safe there though. tee hee hee hee hee heee tee tee hee hee

[DoubleUp]

Canadian mnt or any coca cola side

[Cas87]

MK Dons, up and coming English side that may be in the premier league in two years or so

[Fiin]

I like the idea of Hull, but if they did I think you'de see them south of the border. They have really been pushing themselves in the US lately.. which is cool cause its nice seeing someone outside the big 4 trying that.

[jwfm1985]

I like the idea of Hull, but if they did I think you'de see them south of the border. They have really been pushing themselves in the US lately.. which is cool cause its nice seeing someone outside the big 4 trying that.

I have heard this a couple times now... out of curiousity, what are they doing?

[Fiin]

I have heard this a couple times now... out of curiousity, what are they doing?

Alot of interveiws on World Soccer Daily and stuff... pretty much from what I have heard/seen/read/listened too really upping their correspondense over here.

[King Jeff]

orly?



;)

Mea culpa!

[GuelphStorm2007]

Why not Ajax.

[TorCanSoc]

Berusia Munchenpinkbox
Scunthorpe United (real team http://www.scunthorpe-united.co.uk/page/Home/)
Sparta Racing United Sportif AEK PSV ABC Football Club

[CretanBull]

Dream: Barcalona

Realistic Dream: Leeds

Realistic: a South American team looking to expand it's global brand recognition

[LucaGol]

1. Der FCB
2. Yellow Submarine
3. Blucerchiati (only if Cassano comes of course)
4. Partenopei

[tfcmanu]

Realistic:

Deportivo La Caruna (De Guzman) need $$$$$
Rangers (Edu - maybe part of Deal with TFC)
Newcastle (Carver connection)
Sporting Lisbon or Fc Porto
Boca

Dream:

Manu
Barca
Inter
Bayern
Any other Big team.

[migo073]

Rangers
Boca Juniors
FC Porto OR Sporting Lisbon

:drinking:

[jabbronies]

Bolton
QPR
chivas guadalajara

[Stryker]

1. Newcastle
2. Celtic
3. Rangers

I'll say Boca, Rangers, Celtic.

[TFC07]

Realistic:

Deportivo La Caruna (De Guzman) need $$$$$
Rangers (Edu - maybe part of Deal with TFC)
Newcastle (Carver connection)
Sporting Lisbon or Fc Porto
Boca

Dream:

Manu
Barca
Inter
Bayern
Any other Big team.

There's rumours that Inter might come to Toronto over summer.

[I_AM_CANADIAN]

It'd be nice to play against a team featuring a Canadian, so I'd hope for Borussia Monchengladbach, Deportivo La Coruna or possibly FC Copenhagen.

[I_AM_CANADIAN]

There's rumours that Inter might come to Toronto over summer.
There's also rumours that I'd burn Inter shirts in the parking lot if we played them. ;)

[greatwhitenorf]

1. Any top South or Central American side. Or two.

2. Spurs.

3. 'Gers.

[Bender]

Bayern Munich
Schalke
S.S. Lazio

[Bender]

There's rumours that Inter might come to Toronto over summer.

Edmonton as well...

[Dozitwin]

1-Charlton (Naturally)
2-Rangers
3-Newcastle

[nfitz]

1-Charlton (Naturally)I'd imagine there'd be plenty of complaints if the international friendly was a third division English team! I note that the subject line says realistic!

[Keegan]

Newcastle or Borussia Monchengladbach

Both are massively supported clubs with long histories. Both have struggled this year. Both have Canadians


Borussia has two Canadians!! How often do you see two Canadians on a top tier european club as big as Borussia? Never! Stalteri and Friend are starters to boot. Also Borussia has some very good talent such as Neuville and I believe another German national team player plus other international players. Bradley also plays for them.

Newcastle has some quality despite their poor showing in the league they always have big stars. Owen, Martins, Barton, Viduka, Nolan, Duff, Gutierrez, Coloccini, Beye, Taylor.... shame about all the injuries. Edgar is a local canuck to boot, would be exciting for his family to see him playing for Newcastle vs. the local team.

[DebenTFC]

roma

[e-karam]

Valencia
Deportivo La Coruna
Borussia Monchengladbach

Hon. mentions:

FC Nordsjælland
Gillingham
FC Copenhagen
FC Koln
MK Dons
AEK Athens
Inverness CT
CFR Cluj

:canada:

I see the connection with all those teams except for Valencia, did they just sign a Canadian?

[jwfm1985]

Alot of interveiws on World Soccer Daily and stuff... pretty much from what I have heard/seen/read/listened too really upping their correspondense over here.

cool, thanks