Today’s News, Friday ,Jun.13
Friday 13. :hide:
Carver, 'keeper back on side
Toronto FC coach John Carver still is hot under the collar about losing key players to international competition. But the good news is, he no longer wants to ring his backup goalkeeper's neck.
Carver continued his rant yesterday about losing important players to international games that don't mean anything, i.e. friendlies.
The first year Toronto FC coach has no problems with players leaving for important international assignments, such as World Cup qualifying games or the Olympics. But he believes it's unfair to lose top performers, such as Canadians Greg Sutton and Jim Brennan, for games that don't mean a lot.
Heading into tomorrow's game at BMO Field against the Colorado Rapids, Toronto FC will be without Sutton and Brennan again, as Team Canada opens up World Cup qualifying against St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Sunday in the Caribbean nation's capital, Kingstown. Toronto FC, which sits fourth in the MLS East with a record of 5-4-2, also will be without three other starters because of World Cup qualifying; Maurice Edu, U.S., Tyrone Marshall, Jamaica and Amado Guevara, Honduras.
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Brian Budd, 56: Canadian soccer star
Colourful star, who won Superstars competition three times, passes away
Garth Woolsey
Sports Columnist
Brian Budd was fond of relating how he'd made an impression on Pele, when the legendary Brazilian soccer great was playing for the New York Cosmos in the 1970s.
"You're not the best player I've met," Pele told Budd, as the latter recalled, "but you're the funniest."
Budd, who died on Wednesday at age 56, was being characteristically self-deprecating while at the same time making it understood that there was a time when he traded kicks, as well as words, with soccer's best and brightest.
Born in Toronto and raised in Vancouver, the ultra-competitive Budd for a time was as famous as they come after he won three successive World Superstars championships (1977-79) in a U.S.-based made-for-TV competition that pitted many of the world's finest athletes in a variety of head-to-head events.
The until-then unknown Canadian was so dominant that an unofficial "Budd rule" was proclaimed, limiting any one athlete to winning a maximum of three times.
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Reds' Ricketts rewards Carver's faith
Despite early struggles, TFC coach stuck with English midfielder
TORONTO -- Toronto FC head coach John Carver's policy about his starting XI has been clear all season. The players who work hard in training and then perform when called upon in games will keep their places in the lineup. Carver has largely stuck to that merit-based plan, but he has made a couple of exceptions based on particular situations. Rohan Ricketts is one of those exceptions. The winger suffered what he described as "a dip in form" last month, but Ricketts kept his starting position in spite of the Reds' midfield depth. Since then, however, Ricketts turned in a man-of-the-match caliber performance in Toronto's 2-0 win against Los Angeles on May 31 and was one of the few bright spots in TFC's 3-1 loss in Houston last Sunday.
"[Carver] stuck with me and that's been good for me," Ricketts said. "After a while you've seen me come out back on form again. It's credit to him --- [it's] good management, because everyone has a different form. No one's perfect, but he said he knew I'd come good, it's just a matter of time."
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SUNSHINE
