Today's News,Saturday, May. 02

[denime]

Mornin'


TFC pins hopes on offence
PAUL ATTFIELD

Change has been the watchword of late at BMO Field, with one coach resigning, another taking his place, and a tactical switch after an injury setback setting Toronto FC on course for the Eastern Conference summit.
But with the attack-minded Chris Cummins officially unveiled as former head coach John Carver's successor, and Dwayne De Rosario (hamstring) on the verge of making his return to the field, the Major League Soccer team's current outlook is as rosy as it's ever been ahead of today's encounter with the Columbus Crew (0-2-4).

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TFC targets first victory over defending champs
Toronto aiming to push winning streak to three in battle of first, worst
Daniel Girard

To understand how unpredictable Major League Soccer can be, you need look no further than the Eastern Conference standings.
There, at the top, sits Toronto FC, cellar-dwellers in their first two seasons in the league. And, all the way down at the bottom, you'll find the Columbus Crew, the defending MLS Cup champions.

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Role reversal as TFC play host to Crew
Match marks first Trillium Cup with Reds atop Conference, Columbus at bottom
By Mark Polishuk / MLSnet.com Staff

TORONTO -- Toronto FC and the Columbus Crew will meet for the eighth time in their Trillium Cup rivalry Saturday, and this meeting will be quite different from the previous seven. The match marks the first time that the two sides have met with Toronto at the top of the Eastern Conference and Columbus, surprisingly, at the bottom.

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Dichio in confident mood
Striker set to make third start of season

Toronto FC striker Danny Dichio is in confident mood heading into the clash with Columbus Crew at BMO Field on Saturday. The veteran striker scored his first goal of the season in the win over Kansas City Wizards on Sunday after making his first start of the campaign earlier in the week against Chivas USA. The 34 year old has played in every game this season, but saw limited game time off the bench in the opening five matches of 2009. Despite playing two full games in a five day period, Dichio has recovered well and is ready to face the Crew.

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Columbus versus Toronto preview

Toronto FC has overcome coaching turmoil to get atop the Eastern Conference. The Columbus Crew are at the bottom despite being the defending champions.
With Chris Cummins getting the call as interim coach, Toronto looks to keep the Crew winless Saturday in a matchup of teams at opposite ends of the East.Toronto (3-2-2) took over sole possession of first place, one point better than Kansas City and Chicago, with a 1-0 win over the Wizards on Sunday. That came a day after coach John Carver's sudden resignation.

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Wait your turn, Dwayne
Toronto FC coach will have star midfielder De Rosario coming off the bench against Columbus
By LANCE HORNBY

The idea of local star Dwayne De Rosario having to earn his way on to the starting 11 of Toronto FC would've been unthinkable just two weeks ago.
But a lot has changed in a hurry, with his slight hamstring tear during the team's winless streak, coach John Carver's resignation and a new 4-3-3 alignment under new man Chris Cummins that fed a two-game winning streak and put TFC first in its MLS conference.
At Cummins' introductory news conference on Tuesday, the media didn't pay much heed to his comment that De Rosario would have to wait in line, chalking it up to his cheeky English humour.

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MLS future could include Edmonton
By Dan Barnes

EDMONTON — Major League Soccer isn’t on the Edmonton horizon, but its rise to relative prominence elsewhere on the continent has piqued the interest of a local businessman with the kind of loot it takes to get into the game.
Edmonton Oilers owner and pharmaceutical industry billionaire Daryl Katz has apparently considered, if only briefly, the prospect of expanding his Rexall Sports empire to include professional footie. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not next year. But perhaps one day.
“It’s something they might have an interest in looking at down the road, but not now or any time soon,” said Katz spokesman Josh Pekarsky.

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SUNSHINE

[DOMIN8R]

Morni' D.

I love the smell of game day in the morning.

[Cashcleaner]

MLS in Edmonton? Don't see it happening. The trend will continue to include only major Canadian and American cities. An USL club playing in Alberta doesn't sound like too much of a stretch, though.

[Toronto Gunner]

I love the smell of game day in the morning.

Ditto, smells like balls.

[tfc007]

MLS in Edmonton? Don't see it happening. The trend will continue to include only major Canadian and American cities. An USL club playing in Alberta doesn't sound like too much of a stretch, though.

AGREED,Mabe they try USL first,then see how that goes!

[Carter]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, Mornin D, TOR

[ensco]

jloome, you're not going to like this! but anyone who was paying attention during the NASL days remembers that it was expansion to cities like Edmonton that killed that league.

[Carts]

Mornin' D...

The coffee is brewing, I'm opening up the articles for my morning read...

I've said it before, but it should be said again - THANK YOU very much for doing this every day - its very much appreciated...

Carts...

[TFC Cityboy]

great quote from Danny in Lance Hornby's article

"We obviously saw our fans down there and from a personal point of view, they behaved exceedingly well within the grounds," Dichio said. "There was a lot of (verbal) battling going on, which I'd like to see more of, which is the English and European style. We obviously saw our fans down there and from a personal point of view, they behaved exceedingly well within the grounds," Dichio said. "There was a lot of (verbal) battling going on, which I'd like to see more of, which is the English and European style. "

Nice!

[scooter]

mornin d

and yes carter aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh game day

see you guys soon

[arbogast]

AGREED,Mabe they try USL first,then see how that goes!

It's already been tried and failed. Remember the Edmonton Aviators of the then A-League (now USL-1). They barely made it through one season in 2004.

Sorry but the prairies are a soccer waste land, it's CFL and hockey country out there.

[Beach_Red]

AGREED,Mabe they try USL first,then see how that goes!

I'm really glad they didn't use that qualifier for Toronto.

I put this in the thread called "Edmonton," but I'll put it here, too:

"Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium has hosted some of Canada’s biggest soccer events. In 1994, Commonwealth drew close to 50,000 fans for a friendly between Canada and Brazil. In 2002, a crowd of 47,484 saw the FIFA U-19 Women’s World Cup championship match between the U.S. and Canada. Also, last summer, Edmonton was a host city for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in which three matches exceeded 30,000 fans in attendance."

Article is here.

There is no reason why there can't someday (soon) be a Canadian soccer league with exactly the same attendance and TV ratings as the CFL.

And for the comment about NASL expansion to Edmonton, I have to say that things have changed a lot since then, in the world and in Edmonton.

2015 seems like a reasonable goal, but it'll be a Canadian league and not MLS. The western CFL teams should really start looking into soccer partnerships right now because that league faces some big challenges in the future.