Today’s News, Wednesday , Aug.20

[denime]

Toronto FC picks up Guatemalan striker as Edu leaves town
Johnston trades for L.A.'s Ruiz, waives Robert; Edu transfer to Scotland all but official

Morgan Campbell

Last week, word circulated that Toronto FC had sold midfielder Maurice Edu to Glasgow Rangers for $5 million (U.S.), but the team elected to stay silent on the deal, even as news reports multiplied.
Yesterday, TFC made plenty of noise.
Hours after finally speaking out on the Edu deal, TFC director of soccer Mo Johnston released underachieving midfielder Laurent Robert.
Not long after that, the team agreed to a deal with the L.A. Galaxy to bring high-scoring Guatemalan forward Carlos Ruiz to Toronto.
Ruiz, 28, has scored 82 goals in 150 career MLS games, but struggled to find a place in a Galaxy front line that already includes two of the league's three top scorers – Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle. He has scored just once in 10 games this season and has been the subject of trade speculation that intensified since the team jettisoned GM Alexi Lalas and coach Ruud Gullit resigned last week.

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BMO Field could go to grass thanks to Edu

NEIL DAVIDSON
Canadian Press

TORONTO — Maurice Edu is headed for greener pastures with Glasgow Rangers. But the U.S. international midfielder could leave a green legacy of his own in Toronto.
Mo Johnston, director of football for Toronto FC, said Tuesday he may try to use his club's share of Edu's US$5-million transfer fee to replace the FieldTurf at BMO Field with natural grass.
The sale, widely reported on both sides of the Atlantic, was finally confirmed by Toronto FC on Tuesday, pending the 22-year-old California native securing a work permit to play in Scotland. The delay in confirming the deal was due to MLS red tape.
One-third of the transfer fee goes to the league, which as a single entity owns the rights to all its players, and two-thirds to Toronto's coffers. Of that, $500,000 will go towards player allocation money — which can be spent over 18 months starting next year, used on salary or to buy a player — with the rest earmarked towards the club's soccer operations such as facilities and youth programs.

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Canada home to Jamaica in World Cup qualifier

Home has not always been so sweet for the Canadian men's soccer team.
But coach Dale Mitchell will attempt to start a new chapter when Canada hosts Jamaica in a World Cup qualifying game Wednesday night at Toronto's BMO Field.
Although it’s the opening contest of the semifinal round of qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup, it is still, nonetheless, crucial for Canada to walk away with a positive result against the Jamaicans.
Canada earned a single point out of a possible nine from its home matches in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers.
Four years earlier, Canada earned just four points of a possible nine at home.
Little wonder, then, that Canada has only qualified for the World Cup once, in 1986.
Canada, ranked 79th in the world and fifth in CONCACAF (the soccer confederation that covers North and Central America and the Caribbean), is in a round-robin group with No. 32 Mexico, No. 61 Honduras and No. 108 Jamaica.
Each team in Canada's group plays the other at home and away with the top two advancing to the final round of qualifying for the region.
Of those final six teams, three go to South Africa with the fourth looking at a playoff against the fifth-best team in South America.

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'I'm so proud of her'
Cousin's Beijing bronze lifts De Rosario ahead of qualifier

By MIKE ZEISBERGER, SUN MEDIA
The moment Canada's underdog hurdler Priscilla Lopes-Schliep crossed the finish line to snatch Olympic bronze in Beijing yesterday, Dwayne De Rosario was overcome with pride.
Having accrued 49 caps with Canada's national soccer team, De Rosario knows how it feels to thrust your chest out whenever you glance down at that red-and-white maple leaf on your jersey.
The moment proved extra special for De Rosario as he sat halfway across the world watching on TV as Lopes-Schliep celebrated her performance by draping a huge Canadian flag over her back.
Lopes-Schliep, you see, is De Rosario's first cousin, the Canadian midfielder revealed yesterday after the team's mid-day workout.
"I'm so proud of her," De Rosario said. "It's already been a great week for the family. Hopefully, I can cap it off and make it a better one."

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Canada has the right stuff for rocket ride to South Africa
Cathal Kelly
It's a little like a moon landing, this World Cup qualifying lark.
Stage One of the CONCACAF qualifying was just getting everybody on the rocket and going through the checklist.
Canada's checklist goes like this: "Did Dwayne De Rosario and Julian de Guzman get on board?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, close the door."
While the real tadpoles played through that first stage, Canada got to go through the checklist a few more times.
Stage Two was a little test flight with St. Vincent and the Grenadines, just to prove that the rocket can crack gravity. A 7-1 aggregate manhandling of the Caribbean minnows proved that the ship appears to be working. Most importantly, nothing broke.
Now, we're at Stage Three – actually in space. This is where things go to varying levels of tricky.
Canada has to navigate through three opponents – Jamaica (tricky), Honduras (very tricky) and Mexico (Kreskin tricky). Just as importantly, they need to get everything going in the right direction.
Ahead of tonight's first of six games in Stage Three (Canada vs. Jamaica, 7:30 p.m., BMO Field), one thing should be clear. This is doable. Canada is good enough to make South Africa 2010. But they need to figure out what kind of team they're going to be. Tonight we'll get our first indication from a short squad under head coach Dale Mitchell.

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SUNSHINE

[scooter]

morning tks denime

[Fort York Redcoat]

Ruiz + grass = GOOD morning!

[Wolfe]

I am stoked about this news of Ruiz and grass as well. Grass for the obvious reasons and Ruiz is young (compared to some guys we have been signing) but older and experienced (compared to some of our other strikers), and he has shown that he can score.

Any word if he will be able to play on Saturday?

[NF-FC]

wow, i never thought i'd say this but...here it goes...Good article Cathal! There's not even a hint of sarcasm or negativity, and it even seems like he knows what he's talking about. My flaber has been gasted

[Technorgasm]

THIS ---->


Tickles me in a way. . . . . . . . . oh my!

What a great morning. . RUIZ, CANADA WCQ, GRASS.

Is this what positivity feels like around here? its been a while.

WALK ON

[Damien]

I think we all need a cigarette this morning. It's like after a night of hot sex!

[koryo]

Kelly quotes Cloughie.

He's not as daft as he looks.

[Shaughno]

Kelly quotes Cloughie.

He's not as daft as he looks.

Are we sure he didn't just pay someone to write that article?

[koryo]

Are we sure he didn't just pay someone to write that article?

touché

[Parkdale]

THIS ---->


Tickles me in a way. . . . . . . . . oh my!

OVER THE LINE!!

[Pigfynn]

C'mon, an established defender now and I will stop wishing until next season!

[TFC_Junky]

seeing how guevara didn't like playing with robert, and how guevara and ruiz are friends... This could be the start of something. If we could add tello in the back to help close a hole in our d, we'll be in good shape for a playoff push.

[TFC John]

I'm not trying to be a party pooper but when I read that quote I thought he was talking about grass at the practice field.

"We'll make a proposal to the (MLS) board in terms of can we put it towards a practice facility. Maybe a grass field, which I think is vital and important in moving forward. Then obviously the academy," Johnston told reporters.

If the period before the phrase "Maybe a grass field" was a comma instead, then it changes the meaning and refers to the practice pitch. By making it a period the writer has jammed two fragments together that don't really make a proper sentence. Some people do speak that way so it may be punctuated correctly, but I suspect the writer heard what he wanted to hear and put in a period where it didn't belong. If the story read;

"We'll make a proposal to the (MLS) board in terms of can we put it towards a practice facility, maybe a grass field; which I think is vital and important in moving forward. Then obviously the academy," Johnston told reporters.

Would you still think it meant grass at BMO? I can't see Mo blurting out something that goes against the official MLSE line.

I'd like to hear him say it rather than just read it and try to figure out the inflection. The reported obviously took it to mean BMO Field (which would be great) but I don't think it is that clear cut.

Of course now that I re-read it I can also see he might have said:

"We'll make a proposal to the (MLS) board in terms of can we put it towards;
- a practice facility,
- maybe a grass field, (which I think is vital and important in moving forward),
- then obviously the academy."
Johnston told reporters.

If he was making a list I would say he means BMO. On the other hand he could just as easily have been describing his desired practice field.

[billyfly]

I'm not trying to be a party pooper but when I read that quote I thought he was talking about grass at the practice field.

"We'll make a proposal to the (MLS) board in terms of can we put it towards a practice facility. Maybe a grass field, which I think is vital and important in moving forward. Then obviously the academy," Johnston told reporters.

If the period before the phrase "Maybe a grass field" was a comma instead, then it changes the meaning and refers to the practice pitch. By making it a period the writer has jammed two fragments together that don't really make a proper sentence. Some people do speak that way so it may be punctuated correctly, but I suspect the writer heard what he wanted to hear and put in a period where it didn't belong. If the story read;

"We'll make a proposal to the (MLS) board in terms of can we put it towards a practice facility, maybe a grass field; which I think is vital and important in moving forward. Then obviously the academy," Johnston told reporters.

Would you still think it meant grass at BMO? I can't see Mo blurting out something that goes against the official MLSE line.

I'd like to hear him say it rather than just read it and try to figure out the inflection. The reported obviously took it to mean BMO Field (which would be great) but I don't think it is that clear cut.

Of course now that I re-read it I can also see he might have said:

"We'll make a proposal to the (MLS) board in terms of can we put it towards;
- a practice facility,
- maybe a grass field, (which I think is vital and important in moving forward),
- then obviously the academy."
Johnston told reporters.

If he was making a list I would say he means BMO. On the other hand he could just as easily have been describing his desired practice field.

I had the exact same thoughts and even posted something like this on another thread. I believe though after hearing MO on the FAN 590 yesterday he meant grass at BMO.

[DigzTFC!]

Well of Fan590 he confirmed it was grass for BMO field he talking about and the practice facility was a separate issue. Dobson even double checked....from what I heard

[O.T. 66]

Silvestre signs with Arsenal

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...ngland&cc=5901