Today's News,Thursday, Feb.19

[denime]

Mornin'


TFC to play four games in Fla.
Reds continue preseason in Sunrise next week

Toronto FC will continue preseason preparations in Florida starting Saturday, February 21st. The Reds are currently training at BMO Field after spending last week in Bradenton. Four games have been scheduled for next week. TFC will start the week by facing Florida Atlantic University on Saturday and will also take on Swedish Premier Division side Hacken. The week will end with an intrasquad scrimmage.

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Dwayne De Rosario’s Ultimate XI
By Dwayne De Rosario

Dwayne De Rosario has played on four Major League Soccer championship teams and has been a league all-star three times since joining the league in 2001. After successful stints in San Jose and Houston, De Rosario is back in his native Ontario, playing his first season for Toronto F.C. He won back-to-back goal of the year award in M.L.S. (2004 and 2005), so perhaps it should not be a surprise that De Rosario went with a tantalizing, offensive-oriented Ultimate XI.

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SUNSHINE
vs
COED

[Mark in Ottawa]

Mornin D.
You had me panicking there for a while... needed my TFC news fix... better now

[Shaughno]

Dwayne De Rosario’s Ultimate XI

That's a pretty tight Ultimate XI if I do say so myself.

[scooter]

mornin d

ssg vs coed --tough call today

[Jmonkey]

MOrnin D, Looking good...

[CretanBull]

Dwayne De Rosario’s Ultimate XI

That's a pretty tight Ultimate XI if I do say so myself.

Pretty good selections, personally I'd put Johan Cruyff ahead of Gullit and I'd put a steaming bag of shit ahead of Maradona.

[Shaughno]

Pretty good selections, personally I'd put Johan Cruyff ahead of Gullit and I'd put a steaming bag of shit ahead of Maradona.

Good call on Cruyff, but Gullit was a hell of a player as well. As much as I hate the man that is Maradona, as a player you can't leave him out.

[Stouffville_RPB]

Morning.

Are we really doing SSG vs. Co-ed? Even on the SSG's best days it's tough to compete with Co-ed. The Sun only has the GTA to pick from, Co-ed has the entire world. I'm not complainning two picks are better than one, just saying if it's a competition SSG doesn't stand a chance.

[CretanBull]

Make it a 3-way with the Page 3 girl....meet Danni from Coventry: (NSFW)

http://www.page3.com/index4.shtml#main-image

[tlear]

Nice ultimate 11, I think Romario does not belong there though. Gerd Muller just HAS to be there so Pele, Muller, Van Basten.

[BFin]

Gotta love the big rump on the SSG. Face is cute enough, butt is big enough. I'd hit it.

[TFCREDNWHITE]

Pretty good selections, personally I'd put Johan Cruyff ahead of Gullit and I'd put a steaming bag of shit ahead of Maradona.

Agreed! Maradona can fall off the face of the earth for all i care....

Plus i think the steaming bag of shit has a greater IQ then he does..

[Oldtimer]

Montreal's 45,000 tickets sold for their CL match vs. 7,000 sold by Houston sends a message to Garber and his MLS.

Article (in French): http://www.ruefrontenac.com/sports/3...-soccer-impact

[Pigfynn]

it is one thing to sell 45,000 tickets to a one off, playoff style match where you have months to prepare and arrange all the little soccer club kiddies to go. It's another thing entirely to sell 20,000 tickets every week.

Too much emphasis is being put on this game on this board. I wonder if you went on a Man U board you'd hear so much about a Liverpool game.

[Stouffville_RPB]

it is one thing to sell 45,000 tickets to a one off, playoff style match where you have months to prepare and arrange all the little soccer club kiddies to go. It's another thing entirely to sell 20,000 tickets every week.

Too much emphasis is being put on this game on this board. I wonder if you went on a Man U board you'd hear so much about a Liverpool game.

I don't think it's too much. 90% of people on here wanted Montreal to get their bid as our rival. I know where you're coming from but it's that passion that we feel in the Toronto vs. Montreal that keeps us talking about it.

[TorontoBlades]

You can definately get a feel for the type of football DeRo enjoys...

[Toronto Ruffrider]

it is one thing to sell 45,000 tickets to a one off, playoff style match where you have months to prepare and arrange all the little soccer club kiddies to go. It's another thing entirely to sell 20,000 tickets every week.

True, but you have to wonder what's going on in Houston. That team has had months to sell tickets, so the fact that only 7,000 seats are accounted for is embarrassing. Maybe we are reading too much into these CCL matches, but this competition should be prestigious enough to warrant big crowds in established MLS markets.

[gmacpheetfc]

^Thats america though they think they're better than everyone else so they're no going to give a hoot about some international event where as they must greater prestige on a domestic cup or event hence all the anti Canada MLS expansion

[ben_vw]

Some TFC and MLS news...

http://www.tfcconnected.com/2009/02/...y-19-2009.html

[Mark in Ottawa]

it is one thing to sell 45,000 tickets to a one off, playoff style match where you have months to prepare and arrange all the little soccer club kiddies to go. It's another thing entirely to sell 20,000 tickets every week.

QFT. I wonder how many of these tickets Saputo et al are "buying" and giving away cheap seats to drive the numbers up?

[Toronto Ruffrider]

^Thats america though they think they're better than everyone else so they're no going to give a hoot about some international event where as they must greater prestige on a domestic cup or event hence all the anti Canada MLS expansion

Trust me, there isn't any more interest for the US Open Cup than for the CCL. The crowd numbers for the former competition are almost always lousy, even for the final match. A reported attendance of 7,000 would be pretty decent for a cup match in the 'States.

[drewski]

Trust me, there isn't any more interest for the US Open Cup than for the CCL. The crowd numbers for the former competition are almost always lousy, even for the final match. A reported attendance of 7,000 would be pretty decent for a cup match in the 'States.

well, they did draw over 14k last year for the Champions Cup 1/4final

if you look at the group stage, they drew less then 9k for another mexican team but drew over 14k for a team from El Salvador and only 4k for a Panamanian team.

[TorCanSoc]

The Hartrells must hate Toronto. Financially support the Lynx for a decade. Watch MLS come in and just set the GTA soccer community on fire. Now watching Montreal draw 45K as a USL1 (formerly A-League) team. Crazy. Really feel for the guy.

As far as supporting Montreal. I fully support them, and am proud of their achievements.

[James17930]

QFT. I wonder how many of these tickets Saputo et al are "buying" and giving away cheap seats to drive the numbers up?

Why does everyone keep saying that? Is there any kind of proof for this accusation at all?

[Pigfynn]

As far as supporting Montreal. I fully support them, and am proud of their achievements.

Here you go then:

http://www.ultrasmontreal.com/

[rocker]

Why does everyone keep saying that?

cuz it's fun to criticize our enemies.

[dag]

Article in the New York Times about Beckham's wish to leave the MLS

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/sp...r=1&ref=sports

[jloome]

The Hartrells must hate Toronto. Financially support the Lynx for a decade. Watch MLS come in and just set the GTA soccer community on fire. Now watching Montreal draw 45K as a USL1 (formerly A-League) team. Crazy. Really feel for the guy.

As far as supporting Montreal. I fully support them, and am proud of their achievements.

Fuck them. They're rivals and this is football. That's like a Celtic fan cheering Rangers for cryin' out loud.

I hope they get embarassed (although they play a direct style and have a chance to go deep.)

[Redcoe15]

Fuck them. They're rivals and this is football. That's like a Celtic fan cheering Rangers for cryin' out loud.

I hope they get embarassed (although they play a direct style and have a chance to go deep.)

There's over a hundred years of animosity built up between these two football factions. There's still a ways to go between Toronto and Montreal, soccer wise.

Besides, didn't Mo break down those barriers in his playing career, all I'm sayin'.

[joesoccerfan]

The Hartrells must hate Toronto. Financially support the Lynx for a decade. Watch MLS come in and just set the GTA soccer community on fire. Now watching Montreal draw 45K as a USL1 (formerly A-League) team. Crazy. Really feel for the guy.

As far as supporting Montreal. I fully support them, and am proud of their achievements.

The Hartrells were committed and I commend them for that. However, they were small potatoes when it came to actually promoting pro soccer. Saputo has done way more to promote the game in Montreal.

Its too bad, because it would have been nice to see the Lynx stick around as a USL team in the GTA - maybe Hamilton or Waterloo.