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TFC: New players, same results in loss to the Crew

By
Mark Polishuk
– 05/19/2013

Dominic Oduro

Dominic Oduro

Toronto FC’s new additions couldn’t prevent an old result. Steven Caldwell, Jeremy Brockie and Bobby Convey were hardly the culprits behind TFC’s 1-0 loss to the Columbus Crew on Saturday (Brockie and Convey were second-half substitutes) and yet the result seemed almost like a foregone conclusion given the Reds’ history of in-season roster shakeups and sacrificing valuable points in the name of giving a new lineup time to gel.

With just one win and seven overall points from their first 11 matches, the hope is that this latest amalgamation of talent can finally get the team on track in the short term, and more changes are still to come.

“We knew the level of the job we had ahead of us.. The quality sides in this league are constructed over a period of time. We’re still at the early stages,” said TFC assistant head coach Fran O’Leary, addressing the media since head coach Ryan Nelsen had lost his voice. “I know there’s no panic in our dressing room, in our group. We’re going to construct this team over a period of time, over several [transfer] windows.”

With the three newcomers arriving within the last 11 days, Toronto’s lineup had just one change from their previous match on May 8. Caldwell stepped in at centre back though his partner in the middle was Doneil Henry rather than Darren O’Dea. The team captain moved from his regular CB spot to left back to help cover TFC’s injury problems on the flank.
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Expensive Convey brought into the TFC fold

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/16/2013

Bobby Convey

Bobby Convey

Toronto FC acquired veteran midfielder Bobby Convey on Thursday.

In exchange, Sporting Kansas City gets a first-round pick in the 2014 Supplemental Draft. For SKC, it’s the chance to offload Convey’s salary-cap hit. According to the MLS Players’ Union, Convey’s base salary is US$200,000, with guaranteed compensation totaling US$215,000 in 2013.

That was a lot of money for SKC to pay a guy who turns 30 next week — and has played just 122 minutes of soccer so far this season.

Convey has a history of MLS brilliance. He was an All-Star with D.C. United in 2001; when he returned to MLS in 2010 after a five-year spell at Reading, he was the comeback player of the year. He was an All-Star in 2010 and again in 2011 as a member of the San Jose Earthquakes.
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Whitecaps lose Leveron to suspension: San Jose’s Chavez has ban reduced

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/15/2013

Johnny Leveron

Johnny Leveron

We love to complain about how referees continually sabotage the efforts of our favourite teams, and then look away when they make calls in our teams’ favours.

So, Whitecaps fans have something to chew on Wednesday morning. Would the Caps have been able to overcome the Galaxy by a 3-1 count Saturday had Johnny Leveron been sent off for his early two-footed scissor challenge on the Galaxy’s Jose Villarreal?

Leveron was given a yellow for the sliding foul he committed early in that match. But the MLS Disciplinary Committee ruled on it Wednesday, and deemed that it should have been red. Leveron has been suspended one game for a reckless challenge that endangered his opponent, and will miss the May 18 match against the Timbers.
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TFC waives little-used forwards Morgan and Bennett

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/14/2013

AshtonBennett_0Toronto FC needed to make roster changes in order to be compliant with the MLS rulebook ahead of this weekend’s match against Columbus.

And for little-used forwards Ashton Bennett and Taylor Morgan, the writing was on the wall. Both were released by the Reds Tuesday. Both will be used as further evidence of just how much of a crapshoot the Supplemental Draft is for MLS clubs.

Bennett, who has his Canadian residency and played his NCAA soccer for Coastal Carolina, fell into the Supplemental Draft after being projected as a SuperDraft proper selection. Morgan had an impressive camp after being selected later in the Supplemental Draft, and won himself a job.
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TFC acquires Israeli international Ben Haim on loan

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/09/2013

Tal Ben Haim

Tal Ben Haim

Let the loan deals continue.

Less than two days after Toronto FC confirmed loan deals that will bring over central defender Steven Caldwell and forward Jeremy Brockie to the club, the Reds announced they had temporarily secured the services of Israeli defender Tel Ben Haim.

Ben Haim, 31, was signed by Queen Park Rangers in January, and became a teammate of current TFC head coach Ryan Nelsen. While Nelsen announced his retirement as a player and moved to North America, Ben Haim continued in a hopeless battle against relegation. Ben Haim made a total of six appearances for QPR after arriving at Loftus Road. He now joins TFC on loan.

“Tal Ben Haim has been one of the top defenders in the EPL for nearly a decade. He captains his national team and Ryan thinks the world of him,” said Toronto FC President and General Manager Kevin Payne in a release issued by the club. “He’s exactly the sort of veteran defender we need.”
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Close scoreline, wretched performance: Hope rapidly disappearing from TFC season

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/09/2013

Chris Wondolowski

Chris Wondolowski

The good news: Toronto FC got an early goal from Justin Braun, to take an early lead on the road Wednesday against the San Jose Earthquakes.

The bad news: It would end up being the Reds’ only shot on goal. After Braun’s 15th minute marker, all San Jose keeper Jon Busch had to do was make some odd goal kicks and make a few catches. It wasn’t until the 89th minute — after the Quakes had turned things around and taken a 2-1 lead — that Busch was even slightly troubled, force to outleap TFC’s Darel Russell and Robert Earnshaw for a loose ball in the box.

The 2-1 scoreline would hold, and TFC’s hopeful glimmers from the start of the season have given way to the reality that, more and more, this feels like a Mo Johnston team. What is TFC? Players from the lower English divisions and an Argentine that we don’t know a lot about, but there’s high hopes he can do something. (We’ve seen that script before.) Maybe it’ll work out OK, but it’s beginning to feel like this team might be two calls away from brining Andy Welsh and Collin Samuel back into the fold.

Sure, we can fret about how TFC gave up yet another late winner — this time off a corner in the 81st minute. An unmarked Chris Wondolowski, he of MLS record-setting goal-scorer fame, nodded the ball in after an unmarked Walter Martinez flicked on a corner from Marvin Chavez. Read the rest of this entry »

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Oughton joins TFC coaching staff

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/08/2013

Duncan Oughton

Duncan Oughton

Toronto FC has added another Kiwi piece to the puzzle.

Coach Ryan Nelsen and newly acquired forward Jeremy Brockie will be joined by new assistant coach Duncan Oughton. The former Columbus Crew midfielder and defender was announced as the newest addition to the Reds’ coaching staff on Wednesday.

Oughton had been an umapologetic Columbus Crew loyalist. He spent all of his MLS career with that club and, after retiring as a player in 2010, had been a member of the team’s coaching staff. Oughton made 27 appearances for New Zealand and scored twice .
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TFC gets two more players on loan: Caldwell and Brockie

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/07/2013

Steven Caldwell

Steven Caldwell

Kevin Payne took over as Toronto FC’s general manager and president so close to the MLS SuperDraft and the start of the 2013 preseason, that he didn’t have much time to design a grand plan for the club.

So, he did what most execs in his position would do when inheriting a last-place club that was short on talent; he addressed a lot of areas of need with loans. He understood that, for now, the cracks needed Band-Aids. TFC’s new imports, Hogan Ephraim and John Bostock, are loan deals. The signing of Robert Earnshaw has worked out well for the Reds, as he scored goals in bunches at the beginning of the season. Darel Russell was brought in to add a veteran presence. But, truthfully, those thirtysomething players with a wealth of English football knowledge were, again, necessary to shore up a thin roster. And, while he has one “foundational” (his word) player in Argentine Designated Player Matias Laba, the truth is he hasn’t had the time to really build a solid base.

Payne added another two on-loan players on Tuesday. One is the most obvious example of a Band-Aid fix. Steven Caldwell, a central defender who will be needed to help a backline that cracks under the pressure of trying to keep attackers at bay late in games, was brought in on loan from Birmingham City. Caldwell, who has 12 caps for Scotland and who has played for a number of English sides including Newcastle, Sunderland, Wigan and Leeds United, played 90 times for Birmingham over the last two seasons.
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MLS salary update: More Canadians working in the league, but making less

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/06/2013

Dejan Jakovic: Now the No. 2 highest paid Canadian in MLS.

Dejan Jakovic: Now the No. 2 highest paid Canadian in MLS.

More Canadians are working in MLS this season than in 2012 — but those new jobs aren’t on the high-pay end of the scale.

The MLS Players’ Union released its salary update Monday, the day when the layers of secrecy are peeled away from the contracts that have been signed by the league’s players.

And what have we learned? That there are five Canadian players making US$35,125 this season, while eight more are on the books for base salaries of $46,500 each. Of those, only DC United’s Kyle Porter and TFC’s Kyle Bekker were able to squeeze some extra dough out of their deals to get a little bit more than their base contracts.

With Julian de Guzman now playing out the string with relegated Bundesliga 2. side Jahn Regensburg, he gives up his No. 1 spot on the Canadian rich list. Dwayne De Rosario, with a base number of $600,000, now takes over as the highest paid Canadian in MLS.
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Emory, Nelsen both wear goat horns as TFC loses another one late

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/05/2013

Logan Emory

Logan Emory

Toronto FC didn’t leave it as late as it usually does.

TFC supporters are used to seeing the Reds give up match-tying or match-losing goals in the 89th minute on. On Saturday, Edson Buddle’s dagger through the TFC heart came in the 86th.

Buddle’s goal gave the Rapids a 1-0 win in the mile-high conditions in the Denver suburbs. And Clint Irwin, who two years ago was stopping shots for Capital City FC in the Canadian Soccer League, continued his impressive run in the Rapids’ goal with a clean sheet.

The goal came like so many other late goals conceded by TFC; through a glaring error. This time, it was defender Logan Emory, who absolutely whiffed on what should have been a fairly elementary clearance of a speculative ball played into the Reds’ penalty area. Instead of heading out of trouble, the ball sat invitingly for Buddle to smash home from close range.

It was an absolute gift.
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