TFC’s Cesar faces the cut two weeks after the Ides of March By Steven Sandor Posted on March 29, 2013 1 0 692 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter It would be easy for a Toronto FC supporter to read the news of midfielder Julio Cesar’s Good Friday release and think, no big deal, no damage done. But, even though Cesar never got into a competitive game with TFC, even though the 34-year-old spent preseason and the first three weeks of the MLS campaign on the shelf with a calf issue, even though a lot of TFC supporters forgot he even existed, his presence has indeed had some impact on the club’s makeup. And it all has to do with timing and roster setup. Cesar was signed by the Reds in mid-January. With more than 50 appearance for Sporting Kansas City and plenty of European experience, the majority of it with Greek power Olympiacos, Cesar was supposed to play an important role in the team, despite his advanced age. But this is the problem. Cesar was brought in during the international transfer window. He took up an international roster slot (CORRECTION: Cesar did get his U.S. green card in August, 2012). Julio Cesar Then, for more than two months, influenced the calculations of TFC’s salary-cap limitations. When TFC could have been looking for another player, it had a lame-duck veteran taking up valuable space. When Cesar was signed, TFC lost cap space, a roster spot and assumed a position of need would be filled. Had the Cesar deal not been made, TFC would still have had at least two weeks of international-transfer-window space open to shop for another, healthier player who would have filled that spot. But, instead, TFC now needs to find a player with the international window closed. Yes, it still allows the club to bring in free agents, but it does limit the options somewhat. As well, it forces the club to rethink a roster spot it thought it had handled in mid-January. Basically, the Cesar signing represented a waste of time. And, in rebuilding a club, TFC President Kevin Payne knows that time is his enemy. The longer he takes to turn around the fortunes of the club, the more frustrated the fan base will be. If a move like this had been made well into the regimes of Mo Johnston, Aron Winter or Paul Mariner, fans would have rolled their eyes and claimed it as another example of the same old, same old TFC roster mismanagement. But Payne is new on the job and likely has a mulligan or two. He’s taken one of them, today.
