I'm annoyed.
Today marked another day of negative news from Toronto FC.
Apparently Gilberto and Henry are going to be sold in January. Defoe has said he's picked up yet another injury. Bradley and Hagglund are not available for selection tomorrow as they both have suspensions to serve. Bradley from cumulative yellows and Hagglund from last week's red card.
2 games are left. Tomorrow against Montreal and next week against New England.
Montreal is a winnable game, New England will probably be resting their stars next week with a playoff spot already locked up making that game winnable.
Toronto need Defoe in the line up tomorrow, like him or not.
2014 was supposed to be the year of change. Turns out it was just the year of "more of the same". Yeah, Defoe and Bradley were big name signing's. Yeah, getting Oduro and bringing Dero back were good moves for MLS type players.
Then it started. First Tim Leiweikie announced he was leaving MLSE, then TFC replaced their coach, then the rumors that Defoe wanted out of Toronto came up and now here we are. 2 games left. both must-wins and hope that Columbus looses both.
It's like no matter what it's just more of the same old with this team and I'm really tired of it. I'm not even going to kid myself. I will be watching the game and I won't be boycotting but the simple fact is this: I've attended less games than I ever have this season and I'm sure that number will decline again next year. I'll never stop following this team. I know that. I wish I could but I've put too much time, money and, effort into it to give up.
That said, I can't wait for the off season. I need a break. My heart hurts too much.
Friday, October 17, 2014
Thursday, October 9, 2014
ECHL Announces Divisional Alignment
The former CHL teams will comprise of the Western Conference's Central Division.
Just a reminder those teams are: Allen Americans, Brampton Beast, Missouri Mavericks, Quad City Mallards, Rapid City Rush, Tulsa Oilers, Wichita Thunder.
The top 4 teams in each division will make it to the playoff.
Updates to the 2014/15 schedule are set to be announced in the next couple of days.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
The Beast move up!
 |
| One of 7 new members to the ECHL |
There will be plenty more news coming out in the following days regarding the schedule, playoff format and, more.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
TFC Goes Back to it's Roots.
Well.
Here we go again. Seems to be the only theme with this club.
Toronto FC fired head coach Ryan Wilson this weekend, along with basically the whole coaching staff including former TFC player Jim Brennan. TFC promoted Greg Vanney to head coach. I have read that the original hiring of Vanney was made with the plan of eventually having him take over as coach, so maybe this isn't so much a typical TFC "panic and fire a coach" as much as it is executing a plan (you'll excuse me for being cynical). Vanney has worked for other MLS clubs. He's been a director for Real Salt Lake and helped establish the first residency program for an MLS club. He's also a former assistant coach with Chivas USA. Vanney also played in MLS for 9 years. So he is familiar with MLS.
On top of that, in an up and down day, TFC decided not to sell Jermain Defoe. Apparently QPR offered $11 million to TFC for JD (as per Sportsnet's John Molinaro).
The problem is that I continue to hear the words "until January" in terms of speaking about Defoe's move back to England.
Another rumor floating out there is that both Defoe and Bradly were not impressed at how practices have been run at TFC and for this reason both players may feel like the move to MLS, or more specifically, Toronto have been a mistake.
It seems like the second Tim Leiweke announced that he will leave Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment was the second that TFC went back to being it's old self. 9 coaches in 8 years. Upset players. Crazy transfer rumors. It never ends.
I saw 2 statement from long time TFC fans this past weekend that sum it up for me:
"This fucking crap never changes and I can't see that it ever will now."
"I'm just so tired of the B.S. surrounding the team every year".
For me, that's just it. Just as soon as everything was "fixed" it fell apart again. TFC signed 2 huge name players, brought in a world class keeper on a short term loan, made up with Dero and, really looked like a title contender. Goals were coming and everything was right. It felt like, for the first time ever, MLSE was taking the fan's hard-earned cash and spending it on the team to give something back. The warm fuzzies are gone. Honeymoon period 2.0 is over.
Here we are back to where we started. Some days it just feels hopeless.
Here we go again. Seems to be the only theme with this club.
Toronto FC fired head coach Ryan Wilson this weekend, along with basically the whole coaching staff including former TFC player Jim Brennan. TFC promoted Greg Vanney to head coach. I have read that the original hiring of Vanney was made with the plan of eventually having him take over as coach, so maybe this isn't so much a typical TFC "panic and fire a coach" as much as it is executing a plan (you'll excuse me for being cynical). Vanney has worked for other MLS clubs. He's been a director for Real Salt Lake and helped establish the first residency program for an MLS club. He's also a former assistant coach with Chivas USA. Vanney also played in MLS for 9 years. So he is familiar with MLS.
On top of that, in an up and down day, TFC decided not to sell Jermain Defoe. Apparently QPR offered $11 million to TFC for JD (as per Sportsnet's John Molinaro).
The problem is that I continue to hear the words "until January" in terms of speaking about Defoe's move back to England.
Another rumor floating out there is that both Defoe and Bradly were not impressed at how practices have been run at TFC and for this reason both players may feel like the move to MLS, or more specifically, Toronto have been a mistake.
It seems like the second Tim Leiweke announced that he will leave Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment was the second that TFC went back to being it's old self. 9 coaches in 8 years. Upset players. Crazy transfer rumors. It never ends.
I saw 2 statement from long time TFC fans this past weekend that sum it up for me:
"This fucking crap never changes and I can't see that it ever will now."
"I'm just so tired of the B.S. surrounding the team every year".
For me, that's just it. Just as soon as everything was "fixed" it fell apart again. TFC signed 2 huge name players, brought in a world class keeper on a short term loan, made up with Dero and, really looked like a title contender. Goals were coming and everything was right. It felt like, for the first time ever, MLSE was taking the fan's hard-earned cash and spending it on the team to give something back. The warm fuzzies are gone. Honeymoon period 2.0 is over.
Here we are back to where we started. Some days it just feels hopeless.
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
CHL and ECHL to Merge?
Darryl Wolski, a professional hockey agent, tweeted yesterday that the CHL and ECHL are looking to merge.
The idea, as is being reported by multiple sources, is to have the ECHL and CHL become a viable tier 3 league while the AHL restructures (with a west division) to provide a tier 2 league that will have teams geographically close to their parent clubs so that call-ups to the NHL can happen at a faster pace (as is the case with Toronto and the Marlies).
Should all the teams survive 2014/15 the new ECHL/CHL league should be a 31 team league, which seems like 1 too many if each team has an affiliation.
The question that lingers at this point is: will Brampton make it to the new league and if so, will they remain a Tampa Bay affiliate?
Interesting times coming up in minor league hockey.
The idea, as is being reported by multiple sources, is to have the ECHL and CHL become a viable tier 3 league while the AHL restructures (with a west division) to provide a tier 2 league that will have teams geographically close to their parent clubs so that call-ups to the NHL can happen at a faster pace (as is the case with Toronto and the Marlies).
Should all the teams survive 2014/15 the new ECHL/CHL league should be a 31 team league, which seems like 1 too many if each team has an affiliation.
The question that lingers at this point is: will Brampton make it to the new league and if so, will they remain a Tampa Bay affiliate?
Interesting times coming up in minor league hockey.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Why I Believe Germany will win the 2014 World Cup.
Yesterday the Netherlands lost to Argentina in penalties. In the end, it was a fair game, called well by the refs and, no real controversy.
As a fan of the Netherlands (my grandparents are immigrants from Holland after world war 2) it really sucked to see this happen but the fact is that it was as fair game and the Argentinian goal keeper played very well in shoot out. Nothing you can do. What's fair is fair.
So now it's on to the grand final.
Germany versus Argentina.
If you read my post before the World Cup started I predicted that Germany would take the title this year. I'm sticking to that.
I feel like the Germans have a better squad all around and although Argentina has (arguably) the world's best player it will not be enough.
Funny enough: in 1986 Argentina won the World Cup by beating West Germany in Mexico. Germany got revenge in 1990 by beating Argentina to win the World cup, so this is the rubber match and to the winner? Their second World Cup title.
Head to Head, Argentina has beat Germany 9 times and has scored 28 times during those 9 wins. Germany has won 6 times and managed to scored 28 times themselves.
The top scorers for each team in this World Cup has Messi of Argentina notching 4 goals while Germany's Muller has 5.
Argentina is ranked 5th in the FIFA ranking while Germany is ranked 2nd.
Outside of the "goals scored over the tournament" category (Argentina has 8, Germany has 17) this match looks VERY close on paper. If we adjust Germany's number to 10 because of the beating they laid on Brazil, that number looks very close again!
So why do I believe that Germany is going to win this game? A couple reasons:
- Germany has been in the past 4 World Cup semi-finals.
- Germany plays a more team focused game while Argentina leans on a few key players (primarily Messi and the hot goaltending of Romero).
- Germany's back line, while younger, all play for big name clubs and have experience playing in big tournaments. Not to mention this German team has played together in international competitions where German has made deep runs.
In a couple words: This German team knows how to win and that's why I believe Germany will be the 2014 World cup Champions.
As a fan of the Netherlands (my grandparents are immigrants from Holland after world war 2) it really sucked to see this happen but the fact is that it was as fair game and the Argentinian goal keeper played very well in shoot out. Nothing you can do. What's fair is fair.
So now it's on to the grand final.
Germany versus Argentina.
If you read my post before the World Cup started I predicted that Germany would take the title this year. I'm sticking to that.
I feel like the Germans have a better squad all around and although Argentina has (arguably) the world's best player it will not be enough.
Funny enough: in 1986 Argentina won the World Cup by beating West Germany in Mexico. Germany got revenge in 1990 by beating Argentina to win the World cup, so this is the rubber match and to the winner? Their second World Cup title.
Head to Head, Argentina has beat Germany 9 times and has scored 28 times during those 9 wins. Germany has won 6 times and managed to scored 28 times themselves.
The top scorers for each team in this World Cup has Messi of Argentina notching 4 goals while Germany's Muller has 5.
Argentina is ranked 5th in the FIFA ranking while Germany is ranked 2nd.
Outside of the "goals scored over the tournament" category (Argentina has 8, Germany has 17) this match looks VERY close on paper. If we adjust Germany's number to 10 because of the beating they laid on Brazil, that number looks very close again!
So why do I believe that Germany is going to win this game? A couple reasons:
- Germany has been in the past 4 World Cup semi-finals.
- Germany plays a more team focused game while Argentina leans on a few key players (primarily Messi and the hot goaltending of Romero).
- Germany's back line, while younger, all play for big name clubs and have experience playing in big tournaments. Not to mention this German team has played together in international competitions where German has made deep runs.
In a couple words: This German team knows how to win and that's why I believe Germany will be the 2014 World cup Champions.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
2014 World Cup Picks
With the 2014 world cup around the corner I thought I'd put together a little prediction bracket.
I think this year we are going to get a treat in the sense that there are a couple of groups that have the potential for all 4 teams to move forward meanwhile we a have couple groups in which a team that may not be considered a threat will get through to the round of 16.
I'm very interested in group C for example. Greece has been a good team for years but the likelihood is that Ivory Coast will challenge them and Columbia for that spot in the round of 16. Group G could be equally as interesting. Germany will most likely win the group but will the USA be able to beat Portugal to get in or vice-versa?
I've made my picks in the picture below. I feel strongly that Germany will finally break through this year. I also expect Brazil will make an excellent showing as most are predicting. Spain is still a very strong team and can't be counted out.
Speaking from a fan's point of view only I will be watching the Netherlands and USA closely. My background is Dutch so I'll be hoping for a Dutch world cup win...after loosing in the final in 2010. I also will be following the USA because I feel like they are in an interesting group, they have a lot of MLS talent and, with Ronaldo's injury being a hot topic I'm not sure how well Portugal will play (sorry Phil if you are reading this!). With that said, I kind of hope the USA doesn't make it to the round of 16 so Michael Bradley gets back to TFC.
Below is my bracket (you can do one too if you visit mlssoccer.com) what do you think? Feel free to let me know your opinions in the comment section!
I think this year we are going to get a treat in the sense that there are a couple of groups that have the potential for all 4 teams to move forward meanwhile we a have couple groups in which a team that may not be considered a threat will get through to the round of 16.
I'm very interested in group C for example. Greece has been a good team for years but the likelihood is that Ivory Coast will challenge them and Columbia for that spot in the round of 16. Group G could be equally as interesting. Germany will most likely win the group but will the USA be able to beat Portugal to get in or vice-versa?
I've made my picks in the picture below. I feel strongly that Germany will finally break through this year. I also expect Brazil will make an excellent showing as most are predicting. Spain is still a very strong team and can't be counted out.
Speaking from a fan's point of view only I will be watching the Netherlands and USA closely. My background is Dutch so I'll be hoping for a Dutch world cup win...after loosing in the final in 2010. I also will be following the USA because I feel like they are in an interesting group, they have a lot of MLS talent and, with Ronaldo's injury being a hot topic I'm not sure how well Portugal will play (sorry Phil if you are reading this!). With that said, I kind of hope the USA doesn't make it to the round of 16 so Michael Bradley gets back to TFC.
Below is my bracket (you can do one too if you visit mlssoccer.com) what do you think? Feel free to let me know your opinions in the comment section!
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