McBridesmaids?

If you've been following potential player movements the last few days, then you know that  former U.S. national teams standout Brian McBride is finished at Fulham and ready to return to Major League Soccer.

He hasn't disguised his desire to play for the Fire, which is reasonable given that he grew up in Arlington Heights, Ill.

Thing is, Toronto FC has his MLS rights and if Mo Johnston has his way, they won't come cheap.

"We're looking for something big (in return for McBride's rights)," Johnston said during today's practice. And after talking all season about the team's need for a high scoring striker, Johnston hinted that TFC might try to keep McBride (30 goals in 95 national team games) for themselves.

Either way, Johnston says he plans to take his time and hold out for a significant payoff, whether it's McBride, another player or salary cap space.

"Fortunately for us we've got the number one slot," Johnston said. "We're sitting on a pot of gold at the moment."

Moonlighting Mo

After juggling coaching and GM duties all last season you had to wonder how long Johnston would be satisfied with just one job.

Not long, apparently.

GolTV announced today that Johnston is joining their news and analysis show, "Extra Time."

The show is expanding from 30 minutes to an hour, and Johnston is the centrepiece of a segment called "Mo Johnston, Unplugged," where, according to a GolTV press release he will "provide viewers with analysis and commentary on all the news and highlights involving Toronto FC and Major League Soccer."

So we have a guy employed by TFC/MLS providing "commentary" about news from TFC/MLS. We'll have to see how it plays out, but somehow I can't envision Johnston ripping Carver, whom he hired, or any of the players, whom he acquired, on the air, no matter how badly they might screw up.

Try to picture it:

Lee Godfrey -- Another goalless game by Carl Robinson. Mo, did you think he'd step up his offensive game a little more this year?

Mo -- He's a huge disappointment, Lee. When he first signed a lot of people thought he'd be the best midfielder in the league, but so far I don't see it. If TFC was smart they'd trade him for draft picks before it's too late.

Lee -- So then why don't you do it, Mo?

Mo -- I'm working on certain things, Lee. Trust me.

Before we continue, let's remember that the previous exchange was COMPLETELY hypothetical. Not bashing any one player or Mo himself. Just highlighting the kind of analysis we definitely won't see when Mo moves to the TV studio

But what else would you expect? It's a blurry line between press and PR when you're covering soccer. Cheering in the press box isn't the norm, but it's not unusual in MLS. It happened often enough in Columbus that Shawn Mitchell, a reporter from the Columbus Dispatch apologized to me for the local media's cheerleading. 

When so much of the soccer media is composed of homers, it's not surprising when the home team starts infiltrating the local press.

Understand that I'm not mad at Mo for taking the gig. We all have to get paid, so you might as well get paid doing something you love.

And I've certainly got no beef with GolTV.

They know what they're getting.

The news release simply said they hired Johnston for analysis.

They never said it would be objective.

-- Morgan Campbell 

Truly Bush League

A couple of weeks back we talked about ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, and co-host Mike Wilbon's assertion that the streamer tossing common at Toronto FC games is "bush league."

In that post I argued that while TFC fans' streamers are annoying and maybe a little played out, they're an ultimately harmless expression of the fans' enthusiasm, and not among the top factors damaging soccer's credibility among mainstream sports fans stateside.

Nineteen days after I wrote that true hooliganism would drag MLS into "Bush League" territory faster than streamers alone ever could, the fans at Crew Stadium in Columbus illustrated exactly what I meant.

If you haven't already read the stories or seen the clips, understand that throughout last Saturday's home game against New England, Columbus fans showered the field not just with streamers, but with sausages (apparently it was $1 Bratwurst night), lit flares and, after Kheli Dube's game winner in the 89th minute, racial slurs.

Listen closely to that youtube clip and a little past 22 seconds in you'll hear some Columbus heckler drop an N-bomb.

Who knew Michael Richards was a Crew fan?

Anyway, the league has already responded to the incident ... sort of.

Here's all of what commissioner Don Garber had to say about it:

"We are investigating reports of incidents from the May 24 match between the Columbus Crew and New England Revolution and will take appropriate action based on our findings."

I'm not kidding when I say that's the entire statement. Enlightening, I know. They're not even investigating the incidents -- just the "reports" of them.

Way to take a stand, guys.

I put in a call to the league (waiting for a return) to find out if MLS has guidelines regarding fan behaviour or if they leave it to teams to set the rules in each stadium. When I find out I'll fill you guys in, but after Saturday it wouldn't surprise me to see the league try to legislate fan behaviour in the future. This is a very image-conscious league, one still trying to gain traction with the elusive "family" demographic in several U.S. markets. They can't risk turning off the "family" crowd with boorish fan antics.

I'm not a gambling man -- if I were I'd cover a gambling sport, like horse racing, or the NBA -- but if I were I'd bet on MLS banning any and all projectiles at games.

Three weeks ago Garber defended streamers, calling them a "unique phenomenon that happens all over the soccer world." Instead of shunning streamers, he said we should all "embrace the passion and electricity that makes soccer the world's most popular sport."

But that was then.

After reading media reports about Saturday's match there's a pretty strong perception that streamer throwing leads to more serious misbehaviour.  You don't have to believe that theory any more than you buy that marijuana is a one-way street to harder drugs. Plenty of streamer tossers would rather eat expensive stadium food than chuck it at somebody, and would never dream of levelling a personal, let alone racial, attack at an opposing player. But the perception exists that one form of heckling leads to the next, so expect the league to act on the perceptions.

Enforcing a ban on projectiles seems pretty simple. Search fans when they enter the stadium and confiscate what you find, then have security and police deal with anyone who still manages to throw something onto the field.

But what about the racial slurs. You can stop people from bringing streamers to the stadium, but how do you stop them from talking? Does a foul language ban at TFC games stop fans from swearing?

Exactly.

When it comes to racial slurs and other offensive language fans are on an honour system, but clearly folks like Mr. N-Bomb from Columbus don't care much for honour.

So with their image at stake, what's the league to do?

I'll find out as soon as they call me back.

-- Morgan Campbell

Coach ducks dive-bomber

And so it was on to Montreal last night for the second game ever at Saputo Stadium against the Impact.

The atmosphere was outstanding for a chilly weeknight, or any night, in no small part because of the scarf-waving, scarlet-clad crazies who made the trip from Toronto and stood throughout the game - they even scored the sunniest corner of the north-facing stand. Well played.

As for the action on the pitch, well, it took a while for TFC to find their feet against lower-league opponents who, it has to be said, looked like they were distinctly up for it.

Much of that had to do with the local supporters. Indeed, even the Montreal seagulls were determined to get their licks at the boys in red.

In the first half, animated TFC coach John Carver was directing traffic from his technical area, as is his wont, when he looked up and saw to his horror one of the birds was making a divebombing run at his face. Cue the rapier-like reflexes as the affable Geordie ducked and stumbled out of the way.

"I nearly died there!" a grinning Carver said after the game. "At least the crowd got a laugh out of it."

Sean Gordon

Making plans with Nigel

Enjoyed tonight's 1-0 victory in the pressbox flanked by Toronto football's renaissance man Nigel Reed, and MLS's top beat writer, Steve Goff of the Washington Post.

Nigel was clearly not enjoying a night off from his CBC play-by-play duties. As play went on, he kept up a running commentary under his breath. Though, removed from the booth, he was freer to let his rooting tendencies show through.

"C'mon ... head up, head up. ... That's IT! ... right now ... ooooh, poor pass .... well done, Marvell, well done," Nigel went on for 90-plus minutes. This was great stuff, like your own personal broadcast. It also helps when you've got your head down tapping during the action. Always know when something's up.

About half way through, Goff leaned in to me and said, "Is that guy, like, a fan or something?"

"No, he's the TV play by play guy."

"Oh. Got it," Goff said and tucked his head back into his keyboard. We both kept an ear open. Good job, Nigel, as always.

----

Toronto FC coach engaged the Shola Ameobi-to-Toronto FC rumour the way he engages all rumours around this club - in a maddeningly oblique way. He commented on how well he knows the former Newcastle striker, what a marvellous talent he is, how much he would have cost three or so years ago when top teams still wanted him.

He added a strange aside about how much Ameobi enjoys the "North American lifestyle" including sports like hockey. Hockey? For real? Somehow that seems like a sop to the Toronto audience but we'll see.
The final word was: "If we could get Shola to this club, I'd be delighted."

So definitely. Maybe

---

Carver also said that Jarrod Smith is very close to cracking the starting XI, one presumes in place of the out-of-touch looking Rohan Ricketts. Bottom line: the change will not happen while the club is still winning. But if this team needs a roster shake-up to jog the offence in the case of a loss, Smith will clearly be the first option.

Cathal Kelly

I Heart Huckerby? Still?

With his season in England over and his contract with Norwich City finally expired, Darren Huckerby has reappeared on TFC's recruiting radar.

You guys might remember the rumours that few around this winter that he wanted to follow John Carver across the pond and sign with TFC, and that the team was interested him despite his age (32) and the chronic hip problems that sidelined him at times this season.

TONY BOCK/TORONTO STAR

John Carver's radar still stretches across the pond.

Right now Huckerby -- who was recently named to Norwich City's all-time, all-star team -- isn' t saying much about a potential move to MLS.

But after a short practice this morning Carver cleared up a few things about the team's reputed courtship with the 5-foot-9 striker.

Yes, TFC is interested in him. They have indeed filed a discovery claim with the league, giving them the first right among MLS teams to sign him.

No, they haven't offered him a contract.

Carver says Huckerby's aware of the club's interest in him, and it's up to Huckerby, who scored five goals in 26 league games this season, to make the next move.

But right now the he's waiting.

ON SOCCER TALK

Those of you who still lament the lack of soccer jargon in my writing will be pleased to know that Saturday evening I used the term "final third" in a post game chat with Danny Dichio.

And he didn't laugh in my face, so I must have used it correctly.

See? I'm learning.

But I still draw the line at "pace."

-- Morgan Campbell

Refs have Carver seeing red

I get a lot of reader email asking me to write about the state of refereeing in Major League Soccer. A lot of folks who have grown up with the game say it stinks, and I can't say whether it does or it doesn't because as a soccer non purist I have little basis for comparison.

But that's no barrier to doing a story. My job isn't to know things. It's to find things out.

The problem with writing about MLS refs is that most coaches and players are reluctant to criticize them because they know the league will crack down on them.

Apparently, TFC's John Carver is not most coaches.

Carver knows the league will come calling early this week, but said yesterday he'll call them first to discuss his disgust.

So between Carver's post-game vent and Sigi Schmid calmly pointing out that the refs also missed a crucial back-pass call against Toronto (funny how opposing coaches can each leave a game convinced that the refs were against them), and the critical comments that got Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis fined and suspended, I'm starting to pick up a pattern.

It's not my place to say MLS refs stink. After all, I'm but a humble reporter, an objective observer of The Beautiful Game.

But for the readers who find MLS officiating substandard, slanted and inconsistent, it looks like at least three of the league's coaches back you up.

Still, you can't expect the league not to discipline Carver over this.

Any guesses on what they give him? A warning, maybe, because he's new? A pat on the back because he gave us all something to talk about after a boring game? Or a fine and a suspension?

I'm thinking option number three. A grand and a game, just like Kreis.

CARVER MAKES LIKE RAFER

He left yesterday's game wondering if he was the target of a conspiracy to annoy him out of the league and all the way back to the U.K.

Raptors fans reading this blog will remember Rafer Alston's post-game rant three seasons ago, the one that came after Sam Mitchell benched him in the fourth quarter of a close loss in Boston.

Situation had Alston mad enough to think about quitting his job.

"I'm going to talk to Sam, I'm going to talk to [general manager] Rob [Babcock]," he said. "I think it's time. I'm tired of getting into it with my teammates, I'm tired of getting into it with coaches. I don't know if I'm a good fit for this team; I don't know if I'm a good fit in this league anymore. So I'm going to take some time, and I may not even play anymore the rest of the season."

Saturday night the combination of MLS sending out DVDs of his bad behaviour, alleged harrassment from on-field officials, and a series of dives from the Crew's Guillermo Barros Schelotto had Carver ready pull an Alston.

Twice.

I don't know what kind of stats you guys were keeping, but by a highly unoffial press box count, Schelotto flopped six times, prompting Carver to issue his first Alstonesque threat.

"I'm not here to be part of that. I want people to be honest and professional, and for me that's not honest and professional," he said. "If that's the way he wants to play the game, get me back to England. I feel that strong about it. I really do."

His rant about the league and its officials came minutes later, and in the midst of it he wondered if the personality police were trying to suck the passion from the game.

Cue Alstonism number two.

"They want me to sit down in the dugout with me arms folded and me legs crossed and just be a nice little boy," he said. "Well, no ... I'm a passionate guy ... and if that is taken away from me, then it's not worth me being here and being a part of this. But I'm not going to let them win, that's for sure."

As far as I know, Carver's still in town. Happily, none of my bosses phoned me today to tell me to stake out the British Airways departure desk at Pearson, just in case Carver was set to hop a flight back to Newcastle.

I expect him to return to work Monday, just like Alston did after he threatened to walk out.

But how long he has to sit out after that is up to the league.

-- Morgan Campbell

Promotion, Relegation, Recovery

Just when I think I'm done listing the byproducts of postgame interviews on bikes era, another one pops up.

Earlier this afternoon TFC head coach John Carver was talking to the media about the team's locker room, and how it's not big enough to fit everyone on both the senior and developmental rosters.

I found that strange because I remembered that last year the entire team, from Danny Dichio on down to David Guzman, used the same locker room.

But then I remembered: that was last year, and nobody in the media has seen TFC's locker room since then. So I asked Carver if he had changed the locker room layout.

He had.

While promising to show the place to the media sometime soon, Carver assured us that the reconfigured main locker room only had room enough or the senior roster players. The developmental guys — Andrea Lombardo et al — use a locker room nearby.

It sounded kind of harsh, but Carver had a rationale.

Doing it this way, he said, keeps young players motivated. Practice well, play well, earn more playing time and you also earn a spot in the locker room with the big guys. He said that's how he did it back home in England, and thats how they do it now in Toronto.

Promotion and relegation in TFC's locker room.**

(** Borrowed "promotion and relegation" from FAN 590's Nigel Reed, who chimed in with the phrase as Carver explained his locker room system during Thursday's post-practice media scrum)

Defender and team captain Jim Brennan is also familiar with the system. He, too, lived with it in England, and though it might seem divisive on the surface, he doesn't think it hurts team unity.

"It's the same thing everywhere," he said. "If you put everyone in the same dressing room it makes it a bit easy for the young boys because they feel they've made it."

Well if Jarrod Smith hasn't made it yet, he's a little closer.

The lone remaining New Zealand native on TFC's roster recently made the move from the developmental to the senior team locker room. With a goal in his only start of the season, and plenty of hustle in practice, Carver says Smith deserved the promotion.

"I know that doesn't sound like a big deal to a lot of people," Carver said. "But in this setup, it's massive."

Back to Brennan

Emerging from the big guys' locker room to address the media Wednesday afternoon, Brennan took a few swigs from a water bottle containing a chalky orange liquid.

It's called Vitargo, and I've mentioned it here before. Strength coach Paul Winpser has his players drink it after intense exercise. It's full of carbohydrates, and after a long practice or a game Winsper says muscles absorb it like a sponge, speeding up recovery.

Sounds effective, but how does it taste?

Not very good, apparently.

"Like (poop) to be honest," Brennan said.

Except he used a synonym a little stronger than poop.

He kept drinking, though.

The stuff must work.

-- Morgan Campbell

 

I'll be back

I'm sure those of you who check this blog regularly (all three of you) have noticed that this is my first post in a week.

Don't think I'm neglecting the blog or its readers, because I'm not. Earlier this spring I decided that as long as I'm working I'm updating this page three times a week.

I just haven't been at work.

Last week I had to drive to Chicago to take care of some family matters. I plan to be back in Toronto tonight, back at work Tuesday and back on the blog as soon as I observe/unearth something blogworthy.

Then regular updates will resume.

Until then, hold tight.

-- Morgan Campbell

Pardon the Tissue Paper

With nearly two weeks until the next game TFC took it easy at practice today. Small squad, slow pace.

Olivier Tebily and Laurent Robert were absent. They've each returned to England to retrieve some belongings and take care of some unfinished business. Don't expect them until next week.

Same with head coach John Carver, who went back home to sell his old house.

But Nick Dasovic was there.

You might remember him as the guy who coached Canada's under-23 national team inthe CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament in March. If you really follow the soap opera that is national team soccer you may also remember him as the guy who helped guide Canada to the tournament semifinal after just a single 10-day training camp and a couple of low-level tuneup games.

Now that I think of it, I saw him Friday, too, walking around after the reserve team game against New York. I remembered his face -- even said hello to him when we passed in the hallway -- but only put a name to it until this morning, when I realized it was the same guy I'd seen in Nashville looking flustered after Canada's 3-0 loss to the U.S. in the CONCACAF tourney.

Anyway, he's here, but he's not here.

Insofar as he's on the field, working with players, tricked out in team sweats and (presumably) getting paid, he's here.

But he's not officially here because the team is still waiting on some league paperwork to clear before they formally announce his arrival.

Apparently the hold-up isn't anything major, otherwise he wouldn't be on the field. But it's enough to keep him from speaking to the media about why he came to TFC and how he left things with the CSA.

AARON LYNETT/TORONTO STAR

TFC's paper parade.

That'll come later.

Pardon the Streamers

This might already be old news in the soccer blogosphere, but Mike Wilbon and Dan Lebatard devoted two frenzied minutes of discussion to TFC and their fans on Friday's episode of Pardon the Interruption (be patient....it's after the Buzz Bissinger anti-blog rant).

Evidently, Wilbon doesn't like streamers.

In fact, he hates them. Says they're bush league, and that TFC's fan's antics are a big reason that folks in the U.S. refuse to take soccer seriously.

Now, I respect Wilbon. We're not buddies or anything, but I've met him a couple of times and he seems real cool. I mean, in the big picture we're nowhere near equals. If sportswriting were soccer I'm TFC and he's Man U. But we're both graduates of the World's Greatest J-School and members of NABJ, which makes us peers of sorts.

If I haven't made it clear enough, I think highly of the guy.

But I think he's wrong about the streamers.

Not saying MLS doesn't have some bush leagueishness it needs to overcome if it wants to reach mainstream sports fans on this continent, but showering Claudio Reyna with tissue paper doesn't even rank among the top 10 things making this sport look bad to Americans.

For example:

* Bush league is playing soccer in a baseball stadium with the fans so far away from the action they couldn't reach the field with streamers even if they wanted to.

* Bush league is a minimum salary that can barely cover the cost of Raptors tickets.

Cost of a personal seat license for seats near the bench at a Raptors game in 2008-09: $12, 888.89 (Cdn) before taxes.

Gabe Gala and Joey Melo's salaries for this season: $12,900 (U.S.)....before taxes.

Anything available in the Sprite Zone?

* Bush league is true hooliganism, when fans throw things a lot more dangerous than tissues, or when they become so violent the courts force teams to play in empty stadiums.

Compared with all that, streamers are, well, just what they are: a harmless expression of home team loyalty; fun for the fan and annoying for the target.

Has the novelty of streamers worn off for a lot of people (like me)? Of course it has. But I'd rather see streamers every week than see TFC fans graduate to throwing batteries, baseballs or shuriken.

Streamers aside, you've got 20,000 fans that show up every in a league where average attendance is less than 16,000, and they do it despite transit strikes (like the K.C. game) or crappy weather (like last Thursday). Unlike a lot of other MLS spectators, they'd even be here if Beckham never signed.

Can't call that Bush league.

And the streamers?

Just another sign that fans actually care.

By MLS standards, that's big time.

-- Morgan Campbell

Toronto v. Red Bulls reserves

Toronto Red Bulls

On a gray and gusty Friday morning at BMO Field Andrew Boyens trotted out on to the turf at BMO Field to begin the second half of the reserve game between Toronto FC and the New York Red Bulls.

Just as he emerged from the tunnel a handful of TFC fans (hardcore ones; the kind who do crazy stuff like, I dunno, show up the cold morning after a frigid night game to watch the reserves) started heckling him about his jersey.

A brand new, long-sleeve Red Bulls model, number 25. So new it didn't even have his name across the back.

The fans thought it sucked, and they told him so.

But they knew he didn't have much choice about it.

Boyens was the second pick in TFC's inaugural draft last January, but as we discussed a few posts ago, a flurry of April transactions made him expendable. The team left him in Toronto when they traveled to L.A. to play the Galaxy, then released him not long after beating Beckham and them.

He didn't stay on the market long.

Quickly, his agent arranged a week-long audition with the Red Bulls. That week turned into another, and the second week led to a contract.

And all that led him back to BMO Field, where he spent Friday morning trying to keep Jeff Cunningham off the scoresheet.

"It's kind of ironic, really, to be watching the game last night and enjoying the home support," he said. "It's good to see that the team's doing well, and I'm happy to be playing here as well...At the moment it's about adjusting to a new team and trying to play my way into a good situation."

Boyens played all 90 minutes today, but with Kevin Goldthwaite and Jeff Parke anchoring New York's central defence, he said it's too early to tell when he'll make the game day roster.

Either way, he says he's grateful for the new gig, and not bitter at all about the way he left Toronto.

"I definitely miss Toronto...but that's the life of a professional footballer. You sometimes have to move around," he said. "Hopefully a missed opportunity here is a new opportunity in New York.

And while the three weeks have taught Boyens that this business can be ruthless, they've taught Tyler Hemming the power of networking.

TFC's signing of Olivier Tebily last Friday started the chain of events that ended with Hemming - a starter in the season opener - out of contract and back home with his parents in London. When they learned Hemming was a free agent the Red Bulls grew interested, but didn't know how to find him.

Enter Boyens, who passed Hemming's contact info to Red Bulls brass. They phoned Hemming Wednesday, and Friday morning he started the reserve game.

But unlike Boyens, Hemming's not sure where he's headed next. He says he's trying to decide between the USL, Europe or another shot at MLS.

As far as the Red Bulls are concerned, though, Hemming says he's just waiting for a call.

Tebily - You can't teach size

This guy is big.

When TFC finally signed him Mo Johnston talked about all things he would bring to TFC's central defence - pedigree, experience, professionalism.

It all sounds good but it's all abstract. I'm a concrete thinker, so I needed to see something solid.

Like the hit Tebily laid on New York's Ricky Schramm Friday. It didn't look to me like Tebily tried to flatten the guy. I just know (with a nod to the Fugees) that two bodies can't occupy the same space at the same time, so when the two men met near a loose ball, it wasn't pretty. Think Smart Car hitting a Hummer.

Tebily's a big, big guy, and you can't teach size.

Later on Tebily and New York's silver-haired striker John Wolyniec met in mid air. That one got ugly, too. Think golf ball versus medicine ball. It ended with Tebily standing tall and Wolyniec lying on his belly, holding his head. Not injured, but clearly hurt.

When he finally rose Teblily walked over to say something, but I don't think Wolyniec even noticed. He was too busy limping and rubbing this throbbing head.

So if you want to know what Tebily contributes, just ask Wolyniec.

As soon as the ringing in his ears stops.

Oh Yeah, the game

2-1 TFC. Goals from Joey Melo and Kevin Harmse. New York goal from Sinisa Ubiparipovic.

Hope that helps.

-- Morgan Campbell