Good News, Bad News, Links

The good news for TFC head coach John Carver, and anyone else hoping to see a big-name player hustling for the home team at BMO Field next season: the MLSE board of directors gave TFC permission to sign a designated player for the 2009 season.

Provided they can find one and convince him to play here.

Now the bad news.

REUTERS FILE PHOTO

This would be an example of good for Chad Barrett and TFC.

Just received a press release from TFC announcing that the U.S. men's national team has invited both forward Chad Barrett and goalkeeper Brian Edwards to a five-day training camp in Denver, just ahead of the team's final World Cup qualifier Nov. 19 against Guatemala.

While it's a wonderful development for Barrett and Edwards, and proof of how their games have progressed since joining TFC, Carver can't be too happy to see two more of his young standouts wind up in a national team player pool. Even on the busiest of FIFA match days last season, when international call-ups gutted the roster and forced TFC to field a semi-pro (Ricky Titus) and a team scout (Tim Regan), Carver knew Barrett and Edwards would still be there.

In fairness, today's training camp invite is hardly a guarantee that either man will suit up for the U.S. national team regularly. With his squad already through to the next round of World Cup qualifying, head coach Bob Bradley can afford to tinker with his lineup and evaluate players previously ignored. Bradley might decide next week that he never needs to see Barrett or Edwards again and send them back to Toronto for good.

Still, Carver has to be wondering what he can do -- besides sabotage -- to keep his players off national team call-up lists.

TWO LINKS

One: A great read from the New York Times about Real Salt Lake midfielder (and Toronto native) Andy Williams, his wife, Marcia, and the way the local community has rallied to support her as she battles leukemia.

Two: Landon Donovan is heading back to Germany for a week-long training session with Bayern Munich. Our friend Ives Galarcep relays the news from a German website, and thinks Donovan's trip overseas could turn into something long-term.

This off-season just keeps getting better for the Galaxy, doesn't it?

-- Morgan Campbell

Re-igniting the DP debate

As I type this post the folks who run TFC are meeting with the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment board of directors trying to figure out, among other things, how to spend the money in 2009.

More specifically, today's meeting is where Mo Johnston et al make the case to the MLSE board that Toronto FC needs to sign a designated player for the 2009 season.

Johnston has talked about making the move for a while, and even hinted when training camp opened on a snowy day last February that TFC might spring for a DP before the 2008 season ended. We all know that didn't happen. Instead, TFC spent yet another season with a roster in constant flux as the team slumped early, surged in the springtime, then disappeared for most of the summer before rallying late.

Granted, the team managed 10 more points (35) and nine more goals (34) than they collected in 2007, but after a preseason in which most people connected with the team saw the playoffs not just as a goal but as the squad's chief objective, TFC missed the postseason for the second straight year.

So I guess the question is, would one player -- albeit a (theoretically) wonderfully talented and motivated DP with a seven-figure salary and a point to prove -- have made the difference?

John Carver thinks so.

As autumn wore on, attention turned to what the 2009 roster might look like. Carver became increasingly prone to post-practice rants about the type of player he wanted to see here next year: young guys with plenty of "bollocks" ... or "bullocks"... whichever one translates to what Chuck Swirsky calls "onions."

He also said he'd quit his gig at TFC if the team didn't prove to fans (and itself) that it was serious about winning by signing a DP.

Was he serious? Maybe not completely, but he made it clear which side of the designated player debate he inhabits.

As for me, I'm still not sold. Last season I pointed out repeatedly that most of the league's leading teams, and the two that met in the MLS Cup final, were DP-free. To me, the evidence suggested that you'll accomplish more in this league fielding 11 high-quality, mid-price players than you will by supplementing a group of scrubs with one superstar.

This year's playoff landscape looks a little different. Of the final four MLS teams, two (New York and Chicago) have a DP on their roster.

But a third team, Columbus, has Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who gives them DP-level play at Laurent Robert prices.

And the fourth, Real Salt Lake, produced lacklustre results until an infusion of moderately priced Argentine talent energized the club late in the 2007 season.

You could argue that the right DP -- ie: one who could score consistently -- could have gained Toronto at least four extra points, which was the margin by which they missed the playoffs. You could argue that and you'd probably be right.

But if I'm running a club, I'd rather build a 40-plus point squad first, and then sign a DP. Then those extra four points might make the difference between third place and first, and a few well-timed goals might be the difference between a strong playoff run and an MLS Cup.

I'm not running the team, though, and I'm not the one eager to show the fans who fill my stadium every week that I really am serious about building a winner and not satisfied simply collecting their cash.

However, if I were trying to build a winner I'd start with plenty of mid-priced talent and finish with a DP.

TWO LINKS

First, if you haven't seen it please check out Ronaldinho's golazo from last week's UEFA Cup game between AC Milan and Sporting Braga.

Amazing.

Second, looks like David Beckham isn't just too busy for MLS this winter. He's also too busy for Salma Hayek, who hasn't been able to connect with Beck despite dropping $350,000 for a one-hour soccer lesson from the L.A. Galaxy's golden boy. The soccer lesson was part of a charity auction they both participated in, so I really can't figure out what's wrong with Beckham. I understand he's married and busy, but if I were him I'd make time for Salma Hayek... I mean for charity.

-- Morgan Campbell

Election day links

Happy election day folks.

Is it me or are Canadians paying way more attention to Obama vs. McCain than they paid to the federal election north of the border last month?

Anyway, I'm hoping you guys can navigate away from MSNBC and Fox News long enough to enjoy a few interesting MLS related links.

First, the Sports Business Journal is reporting that MLS attendance and TV ratings both dipped during year two of the Beckham Experiment.

Next, we check in on former New York Red Bulls phenom Jozy Altidore, who scored in the 90th minute of Villareal's 4-1 win over Atletico Bilbao, making him the first American to score a goal in Spain's top division. Nevertheless, it still looks like Villareal is looking to loan him in the new year.

And finally, Steven Goff of the Washington Post urges you to Rock the Vote, MLS style.

OK.

You can go back to tracking the election now.

I know I am.

-- Morgan Campbell

This isn't a Beckham Blog, but.....

First, let me apologize for the the sheer paucity of posts recently. Between personal matters and in-house multimedia training I was off the TFC scene for much of October, and since people around the office aren't exactly lining up to write about MLS the blog suffered.

If there's good news to come from all that, it's this: Now that I'm an officially Toronto Star-trained multimedia journalist, I should be able to add some original video to the TFC blog next season.

Should be fun. Stay tuned.

But enough about me. I know you guys clicked on this page because you want to talk Beckham.

Last time we spoke somebody (it still wasn't clear who) was negotiating a deal for him to spend the winter on loan AC Milan. Back then Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said what most of us were thinking -- that the deal made no sense for L.A.

Late last week, however, Arena either changed his mind or had his mind changed for him, because by the time he spoke to Sky Sports he thought the loan was a "fantastic" move.

Then today we get this from Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl, who learned that Beckham's MLS contract contains a clause that allows him to opt out after year three of his five-year contract.

That's big news.

If you're keeping count, 2009 will be Beckham's third MLS season.

Most of us figured Becks wouldn't have agreed to a deal with MLS unless it contained an exit ramp, but getting someone with knowledge of the deal to confirm it is huge.

If I wore hats I'd take mine off to Wahl.

Anyway, Grant seems to think this contract loophole portends Beckham's early exit from MLS and I can't say I disagree. I'm sure when he signed on two years ago he didn't foresee playing for a low-level team in a league that still isn't Major in the North American sports landscape. When you're slogging through yet another loss, enduring 100-degree weather in half-empty stadiums, the big stages in Europe must seem pretty tempting.

As for the league, the two most pressing questions to arise from this latest Beckham situation concern MLS.

First, what does it say about a league when even during the midst of their playoffs the biggest story is the guy who's not playing?

And second, if Beckham does indeed bounce after the 2009 season, and if MLS hasn't by then achieved an NHL level of prominence in the U.S., can Beckham's tenure be considered anything other than a failure?

How early is too early to discuss these things?

-- Morgan Campbell