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Would Toronto MLS be a defacto national team?


Crazy_Yank

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If Toronto ever gets its MLS bid off the ground I wonder if it would in effect become a defacto Canadian national team. How would this effect the sport? It does have some positives. It would attract all the best Canadian A-league talent on to one team. Onstad and DeRosario would surely sign. DeRosario being the marquee player. Some of the Scandavian based players would probably come back as well. Sign 3 quality foreign players and you've got the makings of a very strong team. A huge benefit for the national team would be the core of the team would be playing together on a regular basis. Imagine how and team like this would would do in MLS......

----------Onstad

Titus-Reda-Pizzilito-Pozniak

Nash-Hutchinson-Aristodomo-Mark Chung

------DeRosario-Friend

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A couple things...

I figure, by the time that a Toronto MLS (or whatever Canadian city it was) team gets off the ground, I dont think Titus or Onstad would be in the picture.

As for bringing players over from Europe, I think some would come back... its hard to say which players, but from my best guesses, Reda would come back, I think Fernando Aguiar is a strong possibility depending on his Benfica situation at the time. I think the draw will be stronger for overseas players who are local to where the MLS team was.

I dont think Friend would come back, just because he could have been in the MLS, and turned it down in favour of a lucrative Norweigan contract. I cant see Atiba coming back, cause I figure, by the time something like this could happen, he could be off to very big things.

Your choice of Chung is very interesting too :)

It would be really interesting to see a team like this put together, even if it were just NA based players. I wouldnt even want to hazard a guess at a lineup, but there would be at least 25-30 a-leaguers who could be put into consideration for this level, and probably do quite well.

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The team Canada concept is nothing new and was already tried. In the NASL days, the Montreal Manic took on the team canada designation. The idea being that if they formed the base of national team, players within the group would grow accustomed to playing with each other thus helping the MNT. But in the end I am not sure what this all really meant especially if players are under contract to other teams and if players wish to play elsewhere. It didn't really work as the club and the league eventually folded. I also believe that one US club was identified as the US MNT but cannot recall which one.

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quote:Originally posted by Free kick

The team Canada concept is nothing new and was already tried. In the NASL days, the Montreal Manic took on the team canada designation. The idea being that if they formed the base of national team, players within the group would grow accustomed to playing with each other thus helping the MNT. But in the end I am not sure what this all really meant especially if players are under contract to other teams and if players wish to play elsewhere. It didn't really work as the club and the league eventually folded. I also believe that one US club was identified as the US MNT but cannot recall which one.

I'm not saying go with the concept of the Canadian national team as a club, but I think a Canadian MLS team would get most of the North American based talent.

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deRosario may well be in Europe by the time Toronto (if it ever) gets an MLS team, so I wouldn't necessarily put him on any tentative lineup.

I'm dubious about the success of such a scheme in any league. A club's main goal should be it's own success within the league structure. Having a defacto National B Team may work as long as the team is winning but I doubt that the public will continue to support it should it go through the inevitable rough patches. The pressure would be too high in the long run to acquire the best possible lineup, rather than an altruistic attempt at furthering the national team. I think that would be much more likely considering it would be, at best, a 'B' team (i.e. those who could not get good contracts in Europe). I don't think enough people around Toronto would be satisfied with this.

I also doubt that any business backing an MLS team in Toronto would want to agree to rules that would make player selection for their club to be any different that the other MLS teams.

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quote:Originally posted by Free kick

The team Canada concept is nothing new and was already tried. In the NASL days, the Montreal Manic took on the team canada designation. The idea being that if they formed the base of national team, players within the group would grow accustomed to playing with each other thus helping the MNT. But in the end I am not sure what this all really meant especially if players are under contract to other teams and if players wish to play elsewhere. It didn't really work as the club and the league eventually folded. I also believe that one US club was identified as the US MNT but cannot recall which one.

No they didn't. They announced that they would do so but they folded before it could take effect.

In the case of a Toronto MLS side, if anything the team would be considered a Canada "B" made up of players who haven't made it to Europe or are who are winding down their careers.

Of course, many of us have been clamouring for a Canada "B" anyway so it wouldn't be such a bad thing.

db

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quote:Originally posted by DJT

Assuming that lineup was intended to be all-Canadian, you should know that Titus is cap-tied to T&T and Chung has chosen the US (though I assume he isn't cap-tied).

I know that, but I couldn't think of Canadian players outside of Europe better than those 2 guys. I assume someone more knowledgable could come up with a better squad. I just picked the squad I did to get the discussion rolling.

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quote:Originally posted by Free kick

The team Canada concept is nothing new and was already tried. In the NASL days, the Montreal Manic took on the team canada designation. The idea being that if they formed the base of national team, players within the group would grow accustomed to playing with each other thus helping the MNT. But in the end I am not sure what this all really meant especially if players are under contract to other teams and if players wish to play elsewhere. It didn't really work as the club and the league eventually folded. I also believe that one US club was identified as the US MNT but cannot recall which one.

That was the Maniac's team in 1984, their final season.

http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/resource_center/soccer_business/323187.html

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  • 15 years later...
15 hours ago, Robert said:

Just one of the many Voyageurs , like Richard Howe, who have gone MIA over the years. EVER WONDER WHY?

Krammerhead

CONTENT COUNT

2,790

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May 16, 2003

LAST VISITED

June 20, 2009

He left in the middle of a 4 game win streak!

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20 hours ago, Robert said:

Just one of the many Voyageurs , like Richard Howe, who have gone MIA over the years. EVER WONDER WHY?

Krammerhead

CONTENT COUNT

2,790

JOINED

May 16, 2003

LAST VISITED

June 20, 2009

Krammerhead has gone MIA from the Vancouver supporter scene in general. Has nothing to do with the Voyageurs.

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8 hours ago, masster said:

Krammerhead has gone MIA from the Vancouver supporter scene in general. Has nothing to do with the Voyageurs.

I clicked on his profile to see his most recent messages from mid 2009 and almost every one of them has him calling people assholes or otherwise insulting them! LOL!

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...which was nothing out of the ordinary. He was very anti-MLS and for many years insisted that MLS wasn't interested in Canada and would be personally abusive towards anyone who dared to point out that there was solid evidence to the contrary. He was never likely to hang around long after MLS entry happened.

As for Richard Howe, who Robert mentioned, his main hobby horse was banning ethnic clubs and he may or may not have become less keen on posting on here after his league, the PCSL, added a team called Estrella de Chile. He definitely had some explaining to do.

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To go back to the original topic, I definitely think a Toronto MLS team would contribute a large proportion of the Canadian MNT for a year or two. But eventually they'd get sick of signing scouts and Rick Titus to play during international breaks and start looking for Americans and Italians.

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2 minutes ago, Benjamin Massey said:

To go back to the original topic, I definitely think a Toronto MLS team would contribute a large proportion of the Canadian MNT for a year or two. But eventually they'd get sick of signing scouts and Rick Titus to play during international breaks and start looking for Americans and Italians.

That's a ridiculous prediction.

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