Philadelphia at Toronto - April 15th

[tmcmurph]

One phrase comes to mind "MUST WIN". Yes it is a must win game.

1) They are an expansion team like you were 4 years ago (not like Seattle was last year).

2) It is a home game and the home opener to boot.

3) You really need all 3 points.

4) You have no excuses about the field. It is first rate grass now!

As early as it is in the season you are really desperate and need 3 points from this one. If you are to have any chance at the playoffs you must take full points off the weaker teams or you are one.

Here's hoping the new signings of Cann etc can get familiar with the setup quick so Garcia can ride the bench and not give any more heart attacks to Frei and the fans.

Cheers

[nazzer]

4) You have no excuses about the field. It is first rate grass now!

Yes they can use that as an excuse. Didn't they just put the sod in within the last 3 weeks? Assuming that's true lets get down to a list of excuses the team, and the fans will use throughout the season.

-We haven't had time to get used to our new turf

-The turf hasn't taken root yet so it isn't playing the way normal turf would play.

-The turf wasn't laid down far enough in advance to take root properly so now it's coming up in bunches (like in Montreal last year)

-I'm sure they will come up with more.

[TheKottonmouthed1555362307]

Yeah, that's an understatement, I'm really hoping for a more consistent game and one with more synergy between the squad. It's been a revolving door since Preki got this guys together for camp, so finally the team looks to nearly assembled it's now time to find that chemistry between players. I know all of Canada's football fans should be rooting for the only Canadian MLS club their is for now.

[Admin]

Yes they can use that as an excuse. Didn't they just put the sod in within the last 3 weeks? Assuming that's true lets get down to a list of excuses the team, and the fans will use throughout the season.

-We haven't had time to get used to our new turf

-The turf hasn't taken root yet so it isn't playing the way normal turf would play.

-The turf wasn't laid down far enough in advance to take root properly so now it's coming up in bunches (like in Montreal last year)

-I'm sure they will come up with more.

The FieldTurf was bad. I played on it many times.

I don't see TFC fans making too many excuses. I see them pointing out serious problems, most legitimate, some crazy... but I wouldn't exactly say the TFC people are winging about having the the sun in their eyes.

[TheKottonmouthed1555362307]

Tough to use excuses now, more or less, it's the fault of mangement they knew Preki was gonna clear house and instead of getting on top of it earlier than usual they tried to do camp during the normal time and left virtually zero time for Preki to evaluate his club clean house and find replacements then get them all on the same page.

[jpg75]

No excuses, just win.

On a positive note, i got tickets to the home opener and will be sitting in the new north end stands. Shouldn't have far to go to get a beer! : )

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

The FieldTurf was bad. I played on it many times.

It was too convenient an excuse, however. Playing on fieldturf didn't prevent Seattle from finishing 4th overall and making the playoffs in their first season and didn't make it impossible for them to sign high profile players from overseas like Ljunberg and Montero. Now that crutch has finally been removed it's interesting to watch the change in mindset of a lot of TFC supporters. From being arguably too accepting of failure by TFC management they are now arguably too negative. If Preki gets the defence straightened out the pieces are in place to do well this season. Too early to call this game a "must win" but if Nick Garcia plays and makes another spectacular blunder there is likely to be a lot of vocal negativity from the fanbase. Sensible thing to do would be to make the switch. Hopefully Usanov and/or Cann's paperwork is processed in time so there are plenty of options at the back.

[yomurphy1]

The FieldTurf excuse is really weak. If your a strong team you can win anywhere. The FieldTurf at BMO was garbage though, and its good that we have the grass both for TFC and the Nats.

[Scorpio]

Its agreed a must win this Thursday.

Gonna be at the BraizenHead Irish Pub a few hours before the match if anyone else is arriving early.

Shoot me an email and I'll buy the first round.

[Havoc88]

TFC won't win until I have a roof shading my eyes over the east grandstand.

Or complimentary TFC Ray-Bans.

[Admin]

It was too convenient an excuse, however. Playing on fieldturf didn't prevent Seattle from finishing 4th overall and making the playoffs in their first season and didn't make it impossible for them to sign high profile players from overseas like Ljunberg and Montero. Now that crutch has finally been removed it's interesting to watch the change in mindset of a lot of TFC supporters. From being arguably too accepting of failure by TFC management they are now arguably too negative. If Preki gets the defence straightened out the pieces are in place to do well this season. Too early to call this game a "must win" but if Nick Garcia plays and makes another spectacular blunder there is likely to be a lot of vocal negativity from the fanbase. Sensible thing to do would be to make the switch. Hopefully Usanov and/or Cann's paperwork is processed in time so there are plenty of options at the back.

The point of my post above was that I don't really hear TFC fans making excuses. The turf was terrible, but I don't hear TFC fans saying "We have a really good team, it was the turf or too many distracting seagulls or Mo Johnson's lack of intimate massages after practice .... "

[Mr.Impact]

Yes they can use that as an excuse. Didn't they just put the sod in within the last 3 weeks? Assuming that's true lets get down to a list of excuses the team, and the fans will use throughout the season.

-We haven't had time to get used to our new turf

-The turf hasn't taken root yet so it isn't playing the way normal turf would play.

-The turf wasn't laid down far enough in advance to take root properly so now it's coming up in bunches (like in Montreal last year)

-I'm sure they will come up with more.

Pitch at Saputo was fine last year (2nd year of operations), 2 years ago is when it experienced drainage problems.

[Tuscan]

Win = Must

Anything less and the negativity is going to go out of control. How long and how many losses would it take before a supporters blackout occurs over the cost of Mo's head?

Does anyone know of any GolTV webstreams that will be showing this game? ATDHE.net might have a link for this one, if someone on Justin.tv puts one up. I'd assume it'd be the US Philly feed, which would mean absolutely brutal commentating. Anyone who has an RPB forum membership, or a U-Sector membership, please cross-post any webstream links you find that are for the Canadian feed of the game. All I have to say is that if I have to watch one more ComCast web feed, with their commentators, I'll stab my eardrums.

So far the only one I can provide that will probably at least have a link is http://www.atdhe.net/index.html.

Please provide links if you can.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Looks like there will be multiple webstream options:-

http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=72464∂=sports

[yomurphy1]

Does anyone know if Rogers will continue the free HD broadcasts on channel 501 throughout the season?

[BearcatSA]

If Preki gets the defence straightened out the pieces are in place to do well this season. Too early to call this game a "must win" but if Nick Garcia plays and makes another spectacular blunder there is likely to be a lot of vocal negativity from the fanbase. Sensible thing to do would be to make the switch. Hopefully Usanov and/or Cann's paperwork is processed in time so there are plenty of options at the back.

I'm curious to see what the supporters' reactions will be toward Garcia, starting from when his name gets announced on the PA. As for regular season MLS play, the notion that this is a must win game is premature. Bombing out of the Amway Cup against the Caps and Impact may be a different story, however.

[loyola]

I'm curious to see what the supporters' reactions will be toward Garcia, starting from when his name gets announced on the PA. As for regular season MLS play, the notion that this is a must win game is premature. Bombing out of the Amway Cup against the Caps and Impact may be a different story, however.

If Garcia starts, I expect most TFC fans will support him as it won't help their case if they get in his head before the game by booing him or doing other stuff. But I also expect a couple of idiots to boo him which will accomplish nothing in term of result on the field apart from having a more fragile individual at CB.....

[tmcmurph]

I'm curious to see what the supporters' reactions will be toward Garcia, starting from when his name gets announced on the PA. As for regular season MLS play, the notion that this is a must win game is premature. Bombing out of the Amway Cup against the Caps and Impact may be a different story, however.

Beg to differ on that one. If you can't beat a true expansion team in your 4th year at your home opener for the season you are heading for 2009 DeadBulls territory. Beat the weaker team and claim full points or you are a weaker team. If at 3 weeks into the season you can't even do that then say hello to the other basement dwellers and get comfortable. To make the playoffs you need full points from this one. If you say "we can make it up later" you will miss the playoffs again. You must take FULL points from the weaker teams. That is what good teams do.

A classic example of this was in the Italian league this year. Inter (1st) were playing Sienna (last). Amazingly the basement dwellers were up 3-2 with just minutes to go. Not only did Inter score to tie it but the "special one" was screaming at his players to quit celebrating and get back out there to finish the job! Guess what happened in injury time? Yep, Inter scored and won 4-3. That is a winning mentality and I'm no JM fan. Question is, does TFC have that mentality or not? We'll see on Thursday.

[BearcatSA]

Beg to differ on that one. If you can't beat a true expansion team in your 4th year at your home opener for the season you are heading for 2009 DeadBulls territory. Beat the weaker team and claim full points or you are a weaker team. If at 3 weeks into the season you can't even do that then say hello to the other basement dwellers and get comfortable. To make the playoffs you need full points from this one. If you say "we can make it up later" you will miss the playoffs again. You must take FULL points from the weaker teams. That is what good teams do.

Guess we'll have to disagree on this one. I understand your point from the nature of TFC's opponent (expansion team) and I could see a defeat being considered rock bottom from a psychological standpoint (especially if the side played like absolute crap). However, within the context of what I have seen in this league over the last couple of years, you can still be in the playoff hunt even after a rocky start. Many of the teams in this league are cookie cutter clones in terms of quality so I think things can be salvaged.

I'm not saying that there is no sense of urgency for this match. TFC needs to make a big statement in front of the home folk, that's obvious. It will say much about the character of the team, top to bottom, particularly for guys like De Guzman. But as you say, we'll see what kind of mentality is on display this Thursday.

[Admin]

Beg to differ on that one. If you can't beat a true expansion team in your 4th year at your home opener for the season you are heading for 2009 DeadBulls territory. Beat the weaker team and claim full points or you are a weaker team. If at 3 weeks into the season you can't even do that then say hello to the other basement dwellers and get comfortable. To make the playoffs you need full points from this one. If you say "we can make it up later" you will miss the playoffs again. You must take FULL points from the weaker teams. That is what good teams do.

A classic example of this was in the Italian league this year. Inter (1st) were playing Sienna (last). Amazingly the basement dwellers were up 3-2 with just minutes to go. Not only did Inter score to tie it but the "special one" was screaming at his players to quit celebrating and get back out there to finish the job! Guess what happened in injury time? Yep, Inter scored and won 4-3. That is a winning mentality and I'm no JM fan. Question is, does TFC have that mentality or not? We'll see on Thursday.

It isn't even just losing. If they lose a good game so be it. It's if what you see makes you want to fork your own eyes out and dip your head in a bucket of iodine.

[Trax]

It isn't even just losing. If they lose a good game so be it. It's if what you see makes you want to fork your own eyes out and dip your head in a bucket of iodine.

+1

[Admin]

GAME DAY GAME DAY GAME DAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Wooooot!!!!

[jpg75]

We better f&%$in' WIN!

[Admin]

T-Minus 3 hours.

[Sam]

I think TFC will win tonight. They have a good record at home and if all the best players are on the pitch not like against New England TFC have a decent squad.