TFC Season Over, looking into the future

[BuzzAndSting]

With TFC's tie at home to RSL their chances of advancing in the CCL are gone and they're all but mathematically eliminated from the MLS playoff race. What are some the things TFC needs to do from now to the start of next season in order for them to make the playoffs and become a serious competitor in the CCL? Here are my thoughts;

- Find a DSO. Is Earl Cochrane the guy?

- Find a coach. I like what Daso's done in the small amount of time he had but I think the team had to complete one of the two goals to ensure his return next season, either advance in the CCL or make the MLS playoffs.

- Find another credible scoring threat. Barrett showed good stuff scoring 9 goals in all competitions so I think he should stay. The revolving door of forwards in Mista, Santos and OBW couldn't get it done. 6 goals in 54 appearances between them.

- Find some wingers. Peterson and Labrocca showed at some points in the season that they may be able to contribute but 2 goals between them isn't enough. Henry and Lindsay aren't good enough to be playing at this level yet and I'm not sure what riding the pine will do for their development.

- Find a left and right back. Usanov, Hscanovics and Garcia are also not good enough. They're all very similar players; they give up bad fouls, they're caught out of position alot and they all tend to struggle finding a break out pass. Most nights they spend all their touches bashing the ball into the corner. I think Ty Harden has played well enough when asked perhaps he could make a decent outside man. I also believe that Gargan would fit best in the back if you had credible wingers.

- Solve the issues with DeRo. He believes he's worth more money and having 14 goals to this point I think he is too. Make him the 2nd DP.

- Get rid of the dead weight. Mista, Saric, Usanov, Hscanovics, Ibrahim and OBW.

- Keep the middle the same. I think the combination of De Guz, Sanyang and De Ro is solid. That is if Sanyang can shake the concussion problems.

- Keep the center backs the same. Attakora and Cann played great together all year and both should be locked up to long term contracts.

- Sign a legit 3rd DP. I have no idea who will be available but someone with name recognition would go along way to appeasing the fans.

- Sign Frei. If he's willing, sign him to a long term deal. If he's not Conway is a decent alternative short term.

- Gala and Nane seem to be good utility players so I would keep them.

- What's up with Gomez?

- Can Jimmy B be enticed out of retirement?

That's all, just a few things to take care of. Feel free to disagree as I'm sure alot of you will.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

This thread is still slightly premature given there is still a mathematical chance of making the playoffs but if the San Jose and Colorado games go the wrong way tomorrow night and TFC lose to the Sounders this weekend it soon won't be. Not sure why you would see Ibrahim as dead weight when he is still a teenager and a Generation Adidas player. I suspect TFC are waiting until after the appointment of a new GM and the end of season ticket renewal to deal with the DeRosario situation and that there is a very good chance he won't be back next season. Gala's time is up now. Younger guys from the Academy need to get their chance as well.

[BuzzAndSting]

I agree that TFC still have a small chance but being 7 points out and only having 4 games left I would be very surprised but delighted if it did happen. Not to mention at this point all but 1 team TFC is chasing have 1 or 2 games in hand. Combined with what TFC have done on the field lately...

As far Ibrahim I understand he's a teenager and a GA player but I haven't seen anything from him that makes me believe he can contribute anytime soon. He's had 33 career appearances and has 3 goals. What can we seriously expect from him? He's not a threat coming off the bench and realisticaly shouldn't be in TFC starting lineup. Correct me if I'm wrong but I just don't see the potential in him that I do in some of the other TFC youngsters, i.e. Gala (21), Sanyang (19), Attakora (21) and Nane (22). I've seen more potential in those 4, and 3 of them have fewer appearances than Ibrahim.

I agree with alot of what I said will not be decided until a new DSO is found and that's why it's the first thing on my list.

As far as the Academy guys I agree with the principal of what's being done but with the schedule TFC has had this season I don't see them as legitimate roster players who can fill in when needed. Henry and Lindsay are 17 and 18 respectively and I don't believe getting 2 or 3 appearances per season is going to do anything for their development so to me it's a catch 22.

TFC need to win now and they need 20-24 guys who can do that now. To me this current roster has 14-16.

What about ressurecting the reserve league? That would be great for some of the younger guys to play more regularly at a higher level. I might be wrong because I grew up in Ottawa and I'm not sure where the level of the CSL is.

[TFCRegina]

Aren't they re-instituting the reserve division next year?

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

...yes and they are apparently expanding rosters to 30 to accommodate it. I suspect in TFC's case they'll still do what Mo Johnston did the last time around and use a lot of callups from the CSL (i.e. mainly from TFC Academy) for those games in addition to the fringe players on the MLS level roster and won't necessarily use all 30 available roster spots.

[intim0dating]

Agree with plenty of you points mserson. Getting rid of the deadweight is essential, imo. Certain guys, like Usanov, the Latvian, are mainly liabilities to the team and should really be playing a lower level. Their football IQ just isn't there.

I sometimes think that we are only a few players away from being a contender. I think we basically need two more players who are of a high caliber who can change a game. We have the keeper, we have the center defenders, we have a goal scorer in DeRo. I like Barrett. We just need some first-team fullbacks, possibly Gargan on the right? And some steady wingers who can stay consistent. Labrocca is OK. Peterson did not really show anything this season other than inconsistency. Maybe the potential is there, I am really unsure, but he really lacks confidence. We need another striker who can put the ball in the net consistently. As mentioned above, another game-changing-esque player will do it. I truly think that if some solid changes are made, TFC could be a reliable MLS playoff contender, and who knows what comes from that.

[jpg75]

Not sure why you would see Ibrahim as dead weight when he is still a teenager and a Generation Adidas player.

He won't be next year. This is his third MLS season so he automatically graduates from GenAd and the cap hit from his contract (between 100-133K) will be way too large for his expected contributions to the club.

Here's who i would keep:

TFC Attakora-Gyan Nana D $ 40,000.00 $ 40,000.00

TFC Barrett Chad F $ 205,000.00 $ 212,500.00

TFC Cann Adrian D $ 56,592.00 $ 65,342.00

TFC Conway Jon GK $ 60,000.00 $ 69,833.33

TFC de Guzman Julian M $ 1,670,796.00 $ 1,717,546.00

TFC DeRosario Dwayne M $ 375,000.00 $ 443,750.00

TFC Frei Stefan GK $ 80,000.00 $ 135,000.00

TFC Gala Gabe D-M $ 40,000.00 $ 40,000.00

TFC Gargan Daniel M $ 40,000.00 $ 40,000.00

TFC Harden Ty D $ 40,000.00 $ 40,000.00

TFC Joseph Nane M $ 40,000.00 $ 40,000.00 (Development)

TFC Kocic Milos GK $ 40,000.00 $ 40,000.00

TFC LaBrocca Nick M $ 77,000.00 $ 79,500.00

TFC Santos Maicon F $ 93,000.00 $ 93,000.00

TFC Sanyang Amadou D $ 40,000.00 $ 46,555.55

Probably have to expect Cann and Attakora would need to be re-signed for approx. 100K each. Frei will certainly hit the required benchmarks to graduate from GenAd but his cap hit of between 80-135K is easily workable on the Sr. roster. I would keep all the affordable role players, guys like Harden, Gargan etc. as well as LaBrocca who is a reasonably priced depth wing player and Santos who at 93K is a manageable depth forward. We retain the core of the team and the rest of the crew gets the door. By my tally there's approx $1.5M invested in my 14 Sr. roster players for next season, plus Nane Joseph is signed to a DEV deal and Lindsay and Henry are homegrowns. There's about $1M to spend on 6-10 players (depending on the new roster regulations). Anywhere from 3-7 DEV spots for next year available and we have a 1st rounder, THREE 2nd rounders, TWO 3rd's and a 4th in the MLS draft.

edit: Here's where i got the salary info.:

http://www.mlsplayers.org/files/august_12_2010_salary_information__by_club.pdf

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Perhaps worth noting that this was actually Fuad Ibrahim's fourth MLS season:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdus_Ibrahim

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_MLS_SuperDraft

Generation Adidas contracts are typically for five seasons (three plus two option years).

http://www.michigandaily.com/content/2009-01-09/marosevic-signs-generation-adidas-contract

Major League Soccer and Adidas team up every year to select the most talented collegiate and youth soccer players in the country. These players are offered three-year Generation Adidas contracts, with the opportunity for a two-year extension. The contract is worth between $65,000 and $125,000 per year, putting the athletes in the top quarter of all MLS salaries as rookies

With young players they can be for longer. From what I remember of this year's Super Draft Zac Herold's Generation Adidas contract was reported to be for six seasons.

[Guest Ed]

Perhaps worth noting that this was actually Fuad Ibrahim's fourth MLS season:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdus_Ibrahim

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_MLS_SuperDraft

Generation Adidas contracts are typically for five seasons (three plus two option years).

http://www.michigandaily.com/content/2009-01-09/marosevic-signs-generation-adidas-contract

Major League Soccer and Adidas team up every year to select the most talented collegiate and youth soccer players in the country. These players are offered three-year Generation Adidas contracts, with the opportunity for a two-year extension. The contract is worth between $65,000 and $125,000 per year, putting the athletes in the top quarter of all MLS salaries as rookies

With young players they can be for longer. From what I remember of this year's Super Draft Zac Herold's Generation Adidas contract was reported to be for six seasons.

Regardless, the kid has shown SFA and is just taking up space in that locker room.

[jpg75]

Well, i guess i'm wrong believing that the player graduated from GenAd after 3 seasons max. I guess we'll see what happens in the off-season and whether he does graduate this year or not (that is regardless of the length of contract, it's based on playing time and other benchmarks). If he is not a GenAd player next year then he should be released outright, if he is GenAd thenwe should see if we can get something via trade.

[Guest MooseTFC]

I see another 'rebuilding' offseason. Third straight. FIFA 11 just came out. Why doesn't TFC management try the GM mode?

[BuzzAndSting]

Well, i guess i'm wrong believing that the player graduated from GenAd after 3 seasons max. I guess we'll see what happens in the off-season and whether he does graduate this year or not (that is regardless of the length of contract, it's based on playing time and other benchmarks). If he is not a GenAd player next year then he should be released outright, if he is GenAd thenwe should see if we can get something via trade.

Totally agree...

[BuzzAndSting]

I see another 'rebuilding' offseason. Third straight. FIFA 11 just came out. Why doesn't TFC management try the GM mode?

I'm going to buy FIFA 11 tonight... I read on the RPB forum that you can add your own audio, i.e. chants.

[Guest MooseTFC]

I'm going to buy FIFA 11 tonight... I read on the RPB forum that you can add your own audio, i.e. chants.

I saw that too. I love the ones posted there.

[tmcmurph]

4 - 1 for Colorado over Philly. Look at the bright side, at least Philly won't overtake you in the point standings. Tonight at least. Still 0-0 for San Jose and Chicago near half time.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Regardless, the kid has shown SFA and is just taking up space in that locker room.

In reality he has been getting about as much playing time in the first team as Nana Attakora did at a similar age and played reasonably OK in the Cruz Azul away game even if he was lucky not to be sent off. No compelling reason to discard him from a TFC standpoint if he will still cost nothing against the cap and the roster is being expanded out to 30 to accommodate reserve team games. All too obvious what the real issue is where some on here are concerned. He is American and is therefore seen as taking a job away from a young Canadian player. Once the Academy is up to full speed there will be less reason to bring in a player like Ibrahim because young Canadian players will be gaining roster spots at the MLS level on merit rather than being signed primarily to fill out the numbers in domestic content terms as was all too obviously the case sometimes in the early days of TFC.

[BuzzAndSting]

In reality he has been getting about as much playing time in the first team as Nana Attakora did at a similar age and played reasonably OK in the Cruz Azul away game even if he was lucky not to be sent off. No compelling reason to discard him from a TFC standpoint if he will still cost nothing against the cap and the roster is being expanded out to 30 to accommodate reserve team games. All too obvious what the real issue is where some on here are concerned. He is American and is therefore seen as taking a job away from a young Canadian player. Once the Academy is up to full speed there will be less reason to bring in a player like Ibrahim because young Canadian players will be gaining roster spots at the MLS level on merit rather than being signed primarily to fill out the numbers in domestic content terms as was all too obviously the case sometimes in the early days of TFC.

I agree, if he won't count against the cap and the rosters do expand to 30 it wouldn't be terrible to keep him. Just don't play him during any games that mean anything. Also I wonder about his attitude. We saw in Panama that he has a temper and he whines, and we saw similar things in Mexico. Is he going to be a little b*tch if he doesn't play enough?

[villus]

TFC should look to the Colombian league to bring in some talented and relatively cheap players. Many of the Colombians who has played in MLS have done really well, they may not be big house hold names out of the gate but they are willing to play in MLS and have lots of skillfull players. On top of that you don't have to be bringing in old established players at the end stages of their career, you can get quality talent still on the upsides of their careers. Up to this point TFC has failed pretty badly in bringing in foreign talent, and many other teams around the league have brought in quality Central and South American players to fill roles.

[BearcatSA]

TFC Gala Gabe D-M $ 40,000.00 $ 40,000.00

Is this guy hurt or has he simply lost his job to Lindsay? If it's the latter, and with the new non CanCon rules coming in, I can't see him being in MLS next year, let alone TFC.

Could someone tell me how long JDG's contract is for?

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

From memory three seasons.

[BearcatSA]

^Really? So I wonder what a new management regime will deal with this situation?

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Unless JDG has an incompetent agent I seriously doubt that TFC have him on an option for next season. Suspect the new regime will have to put up with him for at least one season but that's pure speculation on my part.

[bgnewf]

http://viewfromthesouthstands.com/2010/10/could-be-worse/

It is not all doom and gloom for Toronto FC. There are a lot of things to look forward to for the club in 2011.

Here are ten.