2017 Toronto FC season (aka the 2017 MLS Cup clinching thread)

[Unnamed Trialist]

3 hours ago, Gian-Luca said:

I'm assuming Hasler will be called by Liechtenstein for the upcoming WCQ matches. Interestingly enough, he might play against David Villa there as he has been re-called by Spain for the upcoming matches against Italy & Liechtenstein.

Since I did not think it was worth a new thread, have to respond here at least. Villa being called up by Spain is a fairly important endorsement of MLS from the Spanish Federation. True, Costa seems to be out of the picture lately, and a lot of younger strikers are finding their feet in new clubs (Morata), but from the Spain perspective, running through Villa's numbers in MLS all over the press and presenting it all in a positive light is a strong statement regarding MLS. 

Too bad Italy did not call Gio, as that would have been an even bigger statement overall.

I am even wondering if the MLS All-Star match made Lopetegui change his views a bit, as it was a fairly even affair. Which would mean that the All-Star might be a better way to show off the league than was traditionally thought.

[Free kick]

7 hours ago, Gian-Luca said:

I noted at the time he arrived that he never seemed to stay long with one team, and I get the feeling that will be the case here too - at least, the way things are going.

I never quite saw what the big deal was with Cooper, even last year.  Granted he did score a big playoff goal. 

[DannyFromToronto23]

12 hours ago, MtlMario said:

Every time I hear his name it makes me think of the song'''' The roof(insert Cheyrou instead of ' the roof') the roof, the roof's on fire.

i can see him staying in MLS ..............as long as its not Montreal i'm fine with that 

[DannyFromToronto23]

4 minutes ago, Free kick said:

I never quite saw what the big deal was with Cooper, even last year.  Granted he did score a big play goal. 

he was amazing at dribbling and taking players on and looked comfortable on the ball  but now he holds on to the ball too long and loses the ball but i still prefer him over chapman 

[Free kick]

3 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Too bad Italy did not call Gio, as that would have been an even bigger statement overall.

I think that they were trying to make a statement. And that statement was made by not calling him.   Pelle didnt have agreat season and was not playing for a top club in england, and i believe (i might be wrong) he got called. 

For the longest time NT players never played abroad.  They only needed to pick Serie A players... seeing someone from the nt pool of talent, opt for MLS must have been too much to take for some.

[Free kick]

On 8/24/2017 at 0:59 PM, Gian-Luca said:

He did play well although I am not sure that I would have given him MOTM the way the folks at the stadium did, although I have seen far worse selections for that award, like when Endoh got it a few weeks ago when he was the worst player on the pitch for the TFC that day). 

Mavinga had a hell of game.  He should have been MOTM in my opinion.  He may be right now their best defender. 

[DannyFromToronto23]

43 minutes ago, Free kick said:

Mavinga had a hell of game.  He should have been MOTM in my opinion.  He may be right now their best defender. 

ITS funny how everyone was calling him shit cuz of his home debut game vs ATLANTA lol

[BuzzAndSting]

On 2017-08-24 at 10:19 PM, grasshopper1917 said:

Where the heck is Luke Wileman? No offense to Vic Rudder BUT - Luke is about 653% better at calling the games.

Luke is better than Rauter. Vic makes some simple mistakes and seems to stumble too much for the level of broadcast but he does have some unique and awesome approaches... like when a player is about to hit a sitter he says "HERE WE GO!" 

Stephen Caldwell on the other hand is a terrible broadcaster. He's nothing but sunshine and lollipops and worst of all he never shuts up. As soon as the play-by-play man takes a breath he's in there with another cliche'd one off. 

The beauty of so many Euro footy broadcasts is how the commentators let the game breath, I wish we had more of that. 

[MtlMario]

On a side note, on a interview with A. Totera, Rauter was asked about the CPL and said that it won't work because people want to see the best possible players.

[Zem]

4 minutes ago, MtlMario said:

On a side note, on a interview with A. Totera, Rauter was asked about the CPL and said that it won't work because people want to see the best possible players.

Thankfully I can't say I care about a curling announcer's opinion on the subject

[Alex D]

34 minutes ago, MtlMario said:

On a side note, on a interview with A. Totera, Rauter was asked about the CPL and said that it won't work because people want to see the best possible players.

If that were true MLS wouldn't exist. 

Also, he pronounces Giovinco "Joe Vinco"

[BuzzAndSting]

2 hours ago, Zem said:

Thankfully I can't say I care about a curling announcer's opinion on the subject

Not that I don't disagree with the sentiment but Vic has been doing soccer broadcasts in this country for 30 years.

[Ivan]

He could be jaded since he did all the old CSL games and witnessed first hand, the demise of the league.  Reuter was great in those days (those classic Mobilio, Berdusco and Peschisolido calls still bring a smile to my face), but seems a bit past it now.  Frequently behind the play, no chemistry with Caldwell.

[Jith12]

13 hours ago, BuzzAndSting said:

Luke is better than Rauter. Vic makes some simple mistakes and seems to stumble too much for the level of broadcast but he does have some unique and awesome approaches... like when a player is about to hit a sitter he says "HERE WE GO!" 

Stephen Caldwell on the other hand is a terrible broadcaster. He's nothing but sunshine and lollipops and worst of all he never shuts up. As soon as the play-by-play man takes a breath he's in there with another cliche'd one off. 

The beauty of so many Euro footy broadcasts is how the commentators let the game breath, I wish we had more of that. 

On the note about Caldwell, does anyone else notice that he seems to play doctor? I swear, every game he seems to diagnose player's injuries. I remember one game earlier this year when he "diagnosed" two broken noses and then there was our game on Wednesday when he claimed that a player might have broken a metatarsal bone in his foot. Does Steve-O have any medical college experience that we know of? Good guy but his commentary still has room to grow.

[Bison44]

I cant stand Caldwell.  Could they find a guy with a thicker accent? I cant understand his mumblings much of the time.  Its almost like they think we need the thick accent to acknowledge he knows soccer.  He doesnt add much and talks over the action constantly.  Vic is ok, and i dont mind that he does curling, people can do more than one thing, Rod Black does CFL and Figure skating (there is a pair of opposites) and he is ok with both.  I'm almost at the point where I turn the sound down because Caldwell is so bad.  

[Complete Homer]

1 hour ago, Jith12 said:

On the note about Caldwell, does anyone else notice that he seems to play doctor? I swear, every game he seems to diagnose player's injuries. I remember one game earlier this year when he "diagnosed" two broken noses and then there was our game on Wednesday when he claimed that a player might have broken a metatarsal bone in his foot. Does Steve-O have any medical college experience that we know of? Good guy but his commentary still has room to grow.

I wouldn't feel comfortable definitively diagnosing a metatarsal fracture without an xray, and I actually do have training. Sounds like some BS

[Jith12]

7 minutes ago, Complete Homer said:

I wouldn't feel comfortable definitively diagnosing a metatarsal fracture without an xray, and I actually do have training. Sounds like some BS

 I doubt a little stamp on the foot would be able to break these bad boys.

1 hour ago, Bison44 said:

I cant stand Caldwell.  Could they find a guy with a thicker accent? I cant understand his mumblings much of the time.  Its almost like they think we need the thick accent to acknowledge he knows soccer.  He doesnt add much and talks over the action constantly.  Vic is ok, and i dont mind that he does curling, people can do more than one thing, Rod Black does CFL and Figure skating (there is a pair of opposites) and he is ok with both.  I'm almost at the point where I turn the sound down because Caldwell is so bad.  

I must agree with you @Bison44. Mainstream sports networks have to start realizing that you don't have to be from Europe to know soccer. Surely one of these networks can find a homegrown colour commentator who is much better than Caldwell. We need to take a page out of Fox's book and hire some former local MLSers (I'm pretty sure it's Fox that is doing that ).

[Complete Homer]

39 minutes ago, Jith12 said:

 I doubt a little stamp on the foot would be able to break these bad boys.

I must agree with you @Bison44. Mainstream sports networks have to start realizing that you don't have to be from Europe to know soccer. Surely one of these networks can find a homegrown colour commentator who is much better than Caldwell. We need to take a page out of Fox's book and hire some former local MLSers (I'm pretty sure it's Fox that is doing that ).

I know what a metatarsal is ☺️

I'm just saying that diagnosing a fracture vs soft tissue injury vs ligament tear vs acting, let alone a particular fracture, from eyeballing it on a replay is sort of absurd. He probably saw someone get a metatarsal fracture from a similar looking incident at one point and jumped on the first medicalese that came to mind

[DannyFromToronto23]

13 hours ago, MtlMario said:

On a side note, on a interview with A. Totera, Rauter was asked about the CPL and said that it won't work because people want to see the best possible players.

It's true the first years are gunna be rough he's right he's not like totera.  Cuz totera thinks CPL is gunna match MLS in the first 4 years and have sold out matches and the quality of football will be high 

[BearcatSA]

19 hours ago, BuzzAndSting said:

The beauty of so many Euro footy broadcasts is how the commentators let the game breath, I wish we had more of that. 

IMO You let the game breath by having only one guy in the booth, the pbp guy.  Analysts do the pregame, halftime, and postmatch panel stuff.  I remember when Wileman did such a TFC match on his own on Gol several years ago and I felt he did an excellent job.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

21 hours ago, MtlMario said:

On a side note, on a interview with A. Totera, Rauter was asked about the CPL and said that it won't work because people want to see the best possible players.

 

Vic Rauter was travelling around the country regularly doing live commentary for TSN from 1987-1991 (the league got ditched by TSN in 1992 as far as I remember), so probably has a far clearer picture than most on the train wreck that was the original CSL, so I can understand where he is coming from. Think he is right where Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto are concerned, but the smaller markets are a different story. FC Edmonton and the Ottawa Fury are doing much better on attendance than the Brickmen and Pioneers ever did without the best possible players so things have moved on since thirty years ago.

[MtlMario]

Just to be clear I don't agree with V. Rauter at all. Never underestimate the smaller(smaller than the big 3) communities in our country. The start will be very important I think, like the saying goes " nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd". Waiting patiently.

[RS]

On 8/26/2017 at 9:51 AM, Alex D said:

If that were true MLS wouldn't exist. 

Also, he pronounces Giovinco "Joe Vinco"

That is how Giovinco is pronounced.

[jonovision]

I thought Caldwell's first few months on the job were atrocious. Full-on TFC homer and no sense for the rhythm of the broadcast. In my opinion he's improved and apart from his constant harping on refereeing for being too strict I think he does a decent job. In the pairing with Wileman he's no longer the weak link. His work for the Canada matches at the Gold Cup was really good, I thought.

That said, I think he never gets that job without an accent.

[Jith12]

I think Wileman will be on the job today for the derby. Rauter is doing commentary for TSN this week at the Everest Curling Challenge in Fredricton. We might have heard the last of him for this soccer season as the curling season begins. Probably Luke and Steve from now on in.