Soccer Toronto

Here's some irony for you: Brian McBride announced last week that he was leaving Fulham and returning to the U.S. to finish out his career in Major League Soccer. According to reports, he wants to play for the Chicago Fire, which is his hometown club.

However, McBride can't sign a contract with a specific MLS club. He has to sign with the league itself, who then allocates him to a specific club -- and the club at the top of the allocation list is Toronto FC.

So the best striker in American soccer history comes home and finds that MLS rules will force him to play for the lone Canadian club.

Seriously, does that seem right to you? Why does McBride have to go through all this red tape just to sign with his chosen MLS club? Rules like this are why so many people view MLS as less than major league. Free agents should be allowed to sign with the club they choose, not the club the league assigns to them. This is just one more thing that really needs to be fixed in the next collective bargaining agreement.

You know where McBride should really be today? Santander. The U.S. men's national team takes on Spain today, and with Landon Donovan still begging out with a lack of balls sore groin, the U.S. needs all the help up front it can get.

(H/T: Soccer By Ives)

Toronto FC continues to impress an confuse us with their myriad of offseason moves. Coming off a rather accomplished SuperDraft, coach turned GM Mo Johnston has been opening up cap space to bring in a number of foreign players over the course of the first half. The goal is to leverage Toronto's additional foreign player capacity into talent on the pitch, but the first real signing of the season is kind of a head scratcher.

Laurent Robert, formerly of Newcastle, Benfica, and Derby County, is set to salvage what's left of his career at BMO Field. The 32 year old Robert is set to replace Ronnie O'Brien in the midfield and will likely cost the cap space earned in the accompanying trade to San Jose. We're not criticizing an EPL caliber player, or his pedigree, but at first glance it looks like Mo traded O'Brien for an older, more expensive English version of the midfielder. WE would also find it hard to believe that the signing is really raising the profile of the club from a marketing standpoint.

(HT: Toronto Star)

After a real-life sabbatical that was much too long, we've come back to previewing the upcoming MLS season team by cap-filled team. This week's (month's?) installment takes us to our new expansion friends, Toronto FC. Technically, San Jose, Seattle and Philadelphia are all now expansions and TFC is just another team, but that doesn't change the fact that they are still coming for you. You have been warned.

According to the Daily Mail, Major League Soccer have begun talks with Liverpool FC of the English Premier League to participate in next season's MLS All Star Game. The celebration of all things American soccer is to be held next year at BMO Field, home of Toronto FC, and will most likely feature LA Galaxy star David Beckham. Combined with Toronto's exuberance for both their new MLS team and having one of the largest Liverpool fan bases in North America, the league hopes to build on the success of past All Star Games featuring big clubs Chelsea and Celtic.

Liverpool's new American owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks, will look to use the event as a springboard for a North American tour similar to the recent tours of Chelsea and Celtic as well as Barcelona and Real Madrid. Furthermore, Gillett, owner of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens, is expected to use the All Star Game and a second friendly in Montreal to gauge interest in brining an MLS team of his own to Quebec. Commissioner Don Garber has mentioned Montreal as a candidate for expansion before, and it should be no surprise that Gillett's involvement would help push the city to the top of the list.

While Liverpool has been little more than penciled into next summer's All Star Game, the potential benefit for all sides should help the idea fast become a reality.

Two days after word first broke that the Toronto Maple Leafs were moving to ban mini-digital video recording devices from their locker room, the team has finally announced the rationale behind the decision. As John Lashway, senior vice-president of communications for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment told Brian Milner of the Globe and Mail: "It comes down to the fact that I don't want to see naked images of my players on YouTube."

I'm afraid that Lashway's explanation has left me, someone who has been using a mini-digital video recorder in both NHL and MLS locker rooms without incident for the past couple of months, a little speechless. So while I collect my thoughts, I'll let you in on what others are saying at the moment.

My FanHouse colleague, Jon "J.P." Press, had another suggestion: "Have your players wear, you know, towels." Good on him, as I'm always happy to see somebody come up with a low-tech solution to what some have sized up as a high-tech problem.

James Mirtle: "There go my plans for my media credentials. Besides, everyone knows Leafs TV has exclusive rights to naked Leafs pictures - isn't that why they charge what they do?"

Then there's Beau Dure of USA Today's Sportscope -- a reporter who has stood side by side with me in the D.C. United locker room more times than I can count while I recorded interviews -- in a note he sent me this afternoon: "I can sympathize a little with athletes who find they can barely find space to change clothes. But shutting off your camera isn't the answer."

Bingo. I'm happy to concede that the continuous march of technology and the growth of new media are presenting some interesting challenges for the folks in sports PR. As I've written before, despite the fact that bloggers think that the answers are obvious doesn't mean they are to everyone else.

Then again, that doesn't excuse people in the business for not keeping up with the technological changes and coming up with innovative solutions that everyone can live with -- solutions that in the end will do nothing more than enhance coverage for fans and help promote the continued growth of the game.

Previously on FanHouse:
Maple Leafs Say No to Digital Video

With every sport seemingly desperate to create some sort of entertainment crossover, I guess we shouldn't be surprised at the latest offering from MLS and Adidas. It's called "MLS Represent" and it matches up indie bands from each city in the league with their home teams to create team theme songs.

But what is surprising is that at least one of the efforts is actually pretty good. While the biggest name involved in the project has to be Barenaked Ladies, who recorded "TFC" for Toronto FC (imaginative, I know), I actually found myself really liking "D.C. United" by local punk godfathers, Bad Brains -- pictured at right is BB's guitarist, H.R., playing a set at the Virgin Festival in Baltimore earlier this month.

Believe me, if you're musical tastes run in the same direction as mine, it beats the heck out of "Hail to the Redskins". Here's the complete list of the artists and the tunes they recorded:

Akwid: "¡Chivas Explosivas!" (Chivas USA)
Bad Brains: "D.C. United" (D.C. United)
Barenaked Ladies: "TFC" (Toronto FC)
Blackpool Lights: "Ain't Nobody Gonna Stop Us Now" (Kansas City Wizards)
Damone: "Revolution" (New England Revolution)
Mike Jones: "Houston Dynamo (Don't Play)" (Houston Dynamo)
Kinky: "We Are the Galaxy" (L.A. Galaxy)
Meg & Dia: "The Mighty R-E-A-L" (Real Salt Lake)
OK Go: "Here Comes the Fire" (Chicago Fire)
The Polyphonic Spree: "H-O-O-P-S Yes!" (FC Dallas)
The Rapture: "Whoo! Alright, Yeah... Uh Huh" (New York Red Bulls)
RJD2: "It's Your Crew" (Columbus Crew)
Rose Hill Drive: "Goal!" (Colorado Rapids)

All of the songs are available for free download online. Check them out now.

HT: Kumar's Blizznog.

Say what you will about Toronto FC supporters -- I sure have -- but really, these fans are showing all the American MLS fans how it's done. And you know what? They might have a point there.

Bravo, gents.

(Photo by Martin Groove, spotted on Pitch Invasion.)

Previously at FanHouse:
Cuauhtemoc Blanco Gets the T.F.C. Salute
Canadians Can Be Soccer Lunatics, Too

While the Canadian media waits with bated breath to see if David Beckham is healthy enough to play in Sunday night's Toronto F.C. v. L.A. Galaxy match, ticket scalpers in Toronto have decided to get a little shady creative with the situation. Check out this ad on Craigslist:

I would like to sell these tickets for $60 each, $120 for the pair if Beckham does not play. If Beckham does end up playing then I will process another $100 on your credit card.

So it's $120 or best offer for the pair if Beckham does NOT play and $220 or best offer if Beckham DOES play.

Right. I'd be more than happy to give my credit card information to that guy. He reminds me a little of that nice, well-spoken young man from Sierra Leone whose father, a well-respected finance minister, had just died and who needed help funneling several million dollars out of his war-torn nation. Why, yes, I'd be more than happy to help. How much bank account info do you need?

Then again, at least this guy is being honest about the terms of the deal, which is more than we can say for West Ham United.

(H/T: Pitch Invasion)

In its first year of existence, Toronto F.C. has already seen its share of wacky fan hijinks, thanks in part to the Red Patch Boys, the club's official largest supporters group. Here they give Mexican star and new Chicago Fire player Cuauhtemoc Blanco a warm welcome to Major League Soccer.

Blanco, of course, deserves that salute. Before he arrived, Chicago was on a 6-game winless streak in MLS and lost a U.S. Open Cup match to the Carolina Railhawks, a USL First Division expansion club. Good luck turning that ship around, Señor Blanco.

(H/T: The Offside)

Previously at FanHouse:
Canadians Can Be Soccer Lunatics, Too

Nobody was really shocked that Argentina beat Chile 3-0 in the FIFA U-20 World Cup on Thursday. Some may have been a bit surprised that the Chilean boys were issued two red cards in the match -- and less surprised that some of them appeared ready after the match to fight the referees, who had to run into the tunnel to avoid fans eager to throw things at them.

What happened afterward, though, was quite shocking.

Members of the Chilean delegation were involved in a fight with police security officers after the match when they were boarding the bus to leave the stadium.

Chilean player Isaias Peralta said he was shocked twice by police with an electric taser weapon, and fainted. Other players said they were beaten, handcuffed and held for some time at a dressing room.

The video is a CBC report on the incident. The Canadians have expressed regret over the "serious, unacceptable and disproportionate" treatment of the Chilean players. Maybe next time, they should avoid hiring American cops to handle security.