BMO Field finally turned into a fortress in 2009. (Getty Images)

2009 was expected to the be year that Toronto FC turned the corner and really made a splash in Major League Soccer. The moves were made to get local star Dwayne De Rosario at the start of the season and things looked promising early on but midway through the first full month of action manager John Carver stepped down and if you ask me the club never really rebounded from that change.

Chris Cummins took over as interim manager for the rest of the season and even with the moves that brought in guys like Ali Gerba and the club’s first designated player Julian De Guzman, Cummins never really took control of the locker room and the club. Guys like Danny Dichio never really got their full run under Cummins.

The club never got real consistent with their play under Cummins. One week they’d play so well many including myself figured they would be a lock for the post season. Then they’d do what they do best and suck up the place like they did on the final day of the season when they got spanked 5-0 by the lowly New York Red Bulls.

What Went Right In 2009?
To be honest few things really went right for this club this season. But pinpointing a few items would certainly start with their 6-1 beating of Montreal in the Canadian Cup to secure their bid in the play-in round of the CONCACAF Champions League this year. TFC needed a handfull of goals to advance and some how on a night that saw them on the road in Montreal, the Reds pulled out all the stops and stole a trophy away from a Vancouver club that was looking on from the stands. Another would certainly be the play of Dwayne De Rosario. The club wouldn’t have nearly been as good as they were had it not been for DeRo. Lastly their home play this season was finally something to brag about as they turned BMO Field into the fortress that we all knew it could be. Eight of their 10 wins on the year came from the friendly confines at Exhibition Place.

What Went Wrong In 2009?
Consistency was a killer and so was their defense. Mo Johnston made a bold move to get veteran defender Nick Garcia from San Jose and it was a move that never panned out for them. Even though they had a solid group of rookies like keeper Stefan Frei, the defense would constantly let him down. Offensively they never seemed to find a go-to scorer other than DeRo. Chad Barrett and Pablo Vitti constantly let folks down in front of the net.

What’s Next?
For this club finding a manager that will pull the right strings with this bunch will be key. With so much talent in the midfield they need to find a way to keep the pressure off their defense and find ways to score. Finding a classy finisher around the net will go a long way for this club and finding a true central defender will really help out. This club is so close but yet so far away.

I guess John Carver didn’t like getting fined by the league. Word has it the fine from a couple weeks ago was the final straw for the manager who resigned this past week.

The Toronto Star is reporting that the meddling by the league was all that Carver could take.

“You can only put up with so much,” Carver told the Toronto Star in an interview yesterday, two days after news broke of his resignation as head coach six games into his second season.

“I’ve had restraints on me ever since I got here,” the native of Newcastle, England, said of the league and its officials. “If ever you do anything or say anything out of order, they’re straight on the phone complaining to the owners and that’s how they work because, in my opinion, it’s all about image.

“Obviously I wasn’t the right image for the league.”

In New York, MLS officials refused to get into a tit-for-tat.

“The league prefers not to respond to Carver’s criticism,” said MLS spokesman Will Kuhns.

Whatever the case was it sort of seems like Carver was just packing his bags before this took place. He wanted out of the league probably before the start of the season and had his club not played well this year he may have gotten canned anyways.

Toronto FC is already looking to announce the next head coach. Either Chris Cummins or Nick Dasovic will be named the club’s interim coach on Wednesday.

I’m very curious to see how Toronto handles this coaching change here as they are in the middle of a very important stretch of their season with upcoming Canadian Cup games.

I’ve read a few good articles today that I thought were worth sharing all at once.

Weighted Lottery System In Question

First up is Kyle McCarthy’s Musings for the day. His big point is about the league’s weighted lottery system and how it needs to go. Honestly I couldn’t agree with his main points any more.

This all stems from last week’s lottery winner RSL who had a 5% chance to win U.S. U-20 captain and former Southampton defender  Kyle Davis. While the club won this lottery fair and square it does seem like it is time to do away with a system that isn’t all that good to begin with.

I think McCarthy hit this one on the head saying that if the player in question is allocation worthy let them go through that process (though even that needs an update to a degree). If the player doesn’t worthy an allocation he should just go through a normal waiver process.

Philly Coaching Search

Funny that the club that will come to be next year is already searching for a coach before it has a name or even team colors. Saying that though the club hasn’t officially said they are looking for a coach just yet here, it’s just a writer in that area putting put a list of coaches that could be a good fit.

Mark Chajkowsky wrote for the Examiner.com about the possibly list of coaches for the Philly club. Chajkowsky made some good points that the club needs to find a guy like Bob Bradley type of coach, one that leads the club to a rare MLS Cup visit in their first year and not the extreme opposite in RSL’s old coach John Ellinger.

The list gives some usual suspects but a couple names pop out to me that I think could be good fits in the end. Dave Sarachan is the top choice here on the list. For one I totally agree with though I think his current boss Bruce Arena could also be under consideration for this position in Philly (espeically if things continue to go sour in LA this season).

Arena going to an expansion team just makes sense at this point to me. Though Sarachan would also make a great candidate.

Two other names worth looking into. The usual coaching candidate Paul Mariner from New England and Mike Sorber, the current second-in-command to Bob Bradley with the National team.

I honestly love the idea of Sorber for this position if he’d take it.

Ottawa Likely Out

It is not looking good up in Ottawa for when it comes to getting a MLS club. Some would say their hopes were already dead a month ago but now it appears things are going cold. Apparently the CFL group won the cities vote over Eugene Melynk and his MLS effort.

Melynk doesn’t appear to want to work with the CFL group so the MLS bid has taken a definite turn for the worst.

I agree with others out there that hope this means Montreal will get back into the fold here.

Carver Fined

That didn’t take long. A few weeks in and John Carver has been fined by the league for his comments regarding Tim Weyland after a 3-2 loss to FC Dallas on Sunday on a penalty in the 84th minute.

Well he was commenting on one of the worst refs so far this year in Weyland. I kind of don’t blame him for it.

Who are these guys and why are they leading the league? (Getty Images)

Got to love the random mid-week games that Major League Soccer sometimes gives us here. Toronto FC plays host to league leader Chivas USA tonight up at BMO Field. The visiting AmeriGoats are looking to extend their league lead with another win tonight, while Toronto is hoping to bounce back and get their second win of the season.

I may try to do some live twittering later on during this game (and the USOC game between Dallas and DC), but no live blogging. If you haven’t added WVH to your twitter you can do so to get quicker updates from me here.

As always feel free to post your game predictions for tonight below.

1. What will John Carver do without Dwayne De Rosario?

In all honesty I think Carver and TFC will be fine for a couple games without DeRo. Sure he is their offensive leader but I see a guy like Amado Guevara stepping back up and leading this club on the offensive side of things.

But on the flip side of things, losing DeRo could also mean more pressure on the backline for Toronto, which has been pretty bad in the last couple games. With the way Preki’s club has been playing thus far this season it could be a long night for the fans at BMO Field.

2. Will Chivas continue their dominance of Toronto?

Let’s face it, even in the short couple of years Chivas has owned Toronto. Especially in Toronto. Two games in BMO Field and the homeside has only scored a single goal to the AmeriGoats five.

I think for them to continue their streak against the Canadian side they need to control the pace of the game from the start and attack the backline down the middle. Chivas has done a good job so far this season getting players in the box and forcing more shots than most defenses want to give up in the penalty area. Chivas hasn’t been pretty but they have been effective this season in the offensive third of the field.

3. Player to keep an eye on.

For me its actually two guys, Carl Robinson and Sam Cronin for Toronto. Those two have to step up and control the defensive side of the ball in the middle of the pitch for TFC tonight. If they can keep the pressure of the backline and rookie keeper Stefan Frei you could see Toronto have more success on the offensive end due to better amount of chances.

Quick Thoughts:

No doubt it is hard to pick against Chivas right now. The AmeriGoats have played above and beyond what most expected them to do this season. Fun part is they’ve been doing it without the help of some key starters and with a cast of guys that we had never heard of before until this season.

With the league’s best defense going against one of the more shaky attacks you’d have to think it smells like three points for the visitors right? I think so. Normally I would call a draw for a game like this but I see Chivas moving forward here with another three points and Toronto continuing their slide here at home. Until TFC can prove to us all that they can put together a full effort for 90 minutes consistently it will be hard to pick them in these games.

WVH Prediction: Chivas 2, Toronto 1

I know I have been a little delayed in getting this out but I think it actually worked out fine getting the season predictions out on the week of the new season. Hard to believe that we are just days away from the first kick of the new year up in Seattle.

Time now for the final preview if you will, the season predictions. I will go through who I think we need to keep an eye out for, some rookies that could make a splash, and some coaches that could be on the hot seat this year. Later on today (or maybe tomorrow morning) I will have the year’s first power rankings.

Keeping in the tradition of past season predictions there will be some random stat guesses. Like them or hate them, I do them every year and sometimes actually end up correct on them.

As always feel free to add your own predictions below.

Players to watch in 2009:

• Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Columbus Crew – The MVP, probably the best player even for his age in the league. Even if GBS is half as productive as he was a year ago the Crew will be alright. The man can make anyone look good on the field. Sure he is a DP but he is well worth the pay in my book. Still for the Crew to repeat GBS needs another 15-20 assist year, with probably 6-9 goals too.
• Christian Gomez, DC United – The main reason why I have him here is because he is back in Black…the Black-and-Red that is. Getting Gomez back in DC is a big thing, plus this time he seems like he really wants to be there. Good thing too because this could either be a good DC team or a terrible DC team.
• Kenny Cooper, FC Dallas – For Dallas a lot still rests on Cooper. How much longer will he be with the Red Stripes? And can he produce like he did a year ago? A 15-20 goal season shouldn’t be far off with the addition of David Ferreira, but will he stay on board for the full year? I just doubt it.
• Landon Donovan, LA Galaxy – Just like Cooper, how long will the Galaxy be able to hold on to LandyCakes in 2009? For me this should be his last year in MLS. Maybe even last couple months. I really was shocked to see Bayern Munich not pick him up and I wouldn’t be shocked to see another club in Europe come get him before the year is out. As for the MLS side with Donovan, I fully expect him to pick up where he left off in 2008.
• Dwayne de Rosario, Toronto FC – The big guy is finally home in Toronto. Just how good will the Reds be with him in 2009? I think the potential is certainly there but as we all know it comes down to his pairing with Amado Guevara. Its a pairing I have to say I like though and one I think will work. If it doesn’t it could be another long year at BMO Field.

Continue Reading…

And I’m not talking about a Dr. Pepper either. Toronto FC manager John Carver gave his club an ultimatum today, “give me a designated player next year or I am out.”

“I’ve gone on record and I’ll say it again, because no matter what happens, at the end of the season, if I’m going to be here at this club, we have to do something about it. We have to bring in that quality-type of player,” said Carver, who is on a one-year contract with a club option for the 2009 season.

Added the Englishman: “The club is aware of it, the management is aware of it, the fans are certainly aware of it, and we have to do it, because if we don’t, I will definitely, definitely go home. No buts about it.”

“We need to build the product on the field. In the first two years you take the view that you have to walk before you can run. Now we’re ready to run and the time is right. That’s why I’m making a big thing about it.”

“Even if we make the playoffs in this situation and we don’t [sign a DP], then I’ll go home. I won’t hang around. I couldn’t do a job thinking I promised something and couldn’t produce the goods,” Carver said.

Eh, honestly this dude is good as done in Major League Soccer. He hasn’t been able to cut it and really he could also blame a bit on his management, more importantly on Mo Johnston for the moves that he has made here.

Toronto has the money to spend on next year’s bunch and there is little doubt that they won’t spend it all too. They don’t actually need a high profile player to bring in the fans either, they will still be there no matter what I think. They just need a true play maker and one that can score goals in bunches.

What do you think about Carver here? Is he as good as done in MLS after this year or will he stick around once TFC gets a designated player?

Okay, while I was gone a lot changed in the landscape of Major League Soccer. And by a lot, as you all probably know by now means a lot. One club punched their ticket into the post season while everyone else made it a little more interesting to see just who will get in the playoffs.

East v. West

One thing that is funny is how we talked all year how great the East is and how poor the West has been. Funny story though, right now four eastern clubs are in the playoff picture and so are four western clubs. That’s exactly what MLS went for when they changed their playoff format in the manner that they did. It created more push for the playoffs and right now its all about who’s got the hot hand and out west you are seeing some hotter hands.

Not to say the East is losing their steam this season but it means the West is finally waking up and realizing that in order to play for a MLS Cup you have to reach the playoffs to do so. A 30-game season is long, and as some say its a marathon and not a sprint. The clubs that have paced themselves the best are doing the best while the others who ran out in front too soon lost momentum and now are looking at a top three draft pick in January.

Continue Reading…