LA Galaxy
Conference: West Position: 3rd
W-L-D: 2-1-2 (0 points, -1 goal differential)
Away Form: 1-1-1 (-2 goal differential)
Recent Form: DWLDW
Last Meeting: Toronto FC 0 LA Galaxy 0 (June 26, 2010)

The big boys are coming to town.

Toronto FC hit the road to face San Jose Earthquakes and came away with their first away point this season. It wasn't always pretty, but there were some notable strong passages of play. Some of our new acquisitions are starting to show real promise on the pitch as well. Points away from home are few and far between for most MLS teams and TFC have always been poor on the road, but for some reason we seem to do well when we play away to San Jose.

San Jose Earthquakes
Conference: West Position: 5th
W-L-D: 1-1-1 (0 points, +1 goal differential)
Home Form: 0-1-1 (-1 goal differential)
Recent Form: DWL
Last Meeting: Toronto FC 2 – San Jose Earthquakes 3 (September 25, 2010)

Toronto FC are back on the road again.

This review was written by Saurabh of Hoffenheim Offside. Thanks to him for his help and make sure to check out his blog!

It may have been important to start playing immediately after losing Dwayne De Rosario in a trade to New York. We got to see new boy Tony Tchani in action right away and he showed glimpses of the vision and creativity that is sometimes lacking in THE MLS.

And there it is. It finally happened. After much frustration from DeRo about his treatment from the club and his very public airing of that frustration, it seems we have reached the end of the tether. Dwayne De Rosario has officially joined New York Red Bulls in exchange for Tony Tchani, Danleigh Borman and a First Round pick in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft.

Chivas USA
Conference: West Position: 8th
W-L-D: 0-2-0 (0 points, -2 goal differential)
Away Form: N/A
Recent Form: LL
Last Meeting: Chivas USA 3 Toronto FC 0 (Oct.

First of all, my deepest apologies for the headline. I don't usually do the pun thing, and now you see why.

TFC had its first home game of the season hosting Portland Timbers, the second expansion team of MLS in 2011. Toronto had a dire performance against Vancouver the week before.

Portland Timbers
Conference: West Position: 8th
W-L-D: 0-1-0 (0 points, -2 goal differential)
Away Form: 0-1-0 (-2 goal differential)
Recent Form: L
Last Meeting: N/A

It's the 2011 home opener for Toronto FC and who do we face but another expansion team.

It was the first time two Canadian teams have faced off in Major League Soccer. As a spectacle, it was an exciting game to watch for the neutral, and a great advert for soccer in this country. On top of that, we saw many Canadian players on display. The Whitecaps featured two Canadian players and Toronto FC had 5 Canadians take the field.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Conference: West Position: (Last Season NASL) 2nd in Conference; Playoff Semifinals

W-L-D: (Last Season NASL) 10-5-15 (45 points, +10 goal differential)

Home Form: (Last Season NASL) 5-2-8

Last Meeting: Toronto FC 0 – Vancouver Whitecaps 0 Nutrilite Canadian Championship (June 2, 2010)

First game of the season, and it's a big one.

TFC played their final two games in the Carolina Cup Challenge this week. On Wednesday the Reds faced Charleston Battery. Here's how we lined up for that match:

TFC Starting XI: Stefan Frei, Ty Harden (Dan Gargan 46′), Nana Attakora (Ashtone Morgan 46'), Dicoy Williams, Mikael Yourassowsky, Nick LaBrocca (Matt Gold 58′), Oscar Cordon (Andrew Ornoch 63′), Nathan Sturgis, Jacob Peterson, Javier Martina, Keith Makubuya (Nick Soolsma 70′)

I didn't get to watch this game, and apparently I didn't miss much.

With preseason almost at an end and First Kick on the horizon, TFC have been busy trying to create some semblance of a squad over the past few weeks. I thought I'd take a step back and have a look at who we've let go and who we've brought in.

IN:

Nathan Sturgis 23 year old American midfielder.

It's gone quiet around these here parts the last couple of weeks. My apologies, I had some urgent family matters come up and I didn't have time for the blog. The Reds were busy though, so let me try to catch up as best I can:

• The remaining fixtures in Turkey saw TFC beat Red Star Belgrade 1-0 and lost to Dinamo Zagreb 3-1, giving the Reds a preseason record of 1-1-1

• Trialists Bas Ent and Santiago Gonzalez Acero have been released by TFC while Steven Beattie has chosen to focus on his studies at university

• A Dutch newspaper reported that TFC have signed trialists Javier Martina, Elbekay Bouchiba and Nick Soolsma.

After a mere 4 days of working with new head coach Aron Winter, the boys in red finally got on the pitch for their first preseason game. It was not being televised anywhere, so most had to follow @TorontoFC on twitter for live tweets on the game.

Kickoff in Turkey was at 10:00am ET against Partizan Belgrade.

Toronto FC have released the full roster of players that are in Turkey to train and take part in preseason friendlies.

You will remember some names already from last season. They include:

Goalkeepers
Stefan Frei (24) Swiss
Milos Kocic (25) Serbian

Defenders
Nana Attakora (21) Canadian
Adrian Cann (30) Canadian
Daniel Gargan (28) American
Doneil Henry (17) Canadian
Emmanuel Gomez (20) Gambian
Ty Harden (26) American

Midfielders
Julian de Guzman (29) Canadian
Dwayne De Rosario (32) Canadian
Nick LaBrocca (26) American
Jacob Peterson (25) American
Nathan Sturgis (23) American

Forwards
Maicon Santos (26) Forward, Brazilian

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Three of the Draft picks from the SuperDraft are also on the roster:

Defenders
Demitrius Omphroy (21) American

Midfielders
Matthew Gold (22) American

Forwards
Joao Plata (18) Ecuadorian

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Four players from the TFC Academy are currently with the squad in Turkey:

Defenders
Ashtone Morgan (19) Canadian

Midfielders
Oscar Cordon (18) Canadian
Matthew Stinson (18) Canadian

Forwards
Keith Makubuya (18) Canadian

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In addition, there are several players currently on trial with the team.