It's "Springtime for Winter" as Toronto FC today released the names of the 41 players (so far) who are taking part in the club's pre-season training camp. The major difference from past years on first glance is the absence of any professional trialists. Just a year ago, the likes of Javier Martina, Mikael Yourassowsky and King Osei Gyan (for you TFC trivia buffs) were training with The Reds in hopes of grabbing a contract but this year seems quite different.

The Revs already have their veteran leader in the back: Matt Reis. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com)

Over the past few seasons there seemed to be a general consensus that the New England Revolution needed a veteran in the back line to help guide its relatively young defense. Admittedly, I was a part of that group.

The New England Revolution fan base has had a common refrain for the last few weeks, and it went something like this... "Please, please let us see some of these pre-season games. We can't wait to see all these changes and drive the memory of 2010 from our minds." This refrain may also have included a complaining "waaah, waaah, waaah", or something like it, depending on who you were listening to.

Twenty ten proved a nightmare for the New England Revolution defensively. Every member of the Revs' backline missed significant minutes due to injury, contributing to the team's league-worst 50 goals allowed last season.

Matt Reis is happy to see more experience in front of him on the backline this season.

C'mon you Reds... and Blues... and Checkerboards!

What can we say - we'll take any pun too far just to have an excuse to put an old NASL shield up. However, Toronto did indeed meet a Croatian side today - and not just any Croatian side - THE Croatian side in the form of UEFA stalwarts Dinamo Zagreb.

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.

ANTALYA, Turkey Nana Attakora scored the team's lone goal Wednesday as Toronto FC played Partizan Belgrade to a 1-1 draw to open the Major League Soccer pre-season. The Canadian defender connected on a corner kick in the sixth minute, but Toronto couldn't hold onto its lead as Nemanja Tomic tied the game for the [.

Javier Martina - Pride of Netherlands AntillesTeam Winter's goal of releasing more reliable information in four days than Mo Johnston did in four years continued today with the promised list of the remaining participating trialists. After the introduction of the three Canadians (Eddy Sidra, Gianluca Zavarise and David Monsalve) yesterday, TFC's "Camp GobbleGobble" in Turkey welcomed the following potential Reds into the happy family.

By IAN HOLLIDAY

After missing the playoffs for the first time under Steve Nicol last season, the Revolution enters the 2011 season with more questions than answers.

The Revs have been in transition since Taylor Twellman first sustained the head injury that would eventually end his career midway through the 2008 season.

It may have been a bit slow in starting, but the New England Revolution offseason transformation (we hope it will eventually be qualified as such) has begun. Today's announcement that the team has waived Emmanuel Osei follows a week player movement and news.

The changes started with the addition of Didier Domi, an experienced, left-sided, French fullback that has played in many of the top European leagues.

It wasn't surprising that the Revolution waived Emmanuel Osei on Monday. After all, with the Revolution's signing of Ryan Cochrane and selection of promising center back A.J. Soares during Thursday's SuperDraft, it appeared Osei's days in Foxboro were numbered.

Emmanuel Osei was waived by the Revolution on Monday.

The New England Revolution waived defender Emmanuel Osei today.

Osei, known for his erratic play, was let go after two seasons with the team. The Accra, Ghana, native, who took up an international roster spot, made 44 appearances for New England, including 41 starts.

Osei, at times, proved a solid partner in the center of the defense for Darrius Barnes.

With the SuperDraft quickly approaching, the New England Revolution has plenty of holes they will be looking to fill. While it's hard to imagine the Revs grabbing an instant starter with anything other than their first-round pick (6th overall), the team should be able to add needed depth in some key areas.