Talk about some bad times in Toronto right now. They will be missing nine players tomorrow to international duty and are looking to sign players to one-day contracts to fill their roster. In the mean time they did petition to Major League Soccer to re-schedule tomorrow's game with Chivas USA to another date. Click to continue reading...

TORONTO - The G"olden" boy of the team, captain Charles Eppich, along with Steve Ward and Matt Dookie all exercised their player options and will be part of the new look 2009 Pistolas FC.

Team Captain Charles has been a key player in dealing with league officials both on and off the field, and though age (or Guiness) may have caught up to him and slowed him down later in the season, he was still rather speedy and finished the year with 6 goals on the year. Click to continue reading...

TORONTO, September 4, 2008 – Below is a list of soccer matches that will air live on GolTV from September 5-12, 2008. Among this week's highlights include: A pair of LIVE 2010 World Cup Qualifying matches featuring Spain, the defending 2008 Euro Cup Champions, as they take on Bosnia this Saturday, September 6, at 4:45 p. Click to continue reading...

Even before TFC sold Edu to Rangers, the size of their squad has been of concern all season long. The salary cap is the final factor, but the Senior roster numbers eighteen and the reserve squad has room for 10. So the international call-ups that will take 9 away from Toronto's roster may be a concern, but it should have been anticipated long ago. Click to continue reading...

ROAD TO 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP SOUTH AFRICA BEGINS SATURDAY ON  SETANTA SPORTS  Portugal in action as part of a live double-header on Setanta Sports TORONTO (September 4, 2008) – The long road for European nations looking to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup begins this weekend when Armenia hosts Turkey Saturday, September 6 at 12 noon [. Click to continue reading...

cue Queen and David Bowie, with Vanilla Ice somewhere in the background still trying to prove Ice Ice Baby had a different bass line...

New England and Chivas USA are down to the wire tonight to qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League group stage. They were unable to get results on the road, and are now left to prove their strength at home. Click to continue reading...

And your MLS leaders are...

(drumroll)

The Columbus Crew!

Who woulda thought?

Other than that, not a very noteworthy week in domestic soccer. For me, at least. It might've been thrilling for some of you. On to the scores and standings.

Sunday
Houston 2-1 Chicago (A: 22,554)

Saturday
NY Red Bulls 0-0 D. Click to continue reading...

Oh Liverpool. It is too early in the season for you to suck this badly. First the fiasco of Champions League qualification, then Gerrard and Torres both get hurt, and then an anemic draw against Villa, just to finish things off.

Meanwhile, United didn't have a Premiership game this week, because they were too busy losing to Zenit St. Click to continue reading...

TORONTO - "Raging Bull" Ivano Volpe is still suffering from shin splints, ankle and groin injuries and will unlikely play in today's match.

The injuries occured during the Inter Selects and Silver matches that were both played within the span of four days.

There is a small window of hope that he may decide come game time that he'll at least test it out, and his presence alone would at the very least contribute to the substitution situation. Click to continue reading...

Long time between posts. Sorry for not having posted in the last couple of days. Lots has happened with international callups and such but life has intervened here on this trusty blog. We do it for free, and sometimes free things don't take priority.

Anyway, I'll be posting up some audio of the Chivas-Toronto fallout shortly. Click to continue reading...

MARKHAM - Late Saturday night, it was confirmed that Gus G. of the Pistolas FC Toronto would not play in Sunday's match versus Silver due to a lower back injury.

The injury, which limits his running and movement, affected him last game as well, and was visually obvious. There were strong hopes that with a weeks rest he'd be able to give a few shifts and provide an extra sub. Click to continue reading...

I wote both the capsule previews for the Galaxy and Chivas USA games today. Read them here.

This is the view from Boston.

This is the view from Toronto.

I'll blog from the HDC tonight.

Click to continue reading...

TORONTO - With the Olympic Soccer Tournament in Beijing now over, and European leagues still in the very early weeks, all attention now shifts to the MSC Centennial Cup Championship, which begins this Sunday August 31st.

More importantly, it is the do-or-die season for all clubs, and all nerves, injuries - in fact the whole season - doesn't mean a thing, as the elimination season starts now. Click to continue reading...

The Wizards will try to get only their second away win of the season when they go to take on San Jose this weekend. Not since the 1-0 win against Chicago the first away game of the season have the Wizards taken all 3 points on the road. Since then the Wizards are 0-5-5 on the road getting only 5 of the 30 points available for them. Click to continue reading...

TORONTO, August 29, 2008 – Below is a list of soccer matches that will air live or on tape delay on GolTV from August 30 to September 5, 2008. Among this week's highlights include: The 2008-09 La Liga season kicks off this weekend with a pair of LIVE doubleheaders beginning [...] Click to continue reading...

GolTV's Exclusive Coverage of La Liga's 2008-09 Season Begins August 30 TORONTO, August 28, 2008 – GolTV, Canada's only 24-hour sports channel dedicated to soccer, will kick off its fourth consecutive season of exclusive La Liga coverage this weekend with four live games highlighted by a doubleheader on Sunday, August 31 featuring FC Barcelona versus Numancia [. Click to continue reading...

Carlos Ruiz, AWOL after his trade from the Galaxy to Toronto FC, (get used to it Canucks) has finally arrived in the Great White North.

This storymarks the first time I've ever heard a coach of Ruiz talk about cuddling him (!), but then if you were down to one healthy striker who is all of 16-years-old you'd probably have the same reaction.

Click to continue reading...

An anemic New England offense rarely threatened Trinidad's Joe Public F.C. and the Revolution fell 2-1 in the away leg of their CONCACAF Champions League Preliminary Round series.

Injuries decimated the Revs offensive options and only a late penalty kick converted by Mauricio Castro allowed them to escape the island nation in a decent position heading into the home leg.

Click to continue reading...

TORONTO - Steadfast defensemen Jason Shumski, and workhorse midfielder David Breau have both been ruled out for this Sunday's playoff game against Silver.

Shumski, who has been seeking physio, missed most of August after injuring his ankle in a game early in the month. He returned to play in the last 3 games but reinjured it this past Sunday. Click to continue reading...

There are only 9 games left for each team in the regular season. Since each team (finally) has the same number of games played, it makes it easy to compare the schedules for all 14 teams. Going by the total number of points, here is the remaining strength of schedule for each team:

1 New York 279 2 Columbus 278 3 Los Angeles 275 4 Colorado 263 5 DC United 259 5 Kansas City 259 7 Chicago 257 7 Dallas 257 7 Toronto 257 10 New England 256 11 Chivas USA 251 12 San Jose 250 13 Real Salt Lake 243 14 Houston 234
New York, Columbus, and Los Angeles face the toughest schedules, while Houston has the easiest followed by RSL. Click to continue reading...

San Jose is unbeaten in six games... but still in the cellar.

Regardless, Huckerby's boys are giving it quite a go, even though the points probably aren't quite there to be had to make the playoffs.

But that's all the praise I'm giving the 'Quakes, I have to learn to hate them as a Seattle boy. Click to continue reading...

How great is this shot? At first I thought "maybe he's out on the boat with Scott Favre or something and that's why he's not in Toronto yet". Then I realized this photo is more than a week old. That and showing up late is the forth thing Carlos does best behind diving, scoring and getting conducting failed experiments with blond highlights. Click to continue reading...

I got an e-mail earlier today from a faithful reader asking me to help stick up for the Western Conference.

Now, as much as I would like to defend the West, I just can't do it. Not right now.

The Western Conference is clearly the weaker of the two conferences. There's no debating that. Click to continue reading...

Hep Ada'nın kaşarları MLS'in yolunu tutacak değiller ya... 22 yaşındaki Torontolu Maurice Edu Glasgow Rangers'a gelmiş. Bonservis bedelinin maşallahı var: 5 milyon dolar. 1986 doğumlu ABD'li orta saha oyuncusu Toronto forması ile 38 maçta, 5 gol atmış. Avrupa seferinin başlangıcı Adu gibi olmasın da. Click to continue reading...

TORONTO - With Saturday's results in, there is only one game remaining on the schedule for each team before the final playoff picture is solidified.

On Saturday, Solun FC beat Limeys FC 3-1 to put Pistolas FC in 3rd position based on goals for.

The Markham Crush continued their reign as they downed Titans FC 3-0, while Pamir FC - pounded Inter Selects - catching them on their second of three games in four nights - 7-1. Click to continue reading...