I realize that the last official football match to take place at Giants Stadium was almost two weeks ago between the Red Bulls and Toronto FC, but I still figured I'd throw my two cents in on what was once a football mecca in this country. The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the Meadowlands is very mixed feelings.

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One of the more quiet acquisitions that MLSE made this summer was a controlling stake in the football specialty channel GolTV. The purchase may be the first step towards making a TFC TV channel but of course that means MLSE will need to create a full line-up of programming. As with any network, not all of the shows can be big hits - such as. Click to continue reading...

It seemed astonishing when Mo Johnston recently claimed to be shocked by the level of criticism that he was receiving after TFC's recent failure. Was the wily Glaswegian watching the same team the supporters were? Why the shock on Mo's part?
It should be no surprise however when you look at the acceptance of mediocrity that comes from places higher in the organization. Click to continue reading...

As mentioned earlier on my Twitter feed today has been a slow day due to some bad headaches on my end. I won't go into it much but I am feeling a little better after some medicine kicked in here (thanks to the few who asked). I didn't have much planned for tonight but I did want to get into the coaching carousel that is going on in Major League Soccer.

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According to Behind The Badge, D.C. United coach Tom Soehn "has removed his name from consideration for the club's head coaching position". The short-shorts enthusiast joins TFC's Chris Cummins as the first occupants of the 2009 off-season coaching carousel; perhaps if they sit close enough together they can share some reading materials amongst one another. Click to continue reading...

Big Story
The dramatic failure of Toronto FC this year, after a struggling season was concluded as the club blew its chance of making the playoffs by getting torn apart 5-0 by Red Bull New York, has thrown the entire direction of the team up for debate as well as the future of general manager Mo Johnston.

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Tom Anselmi defended his decision to extend Mo Johnston's contract by saying, and I quote: "Our expectation was to not make the playoffs the first three years. We didn't think we would."
Bra. Vo.
Not expecting Toronto FC to qualify for the playoffs? In a league where half the teams move on to the post season? Click to continue reading...

Seattle's Kasey Keller is a finalist for numerous Major League Soccer awards, including goalkeeper of the year. (photo by Jonathan Ingraham/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

Major League Soccer released the finalists for the league's 2009 awards today. The winners will be announced starting Wednesday and ending Nov.

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More than a week has passed since the end of the Toronto FC season and it honestly still hurts. It is heart wrenching to have hope and faith in your team so deeply shaken. To go into a game hoping for the best and to have the all time worst handed to them, I am still recovering from the shock. Click to continue reading...

Moving as I do mostly through non-footballing circles, I've been asked, "hey, what's the deal with Toronto FC? Did they make the playoffs? I heard they lost something like 10 nothing to some nobody team in the states."
These post-mortems can get boring, so let me just throw down my two-cents on this club as I see it so we can all move on. Click to continue reading...

Major League Soccer's playoff hopefuls went into the season finale with a whole host of possibilities ahead of them. And without wishing to put too fine a point on it, they all crapped the bed. Here's what happened in a spectacular, surprising and decisive Week 32, the final week of the MLS regular season for 2009. Click to continue reading...

---- -----------------"Can I get back to you in five years?"
One thing has become crystal clear over the last few days of post-season naval gazing at BMO Field. It doesn't matter, who the head coach is, it doesn't matter how the star player feels, it doesn't matter what the supporters want - Mo Johnston (Yes, the Scottish Hall of Famer! Click to continue reading...

Keep telling yourself that:

"When you look at other coaching candidates, they'll jump at the chance to come to Toronto knowing we're a big organization, knowing we've got great fans," [Toronto FC GM Mo] Johnston said. "We've got the grass, we've got a designated player [Julian de Guzman] in, we're looking to strengthen the team and move on.

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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.

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It's all gone pear shaped north of the border. And I mean, totally. Toronto FC is melting down. Montreal and Vancouver have been kicked out of USL. Bloggers are furiously trying to find the USL teams a home and curb stomp TFC management.
Richard Whittall has coped with the crisis by succumbing to complete, barking madness:

This might put me on the business end of a very detailed flaming post, but why doesn't MLS consider a radical move: a wholesale ideological change in direction away from purchasing "ready-made" talent, either overseas or within the league, and toward investment in superb managerial and coaching staff?

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The Major League Soccer regular season is finished and the playoffs are starting this week. It was an interesting regular season which included new franchise Seattle making the playoffs and leading the league in home attendance. Other clubs such as the New York Red Bulls struggled all year and were the worst team in the league.

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Here's your end of the MLS regular season former Wizards, more and more former Wizards seasons are ending as the majority of those players play in spring-fall leagues.
MLS
Nick Garcia - Toronto FC - Dressed but did not play in Toronto's 5-0 loss to New York to end their season.
Taylor Graham - Seattle Sounders FC - Did not dress in Seattle's 2-1 win over Dallas. Click to continue reading...

--------------------That is some quality toad. Nice hole too.

Well, that's it then. 2009 is done and dusted with Toronto FC having nothing but a big wad of mediocrity to show for it. But have no fear brave TFC supporters - Mo Johnston is working feverishly to make everything better!

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_______________________________Photo by ISIphotos.com

Being the top rookie in any MLS rookie class is an accomplishment, but being the best rookie in arguably the strongest rookie class in league history makes the 2009 MLS Rookie of the Year award more special than most.

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_______________________________Photo by ISIphotos.com

Being the top rookie in any MLS rookie class is an accomplishment, but being the best rookie in arguably the strongest rookie class in league history makes the 2009 MLS Rookie of the Year award more special than most.

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Ever since Toronto FC debuted back in April 2007, its supporters have been referred to by local media as a "sophisticated soccer base." It's patronizing that adult MLS fans with a committed stake in the outcome of matches and a working knowledge of the league table are suddenly pipe-carrying, elbow patched Lobanovskyi's ready with our doctoral theses on the coming of 4-6-0. Click to continue reading...

So Mo Johnston's big state of the no-union address was to remove the "interim" tag from head coach Chris Cummins title. He also removed the word "head" and "coach" from the affable Englishman's job description as well.
Yes, the ever-humble Johnston dispatched yet another manager from the TFC bench with Cummins being the convenient excuse for the mediocrity which Mo has taken nearly four years to build. Click to continue reading...

Today, in a total non-surprise, Chris Cummins departed Toronto FC as head coach. Mo Johnston declared that the next head coach will have MLS experience, but the head coach search must wait until after the MLS Cup game.
Mo also confirmed that he signed a 2.

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So Toronto FC fired their interim manager Chris Cummins today, on the heels of a 5-0 meltdown in a must-win match against woeful New York. That's a reasonable move, and one that I suspect most TFC fans welcome. But whichever English or Scottish league washout that Mo recruits (and you can bet your bottom dollar that it'll be a Brit), will face the same problem that Cummins and his predecessor John Carver faced. Click to continue reading...

After today's announcement that Chris Cummins will not return to Toronto, two of Major League Soccer's highest profile franchises are without head coaches. Red Bull, denizens of North America's...

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Former Toronto FC coach, Chris Cummins

With the not too surprising news this morning that Chris Cummins is out as coach of Toronto FC, let's look at the rest of the coaching candidates for dismissal in MLS. Starting from the team with the worst record in the league, the New York Red Bulls, and working our way up the table, these men should be feeling the pressure from team owners for failing to qualify for the postseason.

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Toronto FC did not renew interim head coach Chris Cummins's contract on Tuesday, announcing they will begin a search for a new head coach. Cummins replaced John Carver, who resigned on April 25th. "We have decided to move forward without Chris for next season," said manager, director of soccer Mo Johnston. Click to continue reading...

The plight of Toronto FC and the frustration of its fans are popular fodder around the North American soccer community these days. The moaning angst of Reds supporters can be heard down here in the...

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So, there, Cummins is gone. Duane Rollins thinks his leaving won't account for much, following his convincing argument the other day for Trader Mo's dismissal as sporting director.
Fine Cummins out, so can we stop the ex-lower level Luton/Newcastle parade now? These are the last of clubs in a long line of Graham Taylor-Watford-Wimbledon eighties style Charles Reep football, and follows a "we need this part to fit in this cog" line of thinking to work properly—you have to have two centerbacks and they both have to be big, you need a poacher near goal with a runner in behind him, and you need a classic lined up midfield to grease that 4-4-2. Click to continue reading...

Not a real shocker here since Toronto FC got spanked on the final day of the season when they needed a win to reach the post season. Toronto FC announced today that interim head coach Chris Cummins will not be returning for the upcoming 2010 MLS season. Effective immediately, the search begins for a new head coach.

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I don't like to send people away from my blog but if you are a TFC fan you may not want to watch...

I am looking forward to seeing the first game at Red Bull's new stadium next year!

JM

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Saturday, Oct. 24 was the day of the last professional soccer game at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. While The Swamp has many pleasant memories for soccer fans, particularly those old enough to remember the New York Cosmos, for the New York Red Bulls the end could not have come soon enough.

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Ella Masar is in Germany with the USWNT, and she paused to blog about her experience. At the end of her post she had this remark:

I will make sure I check back in with you guys in two or three days. Tomorrow night we somehow snagged tickets to the men's professional game, FC Bayern Munchen, and then on Sunday we get to play their U17 boys team.

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It's rumoured that Chris Cummins may be leaving Toronto FC, although he denied it yesterday to the CBC. Fine, we'll see. But while I was previously opposed to a managerial shift now, I'm starting to change my mind.
Jason de Vos' column put down TFC's failure to qualify for the playoffs this season to too much individualism in the dressing room, and an unprofessional attitude on the part of the club's lesser lights. Click to continue reading...

The Major League Soccer 2009 regular season finished on Sunday, October 25, 2009. The playoff match-ups are now set with Columbus, Salt Lake, New England, Chivas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, and Houston qualifying. The Los Angeles Galaxy are the top seed in the Western Conference and will have home field advantage through the Conference Finals.

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