First Person View – Midseason Friendlies should be Celebratory -- Part Three - A Call to Arms

    As a non-member of the supporter’s culture, though perhaps more invested in the fortunes of the team than many, it is not my place to call into question the why’s of how one chooses to support the club.

First Person View – Midseason Friendlies should be Celebratory -- Part Two - What Should Be Done

    With the midweek match against AS Roma in the rearview and Kevin Payne’s comments still simmering, it is a good to time get to the root of this problem.

First Person View – Midseason Friendlies should be Celebratory -- Part One - Why They Aren’t

    The concept of a midseason friendly is simple and admirable enough.

    Bring in a big club, a storied one, somebody the home fans and soccer-aficionados who do not regularly attend matches alike would be interested in seeing.

    Sure, use it as a marketing tool, but also a celebration of how far the game has come in this franchise’s short life.

    With nothing riding on the match, it should be a fun night out, and a chance to just enjoy the game without the stress of points on the line.

    How many times in the life of the average Torontonian does one get the chance to see Francesco Totti – a true legend of the game - live in action? Once, maybe twice?

    But clearly in Toronto, they have become sources of conflict, that vocal minority of Toronto fans, flinching like the spurned lovers that they are, are duly annoyed by these matches; the question is why?

First Person View - MLS All-Star Game: The Future Looks Bright (All Youth Teams for Each Conference)

    With everyone suitably aflutter for this evening’s All-Star Game between MLS and AS Roma, I figured I’d kill an hour or so in the process of updating my club roster database – yes, that is something I do (for posterity) – by looking at what the teams may look like if restricted to young players.

    Some have wasted time fretting over the highly-publicized, commercial exercise that is the MLS All-Star Game – did they pick the right players? Who will win? What does a win or loss mean for the league? – But relax; it’s just a bit of fun.

    So - with the caveat that this is a very unscientific process based solely on my own observations and that I will not be investing the time to produce actual stats - what would the game look like if East played West and players had to be 24 year of age or younger.

First Person View - Will Toronto FC Regret Letting Go of Joao Plata?

    It should come as no surprise that we here at POV are big fans of the little Ecuadorean sparkplug.

    His departure from the club last season, on loan to LDU Quito following a rather bizarre series of announcements and denials, was a blow to the morale of Toronto fans who held the diminutive speedster in high regard.

    Given the way the club responded to his forcing of the move – he prematurely announced his return to his homeland on twitter – it was always evident that Plata would never again be seen in the club’s colours at BMO Field.

    The question at hand, I suppose, is did the club receive too little from Real Salt Lake - only a second-round pick in the 2015 SuperDraft - in return?

First Person View – The End of Frings

    Yesterday, after months of speculation, Toronto FC’s captain Torsten Frings announced his retirement after a glittering eighteen-year career in the game.

    Such occasions are always bittersweet; time to celebrate the good, lament the loss, and look to the future.

    For Torsten, it begins a second act to his career in the game; for the club it was the turning of yet another unfinished page. It would be grandiose to proclaim it the end of an era, but in many ways, it was.

First Person View - POV-FS Second Annual 'On the Road' Football Tour

    Regular readers may have noticed a severe drop off in posts over the recent weeks. Holidays and end of season lull aside, a good portion of my attention has been focused on the organization of another whirlwind town of the British Isles.

    Departing this evening bound for Manchester, the second annual tour will commence on Saturday and wrap up a week later with six matches spread over the seven days.

    Up first is a return to Old Trafford for United vs. West Brom followed by a day trip to Liverpool and Goodison Park for Everton vs. Chelsea, all before the new year is rung.

    Then off to the City of Manchester Stadium for City vs. Stoke on the first before travelling up north to the wiles of Scotland – Glasgow’s Celtic Park for Celtic vs. Motherwell and Heart’s Tynecastle for the Edinburgh derby vs. Hibs - Hibernian.

    The tour will conclude with a return south to Leeds United’s Elland Road for their FA Cup tie against Birmingham City.

    I had hoped to take in a final FA Cup tie on Sunday, but Mansfield Town’s home draw against Liverpool sold out quickly.

    With the occasional off-day I hope to tour a stadium or two and take some time to check out the National Football Museum.

    I’m not sure whether I will be able to provide live coverage of the trip - as I did last year - given the rigourous scheduling and the paucity – and expense - of internet service, but I shall do my best.

    Either way, expect a full recap of the tour upon my return home and normal service at POV-FS will resume with the build to the new MLS season and the completion of several thoughts from last season.

Happy New Year to all, thanks for visiting, all the best,

    James

First Person View – Soccer on Canadian Television

    It’s been a volatile time for soccer on Canadian television. Counter intuitively, it seems the more the big players get involved in broadcasting and rights holding, squeezing out the smaller boutique outlets, the less is available for viewers.

    It wasn’t so long ago that one could find at least a match or two available live every day and replays of matches dotted the overnight schedules, but now large swathes of the programming calendar are left empty, while the sport plays on.

First Person View – The Canada Lineup

    A few thoughts on what I’d like to see from Canada to complete the barrage of posts prior to kick off.

First Person View – A Matter of Taste

    I made a mistake the other day.

    I’ve delayed in posting this as I battled with the self-aggrandizing aspect of its nature; not sure if this comes across as furthering the issue or truly apologizing. Hopefully it is the latter.

First Person View – What’s Going On?

    Since Toronto finally has some time off – and I can relax for a moment, if only a moment – I’ll be taking the next week or so to address some of the changes that have come about over the past month or so.

    There exists a graveyard of pieces littering my unfinished folder and desktop, thoughts on the departures of Julian de Guzman, Joao Plata, and Nick Soolsma, the transition from Aron Winter to Paul Mariner, the wonders of Terry Dunfield’s goal, a different view on the potential of a Canadian World Cup, and a few random others swirling around.

    Hopefully I will get around to them all with nearly ten full days between TFC matches.
   
    So keep an eye out.

First Person View - Post #300

    A milestone such as this seems as good a time as any to take a step away from the everyday talk of Toronto FC woes, MLS goings-on, and other such babble.

First Person View – Canada-USA Build-Up – Day One - Press Conference

    Still damp from the morning exposure, but freshly refueled with some coffee and a rather tasty hipster burger, the time had come to head over to BMO Field for the official pre-match press conference with the head coaches and a player representative.

First Person View – Canada-USA Build-Up – Day One – Canada Training Session

    Lovely weather welcomed the Canadian National Team back home to Toronto. Howling winds and slashing rains, less than comforting conditions especially given it was a return from an extended warm-weather acclimatization camp in Florida in preparation for the midday match in Cuba next Friday.

First Person View - Why Toronto FC Continues to Lose – The Unconsidered Factors

    I got round to thinking about why Toronto FC has struggled so mightily throughout the season this year. Leaving aside the psychological demands of the Champions League and the pressure of mounting losses – losing begets more losing - to look simply at the hard numbers there are some interesting factors that emerge.

Beyond POV-FS – MLS Travel Series: Montreal Exposed at The Shin Guardian

    New piece up at The Shin Guardian – part of their travel series featuring a look around Montreal with a few members of the local media. Food, drink, live music, and entertainment; all that good stuff. Check it out.

    Special thanks to Olivier Tremblay and Philippe Germain for their assistance, much appreciated.

First Person View – Diagnosing and Correcting Why Toronto FC Lose in the League, but Fared Well in the Champions League, and Addressing the Calls for Change.

     I wrote this the night I got back from Montreal. Weary from the road – and the result; I thought I'd rewrite it and hope to make a more complete argument, but upon review I think the frantic search for answers is an apt reflection of the situation many found themselves in after the loss.

Beyond POV-FS – Know Your Enemy: Santos Laguna – CCL Edition Leg One at Waking the Red Plus FPV Supplement

Match preview of what Toronto FC can expect to encounter when Santos Laguna visits for Wednesday night’s first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League semifinal is up over at Waking the Red.

    There has been a lot of negativity surrounding Toronto FC and these first few weeks of the season. Granted there have been a fair share of poor results to feed such a tempest, but take a step back for a second.

First Person View – For Country

    It's been a while since I sat down to get opinionated about something, apologies for that, but midseason torpor set in, and I did not rage against it as much as I should have. There have been plenty of causes and ideas, which will be coming forth in due time.

First Person View - Book of the Month – Introduction and Foreward - Cantona: The Rebel Who Would Be King by Philippe Auclair

    February’s Book of the Month has been selected and commenced; I can already tell it’s going to be a great read.