Beyond POV-FS – Know Your Enemy: New York City FC at Waking the Red

Preview of tonight's game between Toronto FC and New York City FC at Yankee Stadium is up over at Waking the Red, continuing the year-long process of updating information on TFC's upcoming opponent.

Given the insanity of the 4-4 draw in the last meeting, this one should be an interesting game. Both teams are desperate, in their own ways, and the number of games remaining is starting to get into the critical stage.

Before long, the little x's and t's will start to appear in the standings.

Check it out

Beyond POV-FS – Know Your Enemy: New York City FC – Meeting the Second & How You Doin'? at Waking the Red

The usual preview materials for Toronto's match away to New York City FC on Sunday went up over at Waking the Red earlier this week.

Know Your Enemy digs into the opponent, catching upon on how they have done since the last encounter and highlighting a few concerns and strategies heading into the game.

In How You Doin'?, WTR exchanges questions with SB Nation sister-site, Hudson River Blue, hitting on some of the issues surrounding both clubs at the moment.

Raf Noboa y Rivera was kind enough to spend some time giving TFC fans some insights into NYC and the minds of their fans – he can be followed on twitter @hudsonriverblue or @noboa.

Waking the Red's responses to HRB's questions can be found here

Should be an interesting match, Frank Lampard is not available, nor is Andrea Pirlo, but given the bad-blood that was sparked in the first meeting, this one should be interesting, setting up a September encounter that will be even more must-see.

Beyond POV-FS – Know Your Enemy: New York City FC – Meeting the First at Waking the Red

The preview materials for Toronto FC's match on Saturday at BMO Field against expansion side New York City FC are up over at Waking the Red.

Know Your Enemy comes in two parts: Part One assesses their lineup and form, while Part Two hits the game film for strengths and weaknesses.

How You Doin' is behind schedule, but my responses to Hudson River Blue's questions can be found here.

Check them out

Beyond POV-FS – No Lov' Lost: NYC FC exacts a pound of flesh from TFC at Vocal Minority

The good folks over at Vocal Minority, who have decided to supplement their audio words with some written ones, have a snazzy new website – the header art alone is worth the visit – and seeing as it was nearly two days old already, it was about time it featured a piece by yours truly.

As such, a bit of a shade-throwing post went up yesterday. Pure speculation, but an interesting confluence of circumstances surrounding New York City FC's decision to select Daniel Lovitz in the MLS Expansion Draft and then trade him back to Toronto; reminiscent of similar shenangians back in 2006 – and could perhaps lead to the birth of a new rivalry – check it out.

Beyond POV-FS - MLS Week in Review: Playoff Edition – 2013 MLS Cup Final at Canadian Soccer News

    The first post-MLS 2013 weekend has come to pass – miss it yet?

    Relive the glory of a hard-fought final decided via penalty shootout at Canadian Soccer News

    Check it out.

Beyond POV-FS – Know Your Enemy: MLS Cup Final Flashback Compilation – Sporting KC vs. Real Salt Lake

    With the MLS Cup Final set for Saturday evening, it seemed a good time to provide some links for the extra studious.

    In that vein, here are all of the Know Your Enemy previews for the two teams from the 2013 season. Granted these are a touch dated – especially for Salt Lake (with their only meeting with Toronto coming back in June), but they should still provide a nice overview of the changes to the team, as well as their strengths and weaknesses.

Sporting KC - Meeting the First; Meeting the Second; Meeting the Third

Real Salt Lake – Part One; Part Two

Beyond POV-FS – MLS Week in Review and Canadian Content at Canadian Soccer News

    The usual weekly posts went up at Canadian Soccer News on Monday and Tuesday.

    The MLS Review covers all the weekend action and highlights some of the major themes emerging from the round.

    While the Canadian Content dissects the contributions from the Canadian players in the league – top spots go to Dwayne De Rosario, Doneil Henry, and Ashtone Morgan this round.

    Check them out – MLS Week in Review and Canadian Content

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.

Beyond POV-FS – MLS Week in Review and Canadian Content – Round 21 at Canadian Soccer News

    The usual weekly posts are up over at Canadian Soccer News.

    The MLS Week in Review recaps the entire weekend – with highlights – as well as drawing attention to some of the swirling talk around the matches.

    The Extended CanCon looks at the performances of the Canadians that took to the pitch this round – plenty on offer with the Gold Cup quest halted prematurely.

    Check them out – MLS Week in Review and Canadian Content

Beyond POV-FS – Know Your Enemy: Real Salt Lake at Waking the Red

    Preview of Toronto FC’s weekend opponent, Real Salt Lake, is up over at Waking the Red.

    Part One focuses on their lineup and form, while Part Two reviews the game film for strengths and weaknesses, as well as highlighting some points of interest.

    Check them out – Part One and Part Two.

Beyond POV-FS – Know Your Enemy: Real Salt Lake

     Preview of this weekend's meeting between Toronto FC and Real Salt Lake Saturday evening at Rio Tinto Stadium is up over at Waking the Red.

Foresight – MLS Round 3 Weekend Preview

    Four questions to be answered in this the third weekend of MLS action.

First Person View - Tragic News: The Passing of Bobby Rhine

    Tributes and grief have been pouring out from all corners of the MLS family with the tragic news of the sudden passing of former player and current FC Dallas broadcaster/manager of Community Development.

MLS Weekly Review - Weekend Round 17 – Of Another Former Red Tearing It Up, DeRo’s Revenge, Troubles in the Desert, David, & Practice, Practice, Practice.

    Eight matches provided eighteen goals to enjoy on this weekend’s schedule and only two of them ended in draws.

The Retirement of Jason Kreis’ #9 by Real Salt Lake

    Real Salt Lake retired Kreis’ number the night of the 3-3 draw with New England. When it was originally announced at the end of March there was much debate over the merit of such an action.

MLS Weekly Review - Round 8 - Of Draws, Coaches Derbies, a Big Little Man, Real Obstacles, a Clash of Headliners & the Rebirth of Henry

     The eighth week of MLS action was concluded with a rash of draws, half of the ten matches, the last five scheduled actually, ended with the sides even.  No goals for DC-Dallas, New England-Colorado, and Chicago-Vancouver, while Columbus-Seattle and Los Angeles-New York each scored a lone goal. Whether the heavy schedule of matches and travel has caught up to the teams and the first plateau of the season has been reached or it was just an anomaly is difficult to say, but last season saw a similar smattering of level affairs at several points in the season, perhaps it is just that high-falutin’ parity rearing its ugly head.