We take on Toronto on Friday at 3pm.

This Toronto team is one that worries me for the upcoming season (although they may not be sharp yet in preseason).

They have a very strong midfield core, a strong group of strikers and depth. Trader Mo says they're looking to add some central defenders. Its hard to not see this team earning a playoff spot this season.

DeRo, Guevara, Carl Robinson and Cronin... Ricketts and Johann Smith on the wings. Yikes that's a capable midfield
Barrett, Dichio, now Pablo Vitti and even Abdus Ibrahim and O'Brian White in attack. Barrett kills us every year
Outside backs in Brennan and Wynne are solid enough, but centerbacks are a little weak -- this is really their soft spot, unless Mo addresses the problem

I guess we'll see. I still wonder if they have too much veteran depth in midfield to keep all of those guys happy. They certainly have a lot of options of putting people on the wings or in the hole as second strikers. If they were interested in trading Guevara, I would think we'd jump on that.

I don’t share your fear in Toronto. A midfield of Guevara and DeRosario will implode. I fully look forward to Guevara staring at his wife in the stands when DeRo has the ball while complaining that he’s not getting a pass.

Since I'm a little more than an hour away, I will probably go to this game. Hopefully I'm not doing anything that day because this chick is supposed to be coming over on Thursday and probably staying. Either way I'll probably drag her to Bradenton if she comes.

Jay's finally going down for a visit?

emphasis on the drag

Toronto is not a very good team. Everyone was excited about the making the playoffs last year, and they didn't. They play in Canda FFS.

the years that DeRo ripped it up were the years he played closer to the other team's goal...sort of like a withdrawn forward. He's got the horses in midfield now to allow him to drift up top with another foward and set him up for that last killer pass or take the shot himself. I expect a rebound year from him. Plus he'll be out to prove to his home town fans that he still go it.


TFC is dumping players are getting allocation money in return like a mothafucka..they got rid of Dunivant and Marshall for allocation money. I wouldnt be shocked if they somehow ended up with Jeff Parke. They look like a team with a plan

Well its good to know that if that were the case, he would be the woman

Why would they need a lot of allocation money for Jeff Parke? I think they have their eyes set on a bigger fish.

I should also mention that Gregory Richardson, the speedy Joe Public striker that killed the Revs in the CCL last year, is on trial with Toronto.

Alright I'm off to the game. I'll see you guys in 16A

14", we're down two already. Fire Osorio!

Thanks Dan. Is there any place we can go to find out about lineups etc?

http://redbullsreader.wordpress.com/2009/0...nto-fc-running/

RBR

EDIT: Palguta-----Goldy-----Leitch-----Sassano, explains a lot

Thanks Dan and thanks Stone.

not surprised.

It's now:

Borman-----Goldy-----Leitch-----Sassano

Oi vey!

31' 2-1 after Woly converts a penalty.

42' Red card on former Metro great Marco Velez, but Toronto still playing with 11 men because it's a worthless preseason game.

Looks like Conway will be busy in the second half ...

——————–St. Preux——————-

Kandji——————————Mbuta

———-Leigh————Zimmerman——-

——————-Saintil————————

Traynor—–Kljestan—Gutierrez——-Hall

——————-Conway———————-

Osorio's preseason confuses me.

Some of those player/formations are just madness. Just cut the shit players already...we know who they are..and get the people that are going to be part of this team playing and fit and working toghether to form some chemistry.

I thought this was more of an explanation:

——————Pietravallo———————-


I'm going to disagree here. I'm hoping that with all the line-up switches and dopey formation movements he is doing now he'll have it all out of his system before the start of the season.

I doubt it as I think we'll see plenty of dopey line-ups throughout the season, but I can hope!

Yay!!! Our season is saved!!! Osorio is a genius!!!

Well we got a win.

sign St. Preux. He is already doing more than Etcheverry

I'm guessing that's the plan for Argentina... at least I hope it is!

Nice. I guess TFC is gonna be bad as usual!

I followed on RBR - I am starting to despise the TFC fans more and more (read thru the comments)

This was a pretty close to full strength TFC lineup, at least in the beginning.

you must be new

85′ Mammadou Diop, a Red Bulls trialist (get your google searches ready), is now playing in the central defense. Big Senagalese defender.

Who the hell is that????? I havent seen his name before today, doesnt make anysense why he would join us on the last day in FLA. Wonder if he is coming to Argentina too?

They're easy to despise. Shame that most teams that Toronto fields in all sports suck.

I bet this is one of those familiar to us " we scouted him at the airport (or beach) " situation

I had an awesome time there. I got to shake most of their hands and I talked to some of the guys. There was a lot that happened so I'll try to remember it. I was the only RB fan at the game. There were a few people from Toronto that came down to see the game. Unfortunately I don't have any pics from the game

When I was walking there I saw some of the guys walking to the field. I also saw some TFC players and said hi to them out of curiosity. Some of them were cool, even De-ro. Greg Sutton was an asshole. When I said hi to him he just gave me a quick look and walked away.

Our boys looked a little sloppy in the beginning, especially that they were going out of the 4-5-1. They were down 2-0 early. Later on Woly scored on a PK to make it 2-1. WHen one of TFC's players got red carded I did the, na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey goodbye chant. I was the only asshole there saying it.

The second half showed a lot of our guys on trial and draft picks. They looked pretty good out there, but they were playing TFC's second team with Dan Dichio . The goalie for TFC in the second half was a complete tool. He kept yelling and cursing at his teammates. He also allowed two goals including a pk. When the foul was committed in the box, the gk for Toronto thought the ref was pointing at the goal for a goal kick when it was obvious that there was a foul in the box.

After the game I got to talk to some of the players. I talked to Woly for a little bit. He had the scruffy look going for him. He is a really awesome person. I was asking him about Toronto's goaltender and how that guy was an asshole. He laughed and said the other guys on the team were saying the same thing. I also got Woly's autograph.

Of course I also talked to David Roth. Always an awesome guy to talk to. I forgot to add before the game I was talking to Caleb and Andrew Boyens. Andy is still in a cast so he didn't play. Both Andy and Caleb were warming up by where I was sitting. Those two are funny as hell. Caleb was making fun of the fact that Australia beat New Zealand in Cricket to Andy.

To end the day I was talking with JCO a little bit. He had to go so I didn't get to talk to him that much. Overall it was an awesome day.

P.S. I thanked Mo Johnston for Altidore. He said something to me. I don't know if he said alright, or called me an asshole. I don't think it was bad what he said.

http://web.mamadou.com/

i would have asked them if they watch flight of the conchords. it'd be really funny if they go back and forth like the new zealanders and aussies do in the show.

sounds cool, i'm pretty jealous. i'm def going to practices this year at MSU...once the weather warms up .

It is cool to go to the practices. You can talk to the players for a little after the are done. It was funny watching Caleb and Andy go back and fourth like that.

I didn't see Petke or Stammler there. I was a little upset that Petke wasn't there today. I know Stammler is just coming back from his injury.

I've been surprised by how nice and approachable MLS players are as well, considering how in other sports it's difficult to even get near to players. For example, I was standing behind Yura Movsisyan and Kei Kamara on the concessions line to buy hot dogs at MLS Cup, and I spoke with Movsisyan -- he was very casual and nice! Kamara was also nice and his family was right nearby waiting for him. I was also surprised at how approachable Steve Jolley was at a Red Bulls event in ESPN Zone. Gives me the impression that I could send my child to ask for an autograph without him getting a "I don't do autographs kid, get lost" back in return.

I remember at the draft last year when some of the guys were talking to Steve Jolley, he seemed like a really nice guy and very talkative. You can probably go up to most of the players and ask for their autographs and they will give it to you. Like I said in one of the last posts, the only person that really wasn't approachable at the game was Greg Sutton.

jolley was a nice guy at the ESC stout's event in september...i only didn't realize it was him til everyone was singing "for steve's a jolley good fellow." at the 2nd stout event for the final game against the fire, i sat right next to celeb and didn't realize it was him (see the trend here? i'm really bad at spotting famous people....except the time i met alice cooper online at auntie annies in woodbridge center!) til when we were all outside smoking and people were taking pics with him, which he was cool about. and at the ESC membership drive in january, as petke was walking off the stage i put my hand out and said "hey welcome back, it's good to have you back in NY." and he took and it shook it and said, "thank you for having me, it's good to BE back."

i think it's cuz the lot of them realize they're NOT ronaldos or kakas or rooneys, and are just glad to have people chant for them and cheer for them and appreciate them...i know i would be super psyched if i had 200 people every week clapping for me. i'd clap back and wave and give autographs and throw my jersey...i'll be the broken record and reiterate again that leitch is probably the exception to that rule.

I was always under the impression that Kaka was a nice, fan-friendly guy?

It's because he belongs to Jesus.

i didn't mean it as friend-friendliness, i just meant skill level. if these guys were on that skill level, they obviously wouldn't be playing in MLS.

Troll.

90+% of the players are approachable. There's always a couple guys that aren't. From my experiences, the players with the most international experience are the least approachable.

i feel bad for the leafs at times.

i beg to differ