Saturday December 16, 2017 Rocket Robin's Year End Year End Review of Soccer in Toronto for 2017. This year I set a new record for myself by attending 100 games in the Greater Toronto area (GTA). I'll keep a tally as I summarize my thoughts on each league or team. League 1 Ontario (L1O) (58 regular season games plus the Men's All Star game, the Men's Cup Final, the Women's Cup Final, and the Men's Championship game). That adds up to 62 games. Also the year end Awards Banquet. I saw every men's team in the sixteen team league at least three times which was my goal at the start at the beginning of the season. FC London I saw three times and Woodbridge thirteen times. Most unusual was I saw a Windsor vs Ottawa South game without leaving the GTA as the teams played here to cut down on time and cost of travel. Ottawa South United Force was the one new team this year and replaced Kingston Clippers in the Eastern Conference. Any club entering the league this year was restricted to entering one team so either a men's team or a women's team. The league policy was was explained in a message from their site "This rule was put in place to prevent strain on clubs that have yet to participate in a standards-based senior league like L10 and help them ease into full participation of having a team in both divisions". There were three more women's teams added this year. If they add men's teams next year it will make my minimum 'get to three times for every men's club a season' harder to do. I was disappointed some teams could only field teams with two subs and sometimes only ten players as the season wore on and players were recalled to start school. The caliber of play was better as there were more older players in the league keeping their skills sharp to hopefully attract interest from the new Canadian Premier League (CPL). Unfortunately for the the younger players, that cut into their playng time. Also it unbalanced some of the teams that only used their own academy players as there were more blowouts with some scores reaching double didgits. With the CPL put off for one more year, I expect the trend to continue. Toronto FC Academy PDL team (0 games) TFC folded their team this year. The team used to fill the gap between their L1O team and their USL team (TFC II) giving their older teenagers and college players a place to play in the short summer season of this league. With no team and the USL imposing a new rule of allowing only three subs per game from five in previous years when they were considered a development league, and their PDL team not operating, it restricted the playing time opportunities of some of their players. Also from what I was told early in the year, TFC will no longer recruit players younger than 14 to play in their own academy. Any players who are now with them will be able to stay with the TFC organization which now stretches down to age 8. That means that next year their youngest kids will be 9 and the year after 10 etc. Toronto FC II of the USL (14 games out of 15 home game schedule) The one I missed this year was the day I was down at BMO Field covering the Canadian Men's team game against Jamaica. The team finished fifteenth out of the fifteen teams in the Eastern Conference but were never blown out of any home game. Their roster was younger than many of the teams they played. I fully buy-in to what TFC GM Tim Bazbatchenko said at the team breakfast in February when he answered it was more important for the players to develop and make the MLS team than to win USL games. In the last two weeks they dumped almost all their non-Canadian players (these were not their MLS contract guys on the team for seasoning). When I was at the L1O awards luncheon last month Steven Caldwell (TFC broadcaster) and L1O chair Dino Rossi said only teenage forward Shaan Hundal and maybe a defender or two could eventually make the MLS club. I followed almost all the Canadian players working their way up from the TFC Academy (now known as TFC III) of L1O over the years. Some of this year's TFC III got some playing time and a few even signed their first pro contract with TFC II. TFC II media releases are always 'rah rah' and pushed fans to vote for Angelo Cavalluzzi to win 'save of the year' (he did). It was a fine save in a road game in Louisville but it meant that they held on to a 0-0 tie...but remember the team finished fifteenth! Next year they will play at both BMO Field (twinning up when their MLS team plays) and Lamport Stadium on stand alone nights (only three blocks away). With my struggles of all the subway detours it seems every second weekend I'm not looking forward to that. I prefer their home at the Ontario Soccer Stadium in Vaughan but they were drawing crowds of only 700 for this venue on the edge of town. I am grateful they still have a USL team. Montreal shut down their team last year and Vancouver just shipped their team to California for next year. In 2019 if all goes according to plans the MLS teams that operate USL teams will be spun off to a third division of their own and the stand alone USL teams (some with ambitions of moving up to MLS like Cincinnati) will be the official second division of the USA. Many of these stand alone teams are men playing against many of the teenage players of TFC II. Best moment of the season for me was actually at their SSH ticket pickup event when head coach Jason Bent gifted me a TFC parka. It's been decades since I was so excited by a present. Will any of the players on the team move up? The MLS brought in Nicolas Hasler from Liechtenstein rather than any TFC II player. Of course that scouting worked out well but it must have been deflating for anyone on the roster. Will they only move up another Canadian to displace one already on the roster? Canadian Premier League (0 games) The league hasn't started yet and a few months ago it was announced they wouldn't play the 2018 season. There's been no team announced for the GTA area. I had a humbling moment when I drove to Oakville for a midweek game and got caught in rush hour traffic. I figured there is no way I can get to Hamilton which is + 1/3 even further to get to so I may try to see their inaugral game but the distance is just too far away. Toronto FC MLS 22 games in total. (17 regular season, 2 Canadian Championship games and 3 playoff games) plus the president's breakfast and the victory parade. Wow. They won the MLS Cup in their eleventh season for the first time and won the Supporter's Shield for finishing first overall in the regular season—also a first. They set a record for most points in a season and also won the Canadian Championship for the sixth time. They are considered the first MLS team to win a 'treble'. They only lost one regular season home game and one in the playoffs although that series they won on the away goal rule to advance. My only complaint is they don't use enough Canadian players. They stopped using Canadians except for Jonathan Osorio and Tosaint Ricketts a few months ago. It was telling that in the MLS Cup game they finished with no Canadians on the field. Otherwise everything was fine except I sit too close to the aisle and fans are constantly passing by to leave to get to the concession stands, the restrooms, or the exits before the game or half is over and/or they arrive late. I've still kept my attendance record going of not missing a TFC home game since they began. That includes two games I remember that because of weather conditions were finished the next morning and the game in 2010 when no buses or streetcars were running south of Bloor because of riots during the G20 Summit in 2010. Well it was a long walk and I but I made it in time and then the rarely seen David Beckham wasn't even in the lineup for LA Galaxy. It will be a short offseason as they will be competing in the CONCACAF Championship round of 16 starting in February so my thinking that I ducked the worst of the weather to see the MLS Cup in December may be shortlived. National Teams games held in Toronto, Canadian Men's and Women's teams (2 games) plus the press conferences to announce the new Men's team head coach Octavio Zambrano and the 'United As One' North American bid to host the FIFA Men's World Cup in 2026). Fun for me watching both Canadian teams win their games in Toronto and then being able to attend the press conference after each game and do hallway interviews. I know many of the players that play or at least started in the Toronto area. Total: Exactly 100! Yeah I'm providing something like 2/3s of the content for a soccer site I'm writing for. I did hit a breaking point. It would have been difficult to get in any more games. It shows a weakness that I don't get to women's games but I'd have to displace my concentrating on L1O Men's games. This was the first year since the death of my father and keeping busy with soccer reporting even more than other year helped me cope with the seven days a week that I used to keep visiting him. I now do volunteer work at the same hospital/residence Sunnybrook where he spent the last six years of his life. Looking forward to 2018 but I figure I have to fix my 'I' s and my 'eyes'. My computer is self destructing and besides my hard drive partially destroying itself the 'I' and the 'zero' key has popped off my keyboard and are too damaged to fit back on. I figured I'll get a new laptop within a month. The other problem is more serious. I was advised on my last checkup for new glasses that I had cataracts in the center of both eyes. The last few months they have been getting worse so I am looking into having an operation to have them removed. I started a twitter account but stalled out at 175 followers. Nothing but links to game reports on my site. You won't see photos of what I had for lunch. Also frustrating is some of the message boards I see my L1O games are read by only five people. There are more readers for topics about craft beer and rating team scarfs. I'd like to thank the teams and players and staff that have helped me piece together games answering my questions. It gave a chance for TFC goalie Clint Irwin to look back at his days with Ottawa Capital City of the CSL in 2011. Here's hoping for a great 2018! Rocket Robin robing@eol.ca Twitter @RocketRobin01
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