Incroyable Football

[B]I. My Roster[/B]
I'm not sure who all is injured. But if this was a perfect world this is who I would start
against FC Dallas in Toronto FC's upcoming CCL game.

Plata-Koovermans-Johnson
Marosevic- Frings- De Guzman - Stinson
Borman- Harden- Henry - Eckersley
Frei

Bench: Kocic, Morgan, Robinson, Dunfield, Martina,

Please, please get Andy Iro out of the line-up. I'm sorry but he just can't control the ball and is too dangerous to start in such and important game like this one is. Stinson had an exceptional game against Chicago Fire and in fact I named him my player of the game. Upfront this combo worked pretty nicely against Tauro, so I will expect Winter will go with it again. Frei starts in net even though Kocic has been quite excellent as of late. Kocic will start league games from now on, as well as select CCL games (i.e Tauro at home).

[B]II. A new hope[/B]

I have already looked at this game in depth in an early blog article. But it is safe to say that this presents in effect a new hope for Toronto FC. Hopefully more people will start turning out to these games because they are a whole lot more important than any meaningless season game against DCU at home. Of course this will probably not happen and Toronto FC fans will continue to see their team play a half quality side in season games instead of watching the premier playing on the squad play in a very meaningful competition. In all regards this tournament could probably be considered more important than an MLS Cup anyway. Should Toronto FC win this tournament I would take it over an MLS cup anyday as the club would advance to the Club World Cup, a tournament that could see them play against the best of Europe and around the Club footballing world.

It would give great exposure to the Canadian club scene as well as the league in general. This, however, is thinking way ahead. But a key step to possibly eventually achieving that incredible act is beating FC Dallas at home. For me this is a must win if Toronto FC is going to get out of this group alive. They are not going to beat Pumas or FC Dallas on the road so they will need this event to go their way. If it does I am confident in saying that the have a 40% better chance of qualifying for the next round. If they don't win this game, well things are really going to get tough for them in the long run. They will need to rely on a poor road record to bring in key results. It is not something I am confident with.

So going forward it is clearly in the clubs best interest to win this game. Whatever happens, enjoy the game.