And my outlook for TFC v New England Revolution

The decision to appoint Dwayne De Rosario as the new Captain of Toronto FC , succeeding Jim Brennan, was the right thing to do. And Coach Preki did the right thing in announcing the change quickly. God knows there has been enough instability and upheaval lately, and leaving this choice up in the air would have been a huge mistake.

 Since his arrival here last season DeRo has been without question our best player and he has been outspoken about issues impacting the club that he has felt strongly about both on and off the field. Whether you agree with him or not he has been a leader and is seen by many fans as the “playing” face of the club. I personally could not be happier with the choice based on the options at hand.

 I for one think that in the day of the modern athlete the role of a “Captain” is not what it once was. In years gone by captains not only acted as on field coaches but they acted as de-facto advocates to management about issues impacting the players on the club. Today there are agents and advisors fulfilling these roles and team sports in general is much more individualistic in tone than it used to be.

 To me it seems like that for every Paolo Maldini out there, there is a John Terry out there as well. Some are obviously better than others. Captains are often the face of the players to the fans and in this role I think a local boy who plays hard and who leads by example on the pitch is just about the best you can ask for under the circumstances. And I wish him well.

And now onto New England.

As I stated before the Columbus game I would be overjoyed with a draw away from home against the Revs. Perhaps the presence of TFC fans in the high hundreds will be a catalyst for a stronger shoeing by TFC here than what we saw in Columbus. Who knows.

And even with two weeks to prepare the club is still very much a work in progress. Rumours are today that a Lavtian defender has been signed (nothing official from TFC as of this afternoon) and if Mo is to be believed (not sure who believe him fully these days frankly) we may indeed see some new faces tomorrow in Foxboro just like we did in Columbus.

 Trying to guess a formation and starting XI would be like trying to guess the Lotto Max numbers, an obviously difficult task. What we all need to hope for is solid defending and decision making from the back (I hope Garcia is reading this) and if possible a goal would be wonderful. TFC’s lack of goals dating back to the Carolina Challenge Cup has been well documented. A goal away no matter the result would do the club wonders heading into our home opener in six days ON GRASS!!!!!!! A surprise three points tomorrow would really make the atmosphere at next Thursday’s game so amazing.

 After the game tomorrow I will be posting a video blog recapping the game and the results.