Posted on 9/15/2009

As the Major League Soccer regular season draws closer to the end, the importance of Toronto FC’s matches also grows greater as each minute is played.  This Saturday's match is by far the most anticipated league game of the season with Designated Player Julian de Guzman set to make his debut with the club. 

A battle of the Designated Players with David Beckham on one side of the pitch at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California and de Guzman on the other. 

It’s not the first time these two players have met at the club level; in fact de Guzman’s only goal in La Liga came against Real Madrid while Becks was still with the club.  People have been asking the same questions all week of the former Player of the Year at Deportivo:  How will Chris Cummins play the Canadian International?  Will he play him in his more traditional role as a holding midfielder as he played at Deportivo? Or will he be able to push forward and try to create more scoring opportunities?  A role in which Stephen Hart has him play with Canada scoring four goals in 40 appearances and named the 2007 Gold Cup MVP. 

Whatever role he ends up playing and for how many minutes remains to be seen, but I am much more interested in the flare and creativity that may be produced in the midfield between De Rosario, de Guzman and Guevara.  Chris Cummins stressed today how much he wants this team to pass and keep the ball moving.  Well, if these guys are on their game we could see some of the best one-touch passing this club has ever witnessed.  Especially when you consider they will be playing on a near perfect grass pitch at the Home Depot Center. 

As I watched Julian play this summer at the Gold Cup for Canada he was by far one, two and three steps ahead of the competition.  He knew where every player was around him and you could tell he had a pass or run mapped out in his mind well before it actually took place.  Those are the football instincts that we sometimes miss in Major League Soccer.  It can be a very direct and offensive minded game at times to make up for the lack of talent in the league, but you cannot deny the talent in Toronto FC’s midfield. 

It’s where much of that build up play starts and it could all be coming together at the right time.  Don’t be surprised if Toronto FC make a New York Red Bulls like run to the play-offs and from there the sky is the limit.  Not too many people would have bet on New York making the play-offs last season, let alone reaching MLS Cup Final in 2008.  It’s a week in which the stars have flocked to Toronto for the film festival and all the football fans will be watching their big screens at home Saturday night as the red carpet has been rolled out for arguably the best soccer product to come out of Canada, hopefully to a star-studded performance and even better reviews.

Comments

Posted by Lastenia Rojas on
10/26/2009 5:36:32 PM
Time to cancel this channel. I became a subscriber because of the Spanish and South American leagues, not because of mediocre Toronto FC and the mickey mouse soccer league.
Posted by Steve on
9/22/2009 5:58:43 PM
Is Lee 'the fan' aware about what we write here or is he just ignoring us????
Posted by Javier on
9/21/2009 6:00:22 PM
I tried e-mailing Kristen last week and I was also refered to Laura..I hope she replies back soon as I had never had any communication problems with Kristen..I hope a trend does not start with Laura...I am seriously annoyed at the english commentators, they are simply garbage...Good thing for justin tv and I was able to watch the Real Madrid game on ESPN deportes in Spanish in my computer. If this continues I will be cancelling my subsciption with goltv..It is a complete joke what is happening here...Last year we would of been able to watch both the Real and Barcelona games in Spanish, this year only Barcelona and in English...MLSE SUCKS
Posted by TomP on
9/17/2009 5:27:47 PM
MLSE go home!!!!!!!
Posted by Eduardo on
9/17/2009 2:42:00 PM
Houton, you are saying that we wont get to see Barça Vs REal this season?\n\nHonestly, I dont mind the promotion of Toronto Football Club but this should not overtake the other leagues and games.\n\nI Got this channel only for good Football and in Spanish.\n\nIf only we had an option....
Posted by Houston Barker on
9/17/2009 2:35:11 PM
Just look at the schedule for this Saturday, shows their attitude.\n\nOn Goltv US after the La Liga double header they'll show a Brasilian match on short delay (30 minutes) followed by two Colombian matches.\n\nOn Goltv Canada after the La Liga double header we get TFC game in an hour, followed by TFC Space (whatever that is), MLS weekly, and then a half hour preview show. After all that they say ah what the heck throw them that Brasilian game (now on an unnecessary 3.5 hour delay). Not to mention they don't even bother with those weird Colombian teams they can't pronounce.\n\nIf MLSE wanted to promote TFC and the MLS on a TV medium they should've created a new channel. You know like Raptors TV and Leafs TV. Instead they just buy an existing soccer channel and convert it over to Toronto FC TV. Now we have a corrupted channel where there are conflicting interests from the owners and viewers.
Posted by Houston Barker on
9/17/2009 2:16:32 PM
MLSE has just over an 80% ownership of GolTV Canada. GolTV US only has a 19.9% stake. MLSE can, and is, doing whatever they what.\n\nWhen MLSE took over...\n\n"Tom Anselmi said in a release that the channel will create “greater programming opportunities” for both Toronto FC and Major League Soccer."\n\n\nJust a shame those "greater programming opportunities" seem to be coming at the expense of BETTER programming opportunities. But obviously no big surprise here, MLSE cares only for the dollar sign and feeding their greed.
Posted by TomP on
9/17/2009 3:47:30 AM
slowly but surely the terrorists at MLSE are turning Goltv into TFCTV and the result is the quality of matches is dropping.\n\n\nLess Brasilero and the last couple of weeks we've even\nhad them drop Madrid and Barcelona games .As if anyone really wants to watch a "game in an hour"!\nI'm surprised Goltv headquarters in Miami is allowing this to happen.
Posted by Houston Barker on
9/17/2009 12:19:34 AM
As I expected this channel has gotten even worse. Notice they didn't even bother to pick up Europa League matches and remarkably TLN (yes TLN) has gotten exclusive rights in Canada. \n\nJust counting the days down before we see TFC programming 24-7. \n\n\n\n
Posted by Eduardo on
9/16/2009 8:59:14 PM
Javier, Gracias Hermano!\n\nYou should work in Pr for GolTV, you are more helpfull than all of them.\n\nI will send an email to Mrs McAdam.\n\nThank you for your help
Posted by Javier on
9/16/2009 6:06:12 PM
I was told about a month ago that the spanish audio would be rolled out sometime in September. The person that I have been in contac is Kristen McAdam and could be reached at KMcAdam@MapleLeafSports.com...She is pretty good in responding back. Please e-mail her to raise your concerns...The more people that show the displeasure the sooner we get it back...She last e-mailed me on Aug 20-09 and her exact response was "We are working to make the Spanish broadcasting available as soon as possible. It will be rolled out some time in September"
Posted by Houston Barker on
9/15/2009 9:50:36 PM
Since MLSE has decided its got no budget for Goltv (or is re allocating its funds to pump Toronto FC) and will only throw its viewers one language how about dumping English for Spanish?\n\nWin win for all.
Posted by Eduardo on
9/15/2009 8:50:59 PM
PLease, could someone iform about the SAP in Spanish?\nWy dont you imform?

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Lee Godfrey brings an extensive amount of soccer broadcast experience to GolTV where he is the host of the station’s original Canadian news program Extra Time.