MLS in Toronto
TSN is reporting that Toronto will be joining the Major League Soccer lineup in 2007.
Toronto will become the first city outside of the U.S. to host an MLS franchise.
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Reader Comments
Other than our men’s stint at the 1986 World Cup, I think our senior men’s team has been pretty small potatoes on the international front and always have been. Actually, we did win the Gold Cup in 2000 as well, which has to be one of the highs of our recent teams.
Women and youth, however, have been different. The Canuck women are ranked #11 in the world, finishing 4th at the 2003 Women’s World Cup. And the U-20 team just missed qualifying for the semi’s at the last Fifa U-20 World Cup.
Next summer we host the U-20 World Cup, which should be a highlight for our soccer history.
This has been the trend among soccer fans in the States, and you may see this repeated in Canada: Dismiss the MLS as low-quality. Watch some MLS, particularly live, and get hooked. Realize that the quality is not that bad after all. And further recognize that regardless of quality, it’s your league, since there’s no other around. And finally, conclude that if this league is ever going to succeed and field a higher level of play, then it will need support from soccer fans. So it becomes an interesting project.
And anyway, FC Toronto will give Canadian supporters something to watch when the national team’s not playing, right? It will be interesting to see if Montreal, Vancouver or other cities make bids to join the league in the years to come.
MLS will be playing during the World Cup. What else do we need to know about MLS?
Anyway, a few more Canadians will be playing professionally in North America, which is a good thing, and it’s a tenant for the new Toronto football stadium, which is also a good thing.
I have to wonder if it would be better for a real eastern Canadian football club (Ontario, Quebec, Maritimes) to join the Irish or English FA (if they’ll have them). It would be a couple more hours on the plane than flying to the US South, but perhaps with fewer customs hassles. I think I would rather have FA Cup games played on Canadian soil than MLS playoff games.
(This would all justify Queen Elizabeth being on our money. Think about it.)
In all seriousness, does anyone here know what Canada’s history of getting clubs into international competitions is?