COLUMBUS CREW vs. TORONTO FC
COLUMBUS CREW STADIUM, Columbus, Ohio
March 29, 2008 | 4 p.m. ET (ClbSN; RogersSN [Can.])
WEEK # 1 | GAME # 1
Two Eastern Conference teams that failed to reach the MLS Cup Playoffs face off in the first game of the new season when the Columbus Crew play host to Toronto FC. It's also the first game for the new Trillium Cup (named for the official wildflower of Ohio and the flower of the province of Ontario) which will be contested for by the two clubs - a rivalry that surely will be enlivened by the presence of a large band of TFC supporters traveling south for the match.
REFEREE: Baldomero Toledo. SAR (bench): Anthony Vasoli; JAR (opposite): Nate Clement; 4th: Jorge Gonzalez
MLS Career: 45 games; FC/gm: 27.6; Y/gm: 3.9; R: 16; pens: 15
Games involving Crew: P6 W3 L3 T0; FC/gm: 27.8; Y/gm: 3.7; R: 4; pens: 3
Games involving Toronto FC: P1 W0 L1 T0; FC/gm: 38.0; Y/gm: 6.0; R: 0; pens: 1
INJURY REPORT: COLUMBUS CREW - OUT: MF Kevin Burns (R ankle chondral defect); DF Jed Zayner (L groin strain) ... TORONTO FC - OUT: DF Julius James (shoulder)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (3 meetings): Crew 2 wins, 6 goals ... Toronto FC 0 wins, 3 goals ... Ties 1
IN COLUMBUS (2 meetings): Crew 1 win, 4 goals ... Toronto FC 0 wins, 2 goals ... Ties 1
• This is the first of three meetings between the teams this season, the only one set for the Ohio state capital. They next meet on May 17 at BMO Field, then conclude the season series north of the border on Sept. 13.
LAST YEAR (MLS):
5/26: CLB 2, TOR 2 (Herron 2, 36 - Dichio 27; Brennan 49)
7/22: CLB 2, TOR 0 (Barros Schelotto 50, 56)
9/22: TOR 1, CLB 2 (Canizalez 2 - Garey 61; Thomas 83)
•The Crew claimed the season series in Toronto FC's inaugural campaign, having never yet lost to the Reds. The teams played to a 2-2 draw in the first meeting before the Crew won the last two, once at each ground.
• Coaches record: Sigi Schmid v TOR: P3 W2 L0 D1 ... John Carver vs. CLB: first game
COLUMBUS CREW
The Columbus Crew begin their 13th season aiming for a return to the MLS Cup Playoffs, which they have missed out on the last three seasons after winning the MLS Supporters' Shield in 2004. Sigi Schmid begins his third season in charge of the Black & Gold, with back-to-back sixth-place finishes in the Eastern Conference in his first two years at the helm.
• The Crew completed their preseason with a 1-0 victory against AD Isidro Metapan of El Salvador's Primera Division last Saturday at Crew Stadium. The game's lone goal came in the 67th minute as Nicolas Hernandez knocked home a rebound of a saved Adam Moffat shot.
• Here's Schmid's team for the preseason finale: Will Hesmer, Frankie Hejduk, Chad Marshall, Danny O'Rourke, Stefani Miglioranzi, Robbie Rogers, Brian Carroll, Adam Moffat (Duncan Oughton 74), Brad Evans, Nicolas Hernandez (Guilherme So 72), Alejandro Moreno
• "Obviously we got some of the guys to be able to play 90 minutes, which is important. I thought we created a number of chances and could have had some more goals in the first half. At the end we got a little bit shaky but we got through it," Schmid said. "We wanted to step up and pressure them and not allow them to get into a rhythm. For the most part I thought we did a good job of that."
• In the week leading to the opener, the Crew finalized the acquisition of Gino Padula, last with Montpellier FC in France's Ligue 2. The native of Argentina spent seven years in England (Walsall, Wigan, Queens' Park Rangers, Nottingham Forest), also playing in Spain with Xerez and River Plate and Huracan in his homeland.
• "He is a very good passing outside back," coach Sigi Schmid said. "He is very good with the ball, very calm on the ball and he doesn't panic. He'll get forward, but he picks and chooses the times to get forward a little more than (most)." Schmid was unsure when Padula would receive his work permit and join the team. "At this stage in his career, I think he's looking to settle in. Hopefully, he'll be our left back for a number of years."
• Padula will fit into a back line that includes a significant change from a year ago, where Marcos Gonzalez returned to his native Chile. In his place in central defense to start the season will be Danny O'Rourke, who played 27 games a season ago - all in a central midfield role.
• "Danny's been a midfielder for a while, so sometimes you have to rope him back," central defense partner Chad Marshall said. "But we talk a lot off the field and we're sorting it out."
• As the Crew look to return to the postseason, one area they have identified as key is improving their record at home. The Crew have not recorded a winning record at Crew Stadium since the 2004 campaign, and last year lost four of their last five games at home (with a tie in the other).
• "We need to win most of our home games. We need to make this stadium our fortress, and we won't accept anything less than the playoffs," said Robbie Rogers. Said midfielder Duncan Oughton to the Columbus Dispatch: "We can't have guys coming in here and taking what they want when they want it. They've got to leave bruised and battered."
• That include a change of approach for the team that has called itself "America's Hardest Working Team." A year ago the Crew won the league's Fair Play Award. "It's embarrassing, really," said Oughton to the Dispatch. "Did we get a trophy for that? That's not the award you want to win. We don't want to be the fair play team that doesn't make the playoffs. We'd rather be the dirtiest team that does make the playoffs."
TORONTO FC
Toronto FC begin their second season after posting a 6-17-7 record in the club's inaugural campaign, one that included a record goalless streak yet saw a fanatical following come to BMO Field every time out. John Carver takes over as the club's head coach with Mo Johnston, last year's field boss, having moved to the front office as the team's director of soccer.
• TFC concluded their preseason with a 2-0 loss to the USL First Division (second tier) Charleston Battery in the finale of the Carolina Challenge Cup last Saturday.
• "We're very, very, very disappointed," Carver said after the loss. "In all my years in the game, that's the probably the worst performance I've ever seen. The only consolation is that there's no Marvell Wynne, no Maurice Edu and no Carl Robinson. To me that's the only consolation to take out of this game. I could be here a month trying to explaining that poor performance."
• Here's Carver's team on the day: Brian Edwards, Marco Velez, Tyrone Marshall, Pat Phelan, Jim Brennan, Martin Brittain (Jarrod Smith 67), Joey Melo (Todd Dunivant 67, Gabe Gala 89), Kevin Harmse, Collin Samuel, Jeff Cunningham (Danny Dichio 77), Kevin Gall
• Wynne and Edu were with the U.S. under-23 national team, concluding CONCACAF Olympic qualifying, while Robinson returned home to Wales on personal business. In addition, the Reds were without Tyler Hemming, Tyler Rosenlund and Andrea Lombardo, who were representing Canada in the Olympic qualifiers.
• "The standard is not good enough. Whatever I do I want to win and the players have to feel the same way. If you're a winner, you're always a winner," Carver said. "I wanted a reaction from the players and it's been five minutes of silence in the locker room."
• The day before the match, the club signed Rosenlund to a contract after he impressed during the preseason, especially in his outings with the Canadian U-23s.
• The club will also have to make a decision on two other preseason trialists with professional pedigree. Forward Kevin Gall played the entire 90 minutes against Charleston; a former Wales under-21 international, he was last with Carlisle United in England, also playing at Bristol Rovers, Yeovil Town and Newcastle United. He's joined by midfielder Martin Brittain, who also played at Carlisle.
• Rookie defender Julius James could be be sidelined for up to three weeks after suffering a shoulder injury in TFC's 1-1 draw with the New York Red Bulls in their second game in South Carolina.
• With Wynne returning and likely slotting into the right back spot, and Jim Brennan moving to left back, Carver could well move Puerto Rican international Marco Velez into a central defense role alongside Tyrone Marshall.
• The Toronto FC supporters were truly remarkable in the club's first season in MLS, and now they are taking their act on the road - some 2,000 red-clad and flag-waving TFC fans are expected to make the trip to Columbus. They will occupy all the seats in the seven sections behind Crew Stadium's south goal, with more in four nearby sections in the upper level.
• It "is basically going to be a home game on the road," said Rudi Schuller, one of the heads of U-Sector, a Toronto FC supporters group, to the Globe and Mail.
• Toronto FC will also have a domestic competition to contest this season - the club will battle against L'Impact de Montréal and the Vancouver Whitecaps (both USL First Division) for Canada's place in the CONCACAF Champions League, due to kick off in August. The qualification tournament takes place between May 27 and July 22, 2008 with each participating city hosting two games. Toronto travels to Montreal on May 27, then plays host to Vancouver on July 1. Vancouver travels to BMO Field on July 9, then Toronto goes to Montreal on July 22.
