Kenny Stamatopoulos has two jobs now that he is back in his native Toronto. One is to play goalkeeper for Toronto FC; the other is to act as ticket agent for the extended Stamatopoulos family.
"The first thing they said wasn't 'Welcome back,' it was, like, 'Where's the tickets?'" Stamatopoulos joked.
Born in Greece but raised 20 minutes north of Toronto in Markham, the 28-year-old goalkeeper is coming home after being acquired by Toronto FC on a free loan from Tromso IL of the Norwegian Premier League. Stamatopoulos is happy to be able to play pro soccer in his native land.
"When the opportunity came, definitely I grabbed it as fast as I could," Stamatopoulos said. "I'm excited to be back in Toronto."
The deal marks the end of a long search by TFC coach Mo Johnston to find a new starting goalkeeper. Regular starter Greg Sutton suffered a concussion in early June while training with the Canadian team at the CONCACAF Gold Cup, and backup Srdjan Djekanovic and reserve pool 'keepers Sam Reynolds and David Monsalve have handled the starting duties over TFC's past 10 games.
"We talked for eight weeks, nine weeks, and we looked at numerous guys," Johnston said. "As soon as Greg Sutton went down we were on the lookout."
Johnston said that the club had been looking at Stamatopoulos even before the season began, and -- depending on how the rest of the season goes and how Sutton is recovering -- might be interested in him for 2008.
"[Tromso] was very good about loaning him to us and getting him minutes," Johnston said. "We'll address it at the end of the season. There's a buyout clause at the end of the season, so we'll see."
"We feel it's vital and important that [Sutton] gets some rest," the coach added. "He's hurting and he's hurting bad ... there's ringing in his ears, he's getting headaches every morning. It's not fun."
Acquiring Stamatopoulos fills one hole in the injury-riddled Reds lineup. Five TFC players will miss Sunday's match with the Los Angeles Galaxy with an assortment of ailments, and captain Jim Brennan might play, but will be limited due to a pair of broken ribs. Johnston said that he is looking to add perhaps one more player to give his club some depth, but his ability to make moves is limited with all of the MLS clubs in the playoff hunt.
"We don't want to go through this season not picking up any points," Johnston said. "Right now a lot of people don't want to deal with you because they're challenging their own players."
Stamatopoulos will have little time to adjust to his new league, as he will start on Sunday provided the paperwork with MLS goes through as expected. After 14 hours in the air from Tromso (located about 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle), Friday was his first training session with Toronto FC.
"I'm moving, but my legs won't listen to me," Stamatopoulos said. "The flight itself and adjusting to the time is hard to adjust to, but with the right training ... I should be OK."
The well-traveled Stamatopoulos has been capped four times by the Canadian national team, with the last cap coming last October. The 'keeper has seven years of pro experience playing for clubs in Norway, Sweden and Greece, and said he is pleased to be moving into a full-time starting role after platooning in Tromso.
And if moving to a new club in a new league wasn't pressure enough, Stamatopoulos finds himself starting one of the biggest games in North American history on Sunday. The new 'keeper may find himself facing L.A.'s David Beckham in what could be the English star's first official MLS game.
"I'm excited, but you can't focus on just Beckham," Stamatopoulos said. "We're playing the L.A. Galaxy. Especially at home, we definitely need these points."
Stamatopoulos said he has been keeping track of Toronto FC's season from friends on the national team, and said that as a Torontonian, he is proud to see how his city has taken to Major League Soccer.
"We had all the right criteria," he said. "It was just a matter of time. It's good to have a professional club in Toronto, in Canada."
Mark Polishuk is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
