Toronto FC - Youth Soccer Night

Last night Toronto FC held a Youth Soccer Night before their ACC game vs Montreal Impact.  The schedule was some finger foods and drinks at Gossip Restaurant, guest speakers were to be Paul Mariner (Player Development Director) and Thomas Rongen (TFC Academy Director).  After the festivities everybody was to head over to BMO Field to watch the game.

There were some familiar faces in the restaurant and it was nice to catch up with some old friends.  I was hoping the two speakers would leave us with some technical/tactical/organizational thoughts to digest.  Paul Mariner's words were of a salutory natue and Thomas Rongen ended up not being able to make it.  So from that viewpoint, it was disappointing.  He did make it late and was around chatting up the room.

We did have a good time with the people we met at our table and the friends we already knew.  It's always fun to network and share information.  My cousin Nino won a pair of tickets to TFC vs NY Red Bulls so that spiced up our evening. 

Even though the original schedule did not happen, I am still glad we attended the pre-game portion of the evening.  Toronto FC were gracious hosts and they've proven to be good corporate citizens.

The game was a lot of fun.  The soccer was very decent and Toronto won so that made the crowd a more positive experience.  Here is the game report.  I still find a lot of MLS players seem to play with their heads down and keep running into guys or trying to pass/cross balls "through" defenders, hitting their shins, etc.  The top players are nice to watch and slowly the league continues to get better and better. 

The win was good for TFC, as they are 0-8 in league play so far.