What Happens In Year Three?

By Ben Knight Onward Soccer

Pointed perspective — from the past
It is lashing rain this morning in Toronto. One of those Great Lakes torrents that takes its sweet time getting here, and then just soaks and soaks and soaks.

I’m safely holed up in East York, miles and miles from BMO Field, but I can readily picture the scene down there.

Even under syrupy gray clouds, the red plastic seats glisten brightly. The plastic turf, deep dark green, looks older and more jagged than it did a month ago. Surrounded by concrete, hemmed in by highways, and lashed pitilessly by unending crosswinds, our fairy tale gem of a little soccer park just wouldn’t be a very pleasant place to spend the morning.

The mayor who threw the block that sealed the deal, avid Toronto FC fan David Miller, announced last week he won’t be running for re-election. He’s done what he could do, but his money men are said to be moving on. That’s fatal in these parts. Miller remains a huge and vocal fan of the soccer club.

I’m sitting here, trying to get past all the myriad woes and setbacks Toronto FC have endured – many self-inflicted – in this messy, mediocre MLS campaign of 2009. I’m looking for a different angle, trying to see what shines, even as the odds for Toronto making the post-season get as sopping and soggy as the weather outside.

I think I’ve found one!

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