So, Toronto lost. Gilberto was robbed (and needs to score soon, eh?). Bradley looks exhausted.
It's 3-3 after six games. Many people thought two wins would be a possibility after what was undoubtably a tough start to the schedule. So, three wins is OK. But, they were 3-1. So two straight losses is disappointing.
In short, TFC in a MLS team. That's more than we could have claimed for most of the last seven years so we take it and we move on.
But, this week's column isn't really about TFC. We have all year to talk TFC. We only have today to talk about the first ever home game of a new Canadian pro team.
The Ottawa Fury launched Saturday. I was privileged to be there.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
It was the third time I've seen a new Canadian team launch -- TFC in 2007, Vancouver in 2011 (and, yes, I understand that launch was for MLS, not the Whitecaps brand launching) and now the Fury in 2014.
If you want to include half-baked indoor teams on the list I was also at the first and only home opener of the Toronto Shooting Stars.
Regardless, for all our perceived differences as Canadians, the three (non-half-baked) debuts looked remarkably similar. In all cases it was a celebration of the sport and of the community that surrounds it.
That word -- community -- is not something often associated with professional sport in this country. We hear about fans, sure, and, sadly, consumers but rarely about a community. But, that's what you find around pro soccer teams in Canada. You see people that have embraced a sport that, for years, wasn't all that easy to follow without spending silly amounts of money on speciality television channels or getting on a plane to Europe. In recent years a local option arrived on the scene, but even then it was too often dismissed by people who claim to be fans of the sport -- "Eurosnobs" to use the vernacular of local-first soccer fans -- as being substandard.
So, for those that did buck convention twice -- those that are fans of not just soccer, but local soccer -- there is a bond that runs deeper than you'd find down at the local NHL rink. It's a bond that appreciates that we're all in this together.
The local game only grows and thrives through the efforts of those that choose to support it. That's true of any sport, but it's especially true in the case where there are undeniably more skilled options of the sport available to watch on television (as expensive as those speciality channels are they are still cheaper than a season ticket).
Here in Toronto, I've seen first hand how the community does grow the sport and make it thrive. On Saturday, I was reassured that the sport will be just fine in Ottawa.
I was reassured when I saw the Bytown Boys gathered in the Georgetown Pub before the game and when I saw the Stony Monday Riot gang at the Original Burger after.
I was reassured when I saw the flags in the supporter's section and when I saw the excitement on the faces of youth soccer players attending their first ever pro game.
And, I was reassured when I saw noticeably more people in the support's section in the second half than were there in the first.
Based on the play on the pitch it's going to take some time to make the Fury a winner. Based on the atmosphere in the stands, the club is already a success.