For the third straight season, and the fourth out of five years, the Chicago Fire made the semifinals in the MLS playoffs.

Apparently, that wasn’t enough for management.

The Fire had a surprising roster turnover heading into the 2010 season. Chicago let go of head coach Dennis Hamlett and brought in Carlos de los Cobos, the former head coach of the El Salvador National Team.

Forward Chris Rolfe and left fullback Gonzalo Segares left for Europe, and designated player Cuauhtemoc Blanco went home to Mexico.

The most surprising move, however, was the release of goalkeeper Jon Busch just days before the start of the season.

Busch was the 2008 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year and started all 30 regular season games for the Fire the past two seasons. He matched a team record with 10 shutouts both years.

Busch has stated he felt “blindsided by the whole scenario.”

Instead, the Fire will turn the spot over to 24-year-old Andrew Dykstra. An undrafted free agent signee last year, Dykstra has yet to start an MLS regular season game.

Dykstra now has pressure coming at him from a number of angles.

Not only does he need to get over the nerves of his first start in the league, he has the pressure of replacing Busch. He will now assuredly face scrutiny if the he and the Fire struggle to get wins.

The untested keeper can breathe a little easier knowing he has two veteran center backs guarding the goal in front of him.

C.J. Brown has been a starter on the team since its inaugural season in 1998 and has amassed 270 league appearances.

Next to him is Willman Conde. Considered to be an elite defender in the league, Conde was named the team’s Defender of the Year in 2009 and was also selected to the MLS Best XI.

The Fire still have a number of veteran players on offense too.

Up top, the Fire boasts striker Brian McBride, a member of the MLS All-Time Best XI. Although he has only appeared in 33 games for Chicago the past two seasons, he’s scored 12 goals. He’s a threat in the air and is one of the league’s—and the nation’s—most respected players.

The Fire will pair him with 24-year-old Collins John.

Formally with Fulham, John had scored 20 goals in 95 appearances with the English Premier League team. However, most of those came in the 2005-2006 season and he has struggled to find the field and that same scoring touch since.

John has good speed and is talented on the ball. He is a former teammate of McBride’s when he was at Fulham, and the Fire hope the two can come together to create more scoring magic together.

The Fire are also looking for more offense from creative Guatemalan international midfielder Marco Pappa.

The 22-year-old was originally with the Fire on a year-and-a-half loan, where he scored five goals in 36 appearances, including 28 starts in 2009.

Over the offseason, Chicago exercised its right to make Pappa’s loan permanent, and will look to him to really control the tempo of the game.

The Fire is a team that expects to play for the MLS Cup year in and year out. The number of roster changes suggest that merely competing isn’t good enough.

The team’s success this year may hinge on the fast development of Dykstra.

If he can play well and make fans forget about Busch, the Fire could wind up back in at least the semifinals of the playoffs.

If Dykstra’s inexperience shows and he can’t handle the position, then all hell will break loose.

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The two-time MLS Champion Houston Dynamo have lost an incredible amount of talent going into the 2010 season and will be put to the test this season if they wish to continue to be an elite team in MLS.

Stu Holden, a star midfielder in the making for both the Dynamo and the United States National Team, transferred to English Premier League side Bolton.

US International teammate Ricardo Clark transferred to Eintracht Frankfurt of the German Bundesliga.

Also, captain and veteran defender Wade Barrett retired. Throw in forward and leading goal scorer Brian Ching, who could very well miss time playing with the US team in the World Cup, and the Dynamo look to be in trouble.

But Head Coach Dominic Kinnear has put a system in place over the years and gets players that fit that system, so he will make sure that his guys are prepared for the start of the season and anything else that may come along the way.

Obviously, a lot of the pressure will go on the shoulders of the veteran Ching. Even though he missed 11 games because of injury last season he still led the team with eight goals. Ching is a very good target forward. He does a good job of getting open, collecting the ball, and holding onto it. He is also a very good passer and a talented aerial player.

A lot of buzz this preseason has centered around Geoff Cameron. The defender will move up into a central midfielder role. The 24-year-old has displayed his versatility and scored two goals and notched six assists out of the defense position in 2009.

While Cameron gets the publicity, he will rely on outside midfielder Brad Davis. Davis is an underrated workhorse who continually plays good team ball and contributes at a high rate. Last season Davis was among the league leaders in assists, with eight.

The Dynamo brought in Jamaican international Lovel Palmer to fill in for Clark as the defensive midfielder in the starting lineup. The 25-year-old has played the last 10 years with Harbour View FC of Jamaica’s premier league.

Where the Dynamo really need much more production out of is Designated Player Luis Angel Landin.

With such high expectations, the start to Landin’s time with Houston can only be described as horrendous.

Signed on August 20, Landin played in seven games for the Dynamo, but scored only once. He was also criticized a number of times for being out of shape. Especially with the loss of so much talent and possibly going without Ching for a month, the Dynamo need to get much more return of their investment from Landin.

What carries Houston is their strong defense.

In 2009 they tied for the league lead in fewest goals allowed. Heading that group is 42-year-old goalkeeper Pat Onstad, who returns for his seventh MLS season and is still one of the elite goalies in the league. Last year he posted his third season with a goals against average lower than 1.00 and his sixth with double digits in wins.

At first, the losses of Holden, Clark, and Barrett would seem alarming. But at second glance the team looks to have some quality players that could keep this franchise in competition for the league’s biggest prize.

There will be some bumps in the road as the midfield works itself out, but expect Kinnear to keep this team moving in the right direction as well as keeping them in contention.

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The Columbus Crew is a veteran squad that has been atop the tables the past few years and are looking to stay there.

The Crew won their second consecutive Supporters' Shield last season—the team with the most points at the end of the regular season—even with a brand new head coach, as Robert Warzycha replaced Sigi Schmid who went to the Seattle Sounders.

This season they return nearly their entire starting 11 from 2009, minus forward Alejandro Moreno, who was selected by the Philadelphia Union in the expansion draft.

Former league MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto will lead the charge.

The Argentine is a lethal weapon in the attack as both a finisher and distributor. His contributions are invaluable.

In 2009 he led the Crew in goals scored, with 12.

The midfield is young and talented.

Robbie Rogers is a good talent on the flank with good pace. He had his moments last year where he struggled and did not get on the field, but he is an asset and is currently on the bubble for a spot on this summer's World Cup roster.

Eddie Gaven will play on the other side of the midfield and has continually improved each year, also earning a National Team call-up this offseason.

He played in all 30 games last season for the Crew, the first time he’s done so since 2006, and scored six goals—his highest total since 2005 when he netted eight.

Emmanuel Ekpo, 23, will play in the center of the field.

He led Columbus in 2009 in assists with six. In his third year in MLS he should continue to grow as a player.

The Crew also have a pair of the league's top defenders in center back Chad Marshall and right fullback Frankie Hejduk.

Marshall has won consecutive MLS Defender of the Year awards and will look to continue his dominance.

Hejduk was a member of the 1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft.

After the 1998 World Cup, Hejduk spent six seasons overseas before returning to America and signing with the Crew. He has a ton of experience and is still crafty enough to get up-field for clutch goals.

The team will look to third-year player Steven Lenhart to fill in for Moreno.

The 23-year-old has scored seven goals in 36 league appearances and has had an impressive preseason.

This is a squad with talent, championship experience and enough youth to keep them energized throughout the entire season.

Columbus is in great position to win a third straight Supporters’ Shield, which would be an MLS record, and fourth overall, which would tie D.C. United for most in MLS history.

But it doesn’t end there for this team.

They expect to be contending for the MLS Cup as well, and they are certainly more than capable.

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The Seattle Sounders proved to the expansion Philadelphia Union that Philly still has a long way to go before they can match Seattle’s success.

The Sounders completely outplayed and outclassed the inexperienced Philadelphia side en route to a 2-0 victory.

Philadelphia displayed their youth and seemed to be disjointed as a team. The starting lineup featured two rookies— five players making their MLS debut— and the starters’ total average age was 24-years-old. Two more rookies came on as late second-half substitutes.

This youth movement was quite a bold move by Union Head Coach Peter Nowak, putting these young players in the pressure-filled environment of a packed house of over 32,000 at Seattle’s Qwest Field.

The nerves showed as Philadelphia struggled in the first half with possessing the ball and came in with some bad challenges defensively that resulted five yellow cards total, four in the first half. Two of those went to rookie Toni Stahl, who was thus given a red card and ejected. The Union was forced to play a man down.

Seattle’s veteran squad, despite the physical play, kept calm and stayed cool.

They did not join in on the card party, and seized control of the match from the get-go.  Brad Evans scored in the 12th minute, and Seattle won the possession battle and capitalized on man-advantage.

Seattle put together a squad last season that had plenty of experience—MLS, other professional clubs, and international alike—that was able to compete last year and is an early favorite to win the MLS Cup this season.

The same cannot be said for Philadelphia, who stockpiled draft picks and will be better for it in the years to come, but will endure plenty of growing pains this season.

One way the Union front office followed the Sounders’ blueprint for success was by establishing a talented, stingy defense. While they performed so-so, Seattle, who allowed the least amount of goals against in 2009, was able to do better posting the shutout.

Seattle also proved that the team needs to complement the tough defense with a capable attack. Philadelphia’s biggest weakness is that they do not have many offensively proficient players.

Seattle does have some goal scorers. While they did miss some chances (that needs to be improved upon as the season goes on), they did do enough to break a solid defense and secure a victory.

Seattle’s “win-now” club took the first steps to becoming champions this season.

Philadelphia took the first steps of a long, learning process on the road to MLS superiority.

The two teams’ philosophies showed last night.

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On a wet and dreary Seattle night, the Philadelphia Union proudly marched out onto Qwest Field, into the bright, festive, lime green and aqua—clad crowd and into history, as they made their Major League Soccer debut.

What followed was a 90 minute game that I'm sure most of them would rather forget.

As it turns out, a team comprised almost entirely of teenagers and rookies played exactly like you would expect a team of teenagers and rookies to do.

Perhaps we should have seen it coming when the mohawked captain, Danny Califf, picked up the first yellow card of the season all of 42 seconds into the game.

The back line seemed incapable of marking the fast and technically efficient Freddie and Freddy combination, the midfield incapable of holding possession and the strikers incapable of posing any serious threat to Sounder goalkeeper (and balding idol), Kasey Keller.

The Philadelphia Union will now make MLS history with the first zero win season and will remain firmly rooted to the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

That is the pessimists conclusion from the first game and from visiting blogs and comment sections on the Philadelphia Inquirer, this seems to be a fairly common view.

But I am eternally an optimist and have not lived there long enough to succumb to the soul—sucking sports depression that seems to run rampant...yet. For me, it is far easier to look at the game optimistically and realistically.

Realistically it was impossible to think that you could take a bunch of rookies and teenagers who have hardly known each other for six months, throw them on to what is viewed (though in this case heard) as the loudest stadium in the MLS, against a powerful veteran team that made the playoffs last year and expect dominance.

And optimistically, this Union team is going to be very, very good.

The Union were already without their midfield maestro Fred, who Peter Nowak is counting on to be the string—puller of the team.

Number one pick, Danny Mwanga, has the physicality, technical ability and speed to become a dangerous striker once he adapts to the professional game. And Jack McIlnerny, who came on as a sub, is 17—years old. 17 years old.

When I was 17—years old, I played in a made—up soccer league with 10 of my friends where spectators were non—existent, rules were lenient, if they were enforced at all and games were generally called when someone had to go home to do homework. And I still got nervous.

McIlnerny, at 17, made his professional soccer debut in front of 30,000 opposing fans and on national television.

I'm sure nerves were a factor, yet the still managed to impress me. From following the Union preseason, it also appears that he might have the highest potential of them all.

So in light of all this, I think it is impossible to not look at this team with optimism, regardless of last nights performance.

Instead of jumping the gun, let's just relax, wait for the kids to grow up and for the rookies to become seasoned.

Expect growing pains, but enjoy the season. After all, it is the beautiful game.

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The Colorado Rapids are a competitive team. However, they have epitomized the parity in MLS. They are neither an elite team atop the standings nor are they a cellar dweller. They sit on the fringes of the playoffs each season.

Last year, they were in playoff contention but lost their last two games by a total of 5-1 and missed the playoffs by tiebreaker, marking the third straight year Colorado would miss out on the postseason fun.

This season they will be out to finish the job.

The Rapids boast arguably the league’s best strike force, featuring forwards Omar Cummings and U.S. International Conor Casey.

In 2009, Casey scored 16 goals—second most in the league—and had one assist. He does a good job of finding space, getting open, and is a good player in the air. He’s also still in consideration for a spot on this summer’s World Cup squad, so he should be highly motivated.

Omar Cummings shined last year, his third in MLS. He once again set career highs in goals (eight) and assists (12)—also setting a Rapids season record and tying for the league lead—and he was named the Rapids team MVP. He complements Casey well with great speed and the two form a good tandem.

After those two there isn’t too much scoring punch. The third most goals scored on the team came from midfielder Colin Clark, who put a whopping three goals in the back of the net.

The midfield is mostly a defensive unit, but they are a strong defensive group.

The group is led by captain and former U.S. International Pablo Mastroeni, an aggressive and tough player. He will be joined this season by another strong central defensive midfielder, Jeff Larentowicz, who in five seasons with the Revolution amassed 111 league appearances entrenching himself into the starting lineup. He learned the position playing next to arguably the greatest defensive midfielder in the history of MLS in MVP-candidate Shalrie Joseph.

Clark is the midfielder that could be the extra push the offense needs in order to be a threat and take some pressure off of Cummings and Casey. His season was cut just about in half last season because of an ACL injury. If he can recover, the Rapids will count on him to have a season like the one in 2008 where he played in all but one game, scored five goals, and assisted three.

It may look like a less-than average performance, but with the duo they have at forward, and if Clark, only 25, can still improve his game, then it may be that extra push the team needs, because their defense is pretty solid.

Matt Pickens will be the man between the pipes after a good 2009 campaign. Last season he posted a 9-6-4 record with a very good 1.16 goals against average and seven shutouts in 19 games.

In front of Pickens, center back Drew Moor will be in his first full season with Colorado after he was acquired in a late-season trade with FC Dallas.

Colorado also acquired yesterday a potential big impact player on defense. The team traded midfielder Nick LaBrocca, a solid player but one that would definitely be coming off the bench because of the team’s depth at midfield, for right fullback Marvell Wynne.

Wynne has blazing speed, which allows him to both cover for mistakes and also push forward on the flanks into the attack. He needs to be more consistent game-to-game and could improve his touch on the ball, but he is a solid defender who could also support Colorado’s offense.

Colorado is a solid club that one generally knows what to expect from them. They have some good pieces that could push them into the playoffs finally, but they also are maybe a creative midfielder away from getting in.

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Chivas USA is tired of being the “other team” in Los Angeles at the Home Depot Center.

They are also tired of their season ending in the early stages of the playoffs.

Three straight first-round playoff exits for Chivas USA—who share their home stadium with Western Conference champion Los Angeles Galaxy—also meant the exit of head coach Preki Radosavljevic. In his place is former assistant coach Martin Vasquez, who will try to transform the team into a more exciting and potent offensive squad.

The franchise is known for its stingy defense.

Last season, they allowed only 31 goals against. Only two teams let fewer past their keeper (Seattle and Houston, 29) and two teams tied with them (Los Angeles and Columbus).

Last year, the unit was lead by 2009 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Zach Thornton and U.S. International defender Jonathan Bornstein.

Thornton had a career year in 2009, his 13th in MLS, posting a career low goals against average and leading the league in shutouts—12, a career high—and goals against.

Bornstein is a good MLS defender who also likes to push into the attack. However, he may be a bit limited if he starts the season as a center back instead of an outside fullback.

What was sorely lacking last season was a scoring punch from Chivas’ offense. Only three teams (New England-33, Kansas City-33, and New York-27) scored fewer goals than the Goats (34).

Midfielder Sacha Kljestan needs to step up. He struggled at times last season and was even benched. He turned it around eventually, equaling a career-high in goals (5). As an attacking midfielder, the offense will run through Kljestan.

His latest effort with the U.S. team in a friendly against El Salvador, where he scored the game-winning goal in stoppage time, grouped together with his assigning to the captaincy while still vying for a spot on the World Cup roster should see Kljestan perform at a high level.

It isn’t just Kljestan that needs to have a turnaround 2010, though.

Maykel Galindo, who in his rookie season three years ago scored 12 goals, has fizzled out. After a 2008 season in which he only played in 10 games, Galindo struggled again last year, playing in only 23 games, starting only 15, and scoring a paltry four goals despite being the main target up top.

Winger Jesus Padilla also struggled. He managed only one goal and no assists in 11 games. He never quite found a home on the field. The team hopes that Coach Vasquez’s aggressive offensive mindset will help the winger.

The lone offensive weapon the team had last year, forward Eduardo Lillingston, who scored eight goals and notched two assists in 25 games, was loaned to Mexican second-division club Tijuana and will not be able to return until after the transfer window opens up again on July 15.

In order to improve the offense, Chivas brought in Salvadorian International winger Osael Romero. The 23-year-old is already considered the star of the El Salvador National Team, making 37 appearances and scoring eight goals. He is said to have a good touch on the ball, should provide great help to Kljestan in the midfield, and seems to be a very good fit on the wing for the style Vasquez wants the team to play.

The transition to the offensively astute side that fans would love to watch will take some time for the players to get used to and settle in. There may be some ugly results on the way.

So in order for Chivas to stay in contention until the offense figures itself out, the defense needs to continue to step up, even occasionally rising above the call of duty in order to preserve points.

If the team can gel and scoring chances become abundant, this could be a very good team that would be difficult to beat come playoff time.

If not, it could be just another disappointing season for Los Angeles’ “second” team.

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Major League Soccer's 15th season officially kicks off tonight when the Seattle Sounders face first year team the Philadelphia Union at Qwest Field in front of a capacity crowd of 35,500 screaming fans. Kickoff is at 9:30 PM ET and it'll be on ESPN 2.

Coached by Sigi Schmid, the Sounders were the darlings of the MLS last season as they advanced to the playoffs and had the best attendance and fan support that was noticeable by the entire League.

With excellent defense, they finished with a 12-7-11 record and were tied with the Houston Dynamo for first in goals allowed. Led by Freddie Ljungberg and Fredy Montero, this Sounders team has a balance of youth and experience capable of winning the MLS Cup this season.

For the Philadelphia Union, this is their inaugural season. Coached by veteran Peter Nowak, the Union will be faced with five young players transitioning and adapting to the level of MLS play. Drafting intelligently, the Union may have a championship team in three years. This is a squad that it's future core may include No. 1 draft pick Danny Mwanga, followed by Amobi Okugo (No. 6 draft pick), Jack McInerney (No. 7), Tony Stahl (No. 17), and Kyle Nakazawa (No. 33).

What a way to kick off the 2010 MLS season! A 2010 season which consists of 16 teams, 240 matches, and 21,600 minutes. In addition, American Soccer's Cathedral, Red Bull Arena, opened last week to a crowd of 25,000 fans as they witnessed the NY Red Bulls throttle Santos F.C. 3-1 in their friendly match. Realistically, it's safe to believe that the Red Bulls will finish better than 5-19-6.

This has the potential of being the best MLS season yet. The players and owners have reached an agreement with the CBA and neither side lost. With that settled, this is the year that Major League Soccer needs its fans to be vocal and prepared to defend their league.

Seriously...enough is enough! When it comes to league operations, Major League Soccer is one of the best soccer leagues in the world. It's a competitive league where the quality has evolved over the years. MLS being a "single-entity" league, the teams are more financially sound than some of the teams in the EPL.

Comparing MLS to the EPL, La Liga, or the Serie A is simply ridiculous and there's no need for it. When was the last time basketball leagues from China or Italy were compared to the NBA? Yes, those soccer leagues are fun to watch and they have more athletic talent but it's usually two or four good teams competing for their respectable title.

Competing against MLB, the NBA, and NHL the NFL? Major League Soccer doesn't have to compete against those leagues. If most fans would follow all the sports economically and from a time management perspective...MLS has all those leagues beaten.

What makes MLS great is the fact that the games are affordable for individuals and families. Second, there's no commercials or timeouts to disrupt the follow of the game. Third, both the NBA and the NFL may be on strike in 2011 if they're unable to reach an agreement by.

If you're a Major League Soccer fan, this is the year to be show it! Be proud! Be loud!

Enjoy the 2010 MLS Season!

Cesar Diaz covers Soccer for Latino Sports (www.latinosports.com). Send Cesar a question or comment for potential use in a future column at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Tonight marks the beginning of another Major League Soccer season when the Seattle Sounders take on the expansion Philadelphia Union.

Seattle’s Quest Field is the toughest stadium to play in and it will be packed and rocking tonight; a real baptism of fire for Peter Nowak and his Union team.

Nowak has taken a page out of Seattle coach Sigi Schmid’s playbook from last season in that he has built has team from the back. He has two good goalkeepers in goal, whether it is Chris Seitz and Brad Knighton, and with defenders Danny Califf, Shavar Thomas, Michael Orozco, Jordan Harvey and Dave Myrie, the Union should be solid defensively.

And they will need to be. The Union are young; an average age of 23, and they play eight out of their first 10 matches away from home. This season could get ugly quickly in Philadelphia and that is why I expect Nowak to be very defensive minded against the Sounders.

Look for the Union to crowd the midfield and frustrate the Sounders and try and take the crowd out of the game. So don’t expect tonight’s game to be a soccer classic.

What I do expect is for the Sounders to pressure the Union all over the park, trying to cause turnovers.  During the preseason Seattle has been moving defensive midfielder Osvaldo Alonso further up the field in an attempt to force turnovers in better positions. Schmid wants Alonso to move 10-15 yards up the field, moving him away from the center backs and allowing Seattle to sustain pressure on the opponent.

For the Sounders to be successful this year,  the two "Freds" (Montero and Ljungberg) need to form an effective goal scoring partnership. If Seattle has a weakness it is the lack of goal scorers on their rosters and they need Montero to step up this season and be that reliable goal scorer.

Prediction: First games of the season are always hard to predict, but I cannot see anything other than a Sounders victory here. Seattle 3 Philadelphia  0

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One wonders how difficult it must have been to the loyal Toronto FC fans to watch the expansion Seattle Sounders make the playoffs in their inaugural season while Toronto, who entered the 2009 season with much promise, failed for the third straight time.

Missing the playoffs by a single point last season, Toronto’s first move was to hire Preki as their new head coach. Preki had previously been the head coach at CD Chivas USA, where in his first season as head coach he led the Goats to first place in the Western Conference and was named MLS Coach of the Year.

A talented player in his own right, Preki can still only do so much as coach though. It comes down to the players' performance on the pitch, and the team looks to be on the fringes.

Toronto will experience a drop-off in production without the services of playmaking midfielder Amado Guevara, a former league MVP, who left the team to return to his native Honduras.

Without Guevara, Toronto will put more weight on the shoulders of Dwayne De Rosario.

The two-time MLS MVP and native Canadian enjoyed a successful first season with his hometown team. In 28 league games De Rosario scored 11 goals, equaling a career high, and notched six assists, his third highest total and most since he recorded 13 in 2005.

Toronto will hope that designated player Julian de Guzman will be able to team up with De Rosario and the club will not miss a beat.

De Guzman signed with the team in mid-September and only appeared in five games. Now Toronto will get a full season out of him and will expect him to be worth the DP slot. De Guzman and De Rosario were teammates with the Canadian National Team, so the two do have a history of playing together.

The Reds will also need increased performance from Chad Barrett.  

The forward is Toronto’s number one target up top, yet his goal scoring was sub-par, managing to only find the back of the net five times. In three seasons with Chicago before being traded he led the team in goals twice. He is well-known for his work ethic and is still a young 24-year-old, so it isn’t hard to imagine that last year was a small bump in the road.

What Toronto needs a lot of help on is defense.

They boast second-year phenom goalie Stefan Frei, speedy right fullback Marvell Wynne, and veteran center back Nick Garcia, yet managed to give up the third most goals in the entire league (46).

They didn’t do themselves any favors, either, when they traded defensive center midfielder Carl Robinson to the Red Bulls.

The hope is that Jacob Peterson, a midfielder that spent that past four seasons in Colorado amassing nearly 100 appearances, can fill in. The problem is that Peterson missed the end of last season because of a torn ACL in his right knee.

He is only 23-years-old still, so if he can recover he could be a valuable asset for years to come.

Still, without a strong attack force, the defense really needs to be shored up. Currently there are only two new faces to the defense and both are inexperienced.

They traded for Ty Harden, who after one season with the Galaxy retired only to return the following season with Colorado, where he appeared in only seven league games.

Toronto also drafted in the second round defender Zachary Herold from the U-17 residency program. The 17-year-old drew some attention from teams around the world, including the German Bundesliga, but settled on a six-year deal with MLS.

The squad had traded its first round pick for veteran defender Adrian Serioux, but they could not renew his contract and instead traded his rights to Houston (for a third round pick nonetheless, certainly a poor series of events from the Toronto front office).

It’s difficult to tell where Toronto currently stands.

They have some talented individual players, but collectively they struggle at both ends of the field. Expect the roster to continue to be influx as the season goes on as the team continues to push for its first ever trip to the playoffs.

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