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DEFOE NETS TWICE

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Jermain Defoe made his debut with Toronto FC in an exceptional way as he scored twice against Seattle Sounders when playing at the Centurylink Field on Saturday. This victory gives his new club, a great start of the season as another triumph would put Toronto FC at the top of the league.

Michael Bradley was also making his debut with Toronto FC as he was transferred from As.Roma and most of the focus was being drawn to him but Defoe’s performance earned him the man of the match award as he twice in the 1st half which was just enough for the MLS club to get a positive start of the new season.

The former Tottenham player opened up the scoreboard after 17 minutes had passed when he managed to find space in the defence of the Seattle Sounders and when a deep pass from Jonathan Osorio managed to find the legs of Defoe, he only had the goalkeeper left to beat which he did by shooting a right-footed effort that went into the back of the net.

Only 7 minutes later and Defoe scored his 2nd MLS goal which arrived after a disastrous mistake from Marco Pappa. The Guatemalan player Marco Pappa tried to slip the ball back to a teammate but the pass instead fell 2nd directly to Defoe and he made no mistake in capitalizing on the mistake of his opponent as he scored the 2nd goal of the match.

Seattle Sounders tried to get back in the game and a 68th minute goal from Clint Dempsey gave them hopes of at least equalizing the match but that just never happened as Toronto FC did not concede any further goals and they came out of the match as the victorious side and Defoe kick-started his MLS career with what he later called to be a dream debut.

TIM WILL FIGHT

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Toronto FC general manager Tim Bezbatchenko has stated that the club are still fighting to keep Matías Laba at the club. Laba was one of the best players for Toronto last season, as the club finished ninth in the table just above DC United. This season, they have been making a lot of effort to move up the table. This has resulted in the signings of players like Jermain Defoe and Michael Bradley. They have been allocated to the designated player status at the club. Since this status is close to hitting the limit at Toronto, the club are believed to be looking at ways to offload Laba.

The player was a conspicuous absence from the pre-season media day, which has prompted speculation that he may leave the club before the start of the new season. However, Bezbatchenko has once again come from that the club do not have any plans of selling him, while they are looking at ways to continue keeping him at the club. Bezbatchenko did admit that it was going to be difficult to keep a player of Laba’s stature. Head coach Ryan Nelsen has also said that he very much wants to keep Laba at the club, but has admitted like the general manager, that it will be difficult.

“It’s going to be difficult, but we’re trying. We are still looking at our options between the three that we have, keeping him here, the option of trading or loaning him within the league and also options outside the league. We have been sitting down with the player to talk about what he would prefer to do because we are trying to treat our players a little bit differently than in the past, and we would like consider what their preferences are,” Bezbatchenko said about Laba’s future.

XAVI TO MLS?

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A source close to the Major League Soccer has denied the speculations that the Barcelona superstar Xavi is going to make his way to USA at some point of time this year.

There have been a lot of talks in America in the last 10 days or so regarding the arrival of Xavi. These talks started when the news got flashed that Xavi’s agent is going to attend the MLS combine.

But, according to that source, MLS has actually invited the agents of various Spanish and other players for the combine so that the league becomes popular all over the world. It’s not that Xavi’s agent has received a specific invitation.

Talking to the reporters, that source said, “The agents of a large number of top quality Spanish players have come here, but, not with the purpose of interacting with a particular club. They are just here to attend the combine.”

The popularity of Major League Soccer has definitely increased in the recent times, but, it is still not as popular as some of the other football leagues going around. Organizing the MLS Combine is believed to be a step taken to make the league more known around the globe.

Quite a few big names have played in MLS in the last few years. One of those names is Thierry Henry and it’s him who was reported to be trying to convince Xavi to make a move to USA.

Xavi who is a veteran now has spent his entire career playing in Spain, but, because of the fact that he is getting towards the end of his career now, he might not get a long contract extension at his current club Barca and that might force him to consider a move to other countries.

STILL HOPE

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The manager of the New York Red Bulls, Mike Petke, reckons that there is still a lot of football left in the veteran striker Thierry Henry and he will play a vital part for his team during the next MLS season.

The MLS season 2013 which has recently finished was fantastic for the Red Bulls. They won 17 out of their 34 games and ended up topping the Eastern Conference Points Table.

The Red Bulls were given the Supporters’ Shield at the end of the season as they were the team which had secured the maximum no. of points in the league. They had secured a total of 59 points which was two more than the Points tally of the Western Conference’s Portland Timbers.

Just like the 2012 season, Henry was the stand out performer for the Red Bulls in this season as well. He found the back of the net 10 times and apart from that, he also set up 9 goals.

Also, unlike the last few seasons, Henry maintained his fitness during the 2013 season and made 30 league appearances for the Red Bulls.

When asked about Henry, Petke said, “He is the skipper of our side and I think he is currently the greatest player taking part in the MLS. Till the time he leaves, he is going to be our main player.”

In total, Henry has played 92 MLS matches for the Red Bulls and has scored 41 goals.

Meanwhile, when asked about his team winning the Supporters Shield, Petke said, “We are proud of that achievement. We played like a champion side throughout the league.”

Petke also made it clear that during the off season, he will look to sign a quality midfielder who can play in an attacking role.