Enter Toronto

Toronto FC, that is. What a crowd. Added is a video of their home opener against RSL. As I stated on a previous email this is the best fan base in the league. Always a sellout of 20,000+ with talks of expanding the stadium in the next three to five years while other stadiums are shrinking in size to make space for a concert stage (i.e. Columbus). In the horizon, a designated player. Dutch legend Patrick Kluivert has been linked with TFC by the Footy Show blog, mls-rumors., and even Wikipedia. Kluivert is a former member of Barcelona, PSV, AC Milan, Ajax, and Valencia. He currently plays for Lille in France having scored 4 goals in 11 days. Kluivert is a reliable striker, albeit prone to injury, that would add a certain degree of pedigree to an already technically enriched Canadian side. I add "technically" for two reasons: For one the addition of French international Laurent Robert (scored the goal in the video) was a brilliant move to a squad that accounts with the presence of striker Danny Dichio, and an Amado Guevara in the midfield that provides a good deal of experience and good treatment of the ball while the younger and outstanding defenders US international Maurice Edu (can't see him staying in the league much longer) and Marvel Wynne anchor the team at the back. Second, we must remember that regardless of the pedigree and style of play, the experienced members of this squad are already in the latter stages of their career. This seems to be a recurring theme for TFC. The latest is Scotsman Paul Dickov, currently in England's second division and 35 years old. So what's the prognosis? A lot of potential--more so than last season. The older players should be able to inject their experience and style to the younger generation. I say bring back DeRosario to this Canadian side and give it a real Canadian feel. Some home grown talent up top would also be nice. This team has the makings of one of the MLS giants in the next 5 to 10 years. Adding a second or even third team in Canada (Montreal is high up in the expansion talks) would elevate the team even more.
Some stats:

• This season TFC is at 101% with 20,219 at home
• In its relative average (ratio of attendance to actual seats available) as compared with the other 6 teams in the eastern conference, TFC has 20% of the total attendance.
• Its average home attendance makes up 21% of the eastern conference attendance rate
  
• Currently constituting 11% of the total attendance in the east (1 home game)
  

(all stats are based on MLS figures)