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ORLANDO - It is a bright, warm morning in Orlando and Toronto FC are going through an intense match between themselves at training. Buccaneers #11 Jersey . The smell of freshly cut grass makes you think of those back home chipping away at the ice on their car windows. Young defender Gale Agbossoumonde receives the ball, looks back and sees Steven Caldwell open. He decides not to pass it and instead forces a more difficult pass forward. Minutes later he is handed another opportunity. In his strong Scottish twang, Caldwell screams at his defender for the ball but, once again, he doesnt receive it, instead the ball is given away to the opposing team. It might still be February but Caldwell doesnt let it slide, telling his colleague in no certain terms what he must do next time. In a quick five-second moment, he shows to Agbossoumonde, and the rest of the team, the type of leader he is and the mentality expected inside Toronto FCs camp. Caldwell is as intense as he is driven. Hours after the training game he is preparing for a pre-season match here in Orlando and as he walks out of the dressing room he is focused firmly on the match as if its the most important game of his life. It is hard to believe this is Steven Caldwells first pre-season camp with Toronto FC. Since making his debut last May, the Scot has become club captain and was voted player of the 2013 season. Despite not even playing one full season for the team he also is unquestionably the best centre back the club has ever had. Toronto FC have struggled a great deal throughout their short existence in MLS and one of the main reasons for this has been the genuine lack of talent playing for them at the heart of defence. While the likes of Miguel Aceval, Andrew Boyens, Adrian Cann, Nick Garcia, Tyrone Marshall, Darren ODea and Marco Velez combined to play over 250 games at that position for this team, Caldwell was playing at the highest level in England. "I had some great times at Newcastle and in the Champions League I came on against Inter Milan, played the full 90 against Leverkusen, they were fantastic experiences. We had a good run, we went to San Siro, Nou Camp, Feyenoord was a special night when we scored two late goals to get through," Caldwell tells me. Having played all over the world, the Scot, who signed for Newcastle as a schoolboy, still names St Jamess Park as his favourite all-time stadium: "Fantastic atmosphere, the noise is incredible. I remember against Sunderland, that game sticks out, my first derby, we lost to a Niall Quinn header, but you couldnt hear the person who was five yards next to you, you just had to read his lips." Caldwell was loaned to Leeds in January 2004 to try and help them stay in the Premier League. He failed but remembers his time fondly. "I loved it, it was my first spell of regular football in the Premier League, Eddie Gray was the manager at the time - we had a great group of players, it still perplexes me to this day (getting relegated) - wow we had some team, Mark Viduka, Ian Harte, Alan Smith, stars everywhere really, it was a bitter disappointment for me to not do it for one of the best group of supporters I have ever had." One of the lowest moments of the season for Leeds was a crushing 5-0 loss against Arsenal at Highbury. Caldwell was one of the defenders asked to stop Thierry Henry that day, instead he was given a memory to last a lifetime. "Without even thinking about it, I can say he is the best player I have ever come across. That game he scored four goals and the last one Gary Kelly tripped him up and he still put it in," he laughs as he recreates the goal for me. "He was the best player in the world, for me, then and I was fortunate to say I played against him. What a gentleman he is and it is a real honour to still play against him now." In the summer of 2004, Caldwell joined Mick McCarthy at Sunderland and it was there where he created another special bond. Current Vancouver Whitecaps boss Carl Robinson had played on loan for Sunderland the year previous but would sign permanently the same month as Caldwell. "Mick brought in a special group who could deliver every single week, we were a fantastic group. We had that togetherness, spirit, camaraderie. We won so many games 1-0, in the end we couldnt get beat, we were just rolling along and won the Championship with games to spare. That year means Robbo and I are very close, we spent a lot of time together in that first season. Our careers moved on and we would play each other and have the weekends together with our families, we always hooked up and stayed in touch. We will always have that bond because we have won something together." Robinson cant say enough about what kind of person and player, Caldwell is. He told me this week: "Toronto has a fantastic leader. He is one of the best teammates I ever had, he is a true friend off the field." Both Robinson and Caldwell experienced that feeling of success at Sunderland and are hoping to bring that to their MLS teams this season. Caldwell said coming to work every day knowing your team is at their best and wont let you down is the best feeling in football. He said: "I had it at Sunderland and Burnley, different makeups of teams but one thing that was the same was the spirit of the team and you just wake up and you know what you are going to get." After winning promotion to the Premier League with Sunderland, Caldwell did it again with Burnley, this time via the playoffs when he would lift the trophy at the iconic Wembley Stadium. "We played Reading in the first leg of the playoffs - they were superb with Kevin Doyle and Shane Long, theyd been in the Premier League a couple of years earlier, and they came to Turf Moor and battered us, but we beat them 1-0 with a penalty late, and I am driving home thinking we cannot play any worse than that (in the second leg) so in my mind we had won it already because I knew it couldnt be that bad. We got bombarded again but held out and scored two goals late on to take us to the final, where we felt the momentum was with us." Burnley ended a 33-year drought of top flight football at Wembley that day and the image of captain Caldwell lifting the trophy sits proudly inside their Turf Moor Stadium. It is the end result of a team going from below average to very good in one season and is something the 33-year-old is leaning on this season for Toronto. "It is a similar type of experience, you start (the season) and it grows and you know you have something going and I feel it here again. I am not speaking too quickly and getting ahead of ourselves, I have that feeling here that something is building at this club and it was very similar at Burnley." Caldwell has heard often about the constant comparisons between the Championship and MLS and, as a veteran of so many matches in the second tier of English football, offers a unique perspective on it. "I think MLS has a little bit more talent, a lot of that comes because we are fresher and play a lot less games. The Championship plays far too many games - you have 46 league games, players get tired, in the middle of the season you are exhausted, its crazy. You cannot even play the game you want to play because of fatigue so you just do what you can and hope you have that striker or that one bit of quality to change a game. "Here we have the quality, the facilities, the conditions, the weather, its a bit more enjoyable to play but where we have to catch up in North America is with our mentality. We have to be a little more tough and once that improves, which it is doing, I think you will start to see MLS teams improving and going on to win the CONCACAF Champions League." Much has changed in the offseason for Toronto. Yet, Caldwell is not the missing piece. He was the first piece awaiting others to surround him. Jermain Defoe, Gilberto and Dwayne De Rosario have been brought in for goals. Michael Bradley has been signed to anchor the midfield and Julio Cesar signed to make the crucial saves. One thing they need to secure to create a strong spine through the middle for this team is a centre-back who brings leadership, experience and, above all else, a strong mentality that becomes contagious. It was once the thing Toronto FC lacked the most. Now it is the one thing they know they can rely on. D.J. Moore Buccaneers Jersey . -- Ben Brust scored 18 points, Sam Dekker added 17 and No. Bobby Rainey Buccaneers Jersey . Canada was placed in one of the easiest groups during Saturdays live televised draw in Montreal. NEW YORK -- Masahiro Tanaka has been every bit the ace the New York Yankees went shopping for last winter. Tanaka pitched a four-hitter for his first major league shutout and the Yankees got home runs from Yangervis Solarte and Mark Teixeira on Wednesday night, snapping a four-game skid with a 4-0 victory over the Mets. "Overall, I think that today was my best day," Tanaka said through a translator. Brian Roberts tripled twice and the Yankees finally beat their crosstown rivals after dropping six straight meetings. The Mets took all four Subway Series games last year and won two slugfests in the Bronx this week. Back home at spacious Citi Field, however, their bats went silent again. "You asked me about the home run barrage? We hit three of them tonight. They were just in the wrong park," manager Terry Collins said about spacious Citi Field. Tanaka (6-0) overwhelmed the Mets with his vast assortment of pitches while spoiling Rafael Monteros big league debut. Montero, the latest to arrive in a line of touted Mets pitching prospects, threw six competitive innings but was no match for the $155 million rookie from Japan. "In some ways, this is a David-and-Goliath matchup. One guys never lost and the other guys never pitched," Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said before the game. "So, its interesting. Well see how many rocks Rafaels got." Not enough. Tanaka is 34-0 combined in Japan and North America over his last 42 regular-season starts. He did lose Game 6 of the Japan Series last year -- before earning a save in Game 7. "I just go up there and basically try to win every single game," Tanaka said. The right-hander struck out eight and walked none, throwing 114 pitches during his first complete game in the majors. He lowered his ERA to 2.17 and gave the Yankees taxed bullpen a much-needed break. "I knew what was coming, but I couldnt hit it," Daniel Murphy said. "Hes commanding all his pitches to all zones. The splitter is the equalizer. You dont see it that much, someone using it in any count like that." Tanaka became the first Yankees rookie to begin his career 6-0 as a starter since Hall of Famer Whitey Ford went 9-0 in 1950. That sort of dependability has been sorely needed, with the Yankees already missing CC Sabathia and two other injureed starters. Buccaneers #31 Jersey. "Hes been special," manager Joe Girardi said. Tanaka even singled in the ninth inning for his first major league hit -- giving him one more than Mets pitchers have in 64 at-bats this season. Asked what the highlight of the night was for him, Tanaka smiled. "The first hit," he said, kidding. Girardi said Tanakas teammates "loved it" and gave the pitcher some good-natured ribbing. "When you look at it, hes not that far removed from hitting," Girardi said. "Hes got an idea. He wears a shin guard." Montero (0-1) allowed three runs and five hits. He struck out three and walked two after getting called up from Triple-A Las Vegas to step into the rotation slot previously held by Jenrry Mejia, who was moved to the bullpen. The slim right-hander fanned Derek Jeter in the third for his first strikeout, but was hurt by his defence an inning earlier. With a runner on first and Tanaka on deck, left fielder Eric Young Jr. made an ill-advised dive in trying to catch Roberts sinking liner with two outs. The ball got past Young and to the wall, allowing Solarte to score as Roberts cruised into third with his first triple. Solarte, the ALs leading hitter, sent a solo homer to right in the fourth. He has 23 RBIs in his rookie season, tops on the team. "He just keeps thrilling us all, in a sense," Girardi said. Teixeira lifted Monteros second pitch of the sixth to right-centre for his eighth home run and seventh in his last 15 games. Jeters infield single, a dribbler that barely travelled 20 feet out in front of home plate, scored Brett Gardner in the seventh. "I knew that we were in a little funk, losing four in a row, and I also knew that we hadnt won a Subway Series in a while. So yes, I did want to go out there and try to get a win for us," Tanaka said. NOTES: Yankees RF Carlos Beltran (right elbow) was still unavailable but reserve outfielder Ichiro Suzuki (back) was feeling better, Girardi said. ... Sabathia had his sore right knee drained and the Yankees hope he can return as soon as his 15-day stint on the disabled list is up, Girardi said. Sabathia was examined by Dr. James Andrews and is receiving treatment. ... The Mets plan to commemorate Jeters final regular-season Subway Series game Thursday. ' ' ' |
