DEFOE NETS TWICE

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

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.