Dasovic Welcomes Sturgis
Toronto FC interim head coach Nick Dasovic has welcomed the arrival of midfielder Nathan Sturgis. The midfielder was acquired from Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Thursday in exchange for Toronto’s natural first round selection (eighth overall) in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft.
Reds Earn A Draw In Colorado
COMMERCE CITY, Colorado - Toronto FC gutted out a valuable scoreless draw on the road Sunday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park as the Colorado Rapids failed to take advantage of their first home game in three weeks.
Goalkeeper Matt Pickens was a bright spot for the Rapids, who earned a draw for the third straight match and stretched their unbeaten streak to four games overall. The veteran made his biggest save on Toronto’s Nick Soolsma, who missed perhaps the best scoring chance of the game when he rocketed a right-footed shot from eight yards out off the gloves of a sliding Pickens in the 45th minute.
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Mikael Yourassowksy also blasted a shot off the crossbar in the 62nd minute for Toronto, who earned their second point in five games on the road this season.
Forward Conor Casey earned his first start since early April for Colorado, but the reigning MLS Cup MVP was taken out for Andre Akpan in the 61st minute after a relatively quiet night. Casey, who suffered a hamstring injury early last month and is still working his way back to fitness, failed to register a shot in Sunday’s match.
Colorado finished with just two shots on goal to Toronto’s three, according to statistics provided by OPTA, despite controlling 64 percent of the possession in front of their home crowd.
Joao Plata, the Toronto FC forward who was recently called up for the Ecuadorean national team’s friendly matches in June, finished with one shot on goal over 60 minutes in his fourth consecutive start.
Colorado face a short turnaround with a matchup against the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday, while Toronto will play the same night in the final leg of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship at home against the Vancouver Whitecaps. A scoreless draw or a win for Toronto will take the Reds to the Champions League preliminary round.
Toronto - Stefan Frei; Richard Eckersley, Dicoy Williams, Adrian Cann (Ty Harden 74'), Dan Gargan; Alen Stevanovic, Nathan Sturgis (Nana Attakora 84'), Mikael Yourassowsky, Nick Soolsma, Javier Martina, Joao Plata (Maicon Santos 60') ... Substitutes not used: Milos Kocic, Matt Gold, Oscar Cordon
Colorado - Matt Pickens; Kosuke Kimura, Tyrone Marshall, Drew Moor, Marvell Wynne, Anthony Wallace; Jeff Larentowicz, Pablo Mastroeni, Jamie Smith (Sanna Nyassi 45'), Quincy Amarikwa (Wells Thompson 67'), Conor Casey (Andre Akpan 61') ... Substitutes not used: Steward Ceus, Mike Holody, Joseph Nane, Scott Palguta
Misconduct Summary:
Toronto - Martina (caution 83')
Colorado - Wynne (caution 69')
Referee: Abiodun Okulaja
Referee's Assistants: Philippe Briere; Brian Poeschel
4th Official: Elias Bazakos
Attendance: 13,598
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“He is a good player to bring into the midfield and has a great character. We talked to coaches that he has played under and they all had good things to say about him. We want players with good character who want to be here and work hard. We think he is a good fit for the club and we are looking forward to having him here.”
The arrival of Nathan Sturgis comes a day after six players departed from Toronto FC’s 2010 roster, including O’Brian White who was picked by Vancouver in the Expansion Draft and subsequently traded to Seattle.
“I spoke to O’Brian yesterday after the deal was done and I wished him my best,” said Dasovic. “I thanked him for his efforts and his contribution here. I told him that maybe a change of venue will help him out. Sometimes as a player it is good to move to a new area and get some new motivation. I think he is excited about it and looking forward to the challenge.”
“We have lost a striker who came in here with a really good reputation from college. Unfortunately he came in here with an injury and never really seemed to get back to where he was at. He is a great kid and Seattle will be happy to have him.”
Maxim Usanov, Raivis Hscanovics, Martin Saric, Mista and Gabe Gala also left the club on Wednesday. “The whole staff looked at the situation with the players we had and there were some guys we felt needed to move on as we look towards building for next season. When you don’t make the playoffs there needs to be some changes. We are looking to bring in young players and a couple of older, more experienced heads. We thank all of the players who have been here, but now we are looking in a different direction.”
“Hopefully as time goes on we won’t keep letting large numbers of players leave. We want to keep a group of players together for the next two or three years and build on that.”
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