Sweet Holy Moses

None. Only jerks and the Portuguese put money on Free Parking.

I'm down for it, if we can get enough others.

In breaking news:

DCU's is actually pretty good, I think. The rest? Meh. Except for Portland's. That one is terrible.

Man, I'm so glad they fired Randy Carlyle.

Crud. Well, boa sorte in Brazil, Ol' Gil.

Gilberto had seven goals in 28 appearances across MLS and Voyagers Cup, albeit with limited minutes. He's a quality player, but apparently had issues with either Defoe or the coach, and may have had language issues, too. He'd probably do much better back in Brazil. That said, I'm hoping we keep a hold of him somehow. He's not the flashiest player, but he works very, very hard. There was a span of five or six games to start the season where he had chances, but just couldn't bury them. If he were the first striker option for TFC last year, and he was a little bit luckier, 12-15 goals would not have been out of the question. If he were to stick with TFC this year (somehow), I'd peg 15 goals in MLS/VC play as a reasonable return.

If there was some way to keep Gilberto in the league, I'm sure TFC would be doing it. The number of good players TFC brings into the league only to let them go the following year is starting to get ridiculous. Oduro does two things well: run fast and have funky hair. I saw TFC beat Impact 2-0 live in Montréal, and Oduro set up both goals with his on the right wing. But, the only reason he actually succeeded was because Montréal's D was old and slow. Against faster defences, Oduro didn't really do a whole heck of a lot in Toronto.

I guess NYRB are looking to bring a USMNT player back to MLS?

TFC officially signs French/Polish D Damien Perquis. TFC get Eriq Zavaleta from Sounders for a 2nd round pick. Wa-hey! We have defence! Also, does NYRB even care anymore?

Kristian Jack of TSN.ca talks to Greg Vanney on Giovinco, Michael Bradley and TFC tactics/formation. It's a good read, and shows that Vanney's open to toying with things in preseason to see where things work best.

I can only hope that the boys up front score enough to make shipping two or three per game irrelevant.

Exactly why I think there might be a 3-2-3-2 or something in TFC's future. Not sure if Vanney has the balls to try it, though. I like Hagglund; he's going to be a good if not very good MLS defender. I've been a fan of Henry's since I first read about him in the Toronto Star six years ago (-ish?), and hope he does well at West Ham, but damn we needed him. But other than Haggs and "wacky inflatable waving arms" Caldwell, we've go nobody to play CB. I think TFC's got its hopes on Damien Perquis' ability to still contribute, or one of the draftees becomes Rookie of the Year. As always, it's going to be an interesting season at BMO Field. Oh, wait, they're getting a new sponsor, too, so it might not even be BMO Field.

yeah, he's shown flashes ... did pretty decent as a sub/fill in ... if FCD did it for depth, I think it's a good move. Most likely it is an attempt by TFC to find a way to keep Gilberto 41212 .... Altidore, Gilberto up to with Gio underneath and Bradley/Osorio at the mid ? You almost don't need defense Good. Because we don't have any.

Money to pay down Gilberto if the new CBA doesn't allow four DP, maybe? Seeing as FCD was willing to pay "money" and an international slot for Bekker, I guess someone in their organization thinks really highly of Kyle, which is more than most TFC fans could say.

Considering TFC's epic track record of monumentally screwing things up, is the Giovinco signing still a big deal if he ends up hating Toronto, TFC, MLS and heads back to Europe next year? If talented guys come over, but then head right back, wouldn't that potentially be worse than them not coming over in the first place?

If BE was a mod of Civ, Starships looks like a mod of BE.

My thoughts exactly, Show and Lanky. Beyond Earth does many things right (the tech web, missions, unit changes based on ideology) but doesn't really have enough to warrant a full game. Honestly, I feel that Civ:BE is the prologue (or perhaps even just a treatment) for a much more successful game. It feels rushed -- not on any technical or buggy level, but in the lack of features and depth. I understand that it is much more difficult to build a world from scratch as compared to real world history. BE is, in many ways the first game in a franchise. A comparison with Alpha Centauri rather than Civilization 5 + Expansions might be more fair. That said, I'd still rate Alpha Centauri the better game. Unit customization was awesome. Overall, I've played BE less than any other game in the Civilization franchise, even the sub-par Colonization remake. Granted, BE has been around for much less, but I don't think I'll be going back to it any time soon.

I was going to post a bunch of potential TFC formations and whatnot, but the more I think about it, the more I realize I have no idea how this team is going to look next year. At all. So I'm not even going to bother trying. That said, I'd love to see a 3-5-2, 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 set up, with Jozy the target man, Giovinco behind him (beside in a 4-3-3), Bradley bossing the midfield with Osorio and oh dear gods please don't make our defense place defense.

Giovinco will be joining Toronto FC in July. Does this mean the end of Ol' Gilberto in Toronto, or will MLS allow 4 Designated Players in the new CBA?

With the new KIA TFC Academy, you'll be pumping out one or two legit MLS players per season, if not more. FM's got KIA TFC Academy as a world-class institution, somehow. Apparently lots of money and no track record gives SI a boner. Maybe they should work for MLSE, they'd get along swimmingly.

To be honest, MLS is already pretty easy to win in FM. Doing it with NYCFC is almost cheating. EDIT - Here's a challenge for you, TCO: Take Toronto FC to the MLS Cup (and beyond), but the only incoming transfers can be from TFC Academy, through the SuperDraft or Supplemental Draft, or DP players who are over 32 years old. No waiver pickups (not even the Re-Entry), no trades, no loans, no other transfers of any kind. That actually makes it a little bit more challenging.

As a TFC fan myself, I recommend you stay as far from the club as possible. It'll only end in heartbreak otherwise.

So... yes, the lower ranked teams get into the play-offs but it doesn't explicitly state that the four group winners in a respective division will play off against each other.... does it? Yes, it says grouped four by four, but it doesn't explicitly mention 'four by four within the division they cam from'. You're right, DFF. It's not expressly stated anywhere official (that I can find) that each League will be represented in EURO. But this graphic suggests (to me, at least) that each four-by-four playoff group is from within each League, waterfall allocations notwithstanding. Also, "16 teams will take part in the play-offs and are grouped four by four. Each group plays for one qualification spot....The four teams in each league will play two one-off semi-finals and one one-off 'final' to determine each of the four play-off winners." In the graphic, each group visibly descends from a different league (again, waterfall spots notwithstanding). To me, that suggests that we are going to see one of the bottom sixteen teams in Europe compete in EURO 2020. I know it's not official, and I agree there is a lot of room for interpretation on this one.

And you, Ruki, need to learn humour.