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TORONTO — Forget about David Beckham for a bit. Please.
Toronto FC head coach John Carver will soon have his own problems with players missing games because of international commitments.
Marvell Wynne and Maurice Edu, for instance, will be away to represent the United States at the Beijing Olympics in August. That's only for starters. There will be World Cup qualifiers coming up and exhibition matches to prepare for those.
Major League Soccer, being a league that is played from spring through fall, has conflicts with major tournaments and international dates that many other leagues don't – something MLS officials say can't be prevented altogether, even though there have been attempts to lighten the schedule as much as possible at those times.
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“It hurts everybody, it's going to hurt us, we know that for a fact,” Carver said yesterday after a training session at BMO Field. “That's why we've tried to bring in players that can deal with it when players are gone. Everybody is going to be in the same boat.
“I'm not one to dictate how the rules and regulations of the MLS go, but they might want to have a look at it. If they want the best players to be playing all the time, they might need to look at the schedules.”
Toronto is in a stretch where it will not play a game from May 1, when it tied the New York Red Bulls 1-1 at BMO Field, until it plays the Columbus Crew on Saturday, also at home.
“We could have arranged a game within that period so we wouldn't miss out when the international games came up,” Carver said.
Oh, yes, Beckham.
The Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder has been named to the English team that will play the United States on May 28 at the new Wembley Stadium and then Trinidad and Tobago in Port of Spain on June 1.
As of yesterday, Toronto officials did not know for sure whether he will miss the Galaxy's game in Toronto on May 31.
It is possible that with 31 players named to the English team for those games, Beckham could play against the United States, but not against Trinidad and Tobago, and play in Toronto instead.
The Galaxy's top scorer, Landon Donovan, who also is the top scorer for the U.S. team, obviously is a candidate to play for his country on May 28.
Toronto midfielder Edu has played for the U.S. senior team as well since late last year. The Americans have not announced their roster for the coming games yet.
“It would be great for the fans to see [Beckham in Toronto], but great for us if he's not going to play against us,” Carver said, “because when we played down there [TFC won 3-2 in Carson, Calif., on April 13], he was their best player by far along with Donovan.
“So it will be a disappointment for the fans, but it won't be a disappointment for me if he's not playing.”
Last year, Beckham didn't play in the Galaxy's lone Toronto appearance because of an ankle injury, but Donovan did and was greeted with a blizzard of pink streamers each time he tried a corner kick.
The streamers, whatever colour, have become a trademark of Toronto supporters. It is one that Carver likes, no matter what critics might think of the practice.
“That's all part and parcel of the game, it creates a fantastic atmosphere,” he said. “It gets everybody going. If it happened away from here, it wouldn't be a problem for me. It adds to the game. It adds to the spice. It's an attraction. It's one of the attractions that brought me across here.
“I'm not saying that was the right thing, but it caught my eye and told me a little about Toronto, about how fanatical the fans are,” Carver said.
“You can't stop doing things like that when you've got such fantastic support and people get behind a team. I find that incredible.”
