issue 16 / volume 40 Striking south » Camilo sold to Queretaro FC ae Eric Wilkins Sports Editor “sports @theotherpress.ca i hat Canadian MLS team has some of the best fans in ! the league but consistently fails to : deliver on the pitch? First name out of most everyone’s mouth would be Toronto FC. However, given the results of the last three seasons and the lack of any real progress, our own Vancouver Whitecaps are, unfortunately, a legitimate answer to the question as well. Worse still, the clubs are heading in opposite directions, and Vancouver isn’t the one trending up. Case in point: the Whitecaps recently lost striker Camilo Sanvezzo to Mexican side Queretaro FC for a fee believed to be in the area of $2-million. “Lost” | because this was not a move the club had been planning on making. It’s not so much that he’s gone that hurts the Whitecaps as it is the fashion in which he left. The Brazilian put up 22 goals last year, and a surprising number of those were off set pieces. That’s his career year. He’s never going to put up a better season than that. Dont be surprised if (besides the fact he’s now playing for a team you've never heard of) you never : hear his name again. Back to how his departure : hurts the team though, it’s : because he bullied his way out of : town. Camilo was under contract. ; Vancouver knew that. Camilo knew that. His agent knew that. And despite their claims of ignorance on the matter, unless Camilo Sanvezzo // By www.mlssoccer.com Queretaro FC officials lack the capability to perform a quick Google search, they knew it as well. Camilo went down south, threw on Queretaro colours in front of a camera, and waited for the ‘Caps to cave. Camilo had been open about his deserving a more lucrative contract. The question of whether or not one agrees with his “deserving” of a new deal is irrelevant. He had a contract— one that had already been upped just last season. Why should the club have to give in to wage demands? Camilo willingly, and likely quite happily, signed his last sports // 19 deal that the club put forth. The Whitecaps are bound to honour it, so why not Camilo? For the record, the definition of a contract is “a written or spoken agreement between two or more parties, intended to be enforceable by law” By allowing Camilo to have his way and skip town for big bucks, the Whitecaps showed a distinct lack of any kind of backbone. They would have done well to stand firm and keep the striker on their books. The legal high ground was theirs. If they didn’t want to sell him, he couldn’t leave. If he refused to play come the season, so be it—hed come around eventually. Even the pouty prima donna would have to realize at some point that sitting ona bench isn’t going to help his value. Club president Bob Lenarduzzi commented on the situation: “He said he had given Queretaro his word that he would be going there. So why are we going to battle someone who doesn’t want to be here, that’s actually reneged on his word when he signed a contract with us and then turned around and said to the club that he’s going to, who he doesn‘ have a contract with, his word.” Why are you going to battle with someone who signed a contract with you, Bob? You answered your own question. Buying respectability » Toronto FC’s time to shine? etl Eric Wilkins Sports Editor “sports @theotherpress.ca fter seven years of playoff- less soccer, Toronto FC fans may finally have something to cheer about this season. In what has been a busy transfer window, with there still being rumblings of further acquisitions, the club has signed Jermain Defoe, Michael Bradley, and Gilberto to bolster the Reds’ lineup. The man behind it all? Tim Leiweke— famed for bringing David Beckham stateside. Leiweke said of the TFC fans and the signings that, “These fans for seven years have been unbelievable. They changed the fortunes of this league, they changed the value of these clubs, they changed the environment in this community. They taught us all what it means to bea passionate fan of TFC. This is a payback to them today—they earned it, they deserve [it] and it’s full credit to you (sic) and your seven years.” As much as Leiweke should be congratulated for swinging these deals, not enough can be said about the substantial financial backing he’s received. Defoe and Bradley’s transfer fees are rumoured to be in the $10-million range each, which makes the moves MLS records. Gilberto is comparatively cheap, coming in at a figure around $3-million. The contracts are gargantuan commitments as well. Defoe is reported to have signed a deal that will pay him $8.3-million a season for four years while Bradley will rake in $6.5-million for six years. Figures aren't available for Gilberto’s contract, but seeing as he’s listed as a designated player, he’ll be making upwards of $350,000. While most fans will likely “ooh” and “ahh” over fringe England international Defoe, the more important signing is that of Bradley. Defoe is a 31-year- old striker who’s never been the best. Good, sure. Competent at times even. But he’s definitely had his share of struggles. When you can’t consistently start for England and their miserable mix of attackers, are you really such a much? He'll provide a vastly improved attack for the Reds alongside Gilberto (not forgetting about Dwayne De Rosario, who has rejoined the club), but make no mistake, his best days are behind him. Bradley is a different matter altogether. The 26-year-old American is a regular starter for the US and just getting into the prime of his career. He’s had some trouble getting into Roma’s lineup this season, but he’s proven himself in the top flight of Italian soccer with Chievo, earning the nickname When you can’t consistently start for England and their miserable mix of attackers, are you really such a much?” “The General,” and put in some solid efforts in the capital as well. He’s a rock in the midfield—a hard-nosed defensive midfielder who’s also more than capable of distributing the ball effectively while contributing around the goal as well. TFC has never had a midfield to speak of. The failed Julian de Guzman experiment sums up their woes in the middle of the park nicely. Bradley can’t do it on his own, but he’s the kind of player you can build a team around. The only confusion about Bradley should be why he’s returning to the MLS when he could still continue a successful career in Europe. He said of joining TFC: “What they’re trying to build is something really special, something unique, something different than anything else going on in Major League Soccer, and honestly, something different than anything going in North American soccer. As a player you want to be a part of something like that. ... It took all of two seconds for me to understand that I would be coming to a place where I would be surrounded by people with that motivation and commitment.” Sure, Mike. That, or the money.