Toronto FC, no stranger to drama, opened training camp with a bang Monday.
First came the unexpected news that captain Michael Bradley was scheduled to undergo surgery Tuesday in New York City on what GM Ali Curtis called a “very severe and complicated ankle injury.”
Bradley was hurt at the Nov. 10 MLS Cup final in Seattle but finished the game and downplayed the injury, saying the right ankle might take two to three weeks “to calm down.”
On Monday, that prognosis stretched to four months.
Adding to the drama was star striker Jozy Altidore, who tossed a medical grenade when he told reporters the Bradley injury had been mishandled by the MLS club.
“Make no mistake. In my opinion, for me, it was handled poorly,” Altidore told reporters minutes after Curtis outlined the injury news. “This was an injury from two months ago and it’s not the first time this has happened (at the club) … For two months to have gone by and now he’s having surgery and to be out ’til June.”
“I don’t think it’s good enough,” Altidore added. “He’s a guy that takes care of himself in an incredible way, an incredible professional … I think he was let down.”
Coach Greg Vanney, his exasperation at Altidore’s comments plain to see, was then left to clean up the mess.
“Jozy has his opinions,” Vanney said dismissively.
Vanney, unfortunately, has firsthand experience of the injury, saying his daughter has suffered a similar issue from gymnastics.
He called it a “contact injury” affecting the area between the ankle and the tibia. And he said it’s not easy to catch, with a specialist not seeing the severity of the injury from initial images.
“I understand that that this is not an easy find and an easy fix,” Vanney said.
“It’s an injury where you feel like you can pretty much do everything,” he added. “But there’s something that just tells you it’s not right and there’s a little bit of annoyance and a pain. So you can be at 95 per cent and feel like everything’s good but that last five per cent just doesn’t feel right.
“And the problem is that that last five per cent, you’re not going to get over it and it’s going to make things worse. Then you have to deal with it and that’s what he’s doing with it now.”
Adding to the injury surprise is the fact Bradley is a workhorse who takes care of his body and is rarely sidelined.
It’s not the first time Altidore, a designated player who made US$6.33 million last season, has taken a pop at the club. Last April he laid into Bill Manning after a game, saying the team president’s ego was hurting player welfare by banning trainer Giuseppe Gueli because of his affiliation with the now-departed Sebastian Giovinco.
Altidore, who has been dogged by injury in his career, apologized soon after and Gueli returned to the club.
Bradley injured his ankle in the 32nd minute of the championship game when Seattle defender Roman Torres, attempting a shot, caught the Toronto player on the foot with his follow-through. Bradley subsequently withdrew from the U.S. squad for CONCACAF Nations League games against Canada and Cuba just days later.
He spent much of the off-season trying to rehab the ankle at the club’s training facility.
Curtis, who called going under the knife “the last resort,” put the recovery at approximately four months.
“In Michael’s case, we are going to be careful and cautious about this,” the GM told reporters. “But we’re confident that, once he has the surgery, that he’ll be able to return to play. It’ll take probably approximately four months. Now that could be shorter or it could be lengthier depending on how we manage that process.”
The MLS Cup final represented Bradley’s 200th appearance for Toronto FC in all competitions. A month later the 32-year-old midfielder signed a new deal with Toronto that covers three years plus a club option.
Team officials will be looking to 21-year-old Canadian Liam Fraser to deputize for Bradley.
Players reported Saturday for medicals, arriving on a chilly weekend with a dump of snow. Monday was the first day training was open to the media.
TFC officials had been hoping for a quieter pre-season than last when GM Tim Bezbatchenko left to take over Columbus, star attackers Giovinco and Victor Vazquez departed for greener pastures and Dutch international defender Gregory van der Wiel was sent packing after a training camp bust-up.
That left Curtis, the new GM, with plenty of holes to fill with little time to do it ahead of the regular season. It took until the summer transfer window to fix the roster.
It seemed going into this season that the search for a designated player was going to be the main question mark. Monday added a few more.
Coaches and players leave Thursday for warm-weather training in Orlando through Jan. 29. They then return home briefly before leaving Feb. 5 for Irvine, Calif., for the rest of training camp. They have five MLS pre-season games scheduled from Feb. 8 to 22.
The team opens the regular season Feb. 29 at the San Jose Earthquakes.
EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, led the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan vote her first year on the ballot — an important part to possible selection to the hall’s next class.
The organization released the voting results on Friday. American doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan finished second with Canada’s Daniel Nestor third.
The Hall of Fame said tens of thousands of fans from 120 countries cast ballots. Fan voting is one of two steps in the hall’s selection process. The second is an official group of journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers from the sport who vote on the ballot for the hall’s class of 2025.
“I am incredibly grateful to the fans all around the world who supported me during the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan votes,” Sharapova said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the Hall of Fame, and having the fans’ support makes it all the more special.”
Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach No. 1 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She also won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova was also part of Russia’s championship Fed Cup team in 2008 and won a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
To make the hall, candidates must receive 75% or higher on combined results of the official voting group and additional percentage from the fan vote. Sharapova will have an additional three percentage points from winning the fan vote.
The Bryans, who won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, will have two additional percentage points and Nestor, who won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, will get one extra percentage point.
The hall’s next class will be announced late next month.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
