08-09-2019, 01:04 AM
TORONTO -- Jermain Defoes anguish at being snubbed by England is still keenly felt. It doesnt help that reporters keep asking him about it, each question ripping off another part of the scab. "Every day I wake up, its still frustrating and its still baffling (as) to why I wasnt selected," he said Saturday. "But youve got to move on." The 31-year-old striker wrapped up a week that started with his relegation to Englands World Cup taxi squad with a rocket of a goal to help Toronto FC to a 2-0 win over the New York Red Bulls before 22,591 on a sunny afternoon at BMO Field. In truth, Defoe could have had even more on the day. But his 12th-minute blast into the top of the Red Bulls goal spoke volumes. "Thats exactly how I thought he would react," said Toronto manager Ryan Nelsen, "A brilliant goal, wasnt it? "Thats Jermain Defoe. And thats why England will miss him dearly, I think, come World Cup time." Red Bulls star Thierry Henry was also full of praise. "Jermain Defoe has been doing this since he was 14 years old and as long as he plays he will do that," said the French forward. Defoe downplayed the significance of his strike, "because Ive been doing that for my whole career. And people know that." "Thats what Ive done since Ive been over here," added Defoe, who now has four goals in five MLS games. "Its not my first goal Ive just continued to do what I do. Work hard and stay positive and get my goals." But prompted again, Defoe acknowledged the goal was a littler sweet. "Its only normal, when you get disappointment, to try and prove people wrong. And just to remind people that, at the end of the day, this is what Im doing. And I think I did that today." Defoe, who has 19 goals and 55 caps for his country, could still be called up to the 23-man main England squad in event of injury. Defoe didnt even see his goal go in. He hit it and went flying as a defender clattered into him. "It was funny because I was on the floor," he said. "I looked at the crowd and everyone was celebrating it so I thought OK, it went in." Englands loss is clearly Torontos gain. "Hes a massive part of whats going on here. Our talisman, so to speak. He gets the goals that win us games," midfielder Bradley Orr said of Defoe. Luke Moore scored late in stoppage-time as Toronto snapped its three-game losing streak. On a day where Arsenal won the FA Cup at Wembley, former Gunners star Henry -- while showing flashes of his brilliance -- was relegated to a supporting role as the Red Bulls saw their 10-game unbeaten streak against Toronto snapped. Both Defoe and Henry made their names scoring goals for north London clubs in the English Premier League. Defoe collected 153 goals for Tottenham while the 36-year-old Henry potted 228 for Arsenal. The New York attack also featured English forward Bradley Wright-Phillips, who came into the game leading MLS with nine goals this season. Toronto (4-4-0) had lost four out of its last five games after opening the MLS campaign with two consecutive wins. New York (3-4-5) was coming off an ugly 5-4 loss to the previously winless Chicago Fire, which snapped its four-game undefeated streak. And the Red Bulls looked sloppy Saturday, turning the ball over in the early going. A poor pass from fullback Kosuke Kimura led to Torontos first goal when Orr beat Dax McCarty to the ball in midfield and drove forward. He spotted Defoe and slotted a perfect pass, with the striker hammering a right-footed rocket into the top of the net in the 12th minute. Orr, a defender, moved into midfield to help fill the void left by Michael Bradley (with the U.S. World Cup team), Brazilian winger Jackson (concussion) and newly acquired Collen Warner (suspended). He gave all the credit to Defoe on the goal, saying he made the move that created the opening for the pass. "He makes your mind up. His movements that good. World-class. He makes your mind up," said Orr, who had a fine game. Moore, in his home debut, scored his first goal for Toronto with a tap-in after a defensive miscommunication. A long goal kick by Torontos Joe Bendik turned into disaster for New York when goalie Luis Robles collided with defender Chris Duval, leaving Moore to dribble the ball in. Still it was far from a complete performance from an undermanned Toronto squad. At times, the Red Bulls sliced through the home side but could not finish. Toronto wobbled early in the second half and New York missed a glorious opportunity to tie it in the 62nd minute when Wright-Phillips, facing an empty goal, shockingly skied the ball after Bendik palmed away a dangerous cross. Both teams have lost stars to the World Cup: fullback Roy Miller (Costa Rica) and midfielder Tim Cahill (Australia) for New York and Bradley (U.S.) for Toronto. Goalie Julio Cesar, who had been slated to play for Toronto on Saturday before joining Brazil, was out with the flu. The game may cost Toronto. Midfielder Jonathan Osorio played the whole game despite having his hand stepped on in the opening minutes. He was due for an X-ray later, amid fears of a fracture. Toronto started rookie Nick Hagglund at centre back, shifting Doneil Henry to the bench. In his last three games, the 21-year-old Canadian international has given up two penalties and a giveaway that led to a goal. Nelsen offered a different explanation, saying Henry had played 120 minutes during the midweek Amway Canadian Championship semifinal in Vancouver and had a sore quad and head knock. "I just felt like he needed a rest and Nick had kind of deserved his chance," Nelsen said. Faced with one of the games greats in Henry, Hagglund acquitted himself well on the day. Henry introduced himself to Hagglund by racing past the rookie and then felling him with a late tackle that earned a yellow card in the sixth minute. On the plus side, Hagglund got to shake hands with a repentant Henry. A laughing Hagglund said his thought at the time was "Foul me again, Ill shake your hand again." The Red Bulls had not lost to Toronto since June 24, 2009, a 7-0-3 stretch that saw them outscore TFC 25-5. "Obviously, the first half we werent good enough," said New York coach Mike Petke, who took solace in an improved second-half showing. "The pitch was a bit bobbly but that was no excuse for how bad on the ball we were. We had too many giveaways, too many loose passes and too many instances where we gave them the ball back too easily." Johnny Manziel Jersey . Scheffler told The Associated Press on Wednesday he made the choice because he had three concussions over the past four years. Rickey Henderson Padres Jersey . Parnell will be out much longer if it turns out he needs surgery. But first, he will try resting for two weeks before beginning a throwing program that could last up to a month, general manager Sandy Alderson said. http://www.padressale.com/padres-eric-hosmer-jersey/. Booth picked up 65 caps after making her national team debut in 2002 at the age of 17. She most recently played for Sky Blue FC of the National Womens Soccer League. "It just felt like it was my time to move on," she said in a phone interview from her hometown of Burlington, Ont. Austin Hedges Padres Jersey . The Canadian skicross racer appeared to have the bronze medal locked up in the mens final at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, only to wipe out while trying to make a pass in the biggest moment of his career. Manny Machado Jersey .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable.Sochi, Russia - The closing ceremony of the Sochi Games brought a flashy and tuneful end Sunday night to the most expensive Olympics in history. Most important, perhaps, it went off without a hitch. Organizers poked a little fun at the now-infamous opening ceremony gaffe that saw only four out of five snowflakes open up into rings, leaving the Olympics logo one ring short. They opted for human rings this time, the last one opening several seconds after the first four on the floor of the stadium. It echoed the hijinks from Vancouvers closing ceremony four years ago, when a leg of the cauldron that failed to come up during the opening ceremony was finally raised into place. Sundays ceremony at Fisht Olympic Stadium included a handoff from Sochi to Pyeongchang, South Korea, host of the 2018 Winter Games. Near the end, the cauldron that was lit 16 days earlier by Russian Olympic greats Vladislav Tretiak and Irina Rodnina was extinguished after one of the games mascots, an animatronic bear, blew out a flame in the center of the stadium, a single tear dripping from its left eye. Earlier, after a childrens choir conducted by Valery Gergiev sung the Russian national anthem, flag bearers for each country entered the stadium together rather than country by country like in the opening ceremony. The athletes who stuck around for the festivities also came in together, as is customary for the closing ceremony. American ice hockey forward Julie Chu, who competed in her fourth Olympics, carried the U.S. flag. "So proud to represent Team USA (and) our amazing athletes. Humbled," Chu tweeted as she waited to enter the stadium. Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse, who won their second womens bobsled gold medal in a row, were co-flag bearers for Canada. Figure skater Maxim Trankov, a dual gold medalist in Sochi, carried Russias flag. Pop music played, but the ceremony also included a heavy dose of classical music and ballet like the opening ceremony, and a nod to Russian novelists and poets. All of it was done as temperatures hovered in the 40s, a cool close to the so- called Spring Olympics, where the weather was famously mild, with temperatures even climbing into the 60s on some days. That led to some strange scenes, including cross country skiers cutting the sleeves off their uniforms and American skier Julia Mancuso filming a surfing video for NBC on the Black Sea. There was a serious side to the warmer weather, of course, which wreaked havoc on some courses for the snow events. Snowboarders complained about slushy conditions on the halfpipe and the New York Times detailed a clandestine operation by organizers to purchase more salt needed to keep some courses properly iced. Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen set the all-time Winter Olympics record during the games by winning his 12th and 13th medals, both golds. But Russia led the overall medal count with 33, including 13 gold medals to fall one short of the Winter Games record of 14 set by Canada four years ago at the Vancouver Olympics. The U.S. finished second with 28 medals, nine fewer than the Winter Games record 37 they captured in Vancouver. Norway was third overall with 26 medals and Canada won 25, including 10 gold -- the last secured by the mens hockey team on Sunday in a win over Sweden.dddddddddddd. The Russian anthem played for the last time at the closing ceremony during the medal ceremony for the mens 50-kilometer cross country race. Alexander Legkov led a Russian medal sweep of that event Sunday morning. Sochi organizing committee head Dmitry Chernyshenko called the games "a great moment in our history ... a moment that will never be forgotten." "This is the new face of Russia, our Russia," he said. "And for us, these games are the best ever." Russian President Vladimir Putins $51 billion Olympics were the subject of snickers early on when media and athletes arrived to find some accommodations lacking. Journalists relayed stories of unfinished rooms, broken door handles, missing shower curtains and even stray dogs in their media villages. One was told not to use the water in her bathroom, which was said to contain a dangerous chemical. U.S. bobsledder Johnny Quinn became an Internet sensation after tweeting a picture of his bathroom door, which he had broken through after becoming locked inside. The Twitter account SochiProblems had more than 330,000 followers by the time of Sundays closing ceremony, but the criticism so prevalent in the first days died down, giving way to wide praise of Sochis venues. IOC President Thomas Bach, presiding over his first games, said the athletes left a legacy of "peace, tolerance and respect" and urged, as IOC heads often do, that countries around the world follow the example. Bach thanked Putin for what he said was the Russian presidents "personal commitment to the extraordinary success" of the games. "We leave as friends of the Russian people," said Bach. News broke during the opening ceremony that a plane had been diverted to an airport in Turkey after a passenger on board allegedly issued a bomb threat and tried to have the aircraft redirected to Sochi. The incident further raised fears that Russias first Olympics in 34 years could be the target of a terrorist attack, but the games passed without any such incident. The host country faced criticism in the run-up to the games after passing laws last year aimed at keeping gay "propaganda" away from children, and officials remained adamant throughout that political protests should be kept away from Olympic venues. In the highest-profile incident of its kind, two members of the punk band Pussy Riot were among several people detained for several hours as they planned to film a protest video in Sochi. They set up a day later to film again, but were interrupted by Cossacks who attacked them with whips. The games went without a positive doping test until the final weekend, when there were six. In the last case, Swedish hockey star Nicklas Backstrom was scratched from the gold medal game Sunday after testing positive for a banned substance found in allergy medication his NHL team said he has been taking for seven years to combat severe allergies. The Washington Capitals said the medication was approved by the Swedish national team. ' ' '