I've been a bit cynical over the Julio Cesar loan spell at Toronto FC, questioning whether it was really worth it for Toronto FC. Marketing wise it's obviously been and continues to be pure gold, but on the pitch, given the cap money used could have been spent elsewhere, and that there's been no noticeable dropoff since Joe Bendik took over (results wise, quite the contrary in fact), well it's all a bit debatable really, and I still believe that. Because of that, and because of the fact I really doubt he'll be playing for us again after the World Cup, I've found it a bit hard to get on the 'Julio Cesar - TFC player playing for Brazil, wow' bandwagon.
Where I'm beginning to think I was wrong is in the cynicism I had about it all from Cesar's perspective. I thought he was just using us to keep match fit, not really knowing just how off the rails his career had gone at QPR, that we could have been any club to him and that that video of him crying in a tiny towel seemed a bit over the top. This video from MLS Insider gives a bit more perspective on all that though, he's obviously a naturally emotional man and it shows how far he dropped out of consideration at QPR, to the point he was training in a local park with his son.
Definitely worth a quick viewing and maybe I'm just falling for some slick marketing but it makes me think less cynically of his time here. As far as TFC are concerned, it'll be merely a minor footnote in their history, a fun curiosity, but it seems like it was never actually about TFC, it was about him. I'm more willing now to buy that these 7 games with TFC were a significant part of his career worthy of his emotion on receiving his parting gift, more ready to think of him as TFC's Julio Cesar.