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Week One is now in the books and Toronto FC find themselves sitting near the top of the league table thanks to their 3-1 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps. The win not only caught the attention of a record number of viewers on TSN but also seems to have grabbed the attention of others around the league.
For his two goal performance in the win Jozy Altidore was named the MLS Player of the Week for the opening weekend based on a vote from North American Soccer Reporters. His performance was similar to that of the Seattle Sounder's Clint Dempsey as both Americans found the back of the net from open play as well as from the penalty spot. They were the only two players to net a brace on opening weekend, but Altidore got the nod ahead of Dempsey for player of the week honours.
Altidore winning player of the week was not the end of the recognition for TFC in week one though as they also had a very strong presence in the team of the week.
Team of the Week (Wk 1): http://t.co/QQ6TY96K2q pic.twitter.com/c7TIES5GLD
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 10, 2015
Altidore was joined by Michael Bradley and Justin Morrow in the team of the week as well as Greg Vanney who was named the top coach. Morrow got the nod for his performance getting forward which included an assist on the team's second goal. Bradley was included for a strong performance in the second half as he really became the anchor for TFC as they took over the game. Finally, Vanney was named the top coach for the adjustments that he made at halftime to completely turn the game around when it seemed like the Whitecaps were going to coast to a fairly comfortable three points.
The end result of all that love is that the team also finds themselves jumping up to third in the latest MLSsoccer.com Power Ranks. Another meaningless honour in the grand scheme of things, but it just further illustrates that the eyes of the league will be on Toronto FC if they can continue to perform.
The Columbus Crew came out flat in their opening weekend loss to the Houston Dynamo but they are still considered to be one of the more interesting teams in the Eastern Conference. Add in a group of traveling TFC supporters that could be as big as 1000 fans and it should prove to be one of the more exciting matches of the second week.
It will be interesting to see how the ratings trend for Toronto the rest of this season starting with their first game on TSN2 when they take on the Crew. This time around they won't have the big lead-in that is curling so will have to draw eyeballs on their own, but it could be that this team has finally turned a bit of a corner in terms of drawing eyes to the tv which is one area that they have historically struggled in.