If you see a Toronto FC player wearing a hideous yellow t-shirt around town, make sure you walk up and give him a kick in the backside. Seriously, he needs it.
The latest team-building initiative among John Carver's crew revolves around a 'smedium' yellow t-shirt (with an unidentified graphic on the front) worn by one player over top of their jersey during training. On Thursday midfielder Maurice Edu stuck out like a sore thumb wearing the nasty bit o' gear in the heat at BMO Field. But as soon as Carver blew the whistle to end the day, the team gathered in a circle reminiscent of tribal counsel to determine who would be the next to don the shirt.
It was Marco Velez. The Puerto Rican hung his head and laughed before standing front and centre to claim his prize.
So what does it all mean? I asked Edu but before he could respond, TFC equipment manager Malcolm Phillips piped up that he would tell me the truth if Edu did not.
"We play these little games at the end (of training on Thursday) and the winning team votes on who was the worst player at training, and I got it last week," Edu smiled, under the watchful eye -- and ear -- of Phillips.
The obvious next question was to find out if the yellow t-shirt serves as motivation for the MLS rookie of the year, who enters the weekend with only one goal to his credit.
"I feel I can still help the team out in other ways even if it is not scoring goals; defensively I am looking to get on the ball more and distributing it to the players who are getting the goals," Edu said. "Having Amado (Guevara) in there gives us a creative element in the centre of the park and we look to get him on the ball a lot because he is one of our most threatening forwards."
"Obviously you want to score goals as a player, but more importantly I want the team to win and succeed and get in to the playoffs," Edu said. "If it means me scoring less goals but the team is doing well, I am fine with that."
At this point last year Edu had registered two goals and went on to finish at four to earn top rookie honours. The US international will have a reduced number of games to match his tally of one season ago as Edu revealed that Olympic duty will likely take him away from his TFC duties for six weeks this summer.
Check back on Friday to find out what motivates John Carver ahead of the weekend match in New England.
TRAINING NOTES: Mo Johnston sat in section 223 for the entire training session on Thursday, barely looking up from his Blackberry ... When asked about the potential of new players arriving soon, Carver coyly responded by requesting that the media come to him with names and then he'll comment on each ... The beach training session put on Wednesday by Carver in the spirit of team bonding was 'fantastic', but the coach was surprised to see how competitive his squad became when the volleyball games began ... Carver was also full of praise for the Montreal Impact and the 2-0 win over Vancouver on Wednesday night ... TFC injury watch: defender Olivier Tebily is doubtful for Saturday’s game against New England while defender / midfielder Todd Dunivant is out 2-3 weeks with an ankle fracture.
