What a strange scene. 5,000 Juan Toja's at Pizza Hut Park. I even got my picture with Juan at the VZ club after the match - what a good guy, and a great sport.
So to make the night of 5k Juan's even more bizarre, I actually got some face time with Allan Hopkins, of ESPN. My buddies and I chatted him up for about 15 minutes (good guy as well - although they definitely don't go light on the makeup for the onscreen talent).
Allan had Toja pegged as MVP for the first half of the season - but it sounds like he may have changed his mind for the second half of the season. That stupid high ankle sprain!!!!
I still say that Toja should get the nod as the league MVP. His form is a direct reflection of the FC Dallas record. One player that can completely change the dynamic and flow of a team, defines the MOST VALUABLE PLAYER award, IMO. He doesn't have to score the most goals or get the most press time (although both help).
I'll still be pulling for Juan - and will chat up the next t.v. crew I recognize in the VZ Club (on nights when my wife lets me stay out past my bed time!)
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7 comments:
Howdy!
You need to post the photos of you with Juan on your site. :) That was a great night, but he seemed a bit embarrassed, and humble, about the the whole thing (based on the Blog video, anyway).
Unfortuantely, I think his chances for league MVP are pretty slim, when compared with the "big goal scorers," such as Luciano, after the ankle sprain . . . and (in my opinion) after bringing in Denilson messed up the team dynamics. :P
However, I bet he gets a vote or two for team MVP.
:D
If you haven't seen them, here are the photos I took on the 11th:
Pregame:
http://gallery.mac.com/maggiehutch#100212
In-game:
http://gallery.mac.com/maggiehutch#100229&bgcolor=black
Maggie (la fanatica)
Oooooh the pictures of me with Juan. In a Juan wig.
I did mention that I was in the VZ club, right? And had been drinking? I'm really not sure why I allowed that picture to be taken! I look like a Care Bear.
I'll see if I can track them down and post them for some humor :)
And - I agree with you on his chances for league MVP. The ankle injury definitely hurt him.
For what it's worth - I think Denilson can still work. The guy has been here for what, 4 or 5 games? And we're ready to call him a bust? Sorry, i'm not ready to say it's over. As my friend reminded me, Shevchenko, signed by CHELSEA, took about a half a season to get going - and that is in England. In the Premiership. Not in Frisco, Tx. In the MLS.
What is interesting to me, really, is that there is enough fan interest to even comment on how good/bad our designated player is. I think that's awesome. It shows that the sport and overall team knowledge is growing.
GREAT pictures!!
Thanks!
About Denilson . .. I think the timing on bringing him in stunk. They should have waited until next season, so that he would have time to get fit, etc., because now we have all of these ESPN headlines about how "Denilson is a Bust." I actually think that he could add something to the team, but they need much more time than they've got (remaining this season).
Oh, and I'm biased, too, because Juan got moved deeper into the midfield to accomodate Denilson, so he's been getting the fallout about "not producing now." Nevermind that he's had the ankle to deal with (or is it ankles? -- he had the LEFT one taped in the Aug. 1st game, now he has both taped). He's not supposed to be doing lots of scoring froom that postition. Yet. people are complaining. :P
Anyway, thanks for supporting him! He's still awesome, even if he's not as "brilliant" as he was during the first half. And part of his "awesomeness" is how humble he seems (based on his interviews and the Blog video).
(From me ) ^^ la fanatica
Interesting video (in Spanish, though). I was searching Univision, since the FCD Blog said that Toja was interviewed before the Chivas game. I didn't find that, but I found an earlier interview, from 8/15:
http://www.univision.com/buscar/buscar_resultados.jhtml?type=basic&query=toja&letter=T&locale=0&search_type=video&referring_channel=&referring_subchannel=&chid=1&schid=12&secid=0&base=0&pgsz=10&category=&storequery=toja&display=&selectind=p
(Yikes! That's a long URL!)
In the video, the interviewer asks Juan two questions, the first of which is what his "story" (basically, how did a young guy who was at a great club like River end up in the MLS)?
Juan answers that he started out playing for Independiente de Santa Fe . . . got to play in the First Division and then with the U20 selection, got to play in a tournament in South American and then in the U20 World Cup (where they were eliminated). He returned to play with Santa Fe, but the club was contacted by River Plate and he was loaned to them . . . he said that he didn't have many opportunuites to play there, but he learned a lot and grew as a person and as a player. However, he wanted more chances to play, so that is why he left River to go to FCD. . . .
I am most impressed by how he is in NO way negative towards River, even though he obviously did not get to play much in the year that he was there (and was probably a bit frustrated).
That's another reason I think he's not just a totally cool player, but also a totally NICE person. :)
-la fanatica
No doubt - Juan is total class.
That was a nice interview - I guess my spanish isn't as rusty as I thought it was - I think I understood about 80% of what he said (but thanks for the translation to finish it off!)
wow I guess a lot of us got to meet him that night. Me and my friend met him at the VZ club as well. He is truly the nicest person and the most humble athlete I think you could ever meet. My friend and I spoke to him in english and he spoke soo well that I forgot that he speaks spanish and he asked me if I spoke spanish and I said of course ...and he was like well why are we all speaking in english:) and he began speaking all spanish. I dont really know what we all said though... I think I was just mesmerized. He is truly awesome and just completely nice. He is definately the best player on FC Dallas. I have cool pictures too!!
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