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TORONTO -- Toronto FC now has brainiac GM Tim Bezbatchenko to go along with up-and-coming manager Ryan Nelsen. The underachieving MLS team has a $20-million training centre that is the envy of the league, a fan base that has stayed remarkably loyal considering the dreck put in front of it, and an owner willing to spend more than US$25 million on two marquee designated players when the transfer window re-opens in January. There is salary cap space and allocation money to spend, not to mention some talent available to move. So is the dark age over for the 4-14-11 club, whose career league record is a woeful 49-102-66 going into Saturdays home game against Sporting Kansas City? "I do not think the dark days are over yet but I think there is a light at the end of the tunnel and we control our own destiny," said Tim Leiweke, president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. "And now we have to do the heavy lifting to get there by January so we could look everyone in the eye and tell them this is a different era here in this organization. Its not about flash, its not about spin. Its about hard work, tough decisions, spending some money and making the right decisions. I think well know that in January." No stranger to navigating multibillion-dollar sports empires, Leiweke is used to being the smartest person in the room. The 31-year-old Bezbatchenko may give him a run for his money, although the new GM is undoubtedly too smart to make it too obvious. A lawyer with degrees from the University of Cincinnati and the University of Richmond, Bezbatchenko comes from the leagues inner circle. As senior director of player relations and competition at Major League Soccer, he was a young league insider with intimate knowledge of MLSs complicated legal landscape. His brief at the league -- a single entity structure in which players are signed to the league rather than the team -- was to oversee and manage six clubs budgets and rosters, among other things. And his group included Toronto FC. Bezbatchenko (pronounced bez-buh-CHENK-oh) clearly knows where the bodies are buried in MLS. Although Leiweke said exactly that about former president and GM Kevin Payne before firing him. Bezbatchenko, a native of Westerville, Ohio, played midfield for the second-tier Pittsburgh Riverhounds in 2004-05, joining MLS in 2010 after two years with the law firm Shearman & Sterling. Bezbatchenko was working in mergers and acquisitions at the law firm. Or as he explained, he was getting deal experience in buying and selling companies. "This is the same, but youre doing it with players," he said of the move into soccer. Its not exactly a warm, fuzzy management approach. But top sports executives tend to be more ruthless than Ruth Buzzi. Bezbatchenkos job will be to help Nelsen get what he needs to continue the reconstruction of a moribund franchise. Leiweke has given an unqualified vote of confidence to Nelsen, saying the new GM would have to work with him in 2014. But it is clear that come January, if Nelsen gets the players he wants, the clock will be ticking on the manager. Should Nelsen ever depart the team suddenly, he no doubt has a book in him. He has quietly cleaned one mess after another at TFC while staying mostly mum. Leiweke made a point of noting that this is not rocket science. Hard work and good judgment are whats needed. "To be honest with you, this is not that difficult. Theres 11 slots and you need a couple of players per slot. And this is about filling in the boxes ... And one thing that Ryan pointed out, and I think hes right, is its not like were 22 boxes away. Were four or five boxes away. A couple of those are DPs." Those designated players are key, with Toronto eyeing international stars who can score goals while bringing some much-needed sizzle to the franchise. The team has pushed back the deadline for season ticket-holders to put their money down to January so they can see what progress has been made. Asked how long it takes to turn around an MLS team, Bezbatchenko smartly stepped around the crux of the matter. When pressed, he said it would be difficult to do it in one year "but our goal would be to have a nice upward trend over the next few years." Spoken like a true suit. Much of the talk Friday was about business plans, the right course and analysis. Although Bezbatchenko worked himself into a verbal pickle when he talked about Toronto "not having a successful playoff run in, ah, well ever." The club has never made the post-season in its seven seasons in the league. Some observers commented that Nelsen looked uncomfortable at the podium Friday, alongside Leiweke and Bezbatchenko. If so, it was likely because the former New Zealand international is more at home on the training field than in a suit -- although he cleans up nicely. Nelsen, 35, is smart enough to know he needs someone who knows the league and can do the spadework to unearth the talent he wants. Bezbatchenko fits that bill. "This is kind of a Theo Epstein hire," Leiweke said, referring to the baseball executive. Epstein, currently president of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs, was 28 in 2002 when the Boston Red Sox made him the youngest GM in Major League Baseball history. Bezbatchenko, who is married with a one-year-old son, acknowledged his goal has been to become a GM. "Absolutely. Its the reason I went to law school," he said. There is no shortage of grey matter in the Bezbatchenko household. His wife is in higher education with a PhD to her credit. Leiweke said while commissioner Don Garber was loathe to let Bezbatchenko go, he saw the bigger picture. The league needs to fix Toronto as a franchise once and for all. "He was in Toronto a couple of weeks ago and he went to the game and he saw whats going on here," Leiweke said of a Sept. 11 tie with the Chicago Fire that drew a season-low crowd of 15,217. "I think he understands our pain ... And he knew that we need a big, bold statement. And amazingly he sees this the same way we do. It wont be the biggest name in the business but it will be the best move we could have possibly made." Bezbatchenko has also been a key figure in an MLS partnership with the French Football Federation that sees MLS youth academy coaches learn from the French model. Leiweke is a big believer in the role MLS academies can play, knowing if done right they can be a pipeline for cheap talent. Toronto canned Payne on Sept. 5 with Leiweke saying the two were no longer on the same page. Earl Cochrane, Paynes right-hand man and Torontos director of team and player operations, was also fired. Chief scout Pat Onstad subsequently left. Just minutes before Fridays announcement at BMO Field, pictures of Cochrane and Onstad remained on the wall outside the news conference room. But they were gone by the time it started. The team also wasted little time trading Argentine striker Maximiliano Urruti, Paynes prize acquisition, to Portland after just 37 minutes action in a Toronto uniform. For those wondering, Bezbatchenko grew up a Manchester United fan. He has since helped sign a Rooney, although unfortunately it was John -- Waynes little brother. Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping . -- Martin-Olivier Cardinal had a goal and an assist and the Grenadiers de Chateauguay used a three-goal third period to defeat the Moose Jaw Generals 4-2 on Friday in preliminary-round action at the Telus Cup midget hockey championship. Wholesale Jerseys . "He was disappointed in himself, but he was also very kind to the organization," Maddon said Monday. "He just said he was disappointed. He didnt apologize. I wasnt looking for an apology necessarily. http://www.cheapjerseyscustom.us.com/ . The AS Roma star injured his left knee in March, ruling him out of the tournament in Brazil. Van Gaal said Tuesday that "we do not have another Kevin Strootman in the Netherlands." The 62-year-old coach, who is widely expected to be the manager of Manchester United next season, has been experimenting in recent days with a new formation which he says may sound more defensive -- but will be executed according to the "Dutch school" of attacking football. Cheap NFL Jerseys . The Texas ace wasnt necessarily celebrating his first complete game in the major leagues. His battery mate says he does that all the time. "He just kind of looked at me and goes, Yeah! Thats what I said back to him," Gimenez said.Sochi, Russia (SportsNetwork.com) - There was clearly no looking ahead for the U.S. womens hockey team. The Americans accounted for the first 26 shots in their semifinal against Sweden and rolled to a 6-1 victory, earning a spot in the gold medal game on Thursday against either Canada or Switzerland. Alex Carpenter, Kacey Bellamy and Amanda Kessel scored to stake the Americans to a 3-0 lead before the Swedes even registered a shot against U.S. goaltender Jessie Vetter late in the opening period. The United States outshot Sweden by a whopping 70-9 count in the rout. Monique Lamoureux, Megan Bozek and Brianna Decker also scored for the Americans, who havent won gold since womens hockey made its Olympic debut at the 1998 Games in Nagano. Sweden has just one victory in 28 meetings with the U.S., but it was a big win -- a 3-2 shootout triumph in the 2006 Olympic semifinals. The Americans gained a measure of revenge four years later with a 9-1 rout of the Swedes in the 2010 Olympic semis. Anna Borgqvist was credited with the lone goal for Sweden late in the contest, spoiling Vetters shutout bid. Vetter finished with just eight saves. Valentina Wallner started in net for Sweden and was pulled after yielding five goals on 47 shots. Kim Martin Hasson turned aside all but one of the 23 shots she faced in relief, including a penalty shot by Jocelyne Lamoureux late in the third. The Americans grabbed a 1-0 lead on a power play. Kelli Stack carried the puck through the offensive zone along the right wing and circled behind the net before firing a pass into the slot for Carpenter, whose shot was headed wide but deflected off the skate of a Swedish defender and slid into the net.dddddddddddd Bellamy increased the advantage just 1:06 later when a blast from the left point eluded a screened Wallner, and Kessel chipped in a rebound from the left side of the crease with 8:41 remaining in the period to make it 3-0. The Swedes took a timeout after the third goal and had a couple of chances on the power play late in the period, but managed just one harmless shot. An interference penalty on Swedens Pernilla Winberg early in the second period led to Monique Lamoureuxs power-play goal, and Bozeks point blast slid under Wallner with 7:43 left in the second for a 5-0 cushion. Wallner was pulled soon after. The Swedes finally snuck a shot past Vetter, as Borgqvist deflected an Emma Eliasson point shot into the back of the net with 6:56 remaining. The Americans had a hard time beating Martin Hasson, who made a nice pad save on Jocelyne Lamoureuxs penalty shot attempt. Lamoureux tried a spin move in front of the crease and Hasson kept the right pad extended to turn aside the backhand attempt. Martin Hasson finally yielded a goal with 3:02 to play when Deckers shot from the slot rang off the crossbar and Swedish defenseman Emilia Andersson inadvertently kicked it into her own net. cheap jerseys cheap jerseys china cheap jerseys wholesale jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '