It could well go down as one of the best public relations exercises of the year. And all it took to garner priceless world-wide headlines was a trip to a soccer game and a spot of lunch afterward.

As head of Toronto's Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, CEO Richard Peddie comes in for all kinds of flak for the 41-year title drought his Toronto Maple Leafs have endured. The Leafs have long been one of North America's prime sports properties, a licence to print money with their fervent fan base and the cornerstone of a sports empire that includes the NBA's Toronto Raptors, the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League and the 19,000+ capacity Air Canada Centre, where all three teams play out of.

They also are enjoying the wildly successful exploits of their newest franchise, Toronto FC, quickly becoming Major League Soccer's model franchise. Now in their second season, the team has played to sold out crowds since Day One at 20,000-seat BMO Field. The adoring hordes of singing, chanting, flag-waving fans are reminiscent of Europe or South America's most passionate supporters. 

And all this accomplished with a TFC club that won but six of it's 30 games in 2007. The potential for greater success with a better team and an expanded stadium is massive.

So it's understandable that Peddie and MLSE associate exec Ian Clarke would find themselves in England not long ago attending an annual British soccer industry trade show. The two were there to attend seminars, rub elbows and, as Peddie succinctly put it, "raise our soccer IQ." Naturally, with England's Premier League season still underway, the opportunity to visit a number of English clubs presented itself and the two made the rounds seeing life at the top of the soccer food chain for themselves.

With foreign ownership becoming a steady, even controversial, trend among top English clubs, somone obviously drew a conclusion from their visit to venture that they were in London to present a takeover bid and the resulting short works fiction set off further rounds of speculation and, finally, denial.

As Peddie told Canadian newspaper, The National Post: " I attended a game at White Hart Lane. I took the train, went to a game, watched Tottenham tie and had lunch there. That was the full extent."

No cocktails and chit-chat with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy? "I have never met the individual," said Peddie. 'Never contemplated an offer. Complete fiction."

The first report of Peddie's visit to England came out almost a week ago. It was a fairly balanced look at his trip and explained to readers unaware of the nuances of English soccer who were the hot commodities in the marketplace and who were the bargains.

But Spurs are a favorite target for certain British tabloid newspapers. The 11th richest team in the world and frequent underachievers, they've long been rumoured to be candidates for a takover bid. They've also never gone out of their way to curry favour with a British media they often felt let them down in earlier decades when Spurs fans were the subject of ant-Semitic taunts.

They banned writers from the London Evening Standard earlier this season for constantly writing speculative articles that did little more than stir up fan anxiety. The Standard's sister paper, The Daily Mail, was quick to fan the flames of speculation, implying that bargaining had already begun between the two sides.

For Spurs, the whole affair is business as usual. They're enjoying plenty of good publicity this week after the signing of coveted Croatian prospect, Luka Modric, a 22-year-old midfielder being sought by a number of top clubs.

For Toronto FC, the whole affair amounted to a public relations bonanza. A lot of mention was made of the club, at a time when the team is enjoying its first three-game winning streak and playing attractively. It's a good time to let the international spotlight flash briefly on the club.

If Richard Peddie was caught unaware by the mounting media speculation of his visit to London, he at least had the good sense to let the scenario linger on a little and wait until the week was over before issuing any denials.

You couldn't have asked for a better day for a home opener and Toronto FC took full advantage of it..

After three games on the road, the last one a dramatic 3-2 over the Galaxy in Los Angeles, Saturday was simply one of those days a sports marketer dreams of. Sunny, warm and eager fans filled with optimism from the away win.

The only people moving faster than the players were the beer and merchandise vendors. Most of the stadium ran out of beer, souvenir shirts were flying off the shelves. Patience would also prove to be a short commodity.

For my seatmate, Vanooch, and myself, patience was tested coping with our boys who wanted every new t-shirt, scarf or hat they set their eyes on. Last year's shirts that were put on with pride a few hours earlier were already diminished by updated styles.

Updated prices on beer also had us wondering about the wisdom of lining up for many minutes, missing most of the warm-up and a chance to get our first up-close look at three important newcomers, all midifielders.

On the way in to the game, Vanooch, a cultured Milanista, lectured on the merits of playing with one striker up front, backed up by attacking midfielders, or trequartistas, in support.

A week earlier, Toronto's dramatic win in L.A. was keyed by the playmaking skills of midfield newcomers Laurent Robert on left wing and Amado Guevara in the middle. On this day, they'd be supplemented down the right by the pace and daring of speedy Rohan Ricketts.

No one quite knew what to expect from the trio lined up behind lone striker Danny Dichio. We weren't expecting too much from Ricketts - he hadn't played a competitive game in about four months after being released by English club Barnsley. Media reports had told us about the temperamental nature of Robert and Guevara, but their play in L.A. had been crucial in achieving a rare road win.

Again, patience was what was called for and Vanooch and I were prepared to wait a couple of games before passing judgement.

If only the two guys seated behind us were so gracious. From the opening kickoff, every play produced negative comments. With a strong wind blowing crossfield from the east, not the normal direction, longer passes were drifting astray.

No matter. Our critics were ripping every last miscue. Comments flew on almost every play. It wasn't enough that Toronto were utterly dominating the first half, pegging Real Salt Lake back time and time again. Robert was showing his smarts getting into gaps out on the left that granted him time and space to float tempting crosses or roll well-weighted through balls. Guevara was quick and decisive in his ball handling.

Ricketts, though, could do nothing right in their eyes. He was terrorizing the RSL left side and getting into some great positions. The fact that these chances fizzled out didn't bother Vanooch and I. We were delighted to see someone beat his man one on one and start stretching the opposing backline. He was taking chances, paying a physical price for it and winning fans. The pair behind us, though, began unfavourably comparing MLS skill levels to those of the Premier League and Serie A.

Vanooch and I were exchanging quiet elbow nudges and shakes of the head. Both of us were getting close to losing it. When a daring run down the right produced an errant cross, the louder of the two hollered for Ricketts to go back to England. When I explained that the player involved was actually Maurice Edu, an American, the loud response was, "It doesn't matter. He's crap, too. He's been making mistakes all game long." If they could have seen the looks on the faces of the loyal TFC fans seated behind them.

About a half hour in, a nifty pass-and-run play produced a foul on Guevara at the top of the box, resulting in a free kick. From our view straight down the line of the RSL wall, we couldn't see all the details. But Robert slyly played the ball low, through a gap in the wall and into the net setting off bedlam in a packed BMO Field. It was the only goal of the game.

Our neighbours refused to grant Toronto any praise, claiming the goal was a lucky one, caused by deflection. When you see a breakdown of the goal, you see a very craftily arranged set piece, well executed.

By half time, I could take no more. I was determined not to let the day be spoiled by two antagonists. Heck, they weren't even Salt Lake fans. Vanooch and the boys chose to stay in the seats, I headed off to take advantage of the gorgeous light and use the camera and ultra-wide lens I'd brought to shoot some stadium views.

When the second half began, I found myself on the railing in the beer garden behind the Salt Lake net, hoping for a shot of Toronto's cliinching goal. The play stayed far away, as Salt Lake pressed for an equalizer. Beside me, though, a lesson in abusive Spanish was breaking out. Several young men of Argentinian descent began loudly questioning the family morals of Nick Rimando, the Salt Lake goalkeeper. A few English language chants went up, Rimando gave them a wave and everyone was enjoying themselves.

The second half was clearly going to be played at the other end, so I journeyed over and found a great spot on the deck that runs at the top of the south end stands, where Toronto's most fanatical supporters are found. With the sun behind me, and banners, streamers and raised arms in front of me, this was the place to shoot a great stadium shot.

But the floor kept moving under me. To my left, a gent in a grey beard and TFC jersey was bouncing and cheering on every play. He was like a big kid. His own kids had season tickets elsewhere, but the section was too quiet. He loved the noise and action of the supporters stands, so he bought single game tickets whenever he could and migrated over to join in the songs and chants. He said he loved everything about what was happening with the team. We got along great.

As he clock wound down, I was about to head back up and rejoin Vanooch and the boys. Rounding a corner, I found myself face to tace with them. We walked back along the deck and watched the final moments, twirling our scarves at the final whistle.

"So did you make some good pictures?" asked Vanooch. I showed him on the screen on the back of the camera and he made his requests for copies. 

"How was the second half?", I asked. "Did you have to put up with more of those comments from the two crazy guys?"

"No. It was beautiful," said Vanooch. "They left. They went downstairs at half time and those guys behind them spilled beer and peanut shells all over the floor under their seats and dropped cheese and nachos on the seats. The two guys came back up, saw the mess and just left."

"One of the guys behind them said he used his last beer to make the mess and couldn't buy another because they ran out. You owe him one at next week's game."

Whaddya know? Good things do come to those who wait. Consider that beer already bought.

The MLS season kicked off this weekend with some eye-opening numbers. Let's start with  a sequence of 2-0, 3-0, 4-0.

Heavy pre-season favorites, D.C. United, were dumped 2-0 by an unfancied Kansas City squad looking to have coped quite nicely with the departure of striker Eddie Johnson.

New England Revolution made abundantly clear their sense of purpose this year with a 3-0 thrashing of Houston Dynamo. Apparently, Revs' striker Tyler Twellman twanged a knee just prior to game time and couldn't play. Or was it something to do with him still being petulant about not being allowed to transfer to Europe after last season? The Revs rolled on without him.

And what do we make of Ruud Hullit's Halaxy, who went down like a bag of kittens in a creek, or in this case, the Rapids of Colorado, by a score of 4-0. After a controversial, injury-filled debut season, an instant club crisis to start year two is not what David Beckham signed on for.

Now add in 20,272, 18,713, 17,540 and roughly 2,500.

Those all correspond to home opener attendances achieved, respectively, in Salt Lake City, Denver, Dallas and Columbus. The first three, all very respectable numbers, represent the total number of fans attending games in the first three cities listed. Home openers traditionally draw good crowds in any sport, but the teams involved will be pleased these crowds watched games that weren't against traditional rivals and produced good results for the home teams. The building of new stadiums in Denver and Salt Lake have sent strong signals to fans about the security of their teams' futures.

The fourth number listed is perhaps the most interesting as it's the approxiamate number of away fans who turned up on Columbus Saturday to cheer on their beloved Toronto FC, an eight-hour bus trip each way across a not-so-undefended border.

Although the presence of  large numbers of away fans is considered routine in many European leagues, to the point where leagues have configured percentages of seats to be made available to them, it's much more of a rarity in MLS. Geography plays a big role there, as a relatively small number of teams on a big continent can make travel arduous. The only natural derbies at present are L.A.-Chivas and Houston-Dallas

By most accounts, the Canadian invasion of Ohio was a big hit, though the idea of these two teams playing annually for a drummed up trophy seems a little contrived. Boisterous away fans brought the stadium to life and two goals from the home side ensured it stayed that way at game's end. If attendance at Crew games can't climb above 11,000 or so home fans, they may well be inviting the Toronto fans back at regular intervals.

MLS officials must be pleased at the thought of what their future expansion plans might bring in charging up rivalries within a league in need of some emotional spicing up. Philadelphia's presence will liven up games involving Red Bull New York or D.C. United. Seattle's future presence will spark up west coast matches with San Jose and especially with Vancouver, once their stadium-building process makes their presence in the league possible. Talk of placing a future team in St. Louis will be welcome news in Kansas City.

Stirring up rivalries and passions is all well and good if everyone behaves themselves. In places like Italy and Argentina this past year, we've seen the dark side of fan fanaticism. No one's suggesting for a minute that American fans are likely to ape bad behaviour, but some Toronto fans got a little out of hand Saturday.

At home, that enthusiasm is governed by the knowledge that bad behaviour could cost you your prized season tickets forever. On the road, however, there was less at stake and some fans resorted to lighting smoke bombs or flares and throwing them, or full plastic bottles onto the field. Not the smartest behaviour in a terror-wary America.

Outside the stadium after the game, the local police weren't shy about resorting to heavy manners to keep the rowdiness in check. One man was arrested after urinating on a chain link fence near a church. Others were pepper-sprayed when they weren't co-operating with police instructions. Nothing serious to dampen an overall enjoyable day, but not something the league wants to see continue.

Growing a league and growing attendances by fueling rivalries are all well and good. It's important to make sure the fans who take these rivalries to heart are reminded to grow up a little too.

If MLS is persuaded to let Montreal join the league, the impending rivalry of a French-Canadian club with the old enemy of Toronto, the Two Solitudes as the competing cultures are known, could create one serious ongoing uproar with more problems than anyone might care to count.

But if it produces a rivalry with the intensity of Manchester United-Liverpool, Rangers-Celtic, Barcelona-Real Madrid or Boca Juniors-River Plate, the league will count that as a blessing.

England and Scotland are separated by only 96 miles of border but, as play ended in the Euro 2008 qualification rounds, the difference in attitude among soccer fans on either side of the line is light years apart.

The Scots fell at the last hurdle, a controversial 2-1 loss to Italy that robbed them of qualification after a 12-game series that included two famous 1-0 wins over France. The term most commonly used to describe this latest near miss was Glorious Failure. And some comfort can be taken in that.

Initially disappointed at the final whistle of their last game, Scottish fans soon found themselves lifting their heads and smiling again, realizing that an exciting rebirth in Scottish soccer was unfolding before their disbelieving eyes.

Manager Alex McLeish, building on a stout program begun by Walter Smith, forged a group of promising individuals into a strong unit, earning universal praise for taking a small nation so close to the summit of European soccer.

Players like Alan Hutton and James McFadden or goalie Craig Gordon, have emerged from the qualifying round with soaring reputations and there's renewed interest from top clubs in Britain and Europe about what Scottish players have to offer.

Although England came equally close - one point would have put either side through - the contrast in emotions and expectations couldn't be more distinct. The English, losing at home 3-2 to Croatia, have failed miserably, if the reaction of their fans and media are anything to go by.

Manager Steve McClaren, under a barrage of criticism from Day 1, was fired immediately after and the general sense is that this is a soccer program in serious trouble. It not only needs to find a new manager, it also needs to find players who can cope with the intense pressure of playing for England.

Ironically, the previous manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson, who was also chased out of his job under similar circumstances, has proved again what an astute manager he is by immediately taking unfancied Manchester City into a top five place in the standings.

McClaren had shown himself to be a capable manager before the England job by taking Middlesborough to the UEFA Cup finals. But the England job is steadily proving to be an unmanageable task and anyone who takes on the responsibility as manager will find the burden of expectation from England's ravenous fans to be a crushing load.

The new manager will also have to cope with a player pool that looks to be in need of either a serious clearing out or a fresh approach to drawing the best from the remarkable level of talent available to choose from.

Given that most of the players likely to be selected for England's national team are already well rewarded financially by their clubs, it will take someone with a masterful touch to get the next England squad properly motivated and committed to winning.

Somehow, that manager will have to find a way to match the small-country attitude that has seen teams like Scotland and Croatia build tight, cohesive teams full of committed, selfless players.

But when one considers that the money paid to players by Premiership clubs helps to soften the blow of national team failure, it's a challenging task that no England manager may ever achieve.

North American fans should take heart in the performances of smaller nations like Scotland and Croatia. As soccer remains a minor sport in North America, it's fairer to compare what's going on within the US or Canadian programs with the smaller European nations than with powerhouses like Italy, Spain or Germany.

Americans have always had an ability to extract maximum sporting benefit from lesser resources due to an ability to focus the use of those resources. Add to that the growth in size and quality of MLS soccer and many of the key ingredients are coming together to support this premise:

Both Canada and the United States, a rivalry not unlike Scotland-England,  have every reason to be ambitious in the coming years. For Canada, just getting to a second World Cup would be achievement enough in the short term.

But the growing popularity of the game, larger numbers of players to work with and a bigger , soccer-savvy business base to draw financial support from give the United States a clear edge,

Enough of one to justify saying that America will win its first World Cup before England wins its second. 

"There is absolutely zero chance of natural grass being installed." Kevan Pipe, fired former head of the Canadian Soccer Association. 

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"It [FieldTurf] kills the culture of the game." - Julian De Guzman, midfielder, Canadian national team and Deportivo La Coruna.

"The best salesman in the world couldn't sell me on it [FieldTurf]. I hope in my career I never have to play on it." - Paul Stalteri, defender, Canadian national team and Tottenham Hotspur.

"If they get grass in there instead of an artificial surface, it would be easier to draw better players and teams from Europe to play exhibition games."  - Dwayne De Rosario, midfielder, Canadian national team and Houston Dynamo.

"Every game, every team, should have grass -- without a doubt. You can't ask any soccer athlete to perform at a high level on FieldTurf." - David Beckham, midfielder, English national team and LA Galaxy.

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Reality has set in for Toronto FC. With their playoff chances dropping as quickly as their players are to injuries, the focus has turned from their on-field play to the actual field they play on.

Here in Toronto, the synthetic playing surface of BMO Field has been subjected to an ongoing series of critical comments that started before the stadium was built, escalated by players and coaches who participated in the FIFA U-20 World Cup and hit new heights when it was a factor in keeping David Beckham from making his MLS playing debut on August 5.

The past week has seen articles appear in Toronto media where some of Toronto's many injured players, fearful of being openly critical, have taken gentle swipes at the playing surface.

A series of injuries that has stripped Toronto of it's best attacking players - Danny Dichio, Jeff Cunningham, Ronnie O'Brien and Marvell Wynne - has left the club starved for goals and losing sight of a playoff berth. Without a goal in 462 minutes of play, the club is in danger of setting a dubious record should they fail to score on Saturday against visiting Chivas.

Manager Mo Johnston raised eyebrows before season when he responded to criticism of the plastic pitch by saying: "Any player who doesn't want to play on FieldTurf is not someone who we would be interested in having on our team." Given the lack of depth and the glaring absence of a high-quality designated player, those words could come back to haunt him.

While no one can actually prove that the turf is responsible -  club and stadium officials have been almost strident in their defensive tone about the playing surface -  the players are beginning to hint around that playing on grass would be preferable.

Fans are also wondering if artificial turf is keeping the club from attracting a quality designated player. At first glance, you'd think not, since New York has been able to sign Juan Pablo Angel and Claudio Reyna despite playing on plastic. But the club will begin play next year in a new stadium that will have a grass pitch. There have been suggestions that certain European clubs will not loan out players to Toronto for fear the plastic pitch will take its toll physically. The summer visits of Aston Villa and Benfica have done nothing to allay that.

It's not like the club can act alone about changing the playing surface. The stadium is owned by the city of Toronto, its construction jointly funded by the provincial and federal governments, which gives the Canadian Soccer Association a say in its operation, but if Canadian national team players have anything to say about it, they want to see the pitch changed.

With funding supplied from three levels of government, one of the stadium's mandates was to allow community access. For $75 per hour, any bunch of weekend warriors can rent the place and act out their dreams. This wouldn't be possible on grass.

Nor would the installation of an inflatable dome in winter. The club plans to operate indoor winter soccer clinics on their home turf, giving some of their younger players a little off-season employment while helping to strengthen emotional ties with youngsters from Toronto's massive recreational soccer community.

On paper, this business plan involving the year-round use of the turf surface must have looked like a bureaucrat's dream. Too bad the core business of this great new stadium, the games that matter most, those of Toronto FC, aren't played on paper.

 The choice of turf over grass made some sense this year, given the amount of play it received from both MLS and FIFA's under-20 World Cup. But after watching this season's games so far, there is a certain sterility to the play.

The ball rolls well on it and generally rewards quick technical play. But neither TFC or Canada's national teams have ever played that style. Being hockey fans, we kind of enjoy a bit of biff and wallop. This current TFC squad would be much better rewarded playing all its games on a less pristine surface, something that maybe sees the odd rugby game.

You can see players shy away from making certain plays - slide tackles, cut backs in certain situations - because the turf simply has too much bite. When something has to give, instead of grass getting torn, it's a part of someone's body.

One solution that has been debated on fan forums is to install grass at BMO Field and have the FieldTurf surface transferred to nearby Lamport Stadium, where all the practicing and community access mandates can still take place. It's an older 10,000-capacity facility long past it's prime. Given that it sits in a lower-income area crying out for additional recreational facilities, it would be hard to imagine the city opposed to the move.

It's also hard to imagine the provincial or federal governments objecting if it proves to be a move that also benefits the national team and creates a new playing surface for local or regional youth competitions.

By selling out it's 20,000 seats for every game, fans in Toronto have made it clear that this will be one of MLS' best-supported teams. The two-years-and-growing waiting list for season's tickets has already prompted talk of expanding the stadium capacity.

That would have been hard to conceive of a year or two ago in this very discerning soccer market. There's an appetite for the game here that still has a long way to go before it's satisfied. Many fans want to see TFC take on the glamour clubs of Europe when they visit North America.

A grass pitch would remove the biggest obstacle to seeing those sort of lucrative, image-enhancing games take place. The sort of match-ups that would seal the deal on seat sales in an expanded stadium and possibly make the team look more interesting to a marquee player, which would only add to their already-massive merchandise sales.

Put down real grass and players and management alike will be rolling in the green stuff.