This is an 80,000 all-seater stadium although their average crowd is only around 10,000. We worked all week on certain aspects of the game as they like to play a 3-5-2 system and we play a 4-4-1-1 so there were things to try and iron out for when we had the ball, and when we didn't. We knew this was going to be crucial as we are a attacking formation team but when we lose the ball, we need to get into areas that will add another body to our defensive unit.

New England had been in the final in the last two years and play-off the other four , so this was going to be a good test.

The boys were in confident mood although our preperations had been disrupted due to the airline not sending over our kit, and the training pitch not being made available to us, although promised, but we were determined not to make excuses.

The match had a quick start, and free flow about it until the 12th minute when a mis communication by us let in Steve Ralston to score off a rebound from the post.

Now we were certainly up for a test..... we slowly got back into the match and started to play our football, and had a goal unfairly taken away when a dodgy linesman's flag was put up although clearly on.

We had got our foothold back in the game, and half time came at a bad time for us. We said in the changing room that we knew we could get something out of this game, and to keep pushing on.

Again the second half started brightly with chances at both ends, but New England increased their lead after an hour with another off-the-post deflection. Sometimes the ball does not run for you, and this clearly looked like being the case in this match.

A couple of substitutions were made in an attempt to get back into the game and it worked as an own goal got us back in with 10 minutes to go.
Now was the time we needed to go on an push for the equaliser.

With two minutes to go a cross shot from Jim Brennan was palmed away into the air and Jarrod Smith had a chance from two yards out to head the leveller. He headed it well but somehow caught their defender on the line in the chest and the ball was kicked to safety.

Games turn on little things and this one was the turning point here.The game finished 2-1 and Steve Nicol will manage the mls all star team like he did last year.

If we had equalised then Sigi Schmit of Columbus Crew would have got the honour, and that shows the thin line between winning and losing.
We had to regroup after this defeat as we had a massive Canada Cup game at home to Vancouver Whitecaps.

Now this is a derby game for us, and a specail game as it's on Canada Day, July 1. This is a big day for Canadian people and a big celebration, so we knew we had to put on a good show.This was our second match in this cup after beating Montreal 1-0.

The game started slowly for us and we could not get a rhythm going as they stifled us.

We couldn't string a few passes together, couldn'tt get any crosses in and couldn't get any shots away.

This was frustrating to us and when the referee adjudged that Jimmy Brennan had pulled down their man in the box, he gave a penalty straight away from which they scored to take the lead. I understand how hard it must be to be a referee, but some decisions I saw here beggared belief.

The penalty decision was wrong, he booked Amado Guevara for staring at him.... yes staring at him... unbelievable in the modern game. Does he want you to close your eyes when talking to him?

And the funny thing was that the more you tried to get onto him, the worse he was. In fact he was spoiling it as a spectacle.

At half time we were raging, but we couldn't blame the ref alone, as we had not performed well.

The manager made three substitutions and we changed our formation.

We then pinned them in their half for the next 45 minutes and got shot after shot off, but a few misses and some great goalkeeping would not let us back in the game.

And to top it all off our centre forward had a goal chalked off for offside, but after seeing the replay he was clearly onside.

It didn't surprise me as he had got everything else wrong.

I think he got caught up in the game, and forgot it was about two teams and not him...that's gone now and we have the second game against Vancouver next week in a must win match.

It was great to see the Euro final between Spain and Germany.
I predicted a Spain v Germany final and I was correct – I must know something about football eh....I'm glad that Spain won, as they play football the right way, they pass, move and retain the ball. They are so good to watch and think they deserved it overall.

Michael Ballack must be getting annoyed though as this was his 5th final defeat... ouch!

Off the field the weather is getting warmer here and schools have finished so everywhere seems busier.

When schools finish, they put on summer camps for kids, in all aspects, so parents can still go to work and kids can have some fun.

A great idea as kids are kept off the street and from hanging around doing nothing. This is another way that shows what a family oriented country this is, and the family and I love it here.

I keep meeting so many British people, and that's refreshing. They go out their way to help and offer advice on life here.

Toronto really is a multi-cultural city, and a fantastic city at that...