The Tours -- Part Three: Toronto Blizzard v. Juventus

With all the hype surrounding West Ham's arrival to face off against the MSL's 'best' this week, it's fun to remember the days Toronto could get Juventus to play our rinky-dink NASL club, a team that could barely draw four thousand fans to a home game.

This was May 30 1983 and the NASL was in its last death throes. Juventus sent out a second-string team mostly due to international absences, but a record crowd of 35, 656 still managed to show up at Exhibition Stadium, built on the same site where BMO Field currently stands. It was the most fans ever to see the Blizzard play in a 'home' game, but if the bitter boos at the introduction of Toronto's starting eleven was any indication, 'home' was strictly a matter of geography. Toronto's Italian community had little time for a league preoccupied with boobies, barbecues and down-home all-American fun -- they wanted to cheer the real thing.

However, as the Globe and Mail pointed out, from the first whistle Toronto were in complete control. Perhaps the artificial surface, even less appropriate for football than the current FieldTurf used at BMO, gave Toronto an advantage -- they had already been forced to play on it for several years, despite the frustration of players who preferred the grass of Varsity Stadium.

In any case, they dominated play, although for the first half Juventus absorbed most of the pressure. In the second, Toronto played something akin to lively, attacking football, and the Italians were flummoxed when Duncan Davidson caught Juve keeper Luciano Bobini out of position in the 62nd minute and Toronto went up 1-0, where the score would stay. Blizzard coach Bob Houghton remarked that Toronto could have easily gone up 3-0, which isn't something you've heard about Toronto FC lately...