Sporting Madness

It should be an action-packed evening in North American soccer. I'll be covering the Toronto FC - Columbus Crew game at 7:30 Eastern (4:30 Pacific) and the Vancouver Whitecaps - Puerto Rico Islanders game at 10:00 Eastern (7:00 Pacific), but there's also plenty of other MLS action, including New England at Houston at 8:30 ET, the L.A. Galaxy at Kansas City at 9:00, the New York Red Bulls at Colorado at 9:30 and D.C United at San Jose at 10:30; some of the other guys at Epic Footy will be reporting in on those games as well. Come join us for what should be a great evening of soccer! Soccer Saturday live blog

The rivalry continues between Toronto FC and the Columbus Crew today in Toronto's first match with Chris Cummins as their official interim head coach. Join in the live blog below! Toronto FC - Columbus Crew

A quick note that I'll be live-blogging today's Toronto FC - Columbus Crew match (4:00 p.m. Eastern/1:00 p.m. Pacific) and tonight's Vancouver Whitecaps - Minnesota Thunder match (8:05 p.m. Eastern/5:05 p.m. Pacific) here and at The 24th Minute . Toronto and Vancouver will face each other on Wednesday in the first match of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship (which I'll also live-blog), so this weekend's matches should provide a good preview of that game. Stop on by for one or both games!

It turns out there was much more to Toronto FC John Carver abandoning the bench to watch Wednesday's victory over Chivas USA than I thought . Paul Attfield of The Globe and Mail suggests that part of the reason for Carver's departure may have been a lack of support from team management, particularly regarding his $750 fine after Sunday's loss. However, the club's announcement only mentioned " personal reasons " [ Goal.com ]. Carver spent just over a year with Toronto, recording a 11-15-10 record since taking over the franchise last February. It was by far his longest run at the helm of a franchise; he spent one game as interim manager at Newcastle United and five more as interim manager at Luton Town. Most of his other experience came as a coach and assistant manager. That's what makes this decision somewhat curious, particularly considering its timing. Carver's record with TFC was good but not great. It might be enough to get him another MLS head...