The pressure is on as a retooled Toronto FC kicks off its MLS season today in Seattle against the Sounders. Cheap Jordans From China . Catch all the action live on TSN and TSN Radio 1050 at 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt.After seven years of on-field failure, new Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment CEO Tim Leiweke dug deep into a well-stocked corporate pocket to bankroll manager Ryan Nelsen and GM Tim Bezbatchenkos global talent search. Many zeros later, Toronto FC is now home to England striker Jermain Defoe, U.S. international midfielder Michael Bradley, Brazilian international goalie Julio Cesar and forward Gilberto, and veteran Canadian star midfielder Dwayne De Rosario. Toronto stocked up on so many designated players, it had to trade incumbent DP Matias Laba to Vancouver to get down to the league limit of three. The shopping spree has prompted a return to the clubs early days, when season tickets were hard to come by. BMO Field should be full this season, although Leiweke has acknowledged the team will still lose money in 2014 because of the outlay on players. With demand exceeding supply, top football talent is not cheap and MLSE likely had to overpay to convince such elite players to choose MLS over more established leagues.Fullbacks Justin Morrow and Bradley Orr and Brazilian midfielder Jackson have also joined the party, meaning Toronto will likely have eight new faces in its starting lineup when everyone is healthy. And theres the early season rub. Torontos pre-season was hit by injury, particularly at fullback and forward. Defoe, meanwhile was a late arrival due to club and country commitments.Gilberto, troubled by an upper leg injury, was been left out of the travelling party for Seattle. Nelsen hopes to have him back for the home opener March 22 against D.C. United. The Brazilian actually returned to training this week but Nelsen doesnt want to rush him in case he aggravates the injury. The artificial turf at CenturyLink Field was likely a factor in that decision. The good news is Defoe and Bradley are both available for selection. Bradley has been nursing a foot injury while Defoe simply hasnt had much time training with his new team. But Nelsen says the 31-year-old English forward has adapted well. "He feels pretty good, to tell you the truth," Nelsen said. "So well see how he is."Defoe could well come off the bench. Nelsen, in his second year at the Toronto helm, is mindful that this is a marathon, not a sprint.Other clubs kept their stars in cotton wool in Week 1 of the season. New York rested French forward Thierry Henry rather than expose him to the artificial turf at B.C. Place Stadium while Seattle sent in U.S. international striker Clint Dempsey off the bench. As for Bradley, Nelsen said: "Hes come through this week pretty good. I think Michael will be a definite." Thats good news for Toronto, which went 6-17-11 last season. Bradley looks to be the straw that stirs the TFC drink. Most everything will run through the American, a box-to-box midfielder who manages to be both cerebral and driven. Other injured players like Morrow and Orr have also returned to training. Their concern is game fitness rather than health. Nelsen is taking the long view."This game is not going to define us," he said. "Its going to take a bit of time to get everybody kind of on the same wavelength. Even Seattle, when they brought Clint (Dempsey) over -- just one piece -- were a bit of a different team last year. "Everybody has to kind of get used to each other and weve done it with several big pieces and several other pieces as well. This game is not going to define who we are. The next probably five or six, seven games are going to define who we are." Still, he hopes the progress is rapid, starting Saturday. With the playoffs a stated goal, Toronto cannot wait too long to start making its move up the standings, especially since Bradley, Cesar and possibly Defoe will be away for considerable time this summer on World Cup duty. When Toronto FC does not have possession, Nelsen expects his team to play the same kind of game it did last year -- with players pressing the opposition. The difference should be more noticeable when the team has the ball, given the influx of talent."Your options become a lot more with the quality thats on the field. Last year we had to be a bit more conservative because of the personnel we have," Nelsen said. "But when you have good players, you can start being a bit more expansive." While Toronto had a bye last weekend, a rain-soaked crowd of 39,240 saw Seattle win its season opener 1-0 over defending champion Sporting Kansas City with a stoppage-time goal by former Toronto forward Chad Barrett. Former Toronto keeper Stefan Frei was in goal. And on Thursday Seattle coach Sigi Schmid confirmed Frei as his No. 1 goalie ahead of veteran Marcus Hahnemann. The state of the Seattle turf at CenturyLink Field became an issue in the buildup to the Toronto game after Nelsen said of the surface: "Youve got not just an artificial field -- its a bad artificial field." Schmid took umbrage at the suggestions Seattles turf is bad, saying all the artificial surfaces are about the same in the league."Let me say this first, tell me which turf field is good in this league. There is no good turf field in this league," he told reporters. "I dont disagree, necessarily, with Ryans statement."Id love to have brand-new turf this year, as would everybody else. But I disagree with the point of making it seem like Seattles is worse than the others. I think the others are equally as good or as bad -- however you want to look at it." Scottish defender Steven Caldwell retains the Toronto armband as captain. Cesar starts in goal. To put Torontos woeful league history into perspective, a win Sunday would only be its 15th road victory since the teams debut in 2007. Seattle is one of seven MLS cities where Toronto has yet to win. NOTES: Torontos record in season openers is 1-6. All have been away from home to escape the weather. That record includes a 3-1 loss in Seattle to open the 2012 season. TFCs lone season-opening win was in 2009 when Toronto defeated Sporting Kansas City 3-2 ... MLSE boss Tim Leiweke is expected to take in the Seattle season opener. Cheap Jordans For Sale Wholesale .The ruling takes effect on Jan. 1 and stems from the debate surrounding Paralympic champion Markus Rehm, an amputee who won the national long jump title competing with a carbon-fiber prosthesis. Cheap Jordan Wholesale Free Shipping . Bjoerndalen, who had failed to win any major race for two years before Sochi, writes in a Facebook entry that he is "full of energy and inspiration" after winning the 10-kilometre sprint and mixed relay at last months Olympics. http://www.cheapjordanfromchina.com/ . The Mavericks avoided a season sweep by the Nuggets, who ran away with a win in Denver two weeks ago to hand Dallas its longest losing streak at three games. Dallas (42-28) got a boost in the playoff race when Miami rallied from seven down in the last 3 1/2 minutes to beat Memphis 91-86 Friday night.SUNRISE, Fla. - Nail Yakupov wasnt expecting his first career shootout attempt, but he made it a successful one.Yakupov scored the winning goal in the shootout to lift the Edmonton Oilers over the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Saturday night.Yakupovs shot got past Roberto Luongo in the first round, and Edmontons Viktor Fasth was perfect in the shootout.I dont know why, but Coach gave me my first shootout (chance) and I nailed it. It feels pretty good, Yakupov said.Yakupov was sitting on the bench when, to his surprise, he got a tap on the back from Coach Todd Nelson.Im like, Where??Shootout??Im going first??He (says), Yes, Yakupov said. So I jumped and went in there and scored.Nelson knew that Yakupov had no shootout experience.Yeah, I did, so I?had nothing to lose, Nelson said. It was a situation where I said, Why not?Matt Hendricks and Jordan Eberle scored in regulation for Edmonton. Fasth made 35 saves for his third win this season.The Oilers won for the first time in four games and snapped a franchise record 14-game, road-losing streak. The Oilers, who have three road wins this season, earned their first since Nov. 9 at the New York Rangers.It felt good, Fasth said. All the guys, they worked really hard today and it felt good to get this win here on the road.Jonathan Huberdeau and Erik Gudbranson scored for Florida, and Luongo stopped 32 shots. He has lost three straight starts for the first time since the opening three games of the season.Its a big game for us. Its not a matter of taking the point and moving on, Luongo said. We needed to bounce back and we didnt come up wiith the win. Wholesale Cheap Jordans From China. Edmonton has won six straight at Florida since March 8, 2002. Five of the games have gone past regulation.The Panthers are a bit deflated after losing two in a row at home coming off a 4-2 road trip and took little comfort in getting a point.We had a real bad game tonight. We got outworked in every aspect of the game, Panthers coach Gerard Gallant said. We know (Edmonton is) a good team. They play hard. Their record doesnt indicate their team. Theyre fast and they forced us all night long and they had a lot of odd-man rushes against us.The Oilers forged a 2-2 tie on Hendricks short-handed goal in the third. Hendricks shot from the slot got past Luongo at 6:32. The Oilers have scored a short-handed goal in back-to-back games.Huberdeau broke a 1-1 tie with his goal at 14:29 of the second. Aleksander Barkovs shot from the slot hit the post, and Huberdeau poked in the rebound. Huberdeau has four goals and four assists over the past six games.The Oilers took a 1-0 lead on Eberles goal in the second. The Panthers were caught in a line change, and Eberle skated in on Luongo unchallenged. His wrist shot got past Luongos glove and high into the net at 3:35 for his team-leading 12th goal.The Panthers tied it 1-1 about two minutes later on Gudbransons goal. His slap shot from above the right circle beat Fasth at 5:41. Gudbranson scored for the first time since Oct. 9 at Tampa Bay, a span of 39 games.NOTES: Luongo played in his 838th NHL game, putting him in 11th place among goalies. ... Edmontons Boyd Gordon recorded his 100th career assist. ' ' '