Were going to have to be mentally tougher. Toronto has

As 2013 winds to a close, TSN. John Franklin-Myers Jersey .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. TSN.cas writing staff reflects on the best soccer moments from the past 12 months including CR7 one-upping Messi, Fergies farewell, the redemption of Robben and more! Cristiano Ronaldo will score whenever he wants to By: Ken Rodney He scores in La Liga and in the Champions League for Real Madrid. He scores for his country Portugal. He scores when he wants. That is the story of 2013 for the incredible Cristiano Ronaldo, who alongside Barcelonas Lionel Messi and Bayern Munichs Frank Ribery is a finalist for the Ballon dOr, FIFAs player of the year award. Fitting that he will face Messi for that award because there is always a place in a Ronaldo story where a comparison to Messi must be made, only this time it slants well in the favour of the Portuguese international. His 68 goals for club and country during 2013 are more than Messi and Ribery combined. During the current 2013-14 La Liga season he is joint top scorer with 17 goals, 9 more than his Argentinian rival, who to be fair is currently battling an injury. In international play this year he has 10 goals in nine matches, including two three-goal performances. While he will finish the year without getting his hands around a team trophy, it is impossible to not be impressed by the 2013 submitted by Cristiano Ronaldo. Fergie Says Farewell By: Mike Beauvais When Sir Alex Ferguson called time on his legendary managerial career in early May, the math showed that Manchester Uniteds season-ending match on May 20 at West Bromwich Albion would be the Scotsmans 1500th in charge of the club. It would be an anti-climatic one. United locked up the BPL title weeks earlier, but the United-West Brom season finale ended up being a highly entertaining 5-5 draw. Uniteds May 12 match, though, saw "Fergie" manage Manchester United for the last time at his beloved Old Trafford. As Ferguson made his way down to his familiar spot on the United bench, he greeted supporters and signed autographs, but there was no hiding the emotion in the Scotsmans face. It seemed as if it were just dawning on him that this would be the final time he took that walk. In the 86th-minute, Rio Ferdinand made sure his gaffer would go out a winner when he volleyed home to give United the 2-1 victory. After the match ended, United received its championship trophy presentation and Ferguson addressed the crowd for one last time. "If you think about it, those last-minute goals, the comebacks, even the defeats, are all part of this great football club of ours," Ferguson told his rapt audience. "Its been an unbelievable experience for all of us, so thank you for that." He closed his remarks with a stark reminder to the Old Trafford faithful, one that seems almost prescient now. "Id also like to remind you that when we had bad times here, the club stood by me, all my staff stood by me, the players stood by me," said Ferguson. "Your job now is to stand by our new manager. That is important." Nobody expects David Moyes to be the new Alex Ferguson, but then again, nobody expected Alex Ferguson to be Alex Ferguson. Arjen Robben finds Champions redemption By Shane McNeil After the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final I had begun to believe that something was permanently broken in Arjen Robben. One of the worlds premier footballers, the Dutchman had Bayern Munichs 2012 European title on his foot when he drove an extra-time penalty into Petr Cech. Then, when the game went to penalty kicks, he was nowhere to be seen. His summer would get even worse when the Dutch team was bounced from Euro 2012 without a win, scoring just two goals. Yet, he was offered a second chance with Bayern taking on Borussia Dortmund in the first ever all-German Champions Final. In the 60th minute, Robben sent out a prayer from the left side of the goal and a ball that seemd destined for a goal kick suddenly found its way to Mario Mandzukics boot across the face of the goal and into the back of the net. A fluke, I told myself… A lucky bounce. Then in the 89th, the real Robben returned. Thundering into the box, he split two defencemen, forced Roman Weidenfeller wide and slipped a dribbler the other way, into the goal. Robben exorcised his Champions demons, claiming Man of the Match along the way. Iceland misses World Cup; FIFA misses out By Shane McNeil Seemingly every major international brings some flavor from the fans when it comes to soccer. Euro 2012 had the Irish fans serenading their team with "The Fields of Athenry" as they bowed out, winless. The 2010 World Cup had its ever-present vuvzelas, so loud that broadcasters tried to find a way to phase them out for live broadcasts. There will likely be a story for Brazil 2014, but it will not - sadly - be the fans of the Icelandic national team. Iceland was in a balanced qualifying group that featured top-10-ranked Switzerland and Slovenia, which had qualified for both Euro 2012 and the 2010 World Cup. On the last day of qualifying, Iceland held on to a 1-1 draw with Norway, while Switzerland did them a huge service by eliminating Slovenia with a 1-0 victory. Iceland headed to the play-off round with a chance to become the smallest nation to ever qualify for soccers biggest tournament, bringing their boisterous and colourful fans with them - in spirit at least. Sadly, Iceland would fail to score against Croatia, dropping the play-off 2-0 on aggregate, keeping one of the best stories of the qualification round out of the big finale. Los Angeles Rams Jerseys . On Thursday theyll learn even more. Despite the cloud of uncertainty that has followed them around from the moment general manager Masai Ujiri was brought in to put his stamp on the franchise, the Raptors have surpassed all pre-season expectations. Custom Los Angeles Rams Jerseys . -- Athletics manager Bob Melvin is already starting to run out of superlatives to describe Scott Kazmir. http://www.ramsauthenticshop.com/Youth-Joseph-Noteboom-Rams-Jersey/ . Jones, from Winnipeg, built a 3-0 advantage after three ends by scoring two in the second and one in the third. Chinas skip Bingyu Wang cut that lead to 3-1 in the fourth before Canada added another three in the fifth for a 6-1 lead.The offensively challenged Toronto Maple Leafs are looking forward to getting back home after a brutal four-game road trip. Looking to snap its longest skid of the season, Toronto tries to pick up a rare win over the last-place Carolina Hurricanes on Monday night. You can watch the game on TSN4 and listen to all the action live on TSN Radio 1050 at 7pm et/4pm pt. The Maple Leafs (22-21-3) have dropped 12 of 15, a stretch that began with a 4-1 road loss to Carolina on Dec. 18. All but three of those games have come on the road, where Toronto is averaging 2.2 goals compared to 3.6 at home. I think it will be really good (to get back home), interim coach Peter Horachek said. Weve been on the road a lot, but we cant make excuses. Were going to have to prop ourselves back up like we have before. The Maple Leafs were outscored 12-1 on a winless four-game trek. They lost 3-0 to Brian Elliott and St. Louis on Saturday, managing only 12 shots over the final two periods after recording 15 in the opening 20 minutes. Its frustrating, Jonathan Bernier said after stopping 30 shots. We go back home after we score one goal and get no points. I know I have got to be better and make that extra save that keeps us in the game. Bernier will get the call between the pipes for tonights contest. Forward Leo Komarov, who missed the past three games with a shoulder injury, will sit out again tonight. He has not yet been cleared to return. Veteran defenceman Stephane Robidas will also sit out tonights game and is not expected to return until after the All-Star break. It was revealed by head Horachek that Robidas has been battling an upper-body injury since Nov. 1. Toronto has been limited to two or fewer goals in dropping seven of eight in 2015, the lone exception being a 5-2 home victory over Columbus on Jan. 9. The Maple Leafs have won 14 of 19 at Air Canada Centre. We have to just get through this tough time. Were going to have rely on leadership to step up, were going to have to buckle down, Horachek said. We are a team that has to be at our strongest now. Were going to have to be mentally tougher. Toronto has dropped seven of nine and 13 of 18 to the Hurricanes. John Kelly Jersey. Defenseman Dion Phaneuf had the only Leafs goal Dec. 18 as Carolinas Cam Ward made 25 saves, giving him a 6-1-1 mark and 1.86 goals-against average in his last eight starts in the series. Ward is likely to return to the net after watching Anton Khudobin stop 30 shots in Saturdays 3-2 win over Ottawa, Carolinas second road victory in 10 games. Justin Faulk tied it early in the third period and Nathan Gerbe notched the go-ahead goal with just under 6 minutes left. Brad Malone also scored as the Hurricanes (15-25-5) improved to 5-2-1 in January. I think weve been playing really good hockey the last month and a half, two months, Gerbe told the leagues official website. Unfortunately, our record doesnt show that. Were playing good. Weve just got to keep that going. We know we can compete with a lot of teams in this league. Carolinas Eric Staal had two assists in the last matchup with Toronto, giving him 39 points in a 32-game stretch against the Maple Leafs. Hes tied with Faulk for the team lead with 26 points despite coming up empty in the last three contests. The Hurricanes have killed all 33 of their opponents power-play opportunities over the last 13 games. The Maple Leafs have scored 12 goals in 39 chances on the man advantage in an 11-game stretch at home. Leafs Lines Forwards van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Kessel Winnik-Kadri-Santorelli Booth-Smith-Clarkson Panik-Carrick-Bodie/Frattin Defence Phaneuf-Franson Rielly-Polak Gardiner-Holzer Starting Goaltender Bernier Hurricanes Lines: Forwards E.Staal - J.Staal - Tlusty Skinner - Nash - Lindholm Gerbe - Rask - Terry Malone - McClement - Dwyer Defence Sekera - Faulk Gleason - Murphy Hainsey - Bellemore Starting Goaltender Khubodin ? Game Notes: CAR is 1-0-0 vs TOR this season, winning at home Teams split two games in TOR last season Toronto: lost 4 straight games, 1GF, 0/10 on PP Kessel (0PTS) last 4 games, 10 shots on net Carolina: won last road game, have not won 2 straight on road this season E Staal (0PTS) last 3 games NFL Jerseys Wholesale Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys 2020 Wholesale NFL Gear China Jerseys Cheap Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys NFL Jerseys China ' ' '