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Tim Leiweke has regrets.Jermain Defoe got homesick after less than a year in North America and wanted out. Toronto FC failed to make the MLS playoffs as promised. Good people lost their jobs.That was not part of the plan for the big-thinking president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.It meant, after some heavy lifting behind the scenes in the wake of Defoe, Leiweke has had to orchestrate yet another reboot of the MLS franchise.Were trying to get it right and were not done, he told The Canadian Press on Friday after Jozy Altidore was unveiled at the Air Canada Centre. I believe in the next week or two, people will feel very very good about what our ownership has committed to here. Its pretty remarkable.Defoe, and the gymnastics Toronto had to do to get him here, are behind him. The 32-year-old striker is back in England with Sunderland.In his place is Altidore, a 25-year-old American striker looking to reclaim his glory after a bleak stint in England.Altidore is seen as major boost if for nothing else that he wants to be here — and is being paid a lot to do so.We ended up with a guy who wants to be here and a guy whos very predictable, said Leiweke, essentially summing up the Defoe issue.Toronto has more moves to make, with possibly more big news to come in the form of a Grade-A attacking midfielder. But a lesson has been learned. Any new marquee addition will be a young talent committed to the cause.Leiweke sees that in star midfielder Michael Bradley and Altidore.In a franchise devoid of consistency, Leiweke says he sees some light at the end of the tunnel.We have a chance now to build around these two guys. Theyre young, theyre committed and they want to be here, he said. And they like each other, theyre best of friends. I think were in a fortunate position.Leiweke says Altidore wouldnt be a TFC player had it not been for Bradley. The 27-year-old Bradley is also helping recruit the desired attacking midfielder.Asked whether Bradley restructured his contract to help pave the way for Altidore, Leiweke said: I would say Michael went above and beyond the call of duty here.He is a remarkable young man and I am in awe of how he handled himself these last two weeks. He is a class act.Altidore has a five-year deal worth less than the reported US$30 million, according to the MLSE boss. That number, not only its not correct, its not close. Speaking diplomatically about his last big-ticket purchase, Leiweke said its good to get Jermain settled. Were happy for him back in the EPL (English Premier League), he said. Its what he wanted.We understood he was homesick and we dont fault him for that. I think the only thing was the dance played as to was he really happy or was he not happy and if he wasnt happy then lets figure it out.Still Leiweke is not about to throw Defoe under that double-decker bus. The English striker collected 11 goals in his first 13 MLS games and Toronto never lost a game when he scored.But injuries and a desire to be elsewhere took their toll.Look Jermain was what we thought — which is a difference-maker, said Leiweke. He was a guy that would be just a pure gifted natural goal-scorer. And he was. And Jermain, by the way, was a delightful guy to be around. ... I think the only issue was the communication.Leiweke is grateful to Defoe in that Sunderland was not his first choice. But the striker knew it was the deal that did the most for Toronto, because of Altidore.It was a good experiment. It didnt work out as well as we had hoped. We have nothing but good things and wishes for Jermain. And we move on. Defoe told a different story than his advisers apparently.It was always an awkward communication, Leiweke said. Because if you talked to Jermain, hed be like Well, Im OK either way. But if you talked to his agent and those around him, there was no doubt that somewhere in July he had a change of heart. And, as I said, I do not blame him.I think it worked out as well as it could.In fact, Leiweke is cheering Defoe on in Sunderland.The more goals, he scores, the better for us, he said.We get some upside in this deal, he added when asked what that meant. Youll see in the very near future some of the things we did as part of this deal.That explains why the Defoe-Altidore deal is being described as a swap with cash considerations. Leiweke credited MLS vice-president J. Todd Durbin for helping shepherd the deal.We had to use our allocation, he said. Other clubs had a shot at him (Altidore). Fridays news conference to introduce Altidore came the same day as the deadline for Toronto season ticket-holders to renew at the same price as last year.Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter Vans Old Skool Outlet Uk . Napoli hit two home runs, Jonny Gomes and prized rookie Xander Bogaerts also connected, and the Red Sox kept up their dizzying scoring spree at Yankee Stadium by bashing New York 13-9 Saturday for a fifth straight win. Clearance Old Skool Uk . - Jayden Hart scored once and set up two more as the Prince Albert Raiders downed the host Red Deer Rebels 5-3 on Tuesday to clinch the final Western Hockey League playoff berth. http://www.oldskoolclearanceuk.com/ .ca presents a week long look at some of the teams and stories that will shape the up coming campaign. Vans Old Skool Uk Sale . Thats 14 consecutive losses to the two-time defending champs, and most of them were over before they even began. Result notwithstanding, Sundays game had a very different feel to it. Vans Old Skool Sale Cheap .com) - The Los Angeles Kings werent playing their best hockey before the league went on break during the Winter Olympics.NEWTON, Iowa -- Ryan Hunter-Reay blew past the field with two laps to go and won the IndyCar race at Iowa Speedway on Saturday for his first victory since the Indianapolis 500. It was the fifth straight win in Iowa for Andretti Autosport, and the second in three years for Hunter-Reay. Hunter-Reay hadnt led a lap since Indianapolis, and he spent most of Saturdays race far from contention. But he got new tires on a late pit stop and stormed past Tony Kanaan for his third victory in 2014. Josef Newgarden finished second, followed by Target Chip Ganassi teammates Kanaan and Scott Dixon. Ed Carpenter was fifth. Helio Castroneves finished eighth, taking sole possession of the series points lead. Kanaan started on the front row with Dixon, the pole sitter, following promising qualifying sessions for a team that has struggled all year. Down the stretch, the only question was which of the Ganassi drivers would break a season-long skid. No one saw Hunter-Reay coming. Hunter-Reay surprised the field following the nights last caution, snapping a miserable six-race stretch for one of the top drivers in the series. Once again, Team Penske walked away from Iowas .875-mile bull ring empty-handed. Penske entered the weekend with three of the series top four drivers; Castroneves, Will Power and the surging Juan Pablo Montoya.dddddddddddd But Penske had struck out in each of its previous seven trips to Iowa -- and Power (ninth) and Montoya (19th) started from less than optimal positions. Power finished 14th. Montoya slammed into a wall after an incident with Ed Carpenter and failed to finish the race for the first time this season. IndyCar reviewed the sequence and took no action, but Carpenter apologized after dooming Montoya to a 16th-place finish. The start of the race was moved up 30 minutes to avoid storms that peppered much of Iowa on Saturday night, but it was red-flagged after just 39 laps because of light rain. It was the first time that rain forced a red flag at an IndyCar race since Sao Paulo in 2011. Takuma Sato and Russian rookie Mikhail Aleshin then got tangled up for the second time in three weeks. Both were checked, cleared and released from the infield care centre. Sebastian Bourdaiss night was ruined by an electrical issue midway through the race. Sebastian Saavedra, who has one top-10 this season, was running third and tracking down Kanaan and Castroneves when he slid high and hit the wall. He finished 17th. ' ' '