Giving flowers to select teams and one manager for their recent accomplishments

Let’s start off by giving a big Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas, grandmamas, great grand mamas, nonnas and all the wonderful women birthing and raising kids!

Without you, we wouldn’t be here. Thank you!

On that positive note, here are teams who have put smiles on their mamas’ and nonnas’ faces recently.

Toronto FC

A five-game winning streak in all competitions and a 4-1 record at BMO Field on the year have supporters dreaming big – even though this column had positive hopes for a playoff spot this year, no one predicted this start.

Federico Bernadeschi has scored three and assisted one in the last two matches (one MLS, one Canadian Championship), the whole team is pulling and fighting for each other behind the leadership group and gaffer John Herdman, and they still have big time players injured.

Lorenzo Insigne returns (though how long he’ll play remains to be seen) against the blue New York club on May 11, but Richie Layrea is still out, and the squad has been going full next man up mode since the third game of the year.

It will be very interesting to see what a full health, fully bought-in, late season Toronto FC looks like.

Last weekend there was incredible energy from the fans at BMO Field, despite it not being a full stadium.

This weekend, it will likely be even better as the Reds keep winning over even their biggest skeptics with big efforts – and results – week in and week out.

Exciting times are back!

Bayer Leverkusen

Just writing that name still hits the heart a little bit as the undefeated Bundesliga champions have kept their treble hopes alive by eliminating our beloved AS Roma in the Europa League semi-finals on Thursday.

After winning 2-0 in Rome, they had an exciting 2-2 come from behind draw at home to take the two-legged affair 4-2 on aggregate.

I was really, really hoping Roma would hold on for a win on Thursday to end the streak, which is now a European record 49 matches without defeat.

To go undefeated on the season and keep the streak alive until the fall, Leverkusen has to beat another Italian side, Atalanta, in the Europa League final on May 22, plus win their two Bundesliga matches (Sunday vs. Bochum; May 18 vs. Augsburg); and win the DFB Pokal – aka German Cup – on May 25 against second division side FCK.

Up until a couple of weeks ago I would have cheered for Atalanta. Except that club acted like babies and made Roma do a make-up match with Udinese only days before going back-to-back-to-back-back against Napoli, Leverkusen, Juventus, Leverkusen.

So, now I’m cheering for Bayer Leverkusen to keep making history and win their well-deserved treble.

Como 1907

Tiny little Northern Italian club Como 1907 are heading back to Serie A for the first time in over 20 years after securing automatic promotion with a 1-1 draw against Cosenza on Friday to finish in second place in Serie B.

The club has had a lion’s share of issues since it last competed in the best league in the world (for football, not marketing – the EPL wins marketing) way back in 2002-03.

Three straight relegations down to Serie C2 followed. A bankruptcy that knocked them into Serie D (the top non-pro league in Italia).

Finally, they made it back to Serie C2 three years later, then after spending time in the lower leagues, another bankruptcy in 2016 followed by new ownership (there is way too much to write about that ordeal) re-founding the club, again saw them Serie D.

Finally in 2019, Como earned a spot in the professional football pyramid in Italia, and since then they have been owned by a group that includes two football legends as minority shareholders (Thierry Henry and Cesc Fabregas) – my Gunners buds Dave and Roman now know who to cheer for in Serie A.

They have since climbed up and up and will be back in the topflight for the 2024-25 season.

Ipswich Town

Sorry Glen, had to give them their flowers for pipping Leeds to the second automatic promotion to the EPL.

Ipswich Town earned back-to-back promotions from League One to the EFL Championship to the Premier League after finishing second to Leicester this year.

In a season that saw three clubs – the top two plus third place Leeds United – finish with 90-plus points, it’s a fantastic accomplishment to finish second (and only a point behind the champions).

Ipswich was full value on the year, finishing with 96 points, and flying down the stretch losing only once in their final nine matches (five wins and three draws).

Honourable Mention

Real Madrid Manager and Italian legend Carlo Ancelotti is the only manager in history to win titles in all of Europe’s top five leagues (Italia, Spain, Germany, England, and France). He’s also won the Champions League four times as a manger (going for a fifth this year) as well as numerous other cups and trophies as both a manager and a player.

There are obviously many more teams – and individuals – we could mention in this space, but time is at a premium right now.

Next week we’ll have more updates on what’s happening in Muskoka, plus whatever else comes up.

That’s it for this week! Thanks for reading and don’t forget to subscribe below! Ciao for Now!