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TORONTO -- On a day when Julio Cesar essentially said farewell to Toronto FC, fellow goalie Joe Bendik opted not to talk to the media. Brett Gardner Shirts . Perhaps he was ceding the day to the Brazilian No. 1, one reporter surmised. A day later, Bendik came clean. Chatting with journalists had conflicted with his tee time Tuesday. The 25-year-old American keeper, who shot a round of 79, comes with a certain amount of swagger. That ego took a jolt when, after winning Torontos No. 1 job in 2013, Bendik lost his starting role in pre-season to Cesar. "A hit to my pride today but luckily Ive got tons of it! Going to take in everything I can from a top shelf gk (goalkeeper) to better my abilities," Bendik tweeted, with a colourful adjective before tons, when Cesars signing was announced in February. Three months later, Bendik is back as Torontos No. 1. Cesar has left the club for the World Cup and is not expected back, with Englands Queens Park Rangers looking to cut short the loan agreement with MLS. Bendik says he is a better goalie for having spent time with the 34-year-old Cesar. "He did things for my career that I couldnt do over 20 years, probably," said Bendik, his post-practice calendar apparently a littler clearer Wednesday. "Just to see him play, see his professionalism was amazing. "Now I have to step in and start to play some games and continue what I did last year. And continue what Ive done the last three games." Cesar gave way to Bendik for both legs of the Amway Canadian Championship semifinal against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Bendik also played in Saturdays 2-0 league win over the New York Red Bulls when Cesar was laid low by the flu. Bendik came to Toronto in a December 2012 trade with Portland. The Timbers got forward Ryan Johnson and goalie Milos Kocic in exchange for Bendik, the third overall pick in the 2013 SuperDraft and allocation money. At the time, the goalie component of the deal seemed like a swap of backups with Bendik taking over for Kocic -- who believed he should have been No. 1 in Toronto -- behind the oft-injured Stefan Frei. But when Frei was injured in the first pre-season game in Florida in 2013, Bendik took over and started 33 games for Toronto. Frei was traded to Seattle at the end of the season and Bendik was rewarded with a new contract. When he heard Cesar was coming to Toronto, Bendik said he knew it could go "either amazing or terrible. Luckily its amazing." It helped that inside the team, word was that Cesar was likely going after the World Cup. Rather than being left out in the cold, Bendik knew in essence that he was having an extended training camp -- while having the opportunity to learn from one of the best goalies in the world. It was no coincidence that Nelsen, praising Bendik after he helped Toronto win a penalty shootout in the Amway Canadian Championship, said he would not be surprised to see his young keeper earn a call-up to the U.S. national team after the World Cup. Cesar was moving on. Bendik was back. For Nelsen, the Cesar acquisition was always a marriage of convenience with a short timeline. Cesar needed a place to play ahead of the World Cup and QPR wanted some salary relief. Toronto got a world-class goalie, a tutor for Bendik and the invaluable publicity of seeing Toronto FC by the name of Brazils goalkeeper at the World Cup. Having Cesar around would also help settle fellow Brazilians Gilberto and Jackson. Plus the short-term nature of the relationship means that the club will have some salary cap space come the summer. It was win-win. "Its benefited the league, its benefited the club and its benefited every single player here at Toronto," Nelsen said. It helped that Cesar, like Englands Jermain Defoe and American Michael Bradley, was a good citizen with an ego seemingly in check. They may be stars, but they dont act like it. Cesar met the media only periodically in Toronto. But he was always relaxed when he did, his arm invariably around translator Daniel Correia. "Thats Nellie," Bendik said, referring to Nelsen. "I think his No. 1 prerequisite is you have to be a good guy. You have to be a character in the locker-room. If youre not, he doesnt really care for it." Cesars relaxed way was infectious. Bendik, for one, says the Brazilians message was to let mistakes go, to look ahead rather than behind. When that advice comes from a Serie A goalkeeper of the year and Champions League winner, you tend to listen. "When he came, right away he took me under his arm and he wanted the best for me right from the start," Bendik said. "That helped me a lot to embrace the moment." Its help that Bendik says he will pay forward -- if he finds himself playing in his mid-30s with a young goalie. "I hope Im half the way he is," he said of Cesar. "Its been fantastic," said backup goalie Chris Konopka. "Working side by side with Julio, with the Brazil No. 1, hes as focused as he will ever be because hes preparing himself to be on the world stage, for basically the No. 1 team in the world," he added. "All eyes are going to be on him. It was definitely a unique and great experience working side by side with him." The goalies arent the only ones to praise Cesar. Captain Steven Caldwell says playing with Cesar has been one of the highlights of his career. "The impact hes had on me and everybody else at this football club is huge," said the Scottish defender. "In such a short space of time, for everybody to have the pleasure to see what its like to be a top, top professional and an outstanding goalkeeper is a real pleasure." "An outstanding human being," added Caldwell. The whole team plans to stay in touch with the Brazilian, by means of a chat group during the World Cup. No one will cheer louder than the Toronto FC dressing room if Cesar gets to hoist the World Cup. Yogi Berra Yankees Jersey . Darvish is scheduled to make his season debut Sunday at Tampa Bay after getting through an extended bullpen session without any issues. Paul ONeill Jersey . -- The Anaheim Ducks realize theyre in for plenty of tight defensive games in the next seven weeks while the rest of the NHL attempts to catch them atop the standings.MONTREAL -- Val Sweeting could not hide the excitement of reaching her first final at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. The Alberta skip made an open draw to the button on the final stone of an extra end to defeat Manitobas Chelsea Carey 6-5 in the semifinal on Saturday night. Sweeting will face defending champion Rachel Homans Canada squad in the final on Sunday night. "Its huge," said Sweeting, who is playing in her second Scotties. "To be one game away from a dream come true like that, it feels really good." It wont be easy. Homan is 12-0 in the tournament, including a 10-5 win over Alberta on Tuesday in the round robin. "Its going to be a good game -- close with lots of rocks in play," said Sweeting. "Well try to get them drawing and hope the angles are in our favour. Theyre really good at the high, hard ones, so we have to watch out where our rocks are." Alberta third Joanne Courtney said the key is to keep Homans team from pulling out the three-or-four point ends they have used to roll over most opponents in the tournament. "You cant afford to miss too many against them,"said Courtney. "Theyve scored a lot of big ends this week, so we have to be careful when they have hammer with what we leave around. "Theyre really good at weight. Sometimes you think you put it in the right spot and they make a triple or something." Courtney put her second shot straight through the house in the extra end, but Carey was unable to make her pay for the error. "I knew shed want that one back, but the button was still open and, as a skip, thats all you want," said Sweeting. Sweeting, who finished fourth in the round-robin portion of the tournament, got to the semifinal with an 8-7 victory Saturday morning over Saskatchewans Stefanie Lawton. Carey, who will play in the bronze medal game against Lawton, was dismayed at a spotty performance. "Its terrible, it sucks," she said, lamenting too many missed shots. "There were a bunch throughout the game. "We fought the inch a bit. We played a great game (Friday against Homan) and didnt win, and played a not-great game today and didnt win. Its just not our week, I guess." Manitoba emerged from the first five ends with a 2-1 lead, but neither team looked sharp. After the break, Sweeting hit for two in the sixth to take the lead, then ggot another in the seventh when Careys draw to the button ran long. Alfonso Soriano Yankees Jersey. The next end, it was Sweeting who went long on a draw and Carey was able to score two. Then Sweeting was a tad heavy on a hit in a bid for two and had to settle for one. She took a 5-4 lead, but gave Carey the hammer going into the 10th. Carey left a draw short on her first rock, then drew for one to send it to an extra end. In the third-versus fourth game, Lawton left draws well short in the seventh and eighth ends to allow Alberta to steal five points en route to an 8-7 victory. The missed shots left her squad down 8-3 with two ends to play. They closed the gap at the end but the outcome was not in doubt. The Saskatchewan skip looked devastated. "I had great draw weight at the beginning of the game and I just seemed to lose it after the sixth end," the Saskatoon resident said. "Just two tough draws and I couldnt make it for the girls and I feel not so good about that." Saskatchewan looked to have taken control with a steal of one in the fifth for a 3-1 lead, but things went south after the break. Lawton missed a double takeout that gave Sweeting an easy two to tie it in the sixth. Then Lawton left a draw short to give Alberta a steal of two in the seventh for its first lead of the game. A crisp Sweeting double takeout in the eight left a crowd of Alberta stones in the house. Lawton tried to draw into them but a groan went up from the grandstands as she left it short again for a steal of three. She rebounded with two in the ninth and Sweetings rink played with fire in the 10th by letting Saskatchewan put stones in the house. But a Sweeting takeout with the last stone sealed the victory despite Saskatchewans steal of two. "The ice was great," said Lawton. "It was a little keener and straighter but nothing we couldnt adjust to. "It was just a matter of making better shots." Now she hopes to salvage something by taking third place. "Were going to come out and play for that bronze medal because wed be very proud to win that one," she said. It is Lawtons third Scotties after appearances in 2005 and 2009, and all three times she lost in the 3-versus-4 game. She finished third in round-robin play at 8-3 but lost to Yukon (2-9) in her last game Friday. Fourth-place Sweeting had lost 8-6 to Lawton in the round robin. wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' '