Cunningham Shipped to Dallas

With big striker Danny Dichio set to return to the lineup from injury and the recent acquisition of Chad Barrett, Toronto FC has deemed Jeff Cunningham expendable to the club's needs, trading the 11-year veteran to FC Dallas. The deal, announced yesterday, mercifully ends his tumultuous 15-month spell with the club, with TFC settling for just a third-round pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft in exchange.Cunningham, 31, is the fourth-leading scorer in Major League Soccer history with 99 goals to his credit, trailing only Jaime Moreno (119), Ante Razov (113), and Jason Kreis (108), but has failed to impress since moving to BMO Field in May of 2007. He has scored just six goals of those goals in a TFC uniform - three last season, three this season - and hasn't found the back of the net in more than two months (June 8th).

His standing in Toronto has diminished significantly since the start of the season, as new head coach John Carver has clashed heads with the Jamaican-born player on several occasions. He has started only seven games in 2008 and seen just 747 minutes of action.

After Cunningham missed an opportunity to score in a game against the Montreal Impact on July 22nd, Carver had this to say: "You want my honest opinion on that? I'm thinking how has [Cunningham] scored 99 goals, that's what I thought. How has he scored 99 goals in this league? Because if you have desire, no matter how you put the ball over the line, you put it over the line."