. The Ibrox side won their third League Cup game in six days without

TORONTO - Toronto FC went 1-2-2 during an injury-plagued Florida training camp, coming home to a frozen tundra. Star striker Jermain Defoe has yet to touch down and fellow marquee signings Michael Bradley and Gilberto have been hampered by injury. Goalie Julio Cesar is on international duty with Brazil in South Africa and backup forward Bright Dike is already probably out for the season after tendon surgery. Manager Ryan Nelsen has been down three fullbacks and three strikers. Minor niggles have turned into more bothersome setbacks. Its meant extra minutes for some players and new positions for others. For an MLS franchise that has gone all-in on the transfer market in a bid to finally make the playoffs after seven seasons of failure and a woeful 51-105-66 record, there is still much work to do. The good news is Toronto has a bye this weekend when 16 clubs kick off the 2014 season. Toronto opens March 15 in Seattle. "We planned that brilliantly," Nelsen said dryly after practice Tuesday under the bubble at the teams well-appointed north Toronto training ground. Nelsen, in his second year at the helm, has managed to find some positives in the rocky pre-season. "It did expose our weaknesses," he said. "You always get exposed at some part of the season, whether its injuries or suspensions or international call-ups or something like that." "We know what we have, we know what we need to be and where we need to get to," he added. "Its good to know now rather than a quarter or halfway through the season. "Well be a different animal come the 15th but in the back of my mind, its a nice thing to know moving forward." Depth is an issue. Toronto can field an impressive starting 11 but pre-season has already shown that the wrong combination of injuries at the wrong position can cause havoc. The team remains very much a work in progress. Even MLSsoccer.com, which ranked TFC 17th out of 19 teams in its weekly "power rankings," has Toronto 14th in its pre-season list. "Were not all aboard the bandwagon just yet," said the website. Nelsen, whose team went 6-17-11 last season, says he doesnt concern himself with "outside voices." But the former New Zealand international knows that whipping up a gourmet meal is more than just buying the right ingredients. "Just because you make some changes, its not like a light switch. It does take time," he said. "Thats the beauty of sport. "But in saying that we fully expect to get where we want to be. And if you think the expectations are high outside, theyre probably higher inside. But we know its hard and we know its a journey to get to." The pre-season injury list has included forwards Gilberto (quadricep) and Dike (tendon), midfielders Jonathan Osorio (flu) and Daniel Lovitz (knee) and fullbacks Mark Bloom (quadricep), Bradley Orr (calf) and Justin Morrow (hip). Bradley, who withdrew from the U.S squad to face Ukraine in Cyprus, is nursing a minor foot issue. More worrying for Nelsen is the fact that the injuries to Bloom and Orr started as minor issues but got worse. "Well definitely be addressing it," Nelsen said. "You always get niggles and you always get injuries but theyre re-injuries. When you re-do an injury, its major cause for concern." Nelsen expects everyone to be ready for the season. Defoe, the former Tottenham star, is expected to join the team after Wednesdays England friendly against Denmark. "As soon as he plays the game for England, hell be on a plane over," said Nelsen. Still, that means a longer road for team chemistry. Although, unlike past off-seasons, Torontos transaction list has been relatively short and very select. Bradley, Defoe, Gilberto, Cesar, Morrow, Jackson, Orr, and veteran midfielder Dwayne De Rosario are all targeted as starters. The injuries at fullback have meant rookie centre back Nick Hagglund has been shifted to an emergency right back. "Couldnt be more happy with Nick," said Nelsen. Nate Schmidt Jersey . -- Syracuse was dangerously close to letting another less talented opponent pull off the upset when C. Marc-Andre Fleury Jersey . There, I saw a teenaged boy with tears in his eyes, being consoled by strength and conditioning coach Randy Lee. http://www.officialgoldenknightspro.com/ . The move is retroactive to Aug. 1. Hosmer was originally hit on the hand in the first inning of a July 20 loss to Boston. He has played most of the time since, but missed a few contests due to the injury, then departed Thursdays win over the Twins and had tests that revealed the fracture. Reilly Smith Jersey .com) - The surprising Calgary Flames host the winless New Jersey Devils at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday. Max Pacioretty Jersey . Blown save in the ninth inning? No problem.Rangers manager Mark Warburton is happy with the progress his team is making ahead of the new Scottish Premiership season. The Ibrox side won their third League Cup game in six days without conceding a goal as they were 3-0 victors at Lowland League side East Stirlingshire.A potentially tricky tie on an awkward artificial pitch was negotiated with relative ease as an early Andy Halliday penalty and Josh Windass first goal for the club had Rangers 2-0 up at the break. Joe Dodoo added a third and although they should have won by more, Warburton is content his men are heading in the right direction.Rangers now play one more pool game against Stranraer on Monday then a friendly with Burnley before they start their league campaign against Hamilton on August 6, live on Sky Sports. Josh Windass celebrates his first competitive goal for Rangers since his summer move from Accrington Former Brentford coach Warburton said: It could have been more. Ive not seen the stats yet but we had a lot of possession.Maybe we could have tested their keeper a bit more, especially in the second half, but we kept trying to do the right thing on a difficult surface against a very willing opponent.You can always talk about scoring more goals but I thought we did a very professional job and now we move on to game four. Andy Halliday converts a penalty to put Rangers ahead at Ochilview I would agree that the longer we get into the season the rustiness will ease off and those chances will go in.dddddddddddd. Against Motherwell last week we could have scored four or five in the second half.It was the same on Tuesday night against Annan and the same here. Were getting in good shape and hopefully on Monday we can finish off with a positive display.Warburton took heart from the impact Windass and Dodoo - two of his nine summer signings so far - made as Rangers all but assured themselves of a last-16 place. Warburton gave Joe Dodoo his debut at East Stirlingshire and was happy to see the youngster score He added: I was pleased for Josh and Joe. You saw with Josh he was very willing to get forward. He showed real bravery, composure and technique in the first half.Joe gave us some real pace as well, which is what we wanted to add to the squad. Hes very confident in his touch too so Im delighted for him getting his goal. 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