Metro News » ALL CAPS: The Vancouver Whitecaps Blog

Away From The Numbers: Five reasons for Whitecaps fans to give thanks

Michael McColl — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 00:00:55 +0000

Another Thanksgiving has passed and filled the memory bank, whilst the turkey and leftovers have filled your stomach.

At this time of year we all like to give a little thanks for the good things in our life. As Vancouver Whitecaps fans there have been highs and lows this season. Excitements and disappointments. Joy, despair and even anger as some fan favourites were moved on.

After last season’s disasters, there has been a lot to be thankful for if you’re a Caps fan, and we’re not just talking about making the actual playoffs themselves.

Here’s five of our favourite reasons to be thankful to be a Whitecaps supporter at this time:

(5) The Club has improved on the pitch -

Playoff place aside, all you can want as a fan is to see an improvement on what has gone before and thankfully that’s just what the Whitecaps have delivered.

With two games remaining, the Caps have 14 more points than last season, five more wins and the first three wins on the road. It’s not earth shattering, but it’s great base to build upon and you get the feeling that they surely will.

It took six seasons for the NASL Whitecaps to lift the Soccer Bowl. Will the MLS Caps get their holy grail in less time?

(4) Martin Rennie will continue to learn -

It’s never easy when the fans expect so much from you from the get go, but Martin Rennie’s success elsewhere, coupled with the need for things to get instantly better, put the pressure on the Scot from the start. And he delivered.

There’s been times that he’s tested the faith of fans, such as letting the likes of Hassli and Chiumiento go and then going on a horrible losing streak. Some haven’t liked what they feel has been boring play away from home or the rigidity of formations.

Rennie has always given the air that he knows exactly what he is doing. He’s admitted he’s learned a lot this season and you only learn by making mistakes sometimes. He’s made some but he strikes you as the type of manager that will take it all in at the end of this campaign and come back with a better Caps side next season, and then the one after that. That’s the benefit of having a young coach, who is eager to learn, and we should be thankful we now have that at the club.

(3) Rivalries galore -

Some football clubs have to try and create rivalries with their closest team just to build some hype. Vancouver fans are spoiled. We have Canadian and Cascadian rivalries to be thankful for, and both are only going to get more heated and more competitive as the years move on.

The Cascadia Cup games with Seattle and Portland have gone to another level. Considering where they were already at, that’s pretty impressive. Seattle have also now raised the bar by cramming 67,000 people into the Clink at the weekend for the Portland game. Your move Whitecaps and BC Place!

The Canadian ones may not have the same intensity, but the Whitecaps need to add some if they want to rise to the occasion and bring home their first Voyageurs Cup and claim a Champions League spot going forward.

Derby games may not be our forte right now, but we should all be very thankful we have so many of them.

(2) The future is bright -

Expect a clear out of some of the old timers at the end of the season. Whilst some MLS sides may struggle in such a situation, Vancouver’s long term investment in homegrown, youth development is paying off.

Caleb Clarke and Russell Teibert have got some MLS minutes in the last few months, and are highly thought of by the Caps management, along with Bryce Alderson. The same with another Residency star, Ben Fisk, who many expect to sign a MLS contract in the off season. Other Residency graduates, such as Callum Irving, Daniel Stanese, Ben McKendry and Alex Rowley, are impressing at NCAA level and hopes are high that they can continue to develop and become the backbone of a Whitecaps MLS team brimming with Canadian talent.

Add in young stars like Darren Mattocks and Gershon Koffie and you have to feel that if we can keep all of these guys in Vancouver and get them firing on all cylinders, the Caps will be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come.

(1) You’re not a Toronto FC fan -

And we should all be very thankful for that!

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About the author:

Michael McColl began writing about football in 1989 and has freelanced for various newspapers, magazines and websites in the UK, before moving to Vancouver in 2007. He is the editor of “Away From the Numbers”, which can be currently found over on Canadian Soccer News, and a regular columnist with the Metro. He is also a member of the North American Soccer Reporters association and Vancouver Southsiders supporters club.

Away From The Numbers: Scheduling simians still keeping busy

Michael McColl — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 21:41:10 +0000

Most of you reading this will know of the “infinite monkey theorem”.

The idea is that an infinite numbers of monkeys, sat down at a set of typewriters, could randomly strike keys and eventually produce the works of Shakespeare.

It’s more a metaphor than an exact animal experiment! In reality, they keeping jamming their bananas inside them and clogging up the keys.

As the years pass since I moved to North America, I have started to believe that this is indeed the method that the various soccer associations come up with their yearly schedules. It’s the only thing that really makes any sense.

Surely a human couldn’t have come up with some of the nonsensical fixtures we’ve seen of late.

Vancouver Whitecaps return to BC Place on September 23rd to take on Colorado Rapids. By the time they take to the pitch they will have played just four home games in the previous 94 days.

That is just sheer insanity.

How are you meant to attract casual fans to the games when you bring them along one week, they enjoy themselves and want to go back, but their next chance to do that is six week’s away?

At least Vancouver is a strong soccer market. Ten away matches out of 14 is enough to kill a lesser supported club.

It is not just Major League Soccer at the top of the football world that likes to make these ridiculous schedules.

The Whitecaps Residency U18s and U16s kick off their 2012/13 USSDA season this weekend down in California.

Last season was a fantastic one for the program, with both sides reaching the post-season playoffs and the U18s narrowly going down to Dallas in the Championship game in Houston in July.

Looking forward to seeing the boys in action and getting a feel for the future of the Caps?

Sorry, you’ll have to wait.

Ten of the Caps’ first 11 matches in the League are away from home and you will have to wait until Portland come-a-calling on December 15th to get your first glimpse of the young guns in action on home turf.

They then finish their season with nine of their last 10 games at home.

Great if they need a late push and have to use home field advantage to make the playoffs again, but for the good of the League, it is not ideal.

The latest out of the box thinking when it came to scheduling was announced by the North American Soccer League this week.

The new NASL unanimously voted to adopt a split season from 2013. The League will have spring and fall seasons, with a month break inbetween. There will be no playoffs, just a one-off Championship game between the winners of the two ‘seasons’ or the winner of the first and the team with the next best overall record if the same team wins both.

It’s a strange one to say the least, although obviously not unique, as Mexico’s Apertura Clausura have their two tournaments to name just one.

Can it work in the NASL? There’s pros and cons and the danger is that you have the team that wins the spring season just experimenting in the second half, thus reducing a little bit of competitiveness.

Weather already plays a big role in NASL scheduling, and the northern teams like Edmonton, Minnesota and soon Ottawa struggle to play home games in the early or closing stages of the season, making the schedule look a little lopsided.

With so few teams in the League, why they just couldn’t get rid of the post-season altogether and have a single table Champion still baffles me. If it was going to work in any League in North America, it would be that one.

What will be next in the wonderful world of North American football scheduling? Stay tuned, as it’s bound to be irritating.

About the author:

Away From The Numbers: What’s in a name?

Michael McColl — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 23:05:38 +0000

Another MLS transfer window closed a few weeks back, and the European one closes today. Every window, there are some in the Whitecaps support, and many more casual football fans in the city, a little big disappointed that a big international household name hasn’t decided to make Vancouver their new home in the faltering years of their career.

They need a big name. Where’s the Caps’ big name signing? Where was Vancouver’s Alessandro Nesta or some other player they’ve been watching on TV for years?

Those were the comments usually flying around online as the transfer speculation circled in the recent MLS transfer windows.

I’m sure those same people were bitterly disappointed in the announcements of Andy O’Brien and particularly Tiago Ullises as late additions to the Caps squad.

The reasoning behind this thinking completely baffles me.

Surely the Whitecaps priority should always be looking to bring players to Vancouver who meet the required skillset that needs strengthening, whether they are household names or not?

Superstars do not necessarily a successful team make.

New York is a destination of choice for many players but they have struggled with the wealth of talent at their disposal over the years.

LA may have won the MLS Cup last year, but their star studded line-up has taken an age to gel in the West and sit just above the Whitecaps in the standings.

Of course it’s all relative. To me, as a Scot, I think we’ve landed two big stars with great football pedigrees in Barry Robson and Kenny Miller.

Both have not performed at the top of their game in Vancouver yet, but they will, of that I have no doubt. It’s been incredible how quickly some of the fans have jumped on their backs and a large part of that is down to them having the “Designated Player” tag.

With Miller, fans have wanted an immediate goalscoring machine, forgetting how poor the goals record of fan favourite Eric Hassli was for the last year and the fact that Miller has never played on turf before and was in pre-season shape and form. Maybe, hopefully, last week’s goal against Portland will get some people of his back.

With Robson, some of the more sensitive fans have taken a dislike to the way he shouts at his team-mates. Terrible that he has passion and standards isn’t it?

Some fans may have known the names of Robson and Miller but won’t have had much clue who either of them were or what they had done. Some won’t have heard of them at all. They weren’t currently playing in the EPL or Serie A you see.

The Koreans in the city were overjoyed at having one of their national footballing heroes here in Young-Pyo Lee. A lot of the other fans only had a vague idea of who he even was, mainly if they remembered him at Tottenham.

Lee has made huge contributions to the team and added a voice of experience in the dressing room. The experience of Miller and Robson at the top level of the game will also prove to be invaluable in the weeks to come when the going gets even tougher and the Caps’ first playoff run kicks in.

How many people here knew the names of Eric Hassli and Camilo Sanvezzo when they signed for the Caps? They quickly became fan favourites and Camilo has performed especially well.

Realistically, Vancouver and MLS will not be attracting the players you see on our screens week in and week out whilst they are still in their prime.

We simply cannot afford it.

Players in the second, third and fourth tiers of the English game for example are on good money and lifestyle choices can only do so much when a player still has a lot of his career left in front of him.

Do we really want to turn the League into another old duffers retirement home like the old NASL? It’s heading that way already, but what does that really do for the game and the League here? It certainly doesn’t get worldwide respect.

Vancouver have an old enough squad as it is, but at least we know our future is very bright from the amount of top quality young talent we have coming through our Residency ranks. Other MLS clubs aren’t so lucky.

One of the main arguments being thrown out to justify signing these ‘name’ players like Keane and Cahill, is that is that it adds legitimacy to MLS to have top players out there week in and week out.

It doesn’t. If anything it does the opposite. Sure it raises the curiousity factor, much like putting pandas into a zoo, but that will soon wane apart from the visiting tourist.

It will not suddenly improve the quality of domestic players overnight and if anything, it makes it worse for them as there’s less chance of starting spots. Look at the plight of the Caps’ Canadians.

The other argument is that it will put more bums on seats.

Vancouver are doing pretty well in that regard and are seemingly quite happy with their soccer-specific 21,000 capacity as it stands.

Should we really pander to people who only want to come and watch football if there’s a big name playing?

It’s the whole Beckham visit all over again, where the Whitecaps did an excellent job in not throwing more seats open to people who in that particular case would have been there primarily to cheer on an opposing player.

BC Place is already somewhat of a fortress. To make it even more so we need to work on getting more of the 21,000 already attending fully in to it. There’s been huge leaps in this regard already this season, but adding in more fans who only want to watch the team as there’s now a ‘star’ in it, is going to do nothing towards that.

If the Caps could get the right star, at the right age, at the right price and giving us an improvement on what we already have then naturally they should snap him up.

If not, then I’m more than happy with Martin Rennie going down the path he is going and using his own personal knowledge bank with the UK signings he has brought in.

Then there’s also the South American market, which Vancouver have seemed loathe to touch. Maybe the signing of Tiago Ullises will be the turning of that corner. The talent there is cheap to get and the talent on the continent is plentiful.

Who cares if they’re a big name or not, as long as they can help the Caps win?

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Away From The Numbers: International call-ups not friendly to Whitecaps

Michael McColl — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 02:00:51 +0000

Vancouver Whitecaps will be missing five players to international duty for next Wednesday’s key Western Conference match up at home to Dallas.

That’s the bad news. The only slightly better news is that at least it’s only two of the first team regulars that will be MIA.

When those two are your potent, and scarily fast, Jamaican attackers Darren Mattocks and Dane Richards, that’s only a source for a little crumb of comfort.

Mattocks and Richards will be with the Jamaican squad as they prepare for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers when they take on El Salvador in a friendly in Washington, D.C.

Russell Teibert earns his first call-up to the Canadian senior national team as they head to Fort Lauderdale to face Trinidad and Tobago for their own World Cup preparations.

Facing the Canucks in Florida will be Teibert’s Caps’ team-mate Carlyle Mitchell. Having already had their dreams of Brazil 2014 shattered, T&T are looking to rebuild and this gives 24-year-old Mitchell a great chance to stake a claim to a regular international starting spot, even if he can’t get one in Vancouver.

The fifth of the international quintet is Etienne Barbara.

The Malteser will be the only player to miss both Saturday’s game with Real Salt Lake and the midweek Dallas game, as he flies to Europe to play for Malta in San Marino.

Whether all five of the players will see much game time for their countries is currently the unknown, but I would expect to see at least Richards and Barbara getting starts.

This will be Mattocks’ second call up to the Jamaican senior squad, and although he has yet to earn a full international cap, his recent form in MLS will surely see coach Theodore Whitmore wanting to have a look at him at the top level.

All of this is great news for the players involved and a nice reward for all the hard work they put in at club level.

For the Whitecaps though it is a double edged sword.

On the one hand, it is great kudos to the Caps for assembling such talent in Vancouver, on the other, they lose players for a match and then they will come back tired as the team head into back to back Cascadia derbies and a grueling four game road trip.

Those are the perils of signing international caliber players faced by clubs the world over.

It certainly gives the Whitecaps management a bit of a headache, but when AFTN spoke to Martin Rennie last month about that very issue, it was one that he knew was coming and felt that Vancouver would deal with it without too many problems, telling us:

“We just have to manage it when that time comes.

I think having players of that quality you’re going to maybe miss them occasionally here and there, but I don’t think it’s a major problem for us.”

That time has now come and it will be interesting to see if this has any detrimental impact on the Whitecaps playoff push.

Personally, I can just about handle losing these players to international duty when it’s games that matter. Important qualification matches and tournaments is one thing. Friendlies is a whole different ball game.

At least for Jamaica and Canada, these games are not entirely meaningless, as they will give some preparation time for their squads to gel before hitting World Cup action.

It’s just all very frustrating to be missing them for MLS games.

As this is a date in the international calendar for many countries around the world, was it really too much to have Major League Soccer not schedule any games next week? Especially when you look at all of the bye weeks teams have over the season.

At least Scotland manager Craig Levein noted the distance involved and didn’t call up Kenny Miller or Barry Robson for the friendly against Australia.

MLS have made strides in not clashing with international games in recent seasons. They just need to take one more.

Let’s hope these absences don’t cost the Whitecaps ground in the playoff chase.

About the author:

Whitecaps prevail 2-1 over Earthquakes

mecloader — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 21:44:52 +0000

VANCOUVER – Barry Robson has looked quite comfortable at B.C. Place Stadium since joining the Whitecaps.

The Scottish midfielder scored in his second straight home game with a penalty kick in the 63rd minute Sunday to give Vancouver a 2-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes.

After joining the club on the road for four games, the designated player scored his first in Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with the L.A. Galaxy, the Whitecaps’ first home game in almost a month.

“It feels really good,” said Robson. “You don’t really get time to settle … (the fans are) judging you right away.”

In the 61st minute, Robson’s initial shot deflected to Camilo but the Brazilian was tripped in the penalty area. Robson stepped up and put the ball in the top corner, bringing 20,112 fans to their feet.

“(I wanted to) just hit it as hard as I can,” said Robson. “If you hit it hard, even if the goalie picks the right side it’s still got that power on it and they might still not be able to save it.”

When Camilo went down the referee initially did not call a foul, but after a brief word with the assistant referee, a penalty was awarded. During that moment, Robson picked up the ball for himself.

“Barry Robson’s scored in some really big games and Camilo’s scored for other teams as well,” said Vancouver head coach Martin Rennie. “But Barry Robson wasn’t going to give the ball away once he got it.”

“I kind of sneaked up and grabbed the ball,” said Robson. “I’ve took penalties wherever I’ve been…and it was available for me to take it. Thankfully I was able to score a goal.”

That call was a sore spot with Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop after the game.

“The referee decided the game, well, undecided it,” said Yallop. “His first reaction was ‘get up’ and then he looks over and he gives a penalty kick. We had chances after that to score but it was a bit of a game changer, a big moment in the game. I was disappointed we didn’t get at least a point.”

Dane Richards scored in the 20th minute for the Whitecaps (9-6-7).

Alan Gordon responded in the 38th minute for the first-place Earthquakes (13-5-4), who were coming off back-to-back wins at home.

Despite just two wins in its past eight games, Vancouver took sole possession of third in the Western Conference.

“It was a big confidence booster for us as well,” said Rennie. “San Jose are having a great season…and we’ve managed to beat them twice and were a little unfortunate in the first game against them.”

Asked why B.C. Place has been inhospitable to his club this year, Yallop, who lived in Vancouver much of his life, said it is a combination of the field itself and also regular road woes.

“It’s a difficult surface, indoor, a different feel,” he said. “It’s not easy playing on the road. We looked weary in the 60th to 75th minute. Our legs weren’t under us. But we got a bit of a second wind after that and … took the ball into their area a lot.”

Vancouver’s Joe Cannon stopped two shots in the win while Jon Busch made one save in the loss.

Richards got the opener when Young-Pyo Lee fed him a great ball up the right wing. The Jamaican beat his man Justin Morrow and fired a right-footed blast past Busch.

It was Richards’ first goal in Vancouver since coming over from New York Red Bulls in a July 13 trade that sent striker Sebastien Le Toux the other way.

The visiting Earthquakes tied the game against the flow of play in the 38th minute. Gordon won a physical battle in front of the Whitecaps goal and headed home a Marvin Chavez long ball for his ninth goal on the year.

Vancouver began to pour on the pressure after that. Richards had the best chance when his shot flew high and wide of the left post, just after Darren Mattocks narrowly missed a pass from Camilo that would have given him an open net to shoot at.

But when Vancouver was awarded the penalty kick, Robson made no mistake.

“I thought it was a penalty for sure,” said Rennie. “We haven’t had a penalty all season, which is incredible. We definitely deserved it. It could have been…more because Camilo was about to shoot.”

After blown leads in some of their recent games, the Whitecaps were a bit nervous until the referee’s final whistle blew.

“It was a very important game for us,” said Rennie. “Especially learning from the L.A. game, holding on much better, limiting the chances we gave up. Obviously there’s pressure when you’re winning the game but I was really pleased.”

The Earthquakes have only lost five games all year, and two of them were in Vancouver.

NOTES: It was the first game for Vancouver’s Scottish international Kenny Miller, who came into the game in the 78th minute for Mattocks. … Vancouver visits Real Salt Lake Friday, while San Jose play host to the Chicago Fire Saturday.

Kenny Miller signs with Vancouver Whitecaps

mecloader — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 23:26:21 +0000

VANCOUVER – Kenny Miller left little doubt about his loyalty to the Vancouver Whitecaps after he joined the Major League Soccer club Monday.

“There isn’t any option for me,” Miller said during a news conference at B.C. Place Stadium. “I wanted to make this move.”

The Whitecaps acquired the Miller, who is the captain of the Scottish national team, from Cardiff of England’s second-tier League Championship. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Miller said he had been contemplating a move to MLS for some time. The 32-year-old striker scored 11 goals in 50 games last season with Cardiff.

He joins a Vancouver side in need of offensive punch. Coach Martin Rennie, who also hails from Scotland, continues to look for more goals for his offensively-challenged club.

Miller became expendable in Cardiff after the Wales-based squad signed Slovenian international striker Etien Velikonja. Rennie said the Whitecaps were contacted by Miller’s agents, and the striker indicated Cardiff helped arrange the deal.

Miller has 187 goals in 547 career club matches and is one of only five players after the Second World War to play for Glasgow rivals Rangers and Celtic.

The Whitecaps (8-6-6) have scored just 21 goals to date heading into Wednesday’s home game against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

While Jamaican rookie striker Darren Mattocks has stood out with a club-leading six goals, Brazilian striker Camilo and French counterpart Eric Hassli have been inconsistent after ranking among league leaders with 12 and 10 goals, respectively, in 2011.

“We haven’t scored quite as many goals as we would have liked,” said Rennie. “So we wanted to get a little bit more proactive going forward. And when the opportunity came up to sign Kenny Miller, we really were excited to do it.”

The coach hopes Miller can bring out the best in Mattocks and other young players. Rennie said the Edinburgh native can also provide leadership qualities that will aid the second-year club as it seeks a its first-ever playoff berth.

“He’ll not only be a great addition on the field, but because of who he is and the character that he possesses, I think he’ll be a great addition off the field,” said Rennie.

Added Miller: “I hope I bring a little more than just goals to the team.”

He becomes Vancouver’s third designated player after Hassli and fellow Scottish international and friend Barry Robson. The Whitecaps created an opening for an international player last Wednesday when they sold midfielder Davide Chiumiento to Zurich FC of the Swiss Super League.

Rennie attributed the decision to move Chiumiento, who showed considerable vision on the pitch and factored into several recent goals with his adept passing, to the limitations of the MLS salary cap.

Miller’s arrival marks Vancouver’s third major transaction in less than a week. Vancouver traded Sebastien Le Toux to the New York Red Bulls on Friday for Jamaican midfielder Dane Richards and allocation money. Although Richards is classified as a midfielder he often moves forward.

But Rennie, who traded rarely used Chinese striker Long Tan to D.C. United in recent weeks, said he does not have a surplus of strikers. The Whitecaps could also make more moves before the current international transfer window closes.

“We are always building the squad with the long term in mind, and the window is still open,” Rennie said. “If the right opportunity came along, we’d certainly look at it.”

Miller will not play Wednesday. He has been training with Cardiff as it prepares for the start of its season, but has had limited activity since the Wales-based club’s season ended in the spring.

“I think I will have a few games to take in before I have a better feeling as to how the game is actually played,” said Miller.

Rennie predicted it won’t take Miller long to get up to game fitness. He could be on the bench as a reserve when the Whitecaps host the San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday.

Notes: The Whitecaps released 300 more tickets Monday for the Galaxy game. But even with British icon David Beckham expected to play for L.A., the club will continue to limit seating to a maximum 21,000 in the lower bowl only. Lenarduzzi said the Whitecaps do not want to destroy the intimacy they have with their current arrangement. … Rennie said an X-ray of Hassli’s injured foot indicates there is no fracture. The striker was hurt while landing awkwardly following a header Saturday in Chicago.

Whitecaps acquire Scottish striker Miller

mecloader — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 19:05:28 +0000

VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps have acquired Scottish international striker Kenny Miller.

Miller, the captain of Scotland’s national team, will be the Whitecaps’ newest designated player.

The 32-year-old spent last season with Cardiff City FC in the English League Championship, scoring 11 goals in 50 appearances.

Miller has 187 goals in 547 career club matches and is one of only five players after the Second World War to have played for both Scottish giants Rangers FC and Celtic FC.

The five-foot-10, 150-pound Edinburgh native also won Scottish Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup titles with Rangers and Celtic.

The signing comes after the Whitecaps traded French striker Sebastien Le Toux to the New York Red Bulls on Friday for midfielder Dane Richards and allocation money.

Juan de Fuca Plate on the line Sunday as PDL action heats up

Michael McColl — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 18:54:39 +0000

Vancouver Whitecaps fans will hopefully now all be very familiar with the Cascadia Cup. What many may not be so familiar with is the new piece of silverware introduced this season – the Juan de Fuca Plate.

And the Whitecaps could be lifting it for the first time this weekend.

The Plate is the brainchild of supporters of Vancouver Whitecaps and Victoria Highlanders, who wanted to reward the efforts of their PDL teams and award a trophy to the team that performed best in matches between the three British Columbia based teams (Fraser Valley Mariners being the third team in the mix).

The initial idea was thought up by avid Whitecaps and Highlanders fan Drew Shaw after reading Ruffneck Scarves were going to give a trophy for the best PDL team in Washington State.

The premise was simple – if they have something down there, then we should have something even better up here.

Vancouver Southsiders and the Highlanders’ Lake Side Buoys supporters’ groups loved the idea and more than 20 people have donated $700 which pays for the Plate itself, the wooden base that holds it, ribbons in the colours of all the competing teams, website and other administration costs, and a game day banner that will be unveiled in 2013.

There are plans to continue fundraising in 2013 so the winning team players can be presented with commemorative scarves in future years.

The Juan de Fuca Strait is a 95 mile long body of water that is the Salish Sea outlet to the Pacific Ocean, with the international boundary between Canada and the US running down the center of the Strait, so it’s a very fitting name.

With the Caps having two eligible fixtures remaining for the inaugural Plate, Sunday’s match with Victoria Highlanders at Richmond’s Minoru Oval Park is likely to see the trophy won and presented for the first time.

It’s not everyday that you can go along and see the Caps win some silverware, so get yourselves along to Richmond for the noon kick off on Sunday and see some cracking football in the sun.

The PDL on the whole is a fantastic environment to go and watch live football.

Entertaining games in intimate settings and every match is a Cascadian derby. What more could you want?

This year had the added boost of Seattle Sounders taking over and rebranding the Tacoma Tide, meaning all three Cascadian MLS clubs have their U23 teams competing in the League.

It’s been a tough 2012 campaign for the Caps but with three matches remaining, they could still snag one of the four playoff spots.

They currently sit in fifth place, on 18 points. Portland Timbers and Washington Crossfire are sitting in third and fourth, and have to play each other twice still. Providing they don’t share a win apiece and the Caps win their last three matches, then Vancouver will clinch a playoff berth.

So still a lot to play for.

The Caps PDL side is a mix of talented local University prospects and key members of the Whitecaps Residency program, often bolstered by younger members of the MLS squad.

From the newer members of the team, captain Gagan Dosanjh, Cam Hundal and James Farenhorst have really shone this season.

Vancouver play North Sound SeaWolves at 7.30pm tonight at Swangard Stadium, then take on Victoria Highlanders at noon at Richmond’s Minoru Oval Park on Sunday, The Caps then round of their regular PDL season matches with a game against Fraser Valley Mariners at 7.30pm this coming Wednesday (11th).

Admission is free at Swangard, so get yourselves along, enjoy the sunny weekend, cheer on the Caps and #SupportTheFuture.

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There’s only one football match that matters on Saturday

Michael McColl — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:30:39 +0000

You wait weeks for another derby game to come along and then you get four of them in eleven days.

One of the many great things about supporting Vancouver Whitecaps is that you’re never shy of games against your fiercest rivals.

We’re lucky here, we have both Canadian and Cascadian derbies and rivalries to look forward to, and each and every game is a heated occasion, full of passion.

The two kinds of games that always excite me the most are local derbies and Cup ties.

On Wednesday night we got both when Toronto came to town.

Sadly, it was a disappointingly sized crowd and the general Vancouver public let their team down in their national Cup competition by not packing out BC Place and roaring their Caps on to victory and a step closer to Champions League action.

Let’s hope they don’t do so again on Saturday for what promises to be an epic Cascadia Cup tie.

The team are playing their hearts out on the pitch and they need every Caps fan to do their bit off it.

Seattle Sounders come a calling and Montreal aside, there is no other team I hate more in all of Major League Soccer.

In this season of an unbalanced schedule, and more focus on games against Western Conference rivals, every single point is vital in these matches.

BC Place needs to become a fortress and the fans need to be loud and proud, for the visiting Seattle fans most certainly will be.

Despite not being competitive in MLS last season, Vancouver gave Seattle one hell of a match down in the Emerald City last June, topped off with Eric Hassli’s wonderstrike to salvage a point and turn the Frenchman into an internet sensation.

Over 500 Whitecaps fans made the trip south for an amazing evening off football and they created an amazing atmosphere to act as the soundtrack to the whole thing.

When Seattle played the return match in Vancouver, the last Caps game to be played at Empire, the Seattle fans travelled in numbers and were all over the stadium.

This is likely to be the case again on Saturday. Many have not bought tickets in the away fans section and have bought from Ticketmaster all over the stadium, as they plan to make a weekend of it.

You’ll know them because they’ll be green, loud and obnoxious. Well they are American after all. Watch out for their homage to “YMCA”. Big Village People fans apparently.

It’s going to be an amazing atmosphere and with the majority of the Seattle fans congregated together they will make a LOT of noise.

The importance of the main Vancouver supporters’ groups (the Southsiders and Curva Collective) working together and chanting in unison, and not separately, cannot be stressed enough.

But they can’t do it all on their own. Every Whitecaps fan in the stadium has to stand up and be counted for this one. Roar your team to victory from the very first kick and make BC Place the home fortress it deserves to be.

Vancouver Whitecaps and Seattle Sounders have a proud history and rivalry. It dates back to both club’s inaugural season in 1974 and has followed the clubs through the leagues and levels together.

The MLS version of the derby is amongst the most intense it has been.

The Caps are showing the Champions League final on the big screen before the kick off, so get along early and help build up the matchday atmosphere.

The world may be watching Bayern Munich take on Chelsea, but there’s only one football match that really matters on Saturday and that’s the Cascadian derby.

Please play your part in making it so.

About the author:
Michael McColl began writing about football in 1989 and has freelanced for various newspapers, magazines and websites in the UK. He moved to Vancouver in 2007 where he is the editor of “Away From the Numbers”, which can be currently found over on Canadian Soccer News. He is also a member of the North American Soccer Reporters association.
A proud member of the Vancouver Southsiders supporters club, his views are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Southsiders organization.

Tardiness is a Vancouver disease

Michael McColl — Sat, 12 May 2012 00:01:57 +0000

There’s a lot to praise in the way that the general Vancouver public have gotten behind the Whitecaps in these last two years.

Turning up on time for kick off isn’t one of them.

As last Saturday’s important game against San Jose kicked off at BC Place, the stadium looked deserted.

Had people stopped caring? Was the afternoon kick off time putting people off? Was the nice sunny day keeping people outside and not under the unopened roof? Was the lure of one more beer in the pub too much for some to tear themselves away?

It was a little worrying, and not just to me. Some Whitecaps staff were wondering just what was going on and wondering what the attendance was going to end up like.

As it turned out, the stadium filled up to 19,271 and ended up looking pretty full. Only fitting since the Caps turned in one of their best performances of the season.

They deserved the fans to be there to see it. From the first kick to Eric Hassli’s dramatic last second winner. Shame they weren’t.

So where were these thousands of people that ended up turning up after the game kicked off?

Well it would appear that they fell victim to that very Vancouver disease of tardiness.

What is it with the sports fans in this city that makes them not only turn up late for games, but then miss large chunks of it as they line up for overpriced beer and food?

It’s not just the Whitecaps that are affected by this plague. I’ve seen it so many times at BC Lions and Canucks games.

Why pay money for your ticket to then not watch the whole game?

Is it really that hard to turn up on time for the game kicking off?

I understand that occasionally something will happen that will see you running late. It happens to all of us, myself included. It could be traffic, public transport, your kids, your dog. You can’t always help it.

I get that.

What I don’t get is the fact this isn’t simply a one off, it’s a regular occurrence and usually with the same people.

It’s disrespectful to the players for one thing, looks bad on TV and has to make me question their actual commitment to the cause.

The trait also seems to affect the fans in Toronto, so maybe it’s a Canadian thing and not just a Vancouverite one and it’s certainly not a west coast disease.

It is embarrassing.

When you watch the fans in Seattle and Portland, they’re packed into their stadium well before kick off.

Plenty of time for them to enjoy the teams coming out, the anthems, the tifo displays. It’s hard to have decent tifo in the stadium when there’s so much empty space at kick off.

The Timbers Army, who have a general admission section, line up well before the gates even open to make sure that they’re in the stadium to build up a menacing matchday atmosphere.

Too many people here don’t seem to care about that. That one last beer or the need for a hotdog seems to override turning BC Place into a fortress from before a ball is even kicked.

There’s two big games coming up at the stadium in the next week or so.

Two of our biggest rivals come a calling in Toronto and Seattle.

If you’re reading this and are one of these regular latecomer, then do everyone connected with the Whitecaps a huge ‘favour’.

Show your respect, show your enthusiasm, and show your commitment to the team and drag your ass to game in time.

That’s why you’re there after all.

About the author:

Michael McColl began writing about football in 1989 and has freelanced for various newspapers, magazines and websites in the UK. He moved to Vancouver in 2007 where he currently pens the “Away From the Numbers” blogs on Canadian Soccer News. He is also a member of the North American Soccer Reporters association.

A proud member of the Vancouver Southsiders supporters club, his views are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Southsiders organization.