Empire Field Open For Business

Empire Field, 2010 version, finally threw open it’s doors yesterday for competitive action.

Following on from last Sunday’s open house for BC Lions season ticket holder, the new temporary stadium hosted a CFL pre-season match up between the BC Lions and Edmonton Eskimos on Father’s Day.

I’m a Lions season ticket holder, but I never bother with the pre-season games. Never see the point. Well not usually. Today was too much of a lure – the chance to see the opening game at the newly built and soon to be new home to the Caps.

The fact that the Lions lost 36-32 played second fiddle to the chance for everyone to check out the new stadium in actual use, as opposed to the empty facility we saw last week.

The rumours are that the Caps will have Empire as their home for the entire 2011 season, with work possibly not being complete on BC Place until November now. So what can we expect when we go to see the Whitecaps play their inaugural MLS season there next year?

Well, hopefully a few changes. I know it’s very early to judge and there will be teething problems for any new facility, but there was a lot that could have gone better yesterday and some little kinks that need to be worked out, as well as some that need to be but just can’t be.

So here’s a rundown of some of the things that will interest us Southsiders and we’ll start with getting to and from the actual stadium itself.

It’s no surprise to say that driving and parking at Empire is a bit of a nightmare. The official lots are expensive, even with the official parking pass that the Lions are selling to season ticket holders for the season. It works out to be $25-$30 a game depending on what lot you select.

If you’re hoping to tailgate at Empire, then forget it. The PNE will not allow you to fire up BBQs or drink any alcohol in the PNE lots and they put an end to a few yesterday.

There are four allocated to Lions fans, totalling around 1300 spaces. Not a lot for 27,000 crowds, so the surrounding streets are packed with cars.

There are currently a lot of both permanent and temporary resident only signs up on the sidestreets. Any street that didn’t have one was crammed full of cars, much to the residents annoyance. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a lot more temporary signs cropping up as the season goes on and the resident complaints increase. An Olympics size no parking zone will likely be introduced before the end of the season (which was no parking within a ten block radius of the Coliseum).

Unless you absolutely have to take the car, I’d advise taking transit. It’ll be a lot less hassle and they seemed to have a lot of shuttle buses sitting after the game up to 29th skytrain station. Translink were also selling return journey tickets inside the gates of the stadium to speed up your travels.

Once inside, the whole place does look new. It’s all plastic, metal and a bland whiteness everywhere. Very much a temporary stadium but that said, it’s great to have it and to have games back at both the Whitecaps and Lions spiritual home.

My Lions seat is in the gold section of the east stand. At BC place, it’s a great spot, at Empire not so much. For those familiar with BC Place, the front rows of Empire are much lower to the ground, thus your viewing is restricted more for a CFL match at least. Not sure how that will transfer for football, but I’m in row H and you can just see the touchline over the top of the advertising boards. Sadly you can also only see the head and breasts of the cheerleaders, but they’re the best parts anyway so can’t complain! The distance between the rows, also seems reduced at Empire, so if you have someone tall sitting in front of you, it’s not a lot of fun.

When the Caps play there, anyone looking for seats in the east or west stands may want to be a few rows higher up. The covered section is probably about 12 rows backs, but watch with going back too far as the columns holding up the roof will also cause a little resticted view in some seats.

I decided to make the move to the Southside for the second half, as there were a few gaps there. First time I’ve watched a throwball game from the endzone and it wasn’t actually that bad a view. From the Caps point of view, the Southside is going to give us a cracking view, especially if you are a little higher up.

The Southside (and northside) is open, which is a shame as a covered shed would have been trememndous. It boosts your volume so much and adds to the atmosphere no end. The old Scottish grounds that still have sheds are always my favourite ones to visit. There are also no bucket seats there, just bleachers. Not sure what is the most uncomfortable to sit on for such a large period of time, but we’ll be standing anyway, so it doesn’t matter too much.

We’re going to be further away from the game than we’re used to, but it’s not as bad as it could have been. The metal bleachers also make one hell of a noise when banging your feet on them, so that’s going to be fantastic for us.

The television gantry is also at the back of the Southside, which should be good to capture our atmosphere and we’re also facing the only big screen in the stadium, so that’s a bonus too.

The food inside is provided by PNE ‘Grab n Go’ cabins. The huts had big lines yesterday, seemed woefully unprepared for the half time rush when it came to food being ready and there’s not a lot of them. Most of them are situated at the north end, with some also at the top of the ramp behind the west stand. The latter is the quieter as most people didn’t seem to know it existed.

With it being PNE operated, it’s what you’d expect and thus not very exciting or healthy. Burgers, hot dogs, fries, chicken strips, fried chicken and pulled pork sandwiches. I doubt we’ll get that pie stall we’ve been pushing for, but at least we’ve made pulled pork sandwiches a Southside tradition already, so we can be happy with that. Maybe not the $8.50 price tag for them though! I settled for the dryest, chewiest chicken strips I’d ever had. Bad choice.

There’s beer and soft drink stalls dotted around outside of the stands, so you shouldn’t have too long to wait or too hard a job finding them.

Toilet facilities are just your usual temporary variety. There’s a line of portapottys behind the east stand and various cabins dotted around the concourse areas.

The players facilities are crazily minor league! Obviously there’s not been the opportunity to build proper dressing rooms in a temporary stadium, so players of both teams change and come from portacabins. That’ll be fun for the likes of Beckham and Donovan next year!

The home team come down a hill and the visitors across a metal bridge. It’s bizarre to see it at half time but does give fans the opportunity to get up close and personal with their faves. It’s not what you’re expecting when you’re going “major league” though.

Finally the new turf. I don’t know a lot about astroturf and this is meant to be some of the best in the world, but a lot of dust was coming up off it whenever people ran, turned or the ball bounced. I don’t know if this is normal, but it’s going to be shit for football if that’s what we end up with for the Caps.

So there you have. Empire is alive and kicking once again and despite the flaws, I can’t wait to see the Caps take the field there next season.

** You can check out pictures of Empire Field on the Southsiders Flickr page **

Portland Timbers New MLS Crest Turns Into PR Disaster For Club

How important is your team’s crest to you? Would you care if they changed it? If there was to be a change, would you only want it to be a modernisation (ala Aresnal and Juventus), a complete change or should history be preserved and no tinkering done?

With regards to East Fife, we had an enforced change before due to copyright reasons. I like the current crest, but we’ve had debates on AFTN before as to whether we should change it? In all honesty, I don’t really care one way or the other.

I’m not that attached to it and it’s not as if we’ve had it since we were formed in 1903. If we were to change, I’d like to keep the saltire in it, but apart from that, I’d be happy with pretty much anything. Or at least I think I would be! I just don’t put a lot of onus on it as a deal breaker in whether I buy Fife strips etc and I can’t see me ever falling out with the Club about it.

Club crests and logos are a big deal in North America though, especially when it comes to new teams starting out. A bad logo or hideously unpopular crest can kill a club, with merchandising opportunites greatly reduced.

Last week’s blog covered the launch of Vancouver Whitecaps new club crest for their forthcoming Major League Soccer inaugural season. I like it. It’s definitely a grower and once you see it on strips, scarves and more, it’s pretty sharp and distinctive.

Portland Timbers, the 18th expansion side to go into MLS, also next season, had launched a slick video campaign in the build up to the launch of their MLS club crest.

They seemed to have done everything right, they seemed to ‘get it’ when it came to the Club’s proud history that dates back to 1975, a year after Vancouver Whitecaps. They’d had discussions with the huge Timbers Army supporters group and in September last year, owner Merritt Paulson was quoted as saying:

“I want to briefly clarify a discussion that took place yesterday between the TA and the FO reps concerning a new team logo for MLS.”

“At the outset, I would say that our logo in MLS should unequivocally not be exactly the same as it is in USL-1. We are making a move to major league. This is not simply a Championship League team being promoted to the EPL…The franchise is being elevated and significant change will be taking place (in a good way) on many levels. A new logo is critical to represent that change.”

“However, the Portland Timbers are not the typical USL-1 team, our history is not the typical pro U.S. soccer team history and you are not the typical fans. We recognize the need to pay significant homage to our past.”

“As this relates to logo/colors etc: simply expect evolution, not wholesale change. We will not get this wrong. Trust me.”

Those last two sentences are now coming back to haunt the Timbers front office. The Portland fans don’t just HATE their new crest, the absolutely DETEST it.

Now before we go any further, here’s the current crest on the left and the new MLS adaptation of it on the right:

What’s your thoughts on them? Which do you prefer and why?

Portland’s FO were so confident that the crest would be well greeted that they decided to launch it to thousands of people at half time of an open air showing of Saturday’s US-England match.

Big mistake to say the least.

The crest had been leaked in the days leading up to the launch due to the fact that tshirts bedecked with the new MLS crest had been sent out to Dick’s Sporting Goods for sale and somehow, people had got hold of them before the official launch day according to the Timbers Soccer City forum – a thread which incidentally has 84 pages to it at the time of writing this!

The unveiling was met by some cheers and polite applause, but these were soon drown out by boos and chants of “it’s so shitty it’s unbelievable” and “you fucked up”.

You can view video taken at the event below:

The reaction hasn’t gone down well with the Timbers and has strained relationships between the Club and fans, not an ideal situation when you’re trying to launch your new “product”.

The crest and the fans reaction to it is also likely to be the subject of ridicule from the Vancouver Southsiders and Seattle’s ECS both now and when the teams meet next year. Once you know the fans don’t like something or someone then you have to play on that.

Now some, outwith Oregon, may wonder just what all the fuss is about as I mentioned at the start of this piece, but the thing is that the crest meant a LOT to the Timbers Army and they told their Club that. This seemingly counted for nothing.

For what it’s worth as a neutral, I don’t think it’s too bad. At least on some items. There’s an embroidered patch of it on their website that looks pretty smart. On the other hand it looks dreadful, cartoony and like two bones as opposed to an axe on the tshirts, the definition of the green on the axe head appears to be the major problem. On other merchandise their once mighty axe has been reduced to looking like a hatchett.

So as we thought all along, the Timbers Army have tiny choppers.

One Down, One To Go As Portland Timbers Prepare To Unveil Their New Club Crest

Yesterday we had a look at the new Vancouver Whitecaps club crest for when they become a Major League Soccer club in 2011.

The other expansion side next year is Portland Timbers and they are also launching their new crest this week, on Friday.

The Club have launched a really classy teaser campaign in the lead up to the big announcement, via a series of videos, so for your enjoyment, we include them here:

Teaser One

Teaser Two

Teaser Three

Teaser Four

So will the hype be worth the wait? We’ll find out on Friday but it’s nice to see that these two clubs realise the importance that a new crest is to their worldwide identity.

There’s been talk on the AFTN forum that East Fife should re-look at their crest. Maybe we should start uo those discussions again.

Vancouver Whitecaps Unveil MLS Club Crest

Today was a monumental day for Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club.

With around nine months until they kick their first ball as a Major League Soccer club, the Caps officially confirmed their MLS Club name this morning at a press conference at Vancouver’s Convention Centre. The big news though was to be the unveiling their new club crest.

The name of the club remains true. They will be Vancouver Whitecaps FC. The name may keep it’s roots in the past but the new crest certainly leaps into the future with a fresh and modern look.

I’ll admit that I wasn’t initially blown away by it. At first glance it seemed a little bland and simple, but it’s the simple subtleties that have actually really grown on me in the passing hours. When you view it from afar, it comes across as very striking. What I like most is that it is certainly fresh and modern, moving away from any old image of the Club’s past, whilst embracing it at the same time and showing that the CLub, much like the city itself, has moved on with the times.

The crest comes about following a 10-month consultation process that included world-renowned soccer brand Adidas, Publicis Canada, Whitecaps FC ownership group, staff, fans, and season ticket holders.

The new “brand” and logo, which will be used throughout the club from November 2010, draws its inspiration from the spectacular geography of Western Canada’s largest city, as well as the club’s long tradition of success. The MLS Caps will continue their long tradition of using white as one of their primary colours, while the club have also incorporated the colour of ‘deep sea’ blue as a reflection of Vancouver’s natural landscape.

“This new logo and brand takes into account the rich history and tradition that we have established as a club, while providing a fresh representation of one of the most beautiful cities in the world,” said Whitecaps FC president Bob Lenarduzzi. “The new brand and logo not only engages our many fans that have supported us since 1974, it will also engage new fans to our Club and to the MLS with a symbol that truly reflects Vancouver and the incredible
landscape that makes this city unique”.

The new logo sees the words ‘Vancouver Whitecaps FC’ written in white on a deep sea blue background, with the renowned mountains of Vancouver’s north shore sitting above the Club’s name in white and reflecting down on the city’s waterfront – below the Club name. The colour used to symbolize the refection of the mountains on the waterfront is a lighter blue or “Whitecaps blue”, which pays tribute to the primary colour on the Club’s logo worn during the historic 1979 Soccer Bowl championship. Lining the new mark is the colour silver, a distinct nod to the Club’s numerous championship titles that have been won since 1974.

This morning’s event was MC’d by Pete Schaad, with Bob Lenarduzzi and Caps CEO Paul Barber making speeches, along with a fantastic video showing the Caps crests and championships through the years and a model of the new look BC Place.

Paul Barber took the opportunity to speak about his first impressions of the city, after causing big news when he made the move from Tottenham Hotspur to Vancouver. He ensured everyone that the MLS experience was “designed to deliver an absolute unforgettable period of time” for fans, whilst the renovated BC Place would be “one of the great theatres to watch the Whitecaps”.

The Caps also took the opportunity this morning to announce more details about next year’s season tickets. There will be a cap of 16,500 season tickets for year one and deposits for 10,000 of these have already been sold. The remaining 6,500 deposits will go on sale at 10am on Saturday morning, with our debut season shaping up to be the hot ticket in town for 2011.

Prices for next season’s ticket packages were confirmed as starting at $319 for a minimum of 17 MLS home games. Taking into account the likelihood of Voyaguers Cup games and friendlies, this will work out at fantastic value for money, especially if you’re in the Southside.

With the new jersey and kit sponsor due to be announced shortly, this is certainly an exciting time to be a Whitecaps fan. I wish it was next year already!

*** Don’t forget the Southsiders have a special logo celebration event tonight, which features a Q&A with Paul Barber. The event kicks off at 7.30pm at Cinema Public House at 901 Granville Street and it will also be the first chance to buy new Caps MLS gear.

You can see some of my photo’s of this morning’s press conference on the official Southsiders Flickr page HERE ***

MLS Logo Excitement Continues To Build

Not long now. In fact, at the time of writing this we’re around nine hours away from finding out what the new Vancouver MLS team name and logo will be.

The name has been a closely guarded secret. The Club have said that the Whitecaps name will not be disappearing but that isn’t to say it’s going to be in the official team name.

Will we see just a plain Vancouver FC, known by a “Whitecaps” nickname? Or will we still have Whitecaps FC or Vancouver Whitecaps FC to build into our songs? I personally may be in the minority here, but I’d really have no objection at all to going down the first route.

If the name has been shrouded in secrecy then that’s nothing compared to the new team logo, colours, strip and sponsor!

The new team logo is the big deal tomorrow though and I can’t wait!

As a sucker for things like this (sad anorak if you wish), the chance to be there at the unveiling is pretty exciting. I have no idea what to expect. All we’ve been told at the MLS one year countdown event is to expect something that will capture Vancouver and be fresh and exciting.

I’m personally hoping for some kind of design inside a heraldic shield and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the famous lions somewhere in there (the mountain variety, not the CFL team that is).

The Club are unveiling their new logo at 8.30 on Tuesday morning – which you can watch live online at vancouvermls2011.com/announcement.

To celebrate this historic day, the Southsiders will be hosting our very own special event later in the evening at Cinema Public House at 901 Granville Street, starting at 7.30pm.

The event will formally kick off our MLS membership campaign and will be Vancouver’s first-ever opportunity for fans to purchase Vancouver MLS merchandise featuring the new logo. Items for sale will include team scarves, T-shirts, hoodies and other apparel.

Also on hand for the evening:

– a Q & A session with Whitecaps FC CEO Paul Barber. Paul, as most of us will know, is the former executive director of Tottenham Hotspur and former director of marketing and communications at the English Football Association. His transfer to Vancouver sparked international headlines, and he will be answering questions about his plans to turn the Caps into a globally recognized and respected soccer club

– a few words from Whitecaps head coach Teitur Thordarson. The Icelandic tactician will share his thoughts on how supporters groups like the Southsiders actually do make a difference for the players on the pitch. Many Whitecaps players will also be in attendance

– a presentation of some cheeky viral videos courtesy of the Vancouver Southsiders

– the Southsiders will be holding a raffle for a massive pile of prizes, including Vancouver MLS-branded merchandise and tickets for the special Whitecaps bus trip to watch the Seattle Sounders play DC United at Qwest Field on June 10

So don’t miss out on all the fun. Come one, come all and if you’ve wondered what we’re all about and/or just want information on how to join us, then this is a wonderful event to come and see first hand.

One more sleep!

Retro Day Sees Rowdies Sent Packing, Again

Retro Day at Swangard brought the rain and three points for the Whitecaps in a game which wasn’t a classic, but certainly had more goalmouth action than some of our recent games.

The weather put a little dampener on the Southside’s dressing up (see Photos) but kudos to those that made the effort. Even Tampa Bay got in on the act by resurrecting Gary Coleman to turn out at number 7 for them. Well, Different Strokes was a top rated show back in 1979 after all, so it did seem only right. Mr Drummond would have been proud.

We thought that one guy at the game at particular had made a real effort with his old fashioned clothes that probably weren’t even fashionable when they were new, old style haircut, flared trousers, unbuttoned hideously patterned shirt, large medallion hanging down and backward views, verging on the little bit slow. It was like the last thirty years hadn’t happened for him. Turns out he hadn’t dressed up for Retro Day at all and it was just a Timbers fan up on vacation from Portland.

Martin Nash’s penalty on the stroke of half time was the difference between the teams, after Scott Buete had handled a Marcus Haber cutback.

Vancouver should have wrapped things up in the second half when Philippe Davies had a great chance just after the hour mark, but his weakly hit effort from an Ansu Toure cutback should have found the back of the net but instead found the arms of Rowdies goalkeeper Daryl Sattler.

Tampa are your untypical expansion side in that they’re actually doing well in their first season and they will feel aggrieved at not getting anything out of the game and they certainly had their chances, especially in the last ten minutes of the game when the Caps’ Luca Bellisomo saw red for his second bookable offence.

Aaron Wheeler and Aaron King both missed open goal opportunities for Tampa in the second half. Must be something about that name. It must mean “make an arse out of it” in Latin or something.

Jay Nolly and his backline were immense again in keeping yet another clean sheet, but also yet again, our weak attacking threat was shown up. I hadn’t actually noticed that Marcus Haber was playing till he was down our end in the second half.

Somehow we keep grinding out the points and still keep atop that NASL division. It’s not pretty. It’s not fun. But much like that fat chick you pick up as the nightclub closes, it gets the job done (to paraphrase a famous Ian Holloway quote!).

Having seen more than my fair share of shit football over the years, I don’t care how we get those three points, just as long as we do and we win the Championship.

C’mon the Caps.

Retro Day: Tomorrow We’re Going To Party Like It’s 1979

Tomorrow is Retro Day at Swangard Stadium and it’s going to be rowdy.

With Vancouver Whitecaps taking on Tampa Bay in the NASL, it’s hard not to cast our minds back 31 years to the Caps NASL Soccer Bowl triumph against Tampa Bay Rowdies on September 8th 1979.

Different incarnations of the teams, different league altogether now of course, but the memories still linger, especially for those amongst us that were watching the Whitecaps the first time around, which sadly doesn’t include myself.

Vancouver won the 79 Soccer Bowl by a score of 2-1 in front of 64,045 fans at Giants Stadium, home of the mighty New York Cosmos. With the Caps having disposed of the Cosmos to reach the Championship final, the pro Cosmos crowd were pretty anti Vancouver, but that didn’t stop the trophy heading west to Van and a homecoming parade of over 100,000 fervent fans.

You can savour some of the excitement of the time with this vintage article from Sports Illustrated.

The Caps had averaged 22,962 in attendance that season, the fourth highest in the NASL, as they wrapped up a Western Division consisting of Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers and Los Angeles Aztex.

Times may have changed, but you can’t help but excitedly look forward to renewing these rivalries in the “major leagues” once again next year. The whole thing gives you a strange nostalgia for an age yet to come.

Before all that we still have this season to ‘excite’ us, so tomorrow the Southsiders, with the Caps backing, are having a retro day to celebrate our most famous triumph and to look forward to the future at the same time.

So for one day only, it’s 1979 all over again (although feel free to be any retro year you fancy!).

Ah September 8th 1979. I remember it like it was only yesterday. “My Sharona” by The Knack (a football tune if ever I heard one!) was number one in the US Billboard and Canadian RPM charts, whilst Cliff Richard’s “We Don’t Talk Anymore” held that honour unfortunately in the UK.

Other big hit songs that year, for those that want to enter into the spirit and sing along, were Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy”, “Tragedy” by the Bee Gees (good if we go a goal down) and “Le Freak” by Chic, whilst Donna Summer was “Hot Stuff” and Amii Stewart wanted to “Ring My Bell”. We might save “YMCA” for Evil Bert to belt out though.

Singer Marianne Faithfull married Ben Brieley of UK punk rock band The Vibrators, who coincidentally were playing in Vancouver last Saturday evening! It’s all tying in.

Alien was the top film at the box office the day the Caps won the Soccer Bowl, whilst M*A*S*H, Dallas and Three’s Company were amongst the top rated TV shows.

For Retro Day, the Southsiders want to see everyone in their best outfits from 1979. For some that’ll mean retro kits and for some that means big sunglasses and even bigger moustaches and hair. For others, just having that hair again would be nice! Be sure to raid your closets or hit the costume shop before coming to the match. The Club will be offering prizes to the best dressed fans.

There will also be 70’s music played on the concourse behind Swangard’s main grandstand and throughout the stadium before the game and at half time.

Before the game kicks off, we’re thrilled to invite you all to our pre-game tailgate festivities. It’s the Southsiders Retro BBQ Boogaloo, where we’ll have the much-anticipated return of Good Ol’ Uncle Arne’s AMAZING pulled pork BBQ sandwiches!

The tailgate gets underway at 1:30 pm and all newcomers are welcome. You’ll find us in Central Park, to the southeast corner of Swangard Stadium.

This match coincides with our “Bring A Friend” Southside ticket promo. For each $16 ticket purchased in advance, the Whitecaps will donate $3 to the Southsiders tifo fund. To access these special tickets, please contact our Director of Events, Massimo Cusano at events@vancouversouthsiders.ca.

Even the Whitecaps players will be entering in the retro spirit by having shots on target and scoring goals! How can you miss all that!!!

So dig out your old clothes and kits, get those afros going and relive the worst style decade known to man!

And in the meantime…

Another Bore Draw Ends Caps Voyageurs Cup Campaign For Another Year

The 2010 Voyageurs Cup wrapped up tonight with a soggy scoreless game at BMO Field in front of a sparse crowd. Don’t know if I’d have come out in a torrential downpour to watch a pointless match either, although the lure of seeing my team lift a trophy would probably have been the clincher in getting me along.

As expected, Toronto fielded a young side and the Caps made a few changes themselves but the weather was always going to put any free-flowing football on hold. What we hoped for though was the Caps to show some desire to maintain their strong record against TFC and that’s pretty much what we got in the first half, as Vancouver were by far the better side, despite playing with a man down for the last 14 minutes of it.

Philippe Davies’ shocking lack of bottle in shooting, when clean through after only 3 minutes, summed up the Caps campaign and problems this year. Shot shy.

Marcus Haber saw red on 31 minutes when he went in with his studs up and caught Doneil Henry. Stupid tackle, the conditions played a part and sure I’ve seen them only be yellow at times, but at the same time I’ve also seen them red, so not too much complaining from me. As soon as you go in at pace with your feet off the floor, then you’re asking for trouble.

It was a meaningless game, pride apart, so I would have been quite happy if Teitur adopted the Fife way and just kicked fuck out of everyone in a red shirt. A few sending offs offset by a few TFC injuries and I’d have been happy. Sadly didn’t happen. The Scottish way is clearly not the Icelandic way!

Toronto dominated the start of the second half, but what they had in possession they lacked in attacking threat, whilst Vancouver seemed to have left their enthusiasm for a contest in the dressing room. When Johnny Steele crashed a header off the bar on 66 minutes then it let us know that we were still in the match and still looking for that win. Well it should have. Instead we sat back in defence whilst Toronto stroked the ball around and still offered fuck all in the way of breaking the deadlock.

Thankfully the final whistle came and put everyone out of their misery. Another 0-0 draw for the Caps. Their fourth draw in the tournament, remaining unbeaten, but having only scored two goals in the process. Hmm, maybe we do have the Scottish way about us after all. Going unbeaten in the group stages but failing to qualify.

Let’s be frank though. With the team we had out (it was close to being our starting line up), we should have won that game comfortably against such an inexperienced Toronto side. Losing Haber didn’t help, but we should have been ahead by that point in the proceedings anyway. I think it says a lot about our current team and tactics at the moment. Strong defensively, but very little elsewhere. Unlike last year, it’s hard to see things clicking into place this term.

But that’s the Canadian Championship all over for another year. A bit of an anti-climax, with Montreal denying Canadian football a grand finale, but all we can now do is to look forward to next year.

What shape the tournament will take, no-one currently knows. The addition of Edmonton will now make it at least four teams strong. There’s been a lot of debate all over as to what the future of the Voyageurs Cup should be and who should be included.

We’re unfortunately a long way away I think from a US Open style Cup, but I would love to see that at some point. That would always be my chosen path. Regional qualifying for now would make sense. Get teams like Victoria and Abbotsford in there. Get some local derbies and rivalries going. It’s the only thing that will help grow the game here.

What I would hate is for them to have us playing a two legged game against Edmonton and playing the winners of a two-legged game between Toronto and Montreal. It’s pointless and kills the competition for the fans.

I could see Sportsnet, or whatever TV company gets the rights, pushing the CSA for something like this though. It would pretty much guarantee them six meaningful games to show and not the situation we had tonight. So if that does happen, it’s something else to hate Montreal for. Their lack of pride and respect for the competition would have got us to that stage. The only pleasing aspect of it is that they would never represent Canada on the international stage for a while.

Back to this year though and well done to Toronto. They deserved their trophy this time. They did what they needed to do, whilst we couldn’t get any scoring threat going in the four games. We were piss poor frankly. Keep the Cup shiny, as we’ll be going all out to get it next time, hopefully with some strikers in tow.

Good luck to Motagua in the preliminary round of the Champions League. Do Honduras and the west coast of Canada proud.