How The 2013 Cascadia Cup Was Won

[With the Canadian Soccer News site currently being down for a bit of a revamp and rejigging, we’re temporarily moving AFTN back to Blogger for a few days. All the stuff posted here will get uploaded onto the blog at CSN once we’re back up and running. This was uploaded on CSN on Monday before it went down, so we’ve reproduced it here minus all the other photos] 

It’s always hard when you need to rely on other teams to do you a favour. It’s even worse when it’s one of your local rivals. Sometimes though those rivals become frenemies and come through for you, as was the case with Portland Timbers 1-0 defeat of Seattle Sounders on Sunday night. 

It was a derby game full of the passion, hatred and fight that you want in such matches but most of all, it was a Timbers victory that sees Vancouver Whitecaps crowned as 2013 Cascadia Cup champions, lifting the trophy for a record breaking fourth time. 

That looked an unlikely outcome just a few weeks ago, but a Vancouverrevival whilst fighting for their playoff lives and a Seattle collapse of epic proportions, sees the much cherished Cup heading back north of the border for the first time since 2008. 

Vancouver topped the three team table with 9 points from their three games and a record of two wins, three draws and just one defeat. Considering the Caps hadn’t beaten any of their Cascadian rivals in MLS action before this season, it’s even more remarkable. They are still looking for their first MLS win over Portland mind you. 

The Whitecaps scored 13 goals on their way to the Cup, conceding nine, with seven different players finding their way onto the scoresheet. Camilo Sanvezzo was the Cup MVP with five goals and three assists, but let’s not forget Kekuta Manneh’s hat-trick against Seattlelast week which gave the Caps a lot more than just three points towards this trophy. 

If the Caps fail to make the playoffs, will their performance in winning the Cascadia Cup and late season rally be enough to keep Martin Rennie in a job and appease the fanbase? Let’s hope that’s a scenario we don’t need to delve into later. 

For now though, let’s just enjoy the moment, as we bring you, in words and pictures, “How The 2013 Cascadia Cup Was Won”….

 

Round 1: Seattle Sounders 1 Portland Timbers 1 (March 16th) 

The 2013 Cascadia Cup aptly got underway in MLS “Rivalry Week”. The irony now being that the team that won the biggest rivalry battle in MLS weren’t given a game that particular weekend. Eddie Johnson gave Seattle a 13th minute lead before Ryan Johnson sent the travelling green and white hordes home very happy with a 91st minute equaliser. Although we didn’t know it at the time, that goal was going to prove huge for Vancouver’s Cup hopes.

 

Round 2: Vancouver Whitecaps 2 Portland Timbers 2 (May 18th) 

Coming off their first ever MLS win against LA, Vancouvercame into this one looking for their first ever Cascadia Cup win. Camilo Sanvezzo opened the scoring with a stunning curling free kick from just outside the box in the 24th minute.  

That was how it stayed until the 52nd minute. A Will Johnson shot struck the arm of Andy O’Brien, the referee pointed to the spot and the Canadian duly dispatched the equaliser. The parity lasted two minutes before Gershon Koffie restored the Caps lead with a curling effort of his own from the edge of the box. 

With Portland down to ten men, it looked like the Whitecaps were finally going to get their elusive victory but with six minutes remaining Jose Valencia hit a controversial equaliser when he brought a long ball down with his arm, showed great footwork in the box and struck the ball past Brad Knighton to end the game at two apiece.

 

Round 3: Seattle Sounders 3 Vancouver Whitecaps 2 (June 8th) 

63,679 packed into the Clink to see a fantastic match that ebbed and flowed and ultimately ended in heartbreak for Vancouverthrough some terrible defending. 

Andy Rose opened the scoring for Seattlein the 9th minute when he wasn’t picked up on a through ball and slotted home. The Sounders lead lasted for less than a minute before Camilo headed home a Russell Teibert cross and unexpectedly tied things up in a game Seattle had thus far dominated. Camilo then put Vancouverinto the lead in the 26th minute with a superb diving header from a Teibert free kick. 

The turning point of the game came in the 64th minute when Andy O’Brien went down with an injury on the horrible temporary grass pitch that had been laid. The Caps defence was readjusted and the Sounders took advantage. Substitute Greg Klazura made a terrible challenge on Lamar Neagle in the box in the 69th minute and Servando Carrasco hit home the resultant penalty to tie things up. Neagle hit the winner with nine minutes remaining from close range to leave everyone of a blue and white persuasion absolutely gutted. 

At this stage, sitting bottom of the table, winning the Cascadia Cup back seemed nothing more than a pipe dream once again. As did actually winning one of these games.

 

Round 4: Vancouver Whitecaps 2 Seattle Sounders 0 (July 6th) 

Revenge is a dish best served with a 2-0 victory in front of your own fans. I’m sure that’s how the saying goes, but even if it isn’t, that just what the Whitecaps did. 

Nearly a month had passed since the agony in Seattle, but the Caps were on fire with 10 points taken from the last 12 since that defeat and they kept up their fine form in this one, thanks primarily to a stunning goalkeeping display from Brad Knighton. 

The Caps got off to a dream start in the 4th minute when Kenny Miller got on the end of a long ball, made Jhon Kennedy Hurtado fall on his ass with a neat turn, then perfectly guided the ball low past Michael Gspurning into the bottom right corner. 

Seattle pounded the Vancouver box and Knighton had a string of match winning saves, with seven in total, before Darren Mattocks finally eased the pressure with a rare goal in the 79th minute to secure the three points. 

It felt at this point that nothing could stop the mighty Whitecaps, but then the annual late summer slump hit in full force.

 

Round 5: Portland Timbers 1 Vancouver Whitecaps 1 (August 3rd) 

Before the Caps went into their complete summer tailspin they managed to secure a crucial point in what was probably one of the worst Cascadia Cup derbies you’ll see. 

It was a woeful first half from both teams but out of the blue, Portland opened the scoring with a Ryan Johnson header four minutes into the second. The way the game had been going, it was hard to see Vancouvercoming back in this one. But they did and from that unlikely goalscoring source of the summer, Jordan Harvey, who got a corkscrew header onto a Camilo corner in the 69th minute. 

Without that equaliser depriving Portlandof all three points, the Caps wouldn’t be the current recipients of the trophy.

 

Round 6: Seattle Sounders 1 Portland Timbers 0 (August 25th) 

A 1-0 win for Seattlein front of a staggering crowd of 67,385 seemed to have the Sounders with one hand on the 2013 Cup. It was Eddie Johnson again with the Seattle goal on the hour mark, but no one could foresee the meltdown that was soon see them floundering.

 

Round 7: Vancouver Whitecaps 2 Portland Timbers 2 (October 6th) 

This was the big game and the major result in the run to the Cup. As the game entered the 76th minute it was looking like not only were the Whitecaps’ Cascadia Cup hopes going out the window, so were their hopes of postseason play.

Darlington Nagbe had been given too much space and cracked home the opener with four minutes of the first half remaining. We then witnessed the craziest 140 seconds of football in Cascadia Cup history. 

Camilo hit a 30 yard free kick and with the help of a deflection, Vancouver were back level and back at the races. For a few seconds at least. 

People always love to trot out the old “Whitecaps hate Canadians” line these past few years. We don’t, but we do hate Will Johnson in a Portland jersey and the Canadian went right up the pitch and gave the Timbers back the lead.

But anything he can do, Camilo can do so much better and the Brazilian hit a goal of the year candidate sideway scissor kick to give Vancouver a share of the points and at least keep some interest in both the playoff race and the Cascadia Cup. 

It did feel at the time that not winning this “must win” game was going to be the end of the Whitecaps’ season. But then came the second trip of the season to Seattle.

 

Round 8: Seattle Sounders 1 Vancouver Whitecaps 4 (October 9th) 

It was the result that no-one saw coming.  Yes, Vancouver were fighting for their playoff lives and Seattle had a slightly weakened team but to go to Seattle and have an 18 year old rookie destroy a team in the running for the Supporters’ Shield, well, that’s just the stuff of future folklore.

Kekuta Manneh was a one man wrecking machine up front for the Whitecaps, aided by two nice assists by the much maligned Daigo Kobayashi. 

After a big save by David Ousted, the Caps went up the pitch moments later and Manneh opened the scoring with the first of three cool and calm finishes in the 12th minute. He made it two with three minutes of the half remaining, but you still had that horrible feeling that Seattlewould find the way back. 

Those fears were first allayed in 54th minute when Manneh completed his hat-trick, then came back again when Mauro Rosales pulled one back with 21 minutes still remaining. 

The Caps had a few pressure moments but they held firm and then eased them totally when Nigel Reo-Coker did another of his bulldozing runs but to everyone’s surprise actually put the ball in the back of the net at the end of it this time, albeit thanks to some horrible goalkeeping from Michael Gspurning.

It was a win that put Vancouverto the top of the Cascadia Cup standings but more importantly, right back in the mix for one of the final two playoff spots in the West. Still a lot of work to do and help is needed, but at least there was now hope of both postseason play and a shiny trophy.

 

Round 9: Portland Timbers 1 Seattle Sounders 0 (October 13th) 

Portland wanted this win so bad for many reasons. I’m sure they also wanted a few more goals just to rub their hated I5 neighbours noses right in it but they’ll certainly make do with the three points and depriving Seattle of taking back the Cascadia Cup on their home turf.

It was just the kind of match you want from a local derby. Ferocity, passion, goals, a sending off, an electric atmosphere and two teams and fans that don’t like each other in the slightest.

The only goal of the game came from Kalif Alhassan with a low drive in the last minute of the first half. Portland’s woodwork came to their, and Vancouver’s, rescue twice, and really should be coming back up the road inside the Cascadia Cup. Maybe Timber Joey can chop off us off at least a little bit. 

Whilst Vancouver can sometimes feel like the estranged cousin in the Cascadian rivalry, winning the trophy back and becoming the first four time winners of the Cup will perhaps get some more attention and hate heading north. I wouldn’t want it any other way. It’s a shame it’s taken so long. 

Our photographer Brandon Farris headed down to the game and captured some of the key moments and the trophy presentation (you can see a few more of his fan photos on our Flickr account).

 

No wonder Major League Soccer tried to trademark the Cascadia Cup. They’ve nothing else quite like it. Excitement, passion and twists and turns galore. Watch for MLS trying to bottle it in an online store near you soon. 

In amongst all the Vancouver jubilation though, at the end of the day, whilst the Caps winning the Cup is the feel-good story of our season so far, it doesn’t get them that place in the playoffs and right now, that is the only focus for this week and hopefully next.

Whitecaps rue wasted chances as spoils shared in Cascadian classic

When it comes to MLS games, a lot of Caps fans are more interested in the Cascadian rivalries than the Canadian ones.

The first Cascadian Cup clash of the 2012 season played out to an exciting 2-2 draw at BC Place this afternoon, as casual fans were left in no doubt as to why these games matter so much.

It was a game in which Vancouver should have been out of site by half time, but in the end, they go away feeling more like it was two points lost than a vital point won.

Martin Rennie again tinkered with the Whitecaps starting eleven, and Davide Chiumiento and Gershon Koffie both returned to the middle of the park, with Omar Salgado returning to the left wing.

The in-form Eric Hassli surprisingly dropped to the bench, allowing number one draft pick Darren Mattocks to make his first MLS start.

Vancouver nearly got off to a dream start within the first two minutes.

Sebastien Le Toux went down in the box and the ball broke to Darren Mattocks, who tried to get on to his preferred right foot and allowed Seattle’s defence to close him down.

The Caps had the chance of the match so far eight minutes in.

From just inside his own half, Le Toux put through Omar Salgado, whose speed and tenacity took him past Osvaldo Alonso, but he slightly over-ran the ball, allowing Bryan Meredith to come and smother the danger.

The Caps pressure finally saw the breakthrough in the 12th minute.

Salgado collected a pass from Jay DeMerit, turned and sent Alain Rochat clear on the left. The left back powered unchallenged towards goal and slotted the ball past Meredith with ease.

Vancouver were looking the far more lively but struggling to turn this into any real scoring chances, but they could have made it two in the 33rd minute.

Rochat floated a perfect long ball into the path of Salgado, who shook off the last Seattle defender but pulled his shot wide of the right hand post.

Seattle just weren’t in the game as an attacking force. Eddie Johnson won a corner for them with six minutes of the half remaining, in one of their few forays into the Vancouver box, but it came to nothing.

The Caps responded by mounting another attack and Rochat put through Mattocks for a one on one with Meredith, but again he pulled his shot wide of the right hand post.

As the game entered stoppage time, Johnson miss-hit a shot across the face of the goal but Fredy Montero couldn’t close in to get a foot on it at the open back post.

The whistle brought to an end the best half of football that Vancouver had played so far in the MLS era. The general feeling was that the missed chances could come back to haunt the home side and Seattle couldn’t play as badly in the second half, and so it proved.

The second half got underway and Seattle were still finding Mattocks a handful, and he was put through once again after only 15 seconds but fired high and over.

From nowhere it was level in the 47th minute.

Mauro Rosales received the ball out left and sent a perfect ball into the middle for Johnson to rise and head home.

Joe Cannon’s first action of the game was to pick the ball out of his own net, but three minutes later he came up with a huge save to keep out Montero from point blank range.

Seattle kept the pressure on and Cannon again had to be alert to stop a Montero header.

The visitors were a different team and giving the Whitecaps defence a torrid time.

Cannon again came up with a huge save in the 57th minute, turning a Montero shot from the edge of the box acrobatically past for a corner.

Vancouver should have retaken the lead in the 62nd minute.

Davide Chiumiento got the ball just inside the Seattle box, twisted and turned and played a sublime back heel straight into the path of Mattocks who blasted over in front of goal from seven yards out.

It was to be the Jamaican’s last action of the game and he was soon replaced by Eric Hassli.

Hassli nearly made an immediate impact in the 66th minute, flashing a header from a Rochat cross narrowly wide.

Vancouver had weathered the Seattle storm.

Hassli almost mirrored his stunning goal from Wednesday night in the 78th minute, but this time he couldn`t keep the ball down and on target.

Two minutes later and Chiumiento came within inches of breaking the deadlock, firing inches past the left hand post and into the side netting.

As with Mattocks, this attempt on goal signalled his last action of the match, making way for Camilo Sanvezzo.

And what a substitution this proved to be.

With eight minutes remaining, Camilo sent in a long, diagonal free kick from the left. Gershon Koffie jumped for the cross and may or may not have got the slightest of glances off his forehead past everyone, including Meredith, into the bottom left hand corner of the Seattle net.

With seconds remaining of the ninety minutes, Montero tied the game up once more. Johnson flicked on a long kick from Meredith and the Columbian took a touch and hit a beautiful curling effort from the edge of the box that left Cannon rooted to the spot.

Seattle had the last chance of the game in stoppage time when an unmarked Zach Scott headed a Montero free kick over.

The spoils were shared, in what was very much the proverbial game of two halves.

Seattle fought back extremely well, and were only kept at bay by some fine stops by Cannon, but Vancouver should have been out of sight by the half.

It was a great game, but the Caps are left rueing their missed chances and what was ultimately two points dropped.

Now the focus of attention is firmly set upon Toronto on Wednesday, where Vancouver will have to take such chances if they are to win the Voyageurs Cup.

ATT : 21,000 (sell out)

FINAL SCORE : Vancouver Whitecaps 2 – 2 Seattle Sounders

VANCOUVER : Joe Cannon; Young-Pyo Lee, Martin Bonjour, Jay DeMerit, Alain Rochat; Sebastien Le Toux, Gershon Koffie, Jun Marques Davidson, Davide Chiumiento (Camilo Sanvezzo 80), Darren Mattocks (Eric Hassli 64), Omar Salgado (John Thorrington 74) [Subs Not Used: Brad Knighton, Etienne Barbara, Jordan Harvey, Matt Watson]

SEATTLE : Bryan Meredith; Adam Johansson, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Marc Burch (Zach Scott 85); Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Alex Caskey (Andy Rose 46), Alvaro Fernandez (David Estrada 72); Fredy Montero, Eddie Johnson [Subs Not Used: Andrew Weber, Cordell Cato, Roger Levesque, Sammy Ochoa, Zach Scott]

In The Cold Light Of Day: Whitecaps Soundly Beaten

Well, that’s it all over bar the shouting. And if Saturday is anything to go by, there won’t be as much of that as there used to be for the last five games of the season.

Vancouver Whitecaps were outplayed, outsung and outclassed by Seattle Sounders on Saturday evening.

We said in Saturday’s blog that we couldn’t let the Empire era go out with a whimper instead of a bang. It seems no-one was listening.

Saturday was poor and one of the lowest points in a season of lows.

It’s easy to say that the only way is up. It’s not so easy to see how we’re going to get there without wholesale changes both on and off the pitch in the off season.

The players seemed up for the game in the first half and took the game to Seattle. The equalising penalty seemed to knock the stuffing out of them, and the fans, and then when the second goal went in the heads just went down.

Holding on to a lead has been one of our biggest problems this season and so it proved again.

It doesn’t seem to matter who is playing in the defence, we can’t defend when we need it most.

We could adopt the “just score one more than the opposition” approach, but when we’re relying on two players to score all the time then that is hard.

Camilo and Eric Hassli have 19 goals between them. Two thirds of our overall MLS total.

When one of them is off their game, like Hassli was on Saturday, we may as well just go home. There have been very few games this season where both our goalscoring stars have performed at their best at the same time.

Martin Rennie must be wondering what the exact scale of his task he is taking on is going to be.

Certainly working on playing tighter and how to make set pieces count have to be his top priorities.

If we ask where it’s all gone wrong, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly. We were mulling over this in preparation of our appearance on It’s Called Football this evening.

Is it the defensive woes or the attacking weakness? Well, Toronto have shipped six more goals than us, yet sit eight points ahead of us having scored just three goals more.

Is it our away form?

We have yet to record an away win, yet Houston only have one to their name and top the Eastern Conference.

Is it Tommy Soehn?

He’s been a disaster. It was the wrong appointment, but I’m starting to think it wouldn’t have mattered too much who took the team over this season.

There’s no easy answer, but the Caps need to find what they are and solve them for 2012.

I don’t want another season where I have to stand in my spot, watching one of our fiercest rivals lifting a trophy, whilst their loud and large group of fans (boosted by a noise generating roof) celebrate, as the Whitecaps let of fireworks for them.

Incredible.

Like so many things this season with the Caps and not in the good sense.

I don’t think there’s been a sadder sight this year at Empire than a group of Whitecaps players forced to troop around the stadium with a “thank you” banner when they clearly just wanted to get the fuck out of there – and who can blame them? – as their rivals jumped around with the Cascadia Cup.

Can it get any more embarrassing?

Oh yeah, we have the Timbers Army hordes coming up to open BC Place for us on Sunday. Great.

Don’t Let Empire Farewell End With A Whimper

Empire Field will no longer be the place us Whitecaps fans call home after this evening.

I’m not going to be shedding too many tears at that. Goodbye, thanks for the fleeting memories and good riddance to some of the biggest security douches I’ve ever had the misfortune of dealing with.

AFTN’s Metro column yesterday looked at some of the highs and lows of our six month stint at Tempire.

Share your own highlights and lowlights in that piece or here.

Maybe in a few months, or years, time I’ll be looking back at Empire Field with dewy-eyed nostalgia.

It could have been so much more. So much better. And you know what? If the results on the pitch had been better, maybe it would have been easier to ignore the problems off it and I’d be looking back a lot more fondly.

Empire Field itself, as a stadium, was good. It had a great look to it for football, although some of the sightlines and distances from behind the goals to the pitch could have been much better.

It wasn’t quite the fortress of fear that we’d all hoped for, but our metal manor generated one hell of a lot of noise.

When the crowd were in full flow and banging their feet, that was loud. The place literally shook, but we’ve all lived to tell the tale and we’ve left it standing!

And today, on our last stand there, we all need to make as much noise as we can to cheer the boys on to glory.

Whatever our thoughts on the Empire era and the stadium itself, it was nice to return to our spiritual roots and remember, wherever we roam, there’s no place like home.

And today we need to give it a huge send off. For it doesn’t look like the Whitecaps are going to do that.

Today should be a day of celebration, but the Caps seem to be treating it like any other match day.

There was some build up to the farewell on their website during the week, but how many read that compared to how many will be going through the ‘turnstiles’ today?

The BC Lions said their goodbyes in some style a fortnight ago.

They certainly made a big deal of their last match there, with cheerio celebrations before, during and after the match. They even wore special jerseys to mark the occasion and then gave them away to the fans after they’d destroyed Toronto.

It was great. Made even better by the fact that I got one of the jerseys!

The Whitecaps appear to have nothing special planned on the concourse. There’s been activities for the Man City friendly and other less important games, but nothing today.

Maybe they’re going to surprise us all when we go in and give us special commemorative souvenirs. We won’t hold our breath.

The Lions had a pin and t-shirt to welcome their arrival at the new Empire and a special farewell t-shirt to say goodbye. Let’s see what the Caps have today.

I’ll tell you what we, the fans, risk having though. A pain in the ass and potential day spoiling line up to get the remainder of our season tickets for the BC Place games.

I’ll hark back to the Lions yet again. They sent me out the remainder of my season tickets. I didn’t have to go to the hassle of picking them up. Remind me what all these extra service charges and admin fees that we pay are for again?

Hopefully it’s not a gong show but since they’re opening the ticket tent just two hours before kick off, and ridiculously not at all after the game, I fear the worst.

Maybe the Caps just want to get the fuck out of Empire and write it off as a bad memory.

Let’s hope they at least go out with a bang ON the pitch.

The players should be so up for this match, that we won’t have seen the like since the opening day demolition of TFC. If they can’t raise their game and passion levels for a stadium farewell, a local derby and a Cascadia Cup game, then frankly they shouldn’t be pulling on a Whitecaps jersey.

Seattle are rumoured to be bringing up around 1500 supporters, well over the allocated 500 tickets. Many of them have decided to stick two fingers up at the ludicrous rules imposed on Cascadian away fans.

They’re likely to be spread out throughout the stadium, will be arriving at all times and once the drink gets flowing, the risk of trouble will increase.

It will be interesting to see how some of the more clueless members of PNE security deal with them. Maybe they’ll try and move all the extra 1000 of them to the Seattle away section. Maybe they’ll be there anyway and the Caps have decided they can’t turn down ticket sales.

Whether there’s 500 or 1500 there, one thing is certain – they will be loud as hell. They’re loud anyway, but whichever brainiac at the Caps front office decided it was a great idea to give the away fans a roof to amplify their noise really is clueless about football culture.

What we need to do as Caps fans is to be that extra bit louder today. To stand and cheer for the full ninety. Shout that bit more. Chant that big longer. Let these Sounders know that we may be leaving it, but Empire is still our home.

The players need us more than ever today and we need them to be on the top of their game to aid getting our only silverware of the season.

The Club may have let them and the stadium down. We can’t afford to as well.

Mon the Caps.

In The Cold Light Of Day: Still Looking At What We Have Left To Play For

We’ve been quiet here at AFTN for the last few weeks.

No particular reason, apart from the fact that we were just scunnered!

We’re refreshed a bit now though and with two Cascadia Cup games, a stadium closure and a stadium opening all coming up in the next couple of weeks, it’s hard not to feel a bit reinvigorated.

There’s an air of excitement for the first time in a long time, even after the Caps latest two game road trip wrapped up on Saturday evening with a 3-0 loss to Los Angeles Galaxy.

It was a trip we’d planned to make, but with the way the Caps have been playing and the meaninglessness of the game, it was hard to justify paying all that extra money, so we sold our tickets.

As it turned out, that was a good move, although it did mean we missed out on a football clinic.

It was more than a loss. We were given a bit of a schooling.

You have to give LA credit. They played some delightful football. Knocked the ball about well, always looked dangerous, never looked in trouble. All the things we all hoped we would become, but it still isn’t clicking.

Martin Rennie has a lot of work to do when he gets here, starting with building his trademark watertight defence.

I don’t think he can do much about the standard of refereeing in MLS, but although we can point some fingers in that direction during Saturday’s defeat, that’s not why we lost the game.

Not much point in analysing the game too much, especially at this late stage of proceedings.

My dad was over here and saw his first ever Whitecaps performance. He isn’t going home overly impressed! Bad opponents for him to see his first Caps action.

We’ve gone on all season about how close we feel the team is to turning that corner. To fire on all cylinders and look the part. How we’ve been in most of the games this year. Maybe we’ve been deluding ourselves all this time.

Saturday really did show the gulf in quality between those at the top of MLS this season and those at the bottom.

A few weeks ago, AFTN’s Metro column looked at what our realistic goals could be going into the final weeks of the season.

The four big hopes we had was to not finish bottom of the heap, not end up with the worst record in MLS history, finish above Toronto, and land the Cascadia Cup.

We’re sitting five points adrift now at the bottom. New England are still in our sites, but we’re close to having to dig out the binoculars.

Toronto have finally started to gel and are close to becoming a blur on the horizon.

Catching either is not yet impossible, but neither is still making the playoffs mathematically!

If we’re to land the Cascadia Cup then we need to win both remaining games, or at the very least beat Seattle by two goals and then get a draw against Portland. Nothing but a win on Saturday will do the job.

Four or six points from these two matches would certainly close the gap on those above us and help land a triple whammy of our hopes outlined above.

Failure to beat Seattle on Saturday and we’re just dead in the water.

When it comes to not being the worst team in MLS history, well, we’ve made some progress but we’re not quite there yet.

We still need one more win to avoid having the joint worst win record but we have avoided having the worst points tally thankfully.

Doesn’t look like we’re going to match or beat Toronto’s inaugural season record though. Three more wins and seven more points and we’re there! Hmmm.

The four games after Portland need to see the younger and fringe players given a chance.

It was great to see Alex Morfaw finally back in the gameday squad on Saturday. I’d have definitely put him on there instead of Brovsky. He needs gametime, he needs minutes and he needs the chance to prove what he can do.

I want to see him, Davies, Nanchoff and Tan given decent minutes before the season end, otherwise what’s the point of having a squad?

Meaningless end of season games are the ideal time to gives these guys a chance. It’s what teams do across the world. What’s the point of building up team selection consistency and momentum at this late stage?

Still, they might be lucky and win the “right back lottery” for one of the games.

If it wasn’t for the ridiculous MLS rules, I’d have Caleb Clarke and Ben Fisk out there too.

For now though, all eyes are on Seattle and we’ll have some build up to that game here and on Prost Amerika.

With the way Vancouver are defending and Seattle are attacking, it may look like only one result, but this is football. Anything can happen.

What we need most of all, is pride and passion. We’ll be getting it off the field, now let’s get some on it.

In The Cold Light Of Day: Portland Turn Up Heat

The only thing that wasn’t hot in Portland on Saturday evening was the Whitecaps performance.

It’s got to the stage now where there’s not really any point in analysing what went wrong with the Caps any more.

Well, it probably got to that stage many weeks ago if we’re being honest. We all know where it’s going wrong, both on and off the pitch. I’m sure even Tom Soehn does. He must have a mirror in his house after all.

It’s all just depressing and with only nine games remaining, further critiquing of our weaknesses and what we need to fill those gaps are as fruitless as an orange tree in the Arctic.

I just can’t wait for this MLS season to (officially) end and then for the new U18 and U16 ones to start. At least when they lose, you know they’ve learned a lot from the game and will move on from that and develop.

All we’ll say on the game is that how we came away with just a one goal defeat is baffling. Another four goal drubbing looked on the cards, with the defence looking like their footballing brains had melted in the heat, but yet, if we’d pulled a goal back a little earlier, we could have salvaged the most unlikely point we would have earned since Kansas City in game three.

Dominating possession at times counts for nothing if you don’t actually do anything with the ball in front of the net. As John Spencer said post game, they were comfortable knowing we had the ball in front of them, as we posed no danger with it.

So with that said, let’s look at everything else from the Portland weekend.

What an amazing turnout from Caps fans. We brought 50 or so for previous Portland playoff games in D2 in recent years, and that was always a blast, but with those numbers on Saturday and the roof to help the noise, what a loud and fantastic atmosphere we generated. A far cry from the midweek game last season when there were three of us!

Most of us were on the same songbook but there were some logistical problems that need to be looked at.

The Timbers FO didn’t want General Admission and that’s fair enough. Their home, their rules.

That is why it is imperative that tickets for Whitecaps get allocated in a proper way, especially if they are to be trusted to a company like Uselessglobe (who, as one fan counted, had an embarrassingly small number travelling down on their bus).

People need to be sat together with their friends. Older couples and people that want to just sit and quietly watch the game, should not have to endure being sat next to a drummer.

Sort out stuff like that and it’s a win-win for everyone. It was pretty much all good on the day, bar a few minor grumps, but it would be so much easier if this was all taken care of beforehand.

Also what was the deal with sitting a bunch of Timbers fans at the front of the upper 222 section? Mostly family types and a number of kids from what seemed like a school or a camp. Who sold them those seats? Were these unsold tickets sent back by Uniglobe? And whether they were unsold tickets or separately allocated tickets, why were they taking up premier real estate in the Vancouver section?

I sincerely hope these weren’t unsold tickets from Uniglobe and that tickets were allocated from the back down.

The travelling blue and white hordes all seemed to have a great time down there, with many tales of how accommodating the Timbers Army were, something that those of us that have made previous trips already know, love and admire. Everyone seemed well behaved, with praise coming from security on the Southsiders forum. It was nice to have security with a full understanding of what a football crowd is all about and how to deal with them. BC Place should send their security down there and Seattle to take in a game. Too late for the PNE numpties.

Rival fans mingled before, during and after both Saturday first team game and Sunday’s reserve game, without incidents. Many Southsiders went to a Punk concert post-game and pogoed the night away with TWO rival supporters groups – Portland’s Timbers Army and Victoria Highlander’s Lake Side Buoys, the latter of whom had made their way down as friends of the TA.

The concert was a benefit for long time TA member Abe, to help fund some medical costs he incurred. The true spirit of Cascadian fans right there.

It was a long journey down to Portland for many. The Southsiders bus got caught up in border traffic for over three hours on Saturday morning. Going back was even more horrendous for some, with two hour border waits to get back into Canada at Peace Arch and Pacific Highway. I thankfully chose to go via Abbotsford, but even with that half hour wait, a couple of horrible heavy traffic delays between Olympia and Seattle and a blown headlight to be fixed meant a nine hour return journey, an 11.15pm arrival home and getting up this morning at 4.30am for work!

So why do we do it? Why do we spend so much time, money and effort to go and watch two games and two defeats?

Because we love our team and we will support them through thick and thin. Or thin and thinner, as it is this year.

That’s not to say that we’re going to follow them like blind mice or like sheep. We’ll criticise, and rightly so. Some criticism will come in veiled ways, like the singing of “Teitur Tots” or “Martin Rennie’s Blue and White Army”. The increasing amount of Scottish saltires that will be coming out to the next few games will remind us that Tommy’s days, as manager at least, are numbered.

Rennie may or may not turn out to be the great white hope that we’re wanting, but at least it’s a change and right now, the more changes behind the scenes and on the pitch the better.

Having the double header with the reserve game on Sunday was particularly fantastic and helped make the trip even better.

Even though we saw two defeats, there were two very different team performances. The reserves had fight and gusto and were clearly devastated at their late collapse. Sitting in my hotel room on Sunday morning, watching highlights from the feisty Sunderland-Newcastle game the day before, it struck me that some of the players should watch these games to know how they should contest a derby.

Despite being down about the actual game, what needs to be instilled into our players right now is that they can still win the Cascadia Cup. Two victories at home and it’s ours.

If that can’t lift them, then they may as well start packing their bags now.

[*** You can see AFTN’s pictures from both Saturday’s MLS game and Sunday’s Reserve League game on our FLICKR account ***]

Where You Play We Follow : The Whitecaps Fan Experience In Seattle

As we all know, and as most of us expected, Saturday’s Cascadia Cup clash between Vancouver and Seattle at Qwest Field went off without too many problems.

Paul Barber praised the travelling Caps support for their behaviour and efforts and Seattle police told Prost Amerika that they were happy with how things played out off the pitch and would have no objections to greater numbers in future if that was what the clubs agreed.

We bemoaned the draconian pre and post match logistics that had been put in place for the travelling throngs. It was a never win situation for the fans. If no trouble happens, then it’s because these rules were laid down. If there is trouble, then it’s a case of “I told you so” and the rules would just be tightened, if we got any away tickets at all.

Whereas the Portland Timbers gave the Timbers Army their ticket alloction and they followed the rules set down by the book, the way the Vancouver allocation was distributed meant a large number of Whitecaps fans flouted these rules and without any problems whatsoever.

Those that travelled down on the Southsiders and Uniglobe buses were at the stadium for the two hours before the game as demanded.

Those making their own travel arrangements, myself included, arrived when they saw fit and many mingled pre-match in the pubs and restaurants around Qwest Field with no reported incidents. There was friendly banter all round, and this was to be the theme of the evening.

I was personally travelling up from the Oregon coast and didn’t get to Seattle till 6.30 and then into Qwest just after 7. No one cared as I wore my scarf proudly walking up to the gate. No one cared when scanning my ticket or as I walked around the non away support area to get some pics.

You know, how football should be.

If you treat people like animals, you get altercations. If you let people behave with civility, you get a friendly atmosphere, outside of those 90 minutes on the pitch of course, when it’s just pure hatred!

Inside the stadium, security were respectful and clearly understood what was taking place and how to handle issues. There were a few minor issues to tackle and from what I saw, they handled these in a manner which could teach the security at Empire a thing or two.

They didn’t poke us. We didn’t prod them.

Some Seattle fans tried to, as we did to them. Verbal banter really is part and parcel of football. I’d have liked us to be even a bit closer to some of them to get the verbals going properly. Ah how I miss the old days of the sergregation fence at the fitba in Scotland.

It was hilarious getting pelters from the inbred looking ginger kid and his clan when Seattle took the lead, only to give it back to them full pelt seconds later. I thought his little red head was going to explode!

There was also some good oral jousting on the way out of the stadium, with the Seattle stragglers being held back to let us out.

Security were trying to get us out as quickly as possible, but if you’re going to prevent people from taking a piss whilst they’re waiting, something that really has to change next time, then of course there’s going to be a mass exodus to the toilets when we get the opportunity!

Most of us knew we were getting held back and the Southsiders, pretty much to a man and woman, respected that. Others either didn’t know or didn’t care and just wanted out.

It didn’t help when those on the bleachers were allowed to leave and those in Sections 100-102 weren’t.

A number of women pleaded their case to go to the toilet unsuccessfully. Others pushed and a woman at the front was reduced to tears after some pushing and shoving and some apparent punches were thrown. This was the only real shambles at the end of it all though.

My only other real gripe is that it doesn’t help anyone’s cause to have some home fans above the travelling support.

After Hassli’s wonder equaliser, Whitecaps fans were showered with beer and flying bottles from those Seattle fans above them. It doesn’t bother me (I’m from Scotland, I’ve had worse), but it isn’t really acceptable. Plus you just know that if it had been the reverse there would have been an outrage and the threat to reduce or stop away fans ticket allocations.

We were pleased to see that our pre-match fears as to what kind of Caps crowd and atmosphere would be at Qwest were completely unfounded. We’re big enough to put up our hands and say that we mis-read what was going to happen.

Turning the section into one of general admission helped of course and forced everyone into standing. It was great to see. From what I’ve seen of the television coverage, the section looked and sounded great.

Let’s hope we can build on this both at Empire and on the road.

The Southsiders flags certainly made a difference and the player two sticks were simply magnificent and full credit to everyone involved for those.

There’s been some discussion about the amount of people at the game wearing Canucks jerseys. We simply have to face facts that the Canuckleheads are the number one sports team in the city and will be for the foreseeable future.

People can wear what they want to games. I’ve worn other club tops to Caps games in the past and will do again. I think it’s kinda stupid to wear another sport jersey to a football match but there you go. I wouldn’t dream of wearing a Caps shirt to a Lions or Canucks game, but that’s me.

Not a huge issue for me. What I did find very disappointing though was the amount of Canucks songs being sung. FFS, get a grip and support the team on the field that you’ve paid a lot of money to watch.

When the Sounders fans started chanting about Boston. I thought it was sad as it was a completely different sport altogether. That was when I naively thought we were chanting “we want the Cup” meaning the Cascadia Cup!

We clearly still have a lot of work to do to win over some of the support. Chanting for your local hockey team at a football match, especially an away one, is particularly sad as far as I’m concerned.

It is what it is and it is what we make of it and on Saturday, we made a great appearance at Qwest Field.

The passion and rivalry was great to see. It’s just a pity that we don’t have many games close by that would allow us to take this kind of travelling support every other week.

I can’t wait for next year’s trip already. let’s hope we can go down in even greater numbers. And of course, there’s still Portland to come!

Mon the Caps.

** See AFTN’s Flickr page for our photos from the match **

In The Cold Light of Day: Whitecaps Rise To The Occasion

Vancouver’s first Cascadia Cup match of the MLS era is in the bag and it was a tremendous occasion enjoyed by all of the travelling Caps hordes.

At the end of it all, a draw was probably a fair result, but as we trooped out of Qwest Field after the game, the over-riding feeling was that we should be heading up the road with all three points and not just the one we got.

Throwing away the win so late was what hurt, but if you’d have offered me a draw before the match, I’d have gladly taken it with the way we’ve been playing the last few games.

We asked for passion, fight and commitment from the players and for the first time in many a week, we got 90 full minutes of it.

Every player, to a man, was up for the cause.

The supporters were too, although more on that later.

On the pitch, we were really clicking and it was good to see. We all know what the players are capable off and we’ve been desperately needing them to show it to us.
On Saturday they did.

We could easily have been out of sight in the first half if we’d taken our chances. Shea Salinas should have buried it when he was baring down on the keeper, but coulda, shoulda, woulda. Seattle also had their chances that they didn’t take.

The defence were impressively solid for most of the match and that’s what makes it even more frustrating that it was two defensive lapses that cost us so dearly.

Joe Cannon should have done better on the first goal. He was caught in two minds between coming for the ball and staying on his line and was punished accordingly. Can’t hold that against him too much though when you consider the fantastic string of saves he produced throughout the match to keep our lead intact.

The second goal should never have been allowed to happen and the defence just need to blooter to ball out of play or up the pitch in those occasions.

Two lapses but overall a great display from the back line. Jay DeMerit was a beast out there and I thought Mouloud Akloul had his best game in a MLS Caps jersey so far. The difference between having Jonathan Leather back there and Bilal Duckett was also night and day.

Alain Rochat used his experience well to kill time and win some free kicks, but he was also extremely lucky I felt not to pick up a second yellow towards the end.

One of the most pleasing aspects for me was that we didn’t just sit back and defend the lead – because we can’t. It may be a new regime, but it’s the same players and they just don’t seem to know how to keep a lead.

Soehn seems to have recognised that and kept the attacking play in the second half, at least when Seattle let us play.

Another very pleasing aspect was that our heads didn’t go down when the Sounders took the lead. To fight back immediately was magical, in many ways.

As someone said on the Southsiders forum, time seemed to stand still for a split second.

At the game, I knew we’d scored but it took a good few seconds for it to fully comprehend what had just happened as I couldn’t quite get my head around how Eric Hassli scored from where he did. I saw him walk away with his hand up and then it sank in and the ecstatic scenes followed.

It was a sublime moment.

Hassli had an excellent game but really is needing some help up there from an out and out proven goalscorer. Hopefully that will be number one priority when the transfer window re-opens next month.

In saying that, a commanding figure in the middle of the park to help share the workload with Gershon Koffie is also badly needed.

We’re so close to having a truly competitive team and we certainly showed we can compete well for those first eighty minutes.

Those final ten minutes were just a bagatelle for emotions. Going in to the game, I didn’t expect much but the players responded magnificently and for that I salute every one of them.

Seattle have now taken only two points from their home Cascadia Cup games. This could cost them dearly, especially if we can go and grab something down in Portland in August.

The Cup could be coming home to Vancouver.

Let’s hope the Caps also build on this performance for the remainder of the season, starting this Saturday against Philadelphia.

** See AFTN’s Flickr page for our photos from the match **

Vancouver’s Qwest For The Cup Begins Tomorrow

In the Kingdom of the Blind, the one eyed man is king.

In the Kingdom of the Bland, the Sounders front office are getting their paranoid draconian measures in place for tomorrow’s Cascadia Cup clash and members of Seattle’s ECS are getting hard ons at the thought of how much bigger and better their tifo display will be compared to ours.

That’ll show them pesky Canadians.

It’s amazing what a week travelling up the California and Oregon coasts can do to revive and refresh.

As I sit here in Rockaway Beach, the noise of the waves crashing into the unspoilt sandy Oregonian beach is a good backdrop for writing this pre match preamble. The Salt Lake debacle is almost forgotten. Almost.

My anger and jadedness at the display at Rio Tinto has been replaced by excitement and enthusiasm for the Caps first MLS encounter at Qwest Field tomorrow. I’m so looking forward to the match. The Southsiders and other travelling Vancouver hordes are really up for the game.

Let’s just hope the players are.

For if they can’t rise to the occasion of a Cascadia derby clash, where it’s not just points but pride on the line, then frankly they shouldn’t be a Whitecap and I don’t want them at the Club a minute longer.

Going in to the game, I don’t expect too much after watching the last two away games up close and personal. I would probably be very happy with a point tomorrow. Three would just make the perfect ending to a great vacation following the Caps.

What I want to see most of all though is some pride, some passion and total commitment from every single player that takes the field in a Whitecaps jersey tomorrow evening.

There is no place to hide and those that do will not be tolerated. I can accept defeat, not gracefully, but I will accept it, but only if we’ve had a proper go.

For weeks I’ve felt that we just haven’t got the breaks. That we have a great squad but one that just hasn’t quite risen to the occasion yet and when they do, boy, watch us go.

The last two games have made me re-evaluate these thoughts. Do we indeed just have a very below average squad and we’re where we should be? Let’s have the players prove that wrong in the next few games and most of all starting tomorrow.

Those Cascadia MLS followers that are expecting another barnstormer both on and off the pitch, like the recent Timbers visit to Qwest, may be a little disappointed tomorrow.

The ECS will bitch post-game that we’re no match for their tifo displays, are a disgrace to the fan culture blah blah blah.

Here’s the news now guys so you can start your wankfest super early – we will not be anything like the Timbers Army were down at Qwest.

You try getting all your shit into Empire, let alone over the border, in September, then we’ll talk.

It doesn’t help that the ticket allocation for the game have been farcical here in Vancouver. There’s not really too much need to retread old watery ground with this, but when you have tickets allocated willy nilly and families interspersed with Southsiders, it’s not going to make for the best atmosphere we could have generated.

I still have this dread that my seat is going to be surrounded by families telling me not to swear and to sit down. I’ve found very little Southsiders with seats anywhere near me.

The sensible thing would have been to put certain rows and a section aside for those that want to stand and scream and those that don’t. Sensibility and the Vancouver FO don’t make happy bedfellows of course.

We’ll enjoy ourselves anyway and make some noise for the boys, but it has the potential to look like a shit show.

Then we have the paranoid androids in the Seattle FO.

So we all meet up at 5.30, enter via a specific gate, stand around inside the stadium for two hours and then be held back for 30-45 minutes post game. Oh and whilst you’re at it, don’t even think of talking to any Sounders fans whilst you’re there.

I think I’ve been transported to China or at the very best, 1980’s England.

Of course, the Sounders FO have that sword hanging over us of do what we say or you won’t get tickets next year.

To them, I say fuck you.

Most of us will do as you ask, but take away the ticket allocation and you’ll have a bigger problem on your hands next year as we all head down and buy tickets in amongst the Sounders support.

I say most of us because when you have so many of us travelling via trains, planes and automobiles independently, you can’t herd that. Cars will break down. Public transport will be late. Border line ups will be horrendous. You also have a re-sale market where people will have bought tickets and have no idea that they’re meant to be at a certain point at a certain time.

None of this was meant to happen but it is.

For the Club and support that you would almost think invented “supporters culture” in the US, they haven’t got a clue. Such draconian measures only leads to people being pissed off at you, not wanting to work with you.

A final message to those of us travelling to the game. FFS behave. Don’t give these assholes any little thing that they can use to beat us over the head with in the future.

I love the Cascadia Cup. We have a proud history and record in it. The Cup is now bigger scale in MLS. We have a great chance to stake an early lead in the standings but we all need to do our part to make that happen – whether that be on the pitch or in the stands.

C’mon Vancouver. Do us proud.

Seattle Ticketing Fiasco – Prices Lowered And Availability Confirmed

The Seattle away ticketing fiasco took a step closer to being resolved this evening.

For those following the story here yesterday and on Prost Amerika and the Metro, it was becoming increasingly obvious that some pretty big miscommunications and misunderstandings had been rife in the whole clusterfuck and that the Whitecaps would need to move pretty swiftly to resolve an issue that was quickly spiralling out of control with anger and resentment.

And they have.

Vancouver Whitecaps confirmed to AFTN this evening that the price we were quoted for a single match ticket on Monday evening was incorrect. Uniglobe originally told us that our ticket would cost $43 and change and would include HST. This was a mistake and the ticket would be costing $35 and there would be no HST.

This was good to hear because earlier today, we were forwarded an email from Vancouver fan Ruth Kerbes who had it confirmed to her by Bart Wiley, Seattle Sounders Director of Business Development, that Seattle had sold Vancouver the tickets for US$28 each.

This confirmation also puts paid to speculation by some that the tickets were sold at the group rate of $26.

The same tickets, if purchased on Ticketmaster, would set fans back US$36.20 on Ticketmaster, depending on fees and delivery method, so the $35 Canadian cost is bang on the button for the correct amount.

We’re glad that the pricing aspect of single tickets has now been resolved to what should be everyone’s satisfaction. We still feel though that charging $159 for a day bus trip to Seattle is not an acceptable pricepoint.

The Caps also confirmed to us that despite reports and rumours elsewhere, the ticket only option was NOT sold out and only 70 tickets have been sold. Uniglobe had earlier confirmed that they had a block of 535 tickets, so with 465 tickets remaining, all Southsiders looking to get a ticket should pretty much be able to secure one.

The Southsiders executive board will hopefully be confirming shortly what their plans will now be for the Seattle game, so keep checking their forum for full details.

Now that things seem to be getting sorted out for the Seattle game, fans attentions are already moving to the Portland match on August 20th. Will there be more hostilities? We hope not and the process should now at least move a little bit smoother.

We asked Portland Timbers what they felt about how things were playing out in Vancouver and what problems may lie ahead for the game down there in August.

They were loathe to get drawn into the debacle and told AFTN:

“We will not comment on the methods of distribution by the other two Cascadia teams; each team has different circumstances which dictate their own methodology.

Portland gives its allotment to the 107ist (Timbers Army elected leadership board).

We look forward to visiting supporters from both Vancouver and Seattle coming to JELD-WEN Field to create an even more dynamic atmosphere during Cascadia Cup matches in Portland”.

As we earlier reported, both Portland and Seattle have given supporters groups their full allocation of tickets, whereas Vancouver are classing all season ticket holders as falling into the “supporters group” classification.

Two final points I want to make clear here.

The Southsiders have never asked for the full allocation of tickets. Paul Barber may refute the role that the Cascadia supporters groups played in the increased ticket allocation from 150 to 500, but let no one be in any doubt, if this hadn’t been vociferously raised by the Southsiders and others back in October, we would ALL be fighting over a much smaller amount of tickets.

In this Seattle situation, without AFTN and other media running this story, and the Southsiders becoming very vocal, ALL Caps fans would have ended up paying $43 for tickets as no one would have known better and there would not be so many travel options on the table.

Some fans may criticise the Southsiders for being too loud and mouthy in the press but they’re not just doing it for themselves, they’re doing it for all of us.

What is now important is that everybody now moves on, stops the bickering and gets down to real prioriry here and that’s making sure that everybody that wants a ticket to the game can get a ticket to the game and we create the best football atmopshere possible to cheer our guys on to the three points.

I have a feeling that Uniglobe’s phone is going to be red hot tomorrow.