Report and Reaction: Camilo’s Golden Boot winning hat-trick ends Vancouver’s season on a high

[Match report from Vancouver Whitecaps 3-0 win over Colorado Rapids at BC Place on Sunday afternoon in their MLS season finale. Plus post game reaction from Martin Rennie, Camilo Sanvezzo, Sam Adekugbe, Jay DeMerit, Young-Pyo Lee]

Report: 

Camilo Sanvezzo hit a stunning hat-trick to win the MLS Golden Boot in some style and give Vancouver Whitecaps a winning 3-0 season send off over Colorado Rapids at BC Place on Sunday afternoon. 

The Brazilian’s three goals took his season tally to 22 and gave him the outright Golden Boot title from Chicago’s Mike Magee, in a comfortable team performance that just raised more “what if” questions. 

The other big storyline of the day was the changing of the guard at fullback, with veteran YP Lee retiring and Residency graduate Sam Adekugbe making his professional debut. 

Camilo was needing two goals to win the MLS Golden Boot and he started lively, forcing Clint Irwin into a one handed save in the 10th minute from eight yards out. 

Irwin produced another stunning one handed stop four minutes later, when Camilo collected a ball from Kekuta Manneh and tried a curler into the top corner. 

The Whitecaps kept the pressure on, winning a corner, and Brad Rusin got on the end of it but headed straight into the goalkeeper’s arms. 

The Rapids weren’t posing too much of an attacking threat but had their best chance in the 27th minute when Gabriel Torres surged forward and fired off a shot which David Ousted could only parry before recovering and stopping Edson Buddle’s scrambled effort on the line. 

Both teams exchanged chances, with Camilo coming close once again. 

The Brazilian finally got the goal he was craving when Manneh was sent flying in the box by a clumsy Marvell Wynne tackle in the 43rd minute and the referee pointed to the spot. The Caps top scorer hit a rocket down the middle to give Vancouver a 1-0 lead at the half. 

The second half soon settled into having an end of season feel about it, which was particularly surprising with Coloradoneeding the points for playoff placing. Both teams, Vancouver in particular, had some good build up play but no killer balls at the end of them. 

It felt as if the game was going to play out as a single goal win when the Caps doubled their lead from pretty much nowhere in the 74th minute.

Matt Watson played a short pass to Camilo on the edge of the box and the striker twisted and turned Wynne and Drew Moor inside and out before slotting the ball past Irwin for his league equalling 21st of the season. 

He wanted one more to give him the sole lead and it nearly came in the 83rd minute when substitute Matt Watson unselfishly cut the ball back from the byeline and Camilo could only look on it disbelief when his goalbound effort was cleared off the line by Moor. 

The Brazilian only had to wait another minute before he got his magic moment. 

Russell Teibert played a delightful chip over the Colorado defence and Camilo took it first time to fire past Irwin for his hat-trick and his Golden Boot winning 22nd goal of the season. 

There was still time for the stadium to give YP Lee a standing ovation and the Korean legend came off in stoppage time to bring the curtain down on an illustrious career. 

It’s been a season of ups and down for Vancouver, but it finished with a bang and not a whimper. The Whitecaps won. At the end of the day it all meant nothing, apart from the well deserved personal honour for Camilo. There were at least some promising signs to end it all.

Bring on 2014. 

FINAL SCORE:  VancouverWhitecaps 3 – 0 ColoradoRapids

ATT: 21,000 sell out 

VANCOUVER: David Ousted; Young-Pyo Lee, Jay DeMerit, Brad Rusin, Sam Adekugbe; Gershon Koffie, Nigel Reo-Coker, Russell Teibert, Daigo Kobayashi (Darren Mattocks 61); Kekuta Manneh (Matt Watson 73), Camilo Sanvezzo  [Subs Not Used: Brad Knighton, Andy O’Brien, Jun Marques Davidson, Erik Hurtado, Tommy Heinemann]

COLORADO: Clint Irwin; Marvell Wynne, Drew Moor, Shane O’Neill, Chris Klute; Nick LaBrocca (Martin Rivero 57), Nathan Sturgis, Gabriel Torres, Hendry Thomas, Deshorn Brown (Dillon Serna 77); Edson Buddle (Jaime Castrillon 67)  [Subs Not Used: Matt Pickens, Anthony Wallace, Atiba Harris, German Mera]

Reaction: 

Martin Rennie on the season:

“We finished the season really well tonight. The margins this season have been so small…It’s one of those years where teams have done extremely well and I think we have.”

 

Martin Rennie on the team’s performances this year: 

“We feel that we haven’t really underperformed this year. We feel that

we’ve actually done extremely well. Obviously we want to do better.”

 

Martin Rennie on Camilo: 

“We’ve really seen his development and progress this season, which has been fantastic for us.”

 

Martin Rennie on Sam Adekugbe’s performance: 

“I thought he did a great job. Real credit goes to the people who work in our academy…I thought he really strolled through the game. He did extremely well. he hardly put a foot wrong.”

 

Camilo Sanvezzo on winning the Golden Boot:

“It’s very important for me. At the start of the season, no one believed. Just me and my family.”

 

Camilo Sanvezzo on Carl Robinson: 

“The coaching staff help me a lot, especially Robbo. After training I say, Robbo, please help me with some finish and every single day he’s there with me, helping me a lot.”

 

YP Lee on his retirement: 

“I have retired from soccer tonight but I am feeling so happy this moment because it is exactly what I wanted.”

 

YP Lee on his time in Vancouver: 

“I will never forget the last two years in Vancouverin my life. So this club will remain in my mind as my club at all times.”

 

YP Lee on having captaincy in his last game:

“I’m a captain but you know, there’s many difference between imitation and original. I’m an imitation captain today!”

 

Sam Adekugbe on his MLS debut: 

“It was really exciting. Once I got a few touches on the ball I was able to do some of the stuff I can do best but overall I think it was definitely a great experience.”

 

Sam Adekugbe on making it as a professional: 

“Growing up as a kid, I remember talking to my brother and saying I wanted to make my debut by at least 18 years old. This has to be one of the best experiences of my career. It’s just the start but hopefully things will come in the future.”

 

Sam Adekugbe on what he will take back to his Residency teammates: 

“Just to show them that it’s just another stepping ladder. We’re able to get to that position. Just to show them that we can do what they can do. We just have to build ourselves as players, become more confident, work on the things that we need to work best on and things will open up….Hopefully a lot of guys can come through.” 

Jay DeMerit on the win: 

“We want to end on the right note because it’s a team that cares and it’s a team that wants to get better and tonight proved that.”

 

Jay DeMerit on Camilo: 

“Throughout a long season it takes a consistent goalscorer to win the Golden Boot. These things aren’t by flukes. It shows the qualities that Camilo has and brings to our team.”

Whitecaps’ rocky road to the playoffs finally ended in Colorado

Any meaning to Vancouver Whitecaps’ 2013 MLS season was finally extinguished on Saturday with a 3-2 defeat in Colorado. 

A first half goal from Kekuta Manneh and a second half penalty from Camilo Sanvezzo weren’t enough to keep the Caps’ playoff hopes alive with a Gabriel Torres double and another goal from Deshorn Brown dealing the killer blow to Vancouver. 

The Whitecaps have been pretty much in playoff mode for a few weeks now and they went with an unchanged line up from the team that dismantled Seattle ten days ago. 

Both teams enjoyed some early possession without really threatening too much and the Caps had their best chance of the game so far in the 14th minute when Kekuta Manneh easily ran through Chris Klute and Shane O’Neill but shot wide left. 

Rapids rookie Deshorn Brown’s youthful exuberance saw him blast a horribly weak clearance attempt by Jordan Harvey wildly over from the edge of the box in the 21st minute. Moments later, Brown got on the end of a long ball and left YP Lee looking his age behind him but he pulled his shot wide right. 

Colorado were looking the better team, with Brown looking dangerous pretty much every time he got the ball. It was the Whitecaps that took the lead though in the 32nd minute and it came from nothing.

Daigo Kobayashi played the ball forward to Manneh who took a touch, turned and fired a screamer into the postage stamp corner to continue his goalscoring heroics. 

The Rapids had an opportunity to hit back right away but Nathan Sturgis hit his effort over. 

Colorado did get back on level terms three minutes before the break when Carlyle Mitchell had his arm on Drew Moor as a free kick came into the box. The veteran defender played it well and the referee pointed to the spot. 

David Ousted guessed the right way but Gabriel Torres buried his spot kick and the teams went in at the half level, with all still to play for. 

It was shaping up to be a nervy half for those of a Whitecaps persuasion but that nervousness soon turned to anxiety. 

Manneh had two bites at a corner four minutes in, blasting his second effort over and Colorado took the lead from the resultant goal kick. 

Clint Irwin hit a deep kick into the Caps half and Mitchell completely misjudged his jump allowing the ball to run on to Brown. It was then a footrace between Brown and Lee and there was only going to be one winner and the young striker gave Colorado a 2-1 lead. 

Vancouver came agonisingly close to get back on level terms when Camilo dummied a Kobayashi pass and the ball fell perfectly for Matt Watson on the edge of the box. The Englishman did everything right but could only look on as his shot went inches past the wrong side of the left post.

Colorado were still looking quick and lively on the break and Sanchez had a shot deflected for a corner in the 68th minute. 

It was starting to look like lights out for Vancouverwhen again they got on the scoresheet from nothing in the 75th minute. 

Jordan Harvey got the ball, ran into the box and was chopped down by O’Neill. Camilo stepped up and coolly drilled home the equaliser from the spot. 

The parity lasted two minutes with Coloradoquickly restoring their lead. 

Torres got the ball on the corner of the box, showed great control, cut inside and curled a beauty into the top left corner. 

Vancouver were down and they were soon out, unable to muster any chances to revive their playoff hopes. 

The four minutes of stoppage time ticked by uneventfully and the final whistle sounded on both this game and any meaning to the Whitecaps season. 

It was a disappointing way to bow out of playoff contention and with Montreal winning against Philadelphia, Vancouver can only finish second in the Voyageurs Cup seeding race now as well. 

This should mean that Vancouver give some of their fringe and younger players a run out against Colorado at BC Place next Sunday.

Anything else cannot be deemed acceptable. But then, there’s been a lot of that on the pitch this season. 

FINAL SCORE: Colorado Rapids 3 – 2 Vancouver Whitecaps 

ATT: 18,103 

COLORADO: Clint Irwin; Marvell Wynne, Drew Moor, Shane O’Neill, Chris Klute; Hendry Thomas, Nick LaBrocca, Nathan Sturgis; Deshorn Brown (German Mera 83), Gabriel Torres, Vicente Sanchez (Martin Rivero 79) [Subs Not Used: Matt Pickens, Anthony Wallace, Edson Buddle, Atiba Harris, Jaime Castrillon] 

VANCOUVER: David Ousted; Young-Pyo Lee, Carlyle Mitchell, Jay DeMerit, Jordan Harvey; Jun Marques Davidson (Kenny Miller 84), Matt Watson (Russell Teibert 61), Nigel Reo-Coker, Daigo Kobayashi (Darren Mattocks 67); Kekuta Manneh, Camilo Sanvezzo  [Subs Not Used: Brad Knighton, Johnny Leveron, Gershon Koffie, Erik Hurtado]

Le Toux with two as Caps advance to final

Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto have unfinished Voyageurs Cup business.

After the debacle in Montreal and the monsoon in Toronto, the Caps will be hoping it will be third time lucky and they will finally get to lift the Canadian Championship trophy by the end of the month.

Vancouver set up the latest two game Cup showdown against Toronto with a 3-1 win over Edmonton at BC Place tonight. It looked comfortable in the end scoreline, but the Eddies made the Caps work every step of the way for their place in the final.

Martin Rennie surprised most people by ringing four changes from last week’s first leg and including Jay DeMerit in the centre of defence and going with a strikeforce of Eric Hassli and Camilo Sanvezzo.

Floyd Franks and Michael Nanchoff got their first starts of the season in midfield and Nanchoff thought he had his name on the scoresheet three minutes in, when he turned home a low John Thorrington cross.

The goal was somewhat mysteriously ruled out for offside, with Camilo looking to have been adjudged off when the cross came over and deemed interfering with play.

Edmonton settled down and took the game to their hosts, and they had a great chance to haul themselves back into the Cup tie in the 19th minute.

Yashir Pinto was sent through on the left, leaving Greg Klazura in his wake, and cut the ball back to Michael Cox on the penalty spot, whose first time strike was parried by Brad Knighton.

Two minutes later and Matt Lam tried a shot from distance that didn’t trouble the Caps goal, but showed the Eddies intention to attack.

Lam had a another long range attempt in the 27th minute, which Knighton got down well to save and Klazura hit the rebound out for a corner.

The Caps were looking a little lacklustre and only had a curling 35th minute Camilo free kick to show for their efforts.

Although having more attacking flair, Edmonton were being restricted to long range efforts and Shaun Saiko fired another one over the bar in the 37th minute.

That nearly changed in the closing minutes of the half.

A dangerous through ball from Shaun Saiko was deflected by the outstretched leg of Jay DeMerit into the path of Pinto and Cox, who has both got on the goal side of Jordan Harvey, but then got in each others way to spurn a great chance.

The momentum of big Cox carried him into Knighton. It was without any real malice but a slight stramash ensured to provide one of the few sparks of the first half.

The second half started off in a little lull but the game sprung into life in the 54th minute when Edmonton got the goal their play deserved, and their first ever Voyageurs Cup goal.

Cox played a short pass outside to Antonio Rago. The right back sent a dangerous ball into the six yard box that eventually came off the head of Pinto and past Knighton for 1-0 to the underdogs.

Nanchoff went down in the box in the 62nd minute, but was looking for the call as he fell over his man.

With everything now to play for, Vancouver brought on some heavyweight talent in to their attack with Sebastien Le Toux and Darren Mattocks, and what a difference they made.

Le Toux made an impact within five minutes of coming on to put the Caps level on the night and give them a two goal cushion of aggregate.

Davide Chiumiento sent a beautiful ball over the Edmonton defence straight into the path of Le Toux. Fabien Vorbe was wrong footed in dramatic fashion, allowing to the Frenchman to run into the box and fire past David Monsalve, who should have done better.

Camilo whipped another free kick just over the bar in the 81^st minute, as they sought to wrap things up.

The Brazilian then had the ball in the net a minute later but was flagged offside for the run through.

The Whitecaps brought on Etienne Barbara with five minutes remaining and the Malteser gave Caps fans an idea of what they can expect from him by immediately going on a mazy before being brought down for a penalty.

Barbara stepped up to take the kick in the best “makers-takers” tradition, only for Monsalve to brilliantly tip his well taken kick onto the right hand post.

Edmonton struggled to clear the danger and ended up conceding a kick on the left touchline. Chiumiento again flighted in a perfect ball to Le Toux, this time onto his head, and the Frenchman gave Monsalve no chance at his near post.

In the final seconds of the three minutes of stoppage time, Mattocks got his name on the scoresheet, whipping a Chiumiento cross into the bottom left hand corner, before picking up a booking by celebrating with a Jamaican flag in the Southside.

Overall, it was a patchy performance from the Caps, but they got the job done in the end and looked a much more dangerous side with the addition of Le Toux, Mattocks and Barbara.

Edmonton fought well and for most of the match they had turned in the best performance of all of the four Canadian teams on the night.

They should keep their heads up for they did their team and their city proud.

For Vancouver, it’s another Cup final against Toronto, following on from the pre-season Disney Pro Soccer Classic.

The Caps won silverware that time with the only goal of the game. Not many in Vancouver would argue with the same again.

ATT :  15,011

FINAL SCORE :  Vancouver Whitecaps   –    Edmonton

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS :  Brad Knighton; Greg Klazura, Carlyle Mitchell, Jay DeMerit, Jordan Harvey; Floyd Franks, John Thorrington, Davide Chiumiento, Michael Nanchoff (Sebastien Le Toux 70); Eric Hassli (Darren Mattocks 74), Camilo Sanvezzo (Etienne Barbara 85)  [Subs Not Used:  Joe Cannon, Michael Boxall, Russell Teibert, Bryce Alderson]

EDMONTON :  David Monsalve; Antonio Rago, Paul Hamilton, Kevin Hatchi, Fabien Vorbe; Shaun Saiko (Ilya Van Leerrdam 77), Kenny Caceros, Chris Kooy; Michael Cox (Kyle Porter 55), Matt Lam, Yashir Pinto (Paul Craig 81) [Subs Not Used: John Smits, Adam West, Jonathon Joseph-Augustin, Paul Craig, Dominic Oppong]

In The Cold Light Of Day: Whitecaps Away Woes Continue

The wonders of the MLS scheduling department sent Vancouver Whitecaps to New England this evening for the clubs’ second meeting this season.

A balanced schedule is great, and long overdue, but for two teams to have already played each other twice by week nine is not ideal for anyone.

The last time the two teams met was a fiery affair, with three sending offs and the teams playing out a 1-1 draw. Tonight’s game though was a markedly different encounter.

Teitur Thordarson’s starting eleven roulette continued to puzzle Whitecaps supporters. With a key Voyageurs Cup final against Toronto FC coming up on Wednesday, and a Concacaf Champions League spot on the line, a number of key players were rested and Alain Rochat and Eric Hassli didn’t even make the trip for varying reasons.

There were a staggering six Whitecaps changes from the side that started the 1-1 draw at home to San Jose on Wednesday. Jay DeMerit, Blake Wagner, Gershon Koffie, Russell Teibert, Omar Salgado and Long Tan all came into the team.

The inclusion of Tan in particular was a major surprise, with the Chinese Canadian seemingly not in Thordarson’s plans in recent weeks.

It was a line up that indicated once again that Vancouver looked to be keen to sit back, soak up the pressure and attack late on. It’s not been the most successful tactic this season and it wasn’t one that worked again tonight.

The game kicked off in wet conditions at a sparsely populated Gillette Stadium and the opening minutes of the match were nothing to write home about, with neither side creating anything of note.

We had to wait until the 19th minute for the first side to come anywhere close to opening the scoring and it was the home side that got that chance.

Chris Tierney sent in an inviting cross from the left and as Jay DeMerit slipped in the wet conditions, Benny Feilhaber hit his close range header off the back of Mouloud Akloul and out for a corner.

As the heavens opened, the Whitecaps finally had their first chance of the match in the 26th minute. Wes Knight sent a perfect ball into the box from the right but it eluded both Long Tan and Omar Salgado, when the slightest touch from either looked like it would have given Vancouver the lead.

The game fell into a bit of a snoozefest, with neither side looking likely to force a save, never mind score.

As the game ticked into the last minute of the half, Salgado hit a low shot out of nowhere that forced Matt Reis into a fine low save.

And that was it for the half. Scoreless and pretty much actionless.

There were no changes at the half, but the hopes were that we would at least see something more exciting for the second period.

It took only three minutes for the action to liven up. Knight mistimed his tackle on Feilhaber inside his own box and the referee had no option but to point to the spot. Shalrie Joseph stepped up and found the bottom left corner, just past the fingertips of Jay Nolly. 1-0 New England.

Feilhaber had the ball in the net in the 55th minute, with a fantastic chipped finish, but was ruled offside.

The game fell back into a lull, but it was Salgado that awoke it from its slumber again in the 70th minute when he got on the end of Wagner’s flighted cross and Reis was forced to claw the ball around the post for a corner. It was a fantastic save from the New England stopper to keep his side’s lead.

Both sides made changes before Feilhaber tried to test Nolly with a long range effort, which the Vancouver keeper easily held.

Nolly was called into action again in the 82nd minute and made a big save from Revolution sub Sainey Nyassi, who had powered into the box and forced the Caps keeper into a sprawling save.

The visitors had a great chance to tie things up in the 89th minute when Shea Salinas’ cross found Long Tan at the back post, but his weak first time effort went straight at Reis.

Despite the Caps stoppage time push for an equaliser, they couldn’t repeat what they achieved on Wednesday evening and the final whistle signalled another away defeat for Vancouver.

They haven’t had their troubles to seek on their road trips this season, but with a weak starting line up, it was always going to be an uphill struggle for the Whitecaps.

The message was clear. Wednesday’s Voyageurs Cup final is more important to the Caps than this game. They now need to show that resting their top players was worth it and secure a first leg lead in that match. Anything else and the Vancouver natives will be very restless.

FINAL SCORE: New England Revolution 1 – 0 Vancouver Whitecaps

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION: Matt Reis; Kevin Alston, Ryan Cochrane, A.J. Soares, Chris Tierney; Stephen McCarthy, Benny Feilhaber, Darrius Barnes, Zak Boggs (Sainey Nyassi 74); Shalrie Joseph, Rajko Lekic (Kheli Dube 81) [Subs Not Used: Bobby Shuttleworth, Franco Coria, Kenny Mansally, Zack Schilawski, Pat Phelan]

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS: Jay Nolly; Wes Knight, Jay DeMerit (Greg Janicki 64), Mouloud Akloul, Blake Wagner; Shea Salinas, Gershon Koffie, Jeb Brovsky, Russell Teibert (Davide Chiumiento 79); Long Tan, Omar Salgado (Nizar Khalfan 74) [Subs Not Used: Joe Cannon, Terry Dunfield, Jonathan Leathers, Camilo da Silva Sanvezzo]

Whitecaps End Pre Season Games With A Loss

Vancouver Whitecaps wrapped up their pre-season games this afternoon with a 1-0 loss against reigning MLS Cup champs Colorado Rapids.

The game was played before an invite only crowd of a few thousand and those that braved the wet and dismal Vancouver weather didn’t really have a great game to warm their cockles.

We’ve criticised the Caps FO for the ticketing shambles in the build up to this season, but we always want to give credit where credit’s due here at AFTN and we have to give a big well done to the FO for providing a number of fans with tickets as a thank you gesture for things that had gone awry with them. As we’ve said here before, we would much rather have a FO that reacts positively to criticism and solves and defuses the problems, than one who just carries on regardless.

It was exciting to be inside a blue and white bedecked Empire Field though and that more than made up for the action on the pitch.

The Whitecaps had the better first half chances and it was new DP Eric Hassli that was at the centre of much of them. He’s still finding his feet with his new team and surroundings but the signs are definitely there that he could be a very useful asset in this League.

His size and deft touches impressed those in attendance and I’d love to see what kind of a striking partnership he would form with Omar Salgado. Unfortunately we never got to find out, as the wonderkid replaced Hassli in the 58th minute.

A Hassli/Sanvezzo partnership is another I would like to see. The pace of the two could have devastating results in MLS, but the Brazilian didn’t feature at all today.

As it was, Atiba Harris shared the striking duties this afternoon. Harris is already proving a frustrating player. He’s showing some quality in bursts, but his ball control and shooting accuracy hasn’t impressed in the games I’ve seen him play in so far. Hopefully pre-season rustyness, but he wouldn’t be my number one starting choice up front.

It was a more experienced starting line up for the Caps from last week’s exciting game against Seattle and I have to say, it wasn’t anywhere near that impressive a performance.

The Caps certainly edged the scoreless first half and had the best chance of the game on 55 minutes when Russell Teibert made a great run to the byeline and flashed a shot across goal that forced the Rapids’ Matt Pickens into a diving save. The rebound fell to Terry Dunfield but he hit the ball high and over with the goal at his mercy.

Neither team really threatened to do much damage, but the pace of the Colorado attack was starting to cause the Caps defence more and more problems as the game went on.

Alain Rochat produced what must already be one of the tackles of the season to thwart one particular attack.

The only goal of the game came with eleven minutes remaining after some sloppy Caps defending allowed Sanna Nyassi to break into the box. Nyassi then found the unmarked Jamie Smith and the Scot had time to pick his spot and curl home what proved to be the winner.

It was hard to take too much out of the game and the numerous substitutions definitely played a part in breaking up the flow of the game and the team. The Rapids had pretty much what we would expect to be their first team out there and the Caps more than held their own for most of the match. Very promising stuff indeed.

I think we can probably have a rough idea of who Teitur will now go with as his starting eleven come the 19th, but there are still a few positions that could go either way.

From the three games I’ve seen in person I’d like to see Morfaw, Teibert and Sanvezzo make the first eleven. The AFTN jury is still out on a few, but in Teitur we trust.

Just one more week of training before the season finally starts. It’s felt like an age, but we’re so close you can smell the pulled pork.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at some of the logistics we picked up from being inside Empire today and we’ll have some more pics as well.

Mon the Caps.

FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 0 – 1 Colorado Rapids

VANCOUVER: Jay Nolly (Joe Cannon 45); Jonathan Leathers, Greg Janicki, Michael Boxall, Alain Rochat (Jeb Brovsky 75); Nizar Khalfan (Wes Knight 58), Gershon Koffie (Alexandre Morfaw 58, Philippe Davies 90), Terry Dunfield, Russell Teibert (Blake Wagner 60); Atiba Harris (Long Tan 75), Eric Hassli (Omar Salgado 58)

Summit Or Nothing – What We Learned This Weekend

The best laid plans…

We meant to have this up yesterday, but who knows where the time went?

So before the Cascadia Summit is just a distant memory, let’s have a little reflection about what we learned from the weekend.

*** Omar Salgado is immense and mature before his years. He’s not going to be with us for long, so let’s enjoy him whilst we can

*** We have two excellent goalkeepers on the books. That’s a position many clubs would die to be in

*** Teitur has a huge headache re his starting line up and a number of players have staked a claim to be in it

*** Camilo Da Silva Sanvezzo looks the part. Hopefully he’ll be offered a MLS contract soon, as he could do some damage in this league

*** He also liked my new song for him, even though it proved to be a bit too complicated for those still in pre-season singing form

*** In general, trying to introduce new songs to drunk Southsiders is not the way to grow our songbook!

*** Team unity appears to be very high. The whole squad are in it for each other and already have a strong bond

*** The Southsiders Teitur portrait is going to be a big talking point this season!

*** For all the fuss about security issues and fear of crowd trouble, the weekend passed off withouth incident. TA smoke bombs may be an issue for some going forward

*** Why make a big deal about segregation and seperate entrances when you can walk anywhere in the stadium and share car parks?

*** The TA has way hotter girls than the ECS

*** The ECS seem to have more than their share of dicks

*** In general, the relationship with the ECS can be summed up by some of their guys complaining that three of our fans were in “their” beer garden. When asked what the problem was they replied “it’s against the rules”. The day before the Southsiders and the Timbers Army shared drinks, chat and songs in the same beer garden.

*** From things said and seen, the ECS also seem a bit obsessed with being the biggest supporters group in Cascadia with the biggest tifos etc etc. I’m fine with us not being anywhere near that and doing the best with what we have. The results on the pitch is all that matters at the end of the day, not what the fans are doing off it.

*** Cascadia is going to be the massive story in MLS this year. I’m glad we’re a part of it.

Mon the Caps.

Whitecaps Reach Top Of Summit As Seattle Flounder

The Cascadia Summit wound up yesterday with two matches between Vancouver Whitecaps and Seattle Sounders.

The residency guys were first up and they narrowly lost a 4-3 game against the Sounders under 18’s. It was a cracking game and the few that turned out to see it, witnessed a good taster for what was to come up during the main course.

With both sides choosing to field what many would observe to be a lot of their fringe players, with Vancouver going for a young starting line up. The young guns didn’t disappoint.

The big battle got underway at 3pm, following the Sounders bands’ rendition of YMCA with their fans. Six minutes into it and it was already 1-0 Caps.

Omar Salgado pounced on some sloppy defensive play by Taylor Graham and ran on to calmly slot the ball past Sounders goalie Terry Boss, who failed to live up to his surname all afternoon.

Six minutes later and the Caps lead was doubled.

It’s a goal that Boss certainly won’t want to see again. The pacey Russell Tiebert ran up the wing and sent in what should have been a pretty easy shot for the keeper but somehow Boss let it wriggle out of his hands sideways and into the net! 2-0 Caps and all looking a bit too easy.

As expected, Seattle fought back and caused a few scrambles in the Caps backline, but resolute defending and some terrible finishing helped maintain Vancouver’s advantage. Some terrible refereeing decisions also helped the home side.

The Sounders finally found a way through right on the stroke of half time, when Roger Levesque netted from close range after another scramble from a Seattle corner.

If Caps fans were worried over the interval that a Seattle fightback was on the cards, we didn’t need to be and it only took two minutes of the second half for our two goal advantage to be restored.

Nizar Khalfan’s through ball found Salgado and the young striker chipped the ball over the on-rushing Boss towards the Seattle goal. Patrick Ianni got there first and I have no idea what he was thinking when he headed ball straight down into the path of Camilo Da Silva Sanvezzo, who won’t have much of an easier finish as a Cap as he made it 3-1.

Seattle then threw on some of their big guns and turned the pressure onto the Caps defence. Montano forced Joe Cannon into a good save on 62 minutes and five minutes later the Caps goalie produced a spectacular full length diving save to thwart Zach Scott.

The Sounders did pull another goal back from a close range Montano tap in but the Whitecaps saw out the remainder of the game with relative ease, despite the referee managing to find six minutes of stoppage time, and it ended with a well deserved 3-2 victory for the Caps.

It was another great team performance and you can see from the reaction of the whole squad when the goals went in what a tight unit they have already become.

We’ll do a full “what we learned from the Summit” piece later tonight, but there were some pretty fine performances yesterday that will give Teitur Thordarson the welcome headache of deciding his starting eleven.

Omar Salgado was immense. Maturity beyond his young years and he’s a strong lad too, holding off the Seattle defenders on numerous occasions. Will we ever see him in a full Caps jersey or will he be snapped up even before then? We need to make the most of him whilst we can/if we can as he’s not going to around MLS for long.

Alex Morfaw looked strong in the middle. He’s already pissed off the Sounders fans, so that’s a great start. Camilo Da Silva Sanvezzo also impressed. A real pace and flair to him and I hope we see him as a regular in a Whitecaps jersey for the season ahead.

Vancouver finished the summit with three points from their two games, the same as Portland. Who can claim the first bragging rights? Well Vancouver would win the imaginary Cup if we went with goals scored, but Portland would win it on goal difference.

Meh, who cares. We were unbeaten and Seattle finished pointless. Much like the Sounders are going to be in Cascadia as we move forward.

Mon the Caps.

FINAL SCORE: Seattle Sounders 2 – 3 Vancouver Whitecaps

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS: Jay Nolly (Joe Cannon 45); Bilal Duckett, Michael Boxall, Greg Janicki, Wes Knight (Jonathan Leathers 62); Russell Teibert (Jeb Brovsky 83), Alexandre Morfaw (Terry Dunfield 64), Gershon Koffie, Nizar Khalfan (Cornelius Stewart 62); Omar Salgado (Atiba Harris 87), Camilo Sanvezzo (Long Tan 66)

ATT: 3100

Vancouver And Portland Share The Spoils But Big Talking Point Is Off The Pitch

Vancouver played their first game of the Cascadia Summit yesterday and a first half goal apiece saw the spoils shared.

Portland were coming off an impressive 2-0 win over Seattle Sounders the night before but if they had any tiredness in their squad it didn’t show, as Ryan Pore fired them into the lead after just 5 minutes. He’s not likely to get an easier chance all season, tapping in a rebound which first came off the post and then Jay Nolly’s back.

Unshaken by this early setback, Vancouver soon came back into the game and were creating chances, but our clear lack of a deadly striker was evident. Atiba Harris squaffed a couple of efforts before cracking one of the post, but we can’t wait for Eric Hassli to arrive. He may not be the answer to all our problems but it’s a start.

Long Tan was looking lively as was Wes Knight. Blake Wagner was getting some space out wide and it was him who made the Caps equaliser on 36 minutes.

Whipping in a cross-come-shot from the left touchline, Adin Brown was forced into a fine save in the Timbers goal only to see the ball rebound off Portland defender David Horst into the net.

1-1 at the interval and the second half was pretty much a non event.

Both sides huffed and puffed but without really creating anything much and Joe Cannon was forced into a great save late on from Rodrigo Lopez to keep the scores level.

For Caps fans, the game gave us the chance to chant “Shoot Joe Cannon Out Of A Cannon” as he bobbed his head along on the bench and stretch our vocal chords for the long season ahead.

On the pitch, it also gave us the first chance to see Omar Salgado in action up close. He’s certainly a bigger build than what I was expecting for someone that age, but he also seems to, how can we be diplomatic about this, go down a little too easily.

Someone who impressed me more though was Brazilian trialist Camilo Da Silva Sanvezzo. Nice turn of pace and hopefully we can see him get a full run out against the Sounders.

The final whistle brought proceedings to a close and 1-1 was a pretty fair result.

It was a game full of fierce challenges, great for the fans to see in such matches. Caps coach Teitur Thordarson said after the match that “There is always a special edge to these derby matches, and I felt today’s game was very competitive”. He wasn’t wrong! 35 fouls and 5 cautions. It could have been a lot more as there were some heavy challenges floating about out there.

The winner of the Summit is still up for grabs and all eyes will be on the Vancouver-Seattle game later today to see who will get the early bragging rights this season.

All of that is somewhat of a side story though to proceedings. The bigger story was off the pitch.

A lot has been made of the Cascadia rivalry and fears that the hostilities will spill over into the stands and outside the stadium. Total bollocks for us in Vancouver. Seattle and Portland, yes, I’ll admit I could see some hotheads and the odd flare up, but basically one nutter can do that in any crowd.

What was great to see yesterday was the Southsiders and Timbers Army fans mingling together for the whole second half in the beer garden.

No fighting. No hassle. No security issues. Just lots of friendly banter, exchanges of chants and sharing songs about Kasey Keller and our mutual hatred for Seattle.

Also an amazing number of hot Timbers girls. What is it about Portland? They’re definitely leading in the newly created AFTN MLS hot-o-meter stakes (we got that idea from watching that Whitecaps video).

It was great fun. Just as well as the second half of football wasn’t up to much!

Hopefully the front offices take note that we can be civilised and we’re not going to kick each other’s heads in. Don Garber in particular should be looking on and paying attention. I still want to see some real hatred inside the grounds during the games that matter, but this was great for pre-season.

Surely that’s what this Cascadia Summit is really all about.

FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 1 – 1 Portland Timbers

VANCOUVER: Jay Nolly (Joe Cannon 63), Jonathan Leathers, Jay DeMerit, Greg Janicki, Alain Rochat (Gershon Koffie 90), Wes Knight, John Thorrington (Alexander Morfaw 84), Terry Dunfield (Kevin Harmse 77), Blake Wagner (Russell Tiebert 63), Atiba Harris (Camilo Sanvezzo 77), Long Tan (Omar Salgado 84)

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.

Caps Brace Sees Opening Day Win As Deldo Fails To Penetrate

The sun was shining, the Southside were in fine voice and humour and the Caps notched two second half goals for the opening day win. Welcome back football, you’ve been sorely missed.

Season openers are often pretty dire affairs, with both teams struggling to find their feet and shape and with little entertainment on offer. To be fair, that was pretty much the first half.

To give Minnesota Stars full credit, they had the better chances in the first period in what was their inaugural competitive match.

Vancouver threatened first and had the ball in the net on 16 minutes, but Dever Orgill’s effort was ruled out for handball. Two minutes later and the Southside were screaming for a penalty when Marlon James looked to have been impeded in the box but the referee waved play on.

It was the Caps who were breathing a sigh of relief moments later though when Greg Janicki crashed a LeiLei Gao free kick off his own post, with Jay Nolly beaten. It was the closest either team came to scoring in the half and the Stars were also unfortunate when Nolly pulled off a tremendous reaction save to keep out a deflection from a corner on 34 minutes.

As the half came to a close the Caps felt aggrieved when journeyman Stars keeper Louis Crayton went down injured following a clash with Orgill in the box and the referee blew to allow treatment as Vancouver piled forward towards the empty net. Crayton was eventually stretchered off, but play could have been stopped after we had scored!

So goal-less at the half but you felt that the Caps would turn on the style in the second half against a pretty average Stars side, and they did, piling on the pressure from the kick off.

The Caps should have had a penalty for handball on 54 minutes but again the ref waved the appeals away but Vancouver were just delayed taking the lead. They did just that on 62 minutes when Luca Bellisomo powerfully headed home Martin Nash’s free kick from the left.

Vancouver had a few half chances before Marlon James tied things up with 14 minutess remaining when the big St Vincent and Grenadine striker flicked home Nizar Khalfan’s cross from the right. Khalfan looked excellent when he came on and was causing a lot of problems on the right wing.

Minnesota could have pulled a goal back with ten minutes remaining, but there was no-one in the box to put away Melvin Tarley’s dangerous cross across the face of the goal.

It was typical of a poor second half from the Stars, who showed very little against what was almost a Caps onslaught. Later on in the season when Vancouver are a bit sharper, the scoreline would have been a lot more one sided. As it was, the 2-0 final sets up Vancouver’s season nicely.

It’s hard to take too much from the game. It’ll be quite a few games I think before we see how Teitur’s team will be shaped this year. A few players impressed though. I felt that Greg Janicki and Zurab Tsiskaridze were solid and strong at the back. Have great confidence in them both as the season goes on. Khalfan’s pace and skill made the difference when he came on and it was good to see Luca on the scoresheet.

If you want to give your opinions on any standout performances then you can vote in our new 3-2-1 competition on the forum. Just go to the thread HERE.

Minnesota have impressed me a lot off the pitch in the build up to the new season and we’ll be looking at that in more detail in a future blog post. On it, they still have a lot of work to do.

The Whitecaps have been great for second tier football in North America the past couple of decades. Both the team and the fans have been a huge asset to the USL over the years and now the NASL.

The Leagues clearly recognise this and are sad to see us moving off to MLS pastures new next year. Their thank you present to the Southside apparently being the Minnesota players, or more specifically their names.

It was like a gift from above to be served up a team with players called Deldo, Two-Boys and LeiLei. When the PA guy read out “number 15 Devin Deldo”, we just looked at each other and thought we must have misheard. I think we’ve already had the chants of the season in the Southside in game one!

So with a top notch tailgate, which included the best pulled pork sandwiches ever and a visit from the coaching staff, a fine three points on the pitch and a fun time off it, the 2010 season is off with a bang.

I can’t wait for St Louis’ visit already. Mon the Caps.