Timewasting: AFTN’s Must See Football TV

Not coming soon, to a television sceen near you – AFTN TV.

Vancouver’s latest cable station of the imagination.

Here’s a sneak peak of our initial weekday evening schedule…

MONDAY :

19.00 – 20.00: THE WONDER YEARS – Multi part documentary series about Vancouver Whitecaps FC’s proud history and successes. This week, the 1979 Soccer Bowl
20.00 – 21.00: MYTHBUSTERS – Tonight, Mustapha Jarju shows us that he is indeed a professional football

21.00 – 22.00: BORED TO DEATH – Members of Seattle’s ECS ramble on endlessly about how they invented football supporting in North America
22.00 – 23.00: LOST – Drama about a Vancouver based football manager who has clearly lost the plot
23.00 – 00.00: THE BIG DEBATE – Tonight’s topic: who would have been better in charge of the 2011 Whitecaps? Caps CEO Paul Barber, WWE’s Paul Bearer or a barber’s pole?

TUESDAY :

19.00 – 20.00: WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT – Sportsnet’s Craig MacEwen travels around North America screaming at natural occurances he sees in the street
20.00 – 21.00: ER – A day in the life of John Thorrington
21.00 – 22.00: THE BIGGEST LOSER – Documentary charting Toronto FC’s first five playoff free years
22.00 – 23.00: ONCE UPON A TIME – Story time with Paul Barber. Tonight, how he’ll help the Whitecaps become a Top 25 club in the world
23.00 – 00.00: STRIP POKER – Late night fun as Zooey Deschanel, Kaley Cuoco and Ksenia Solo sit around a table playing poker, wearing nothing but Whitecaps football strips. Just cos…

WEDNESDAY :

19.00 – 19.30: FRIENDS – Eric Hassli and Davide Chiumiento share a loft apartment and chat the hours away at the local Gershon Koffie house. Oh the shenanigans!
19.30 – 20.00: RIGHT BACK ROULETTE – Random men, with a dream, if not the talent, battle it out for the coveted position. Who will win this week’s lottery?
20.00 – 21.00: HUFFY THE EMPIRE PLAYER – A fly on the wall documentary about Omar Salgado’s first season with Vancouver Whitecaps
21.00 – 22.00: THE INVISIBLE MAN – Drama serial re-make of the HG Wells classic, starring Philippe Davies
22.00 – 23.00: GRIMM – Vancouver Whitecaps 2011 season in review
23.00 – 00.00: TOMMY AND FRIENDS – A one man show

THURSDAY :

19.00 – 20.30: MONKEY TENNIS – Everyone’s favourite sport is back for a ninety minute extravaganza. Watch where you hide those bananas!
20.30 – 21.00: THE WEAKEST LINK – Will Tommy be facing the walk of shame again this week?
21.00 – 22.00: PERSON OF INTEREST – Transfer talk with Martin Rennie
22.00 – 23.00: THE MENTALIST – Talk show with Mouloud Akloul
23.00 – 00.00: SPIN CLASS – with Paul Barber

FRIDAY :

19.00 – 20.00: THE AMAZING RACISTS – Teams of alleged racists race around the world for a big cash prize. Tonight, footballers John Terry and Luis Suarez face a roadblock after discovering their taxi driver is black
20.00 – 21.00: GAME OF THRONES – Sporting biopic telling the story of Toronto FC and how their last five years have gone down the toilet. They said “Winter Is Coming”. He came. They were still shit.
21.00 – 23.00: FRIDAY FILM NIGHT :- TOMMY – A remake of the Who’s classic rock opera about a deaf, dumb and blind football manager
23.00 – 00.00: THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH CAMILO – Vancouver Whitecaps’ Brazilian striker shows the last four minutes of April’s home game against Kansas City on a loop

AFTN Canada’s End Of Season Awards – 2011

To quote The Blue Nile, one of Scotland’s finest bands of the 80’s and 90’s:

“It’s over now. I know it’s over now. But I can’t let go.”

Vancouver Whitecaps inaugural MLS season is done and dusted.

Obviously it’s not been what we’d hoped or expected, and we’ll do a full season review later, but that’s not going to put us off from having AFTN CANADA’s inaugural “End of Season Awards” !

You might not agree with some (or all!) of them. Great! That’s one of the joys of football. Everyone has an opinion. Share yours in the comments below!

************************************

AFTN WHITECAPS PLAYER OF THE SEASON :

WINNER: CAMILO DA SILVA SANVEZZO – Who knows how bad we’d have been if we hadn’t had his goals these last few months. Will be amazed if he’s still plying his trade with us in MLS next season.

2nd: Joe Cannon – A dressing room leader, who isn’t afraid to speak as he sees it and has turned in some game-saving and score-reducing performances. We need a character like him with us next season.

3rd: Eric Hassli – Spectacular goals and spectacular sending offs. Sadly when he was off his game, the whole team suffered, but when he was on it, he was magnifique. Also an amazing love for the city and the fans, epitomised by spending over an hour signing autographs for the fans after yesterday’s game.

**********
AFTN WHITECAPS YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON :

WINNER: CALEB CLARKE – From looking nervy when coming on as sub in the first PDL game this year, he has come on leaps and bounds and looks like he could make the jump to the MLS squad.

2nd: Long Tan – Worked very hard in the Reserves and PDL to prove his doubters, myself included, wrong.

3rd: Gershon Koffie – Not the finished product yet, and not as good as many make out, but has developed well in the middle this season. Needs to work on his shooting.
**********
AFTN’S WHITECAPS TO WATCH :

WINNER: CALEB CLARKE – Looks like he might be something special.

2nd: Ben Fisk – Already a fan favourite.

3rd: Long Tan – Will be interesting to see if he can go on and build on this season’s development or if he has peaked.

**********
WHITECAPS GOAL OF THE SEASON :

WINNER: ERIC HASSLI v SEATTLE (11/6/11) – Kel Surprise. Nuff said.

2nd: Davide Chiumiento v New York Red Bulls (10/9/11) – Beautiful turn, flick up and volley.

3rd: Camilo v Portland (20/8/11) – So many could have made this position but we went for this one due to the lovely turn inside before the shot.

**********
WHITECAPS GAME OF THE SEASON :

WINNER: v KANSAS CITY (2/4/11 – Empire Field) – That stirring three goal comeback, with two stoppage time goals, was one of the most exciting endings I’ve ever witnessed. Empire was literally shaking. I could watch those last three minutes on a loop.

2nd: v Toronto (19/3/11 – Empire Field) – The home opener provided not only the best team performance of the season, but a football atmosphere I never thought I’d experience in Vancouver.

3rd: v Seattle (11/6/11 – The Clink) – The atmosphere, the comeback when it looked like we’d thrown it all away, THAT goal. That’s what derbies are all about.

**********
COACH OF THE YEAR :

WINNER: COLIN MILLER – Best win record of them all!

2nd: RICHARD GROOTSCHOLTEN – Built up a great Residency team and now the U18’s are looking strong in the USSDA.

3rd: TEITUR THORDARSON – Would he have turned it around? We don’t think so, but at least it wouldn’t have felt as bad with some charisma in charge.

Footnote – Tommy Soehn finished below the buses that took the fans down to the Seattle and Portland games.

**********
BEST AWAYDAY :

WINNER: PORTLAND – The friendly welcome will never become tiring. Add in a great matchday atmosphere, a double header with the Reserves and the wonderful Oregon coast to stay at, and you’ll always have a winner.

2nd: VICTORIA HIGHLANDERS – A trip I never made, but am assured by those that did that this is an epic trip not to miss in future.

3rd: SEATTLE – A pain in the ass with the pre and post match regulations for away fans but Hassli’s goal and the overall atmosphere helped to override this.

**********
MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT :

WINNER: THE EMPIRE GRASS PITCH – The loss of reputation and goodwill by that temporary pitch disaster will long be remembered.

2nd: Finishing Bottom – No team has the right to success. No team deserves it. Our history, and pre-season bravado, makes us expect better than a last placed finish though.

3rd: No Away Wins – A lot of teams struggle on the road but to secure no wins whatsoever was pitiful. Fans spent thousands to watch some of the worst Caps displays of the season.

**********
DISGRACE OF THE SEASON :

WINNER: SPORTSNET – The station disrespected the Whitecaps and MLS by treating them as second class citizens compared to their baseball coverage. Why bid for the rights to the games if you’re going to delay them and treat the sport terribly? Even worse when you consider that the channel is the official media partner of the Caps.

2nd: Giving Peter Vagenas Wes Knight’s Shirt Number – The jersey was still warm FFS. A completely pointless act that late in the season, in what appeared to be nothing more than a kick in the teeth to both Wes and his fans.

Joint 3rd: Uniglobe – They shouldn’t have been given the Cascadia away ticket allocation to handle in the first place, but once they got it they fucked it up big time for many, ourselves included.

Joint 3rd: PNE Security – Some of the guys were alright, but my worst overall security experience in 28 years of watching live football around the world.

**********
HERO OF THE YEAR :

WINNER: JOE CANNON – For not being afraid to speak his mind and tell some home truths. Putting $1000 behind the bar at Oscars as a thank you for the fans was something you don’t see from many professional footballers these days.

2nd: Peter Schaad – The voice of the Caps has had to travel to watch all those away performances. Poor Pete. We owe him a scotch.

3rd: Martin Rennie – He’s given us some hope and something to look forward to next year. No pressure then!

**********
VILLAIN OF THE YEAR :

WINNER: TOMMY SOEHN – A man who split the fans. You either disliked him or loathed him.

2nd: Baldomero Toledo – The whistle blower who could have caused a Vancouver riot before the Stanley Cup series after his performance in the New England game. Surprisingly not as appalling yesterday!

3rd: Nevio Pizzolito – I’d spit in his eye, but he might get in first. Would have won the ‘Wanker of the Year’ category if we had one.

**********
THINGS WE’D LOVE MLS TO CHANGE :

WINNER: THE STANDARD OF REFEREEING – You think you’ve seen some of the worst referees in the world, then along comes MLS.

2nd: More emphasis on the regular season – I’d personally go single table and get rid of the playoffs altogether. Not going to happen, so, if we’re going that way, we need less playoff spots, not more, or regular season is simply undervalued.

3rd: Games being called off if three or more players away on international duty – It’s common sense and would actually add to the spectacle and quality of the league. Fully recognizing CONCACAF international dates would also be the way forward.

**********
QUOTE OF THE YEAR :

WINNER: TOMMY SOEHN – He doesn’t say much we want to listen to but he wins for this delusion: ”It doesn’t take much to turn a team around“

**********
THE WILLIE JOHNSTON “DID THAT JUST REALLY HAPPEN” AWARD :

WINNER: ERIC HASSLI – For his double jersey sending off celebration.

Runner Up: Having to borrow jerseys from the fans in San Jose – and there we thought Los Angeles was the California home of all things Mickey Mouse.

**********
THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY AWARD :

WINNER: ROBBIE SAVAGE – People raised doubts as to what someone of his age would bring to MLS and the Caps. As it turned out, his bite was just what we lacked in midfield. Koffie would have learned so much. Not sure how many games suspension he would have had mind you.

**********
THE “PLEASE JUST SHUT UP” AWARD :

JOINT WINNERS: CRAIG MacEWEN and MARTIN NASH – They may have been super nice to the Southsiders on yesterday’s broadcast, but they were painful to listen to, when Sportsnet actually choose to show the game and not bump it for baseball that is. How many times can you say “Would you look at that” and “It’s in the back of the net”? Sometimes they both follow each other. Worst football commentators in the country, and that’s saying something when Nigel Fucking Reed lives here (that is his full name isn’t it?).

**********
HAIRCUT OF THE YEAR :

WINNER: ERIC HASSLI’S MOHAWK – He really should have continued to grow it in instead of the weird neck beard look he then went for.

**********
THE MUSTAPHA JARJU “WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY” AWARD :

WINNER: THE EMPIRE GRASS PITCH – A pointless expense for a pointless game.

**********
THE PAUL BARBER “TALKING OUT OF YOUR ASS” AWARD :

WINNER: PAUL BARBER – Cor blimey guvnor. He’s only been and gone and won the award we’ve named after him. Full of gusto, and what proved to be false hopes, before the season started. He’s great at responding to emails from supporters, I’ll give him that. Unfortunately when he addresses criticisms there’s always apprently more people saying the opposite to the criticism being levied.

**********
FAN CHANT/SONG/BATTLE CRY OF THE YEAR :

WINNER: BOOM! – Not exactly a song or a chant, but the hissing and the boom at Joe Cannon’s goal kicks have been a hoot with the BC Place roof. I doff my hat at whoever came up with that one.

**********
THE “PLEASE STOP MY SIDES ARE ACHING” AWARD :

WINNER: THE PDL GAME v NORTH SOUND SEAWOLVES – You’re not going to get many games where you can chant about secret police, orphans and Nicolae Ceausescu. You had to be there…

**********
THE “PREPARATION H” AWARD :

WINNER: MUSTAPHA JARJU – If he hasn’t got hemorrhoids from sitting on cold benches then he’s definitely going to have splinters up his highly paid ass.

**********
BROMANCE OF THE YEAR :

WINNERS: TOMMY SOEHN and PETER VAGENAS – Those after match embraces are just so touching.

**********
AWARD FOR HAVING THE BROWNEST HANDS :

WINNER: PAUL BARBER – No surprise since he’s been polishing a turd all year.

**********
THE SCUM OF THE YEAR AWARD :

WINNERS: MONTREAL IMPACT – we should just call this the Montreal Impact award since they’ll win it every year.

**********
SONG TO SOME UP THE SEASON :

So many to pick from, but we’re going with one that summed up most of our Saturday evenings…

WINNER: “NATIONAL SHITE DAY” BY HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT – Click HERE to hear it.

**********

Keep the faith.

Mon the Caps.

Timewasting: Top Ten Signs For A Football Manager That Your Days Are Numbered

(10) Players use air quotes when talking about the “manager” in interviews

(9) The Club mascot has a bigger office than you do

(8) Training gets moved to a new location and nobody tells you

(7) During the latest team photoshoot, you are positioned on the left for easy photoshopping later

(6) Your management team are already referring to you in the past tense

(5) Your name has become common slang for when things go wrong

(4) Stadium security give you regular patdowns as you leave to make sure you’re not taking any Club pens home with you

(3) The GPS in your Club car has a Service Canada Centre set as default location

(2) Your local Chinese restaurant names a special dish after you – Lame Duck

(1) Your name is Tommy Soehn

Countdown To Rennie Underway

Martin Rennie’s Carolina Railhawks crashed out of NASL Championship contention at the weekend in pretty dramatic fashion, eventually losing an incident packed second leg semi-final tie on penalties.

The defeat dashed Rennie’s hopes of coming to the Whitecaps with a Championship under his belt.

In fact, the 36 year old Scot will be coming to Vancouver with less than confidence boosting momentum, following a poor run of form for his Railhawks side recently.

He’ll fit in just nicely here then!

Although Rennie won’t take the helms at the Whitecaps until after the regular season is done and dusted, many are counting down the days till he takes over.

A key reason for that being that it will also spell the end of Tom Soehn’s reign as manager. Can’t come soon enough as far as we’re concerned.

One more game in “charge” for Soehn and as we look forward to Saturday’s match against Colorado Rapids, AFTN will be having a special #CountdownToRennie week, with various articles and humourous jibes to send Tommy packing.

Time to return to our fanzine roots, so check back every day for something new.

In the meantime, let’s try and get the hashtag #CountdownToRennie trending on Twitter.

The Renniesance will soon be upon us.

In The Cold Light Of Day: The Toronto Cup Debacle

Four attempts. Four failures. That’s Vancouver’s Voyageurs Cup record since Toronto FC came into existance. Zero for ten in the whole tournament’s history.

At least one of them was a glorious failure. Sadly that wasn’t today.

So where to start?

Well, I’m man enough to congratulate Toronto FC on winning their third straight Canadian Championship. They deserved it on the play today.

The better team at BMO Field won.

The difference for me was in how both teams responded after going a goal down.

Toronto fought for their lives, piling on the pressure and taking the game to Vancouver in wave after wave of attacks. Vancouver looked clueless and even in those closing minutes when we were almost encamped in the TFC half, their defenders coped with everything we threw at them with ease.

We had three shots on target the whole match. Three shots, in a game where we were fighting for our lives for the last 29 minutes. Toronto had twelve.

The way Toronto were playing after Camilo’s brilliant free kick, you knew they’d get back into the game. We never looked in the game at any point after our goal. Although to be frank, we didn’t look in the game before the goal either.

Eric Hassli was posted missing and if he’d had more composure and buried that chance late on, we wouldn’t be having any of these discussions right now.

The midfield failed to stamp any dominance on the game. We’ve been critical of Terry Dunfield of late, but he was our best midfielder out there today. A Canadian playing for Canadian pride.

Gershon Koffie played so deep, he was like a third centre half at times. His confidence has clearly gone after being dropped by Soehn and Nizar Khalfan’s skill, pace and confidence has been missing for a long time now.

The defence were all over the place. Jay DeMerit was angry as hell at being substituted and rightly so. Who wants to be replaced by Blake Wagner?

How are he and Bilal Duckett even still getting places on the bench when the likes of Alex Morfaw, Greg Janicki, Wes Knight and the apparently released Mouloud Akloul aren’t? None of them are starters but they have fight, spirit and play for the jersey.

Yet again, it was a spectacularly disappointing second half capitulation. Just what does Tommy Soehn say to the players during his half time team talks that makes them come out and play so badly? Whatever he is saying to try and motivate them and to get them to hold on to their leads, or keep the score tied, plainly isn’t working.

To paraphrase Soehn after the game, he basically had a tactical plan around possession and the players didn’t stick to it.

So whose fault is that?

The players for not listening and carrying out the plan, either through ignoring their manager of their inability to do it? Or the manager for not making sure he got the message out there to the players that they weren’t following orders?

Probably a bit of both and neither are acceptable.

There’s a lot not acceptable just now in the House of Caps. Even the players are coming out and admitting that now.

Soehn took a gamble and laid it all on the line when fielding a reserve team against Toronto on Wednesday night. Was it worth it?

It’s easy to say no in hindsight, but we backed him 100% in that decision and still do.

A lot of the anger and frustration at this defeat is going to be laid at Tommy Soehn’s door.

He doesn’t make the players play poorly, but he does pick the team, make the changes, set the tactics and had a role in bringing most of the flops to the Caps in the first place.

There are two conversations that there is absolutely no need for any of us to get bogged down in right now: the abandonment of the first game and the sacking of Teitur Thordarson.

What’s done is done. No amount of griping can change that. But we do need change at the Club and that’s exactly what we should be griping about.

Teitur’s sacking was a surprise to many. I said at the time that it was the right decision. I didn’t feel that Soehn was the right replacement.

Nothing I have seen in the subsequent seven games has changed that opinion. I said we needed to give him some time to stamp his mark on the team and suggested to wait until after today’s game. By then we would know what a Soehn-style Caps team would be like.

I think we now know – not very good and certainly not any improvement on Teiturball.

Would I like Soehn to go now? Most certainly yes, but if we can’t get the right man just now, there may not be much point.

To fire two managers in a season would make us look like a laughing stock and totally clueless. Oh, wait a minute…

If the Caps were going to fire Teitur, it was imperative that they had the right LONG TERM replacement lined up. Soehn was a quick fill and not the future of the Club.

We could get a new manager from Europe just now, but he will be out of his depth with the weird and wacky rules of MLS. We do need someone familiar with this League and that man, for me, is Frank Yallop.

I mentioned on the Southsiders forum a few weeks back that I would love to have Yallop here, with a young assistant he can groom to take over. Get #YallopForCaps trending now on Twitter!

We won’t be able to get him till the end of this season sadly. I say sadly, as what we need is someone who can come in now and fairly evaluate ALL the players for next year. Not his personal acquisitions and favourites.

Our season is as good as over. I read somewhere that we have a 2% mathematical chance of making the playoffs now. Good luck filling Empire for the next three months.

We have to look to the future. Get rid of the dead weight and play some of our Residency prospects. With the prospect of a MLS contract carrot, these guys will play out of their skins.

What have we got to lose? We can’t sink much lower.

It’s tough at the top. It’s even tougher at the bottom. That’s not a place that Vancouver Whitecaps FC are used to being. So who, or what, has taken us to the basement?

The Club need to know of the fans’ displeasure. Don’t keep your mouths shut and carry on as if it doesn’t matter or that there’s nothing wrong. Don’t be fobbed off with some summer signings when the season is already over.

The media need to stop kissing butt and ask the difficult questions. The players and management need to stand up and be counted.

Only then will we move forward and be the Club we could, and should, be.

We have a proud history. Since 1974. Don’t let it be tarnished.

In The Cold Light Of Day: Kansas City (away)

Another road game, another defeat.

We will win a MLS away game at some point this season. I’m sure of that. Hmm, maybe ‘sure’ is a bit optimistic.

This season has felt like one step forward, two steps back at times and yesterday’s 2-1 loss to Kansas City only has a couple of positives to take from it.

When those positives are the excellent performance of goalkeeper Joe Cannon and the fact that we only lost by one goal in the end, well, then you know we have a problem and all the optimism from last Saturday’s victory against Philadelphia has evaporated in the Kansas humidity.

You can read AFTN’s full match report over at Prost Amerika, but Kansas City were deserved winners and they really should have won by more.

The Caps goal was against the run of play, and apart from Eric Hassli’s chance at the start of the second half, which he really should have buried, it was an easy day at the office for Jimmy Neilsen.

The game signalled the halfway point of the season for the Whitecaps. There’s been seven losses in those 17 games and last night’s defeat was the fifth one of those to be by a single goal.

The fine line between mid table success and bottom of the heap.

Apart from Cannon, no player can come away from Kansas with much glory. Some were middling, but some really need to have their places in the starting eleven questioned.

One of the major questions for me is why has Gershon Koffie been relegated to the bench?

Koffie has been the standout central midfielder all season. Mr Consistent. He should be the name on the teamsheet before Terry Dunfield and certainly before Jeb Brovsky.

I have no doubt that Brovsky will develop into a good MLS player. Maybe for us, maybe for someone else. He is not currently ready to be a starting MLS midfielder though and although he has skills and shows glimpses, he added little to the Caps team on that Livestrong Sporting Park yesterday.

I did like him walking through the Kansas City defenders, trying to rile them up at a free kick. At least that showed some passion and fight. There wasn’t a lot of that going on elsewhere on that pitch and for once I will give them the conditions factor. That humidity must have been horrendous to play in.

Shea Salinas has impressed in spurts but just doesn’t seem to have the impact as a starter that he did when he was coming on as sub a few weeks back.

And what’s happened to Alex Morfaw?

Soehn rescued him from the PDL, played him in a couple of games, he impressed and now he’s back with the Residency team. A player of Morfaw’s calibre should not be turning out against North Sound SeaWolves on a night when we need him playing in Kansas City. Absolutely incredible.

Wes Knight, for all his faults, should also certainly be on the bench in MLS and not in PDL action. Especially when Bilal Duckett is ahead of him in the pecking order.

Like Brovsky, I’m sure Duckett will develop. That’s why we have the reserve league and PDL. I’ve seen him in PDL action and he didn’t impress. He certainly is not what we need at the back in MLS at the moment. Duckett offers little to no threat as an attacking full back.

After last week’s impressive return, Michael Boxall struggled at the back this week in the first half. He had a much better second half, which was surprising considering he’d lost his partner Jay DeMerit.

Hopefully we’re not going to lose Jay to another groin injury. It would seem he was replaced more as a precaution as it felt tight. Let’s hope he’s fit for the two forthcoming Toronto matches.

Davide Chiumiento going off with a tight leg was also a blow, but in saying that, he simply wasn’t in the game in Kansas during that first half. He struggled. As did Eric Hassli, who equally wasn’t in the game for most of it.

Eric badly needs someone up front with him that can take some of the holding play off his shoulders and allow him to concentrate on putting the ball in the net.

Camilo’s goal was another of the few high points of the evening. The way he left Cesar standing was well worked, but also shockingly defended. A deft finish though. He knew where the goal was and found it. He needs to give lessons.

We said after Teitur’s sacking not to rush to judge Soehn. To give him until after the two Toronto games. Well they’re about to come up pretty quickly.

There’s things in Soehn and his sides that I’ve liked.

There’s more attacking flair at times and it’s good that he changes players positions over depending on how the game is going. He’s not afraid to make substitutions and earlier than Teitur did. Some of his selections though have been baffling.

Teitur was accused by some of favouring his D2 faves to the detriment of the team. You could certainly argue now that Soehn is doing that with the draft picks.

We need to re-group pronto. There’s two massive games coming up against TFC.

I watched their game against Real Salt Lake late last night and although it was 3-1, going on 4 or 5, TFC at least showed some battling spirit and more than we showed both at the Rio Tinto Stadium and last night in Kansas City.

If we can return from Toronto with three points and a Champions League spot, then a lot of the complaints will be put on the back burner and the boost to the squad for the rest of the season will be enormous.

Anything less can only be viewed as failure.

There can be no hiding places and certainly no passengers. We need to get most of our squad out there together, so that Soehn has the best players at his disposal for both the games and can pick accordingly.

We need the fight that we saw in Seattle and the all round team performance that we saw at Empire on opening day.

With some reorganisation and personnel changes, we still believe that the Caps will squeak in to the playoffs. To reach the Champions League we need to fully utilise what we currently have.

The pressure is most certainly on.

In The Cold Light Of Day: Philadelphia

The elusive second win.

That particular monkey is now off our back and perhaps we can now concentrate on the playoffs and Champions League qualification.

You can read AFTN’s full match report of the Philadelphia Union game over at Prost Amerika.

We’re not ones to get carried away here at AFTN but we know, and we’ve been banging on about it for weeks, that we have the players at the Whitecaps that could, and should, make the playoffs this season.

Our faith has been shaken at times but the players have restored it.

Sure we’re still firmly rooted to the foot of the Western Conference, but more importantly, we’re currently only four points off the final play-off spot, with more than half the season remaining.

Crisis? What crisis?

There’s still a lot of work to do though to be where we need to be.

With summer signings and releases surely imminent, the right acquisition here, the right deal there and we could be looking at a successful end to an inaugural season to remember.

I can’t in all honesty say there’s been a steady improvement since Tommy Soehn took over. Salt Lake was dreadful and went back the way from Chivas and what had gone before.

There has been some improvement though. Some due to Soehn, some due to the players played, some due to injuries clearing up, some due to a tightening up of the defence (at times) and some due to finally getting the breaks.

The last two games have shown a spirit, desire, passion in the team (call it what you like), that we haven’t seen since the early games.

The belief is there and the results are coming.

The players seemed to be as much relieved as overjoyed at the final whistle on Saturday and it was a similar feeling of emotions in the stands as well, as these scenes from the final whistle show:

It was a commanding performance. I don’t really want to say comfortable, as I don’t think many of us were 100% convinced that Philadelphia wouldn’t snatch something at the death the way our luck’s been going.

A well deserved win though.

The defence in particular looked strong. Not so many heart attack inducing moments. A lot of that is down to the partnership between Jay DeMerit and Michael Boxall on Saturday. They bonded and Boxall will only come on leaps and bounds under the stewardship of old man Jay!

It was great to see Boxall back in the centre of the defence and I would put him above Greg Janicki and Mouloud Akloul now in the pecking order. Janicki is great in the air, not so much on the deck. Mouloud I love to bits but is a little bit too rogue at times. The starting centre half position is now the Kiwi internationalists to lose, and vacate whilst away on international duty.

I do have concerns that our left and right backs play too much towards the middle. Been like that for a lot of the season, especially Jonathan Leathers of late. We’ve not been fully punished yet, but there were times on Saturday that a long ball to the wings would have had us struggling.

Alain Rochat’s goal was a beauty. What a strike and worthy contender to follow Eric Hassli’s wondergoal as the MLS “Goal of the Week”. Get voting!

It doesn’t just deserve to win it for the actual finish, the build up was what we’ve been missing. Five passes from the back to find Davide Chiumiento just inside the Caps half, then a mazy run with the ball glued to his feet (including that neat one-two with Hassli).

Like the cuckoo clock and Lindt chocolate, that goal was made in Switzerland to perfection.

The midfield is still the big problem. That surely has to be where we will strengthen during the transfer window.

I was stunned to find Gershon Koffie on the bench. Stand out player all season. Tiredness may have played a part, but he offers so much more than Terry Dunfield, whose star is waning in our eyes.

We could do with two experienced midfielders. A dominant central player that can hold up the ball and spray it about with ease and a wing maestro.

We seem to have too many players that are good impact players off the bench but not from the first whistle.

Camilo doesn’t cut it as a midfielder. Has he played his last game for us? Is he off to pastures new in Kuwait? I, and many others, were hoping to ask him this post game but he was out of that dressing room faster than snow off a dyke.

It would be sad to see him go. He is putting the ball in the net semi-regularly after all and sadly others can’t claim that. I just don’t see how he’s going to fit into the Soehn style of play and formation.

One win does not a season make, but at least we can take some good heart from Saturday and it is a huge springboard to build on.

Going in to the game, so many Philadelphia fans felt they were facing an easy spell of their season. After the weekend, it the Caps fans that can lay claim to that.

Eastern Conference basement dwellers Kansas City are next. They’re looking better at home than they did away. Another six goal thriller? Highly unlikely but it’s the kind of game we need to get three points from. One would be acceptable. Defeat and we almost go back to square one.

Saturday can’t come quick enough for me.

Mon the Caps.

*** You can see our photos from Saturday’s match on AFTN’s Flickr page ***

In The Cold Light Of Day: New Era, Same Old Caps

I’d hoped to make a post about Wednesday’s game before now, but the Santa Barbara sun and good times put paid to that.

At least part of AFTN’s three game road trip is going to be fun. The on field part of it, I’m not so sure about.

Waiting in Phoenix airport, en route to Salt Lake City, this seems like as good a time as any to catch up.

We’re one game into the Tommy Soehn era and already it seems like same old, same old. A game we should have won. A game we ended up drawing. A result that does little to help the Caps season.

Soehn was true to his word though and rang the changes. Some surprising, some we expected.

It certainly looks like some of Teitur’s D2 old guard could be on borrowed time in a Caps jersey, left to warm up endlessly for ninety chilly minutes in California.

Seeing Alex Morfaw and Bilal Duckett in the starting eleven was a huge surprise. I’m not doubting their talent, in fact I rate Morfaw very highly, but since Bilal had only featured on the bench once, and Alex not at all, this season, starting them could be construed as a major “Teitur had no clue in my opinion” moment.

Watching them both in PDL action for the residency in Abbotsford on Sunday just before I left for my trip, I had no idea I’d be seeing them playing in Carson. I’m sure they didn’t either.

Morfaw had a good game. I expect him to do well as a first team regular and it was good to see him finally get his chance. I’d started singing “One Alex Morfaw” for him pre-season in Tukwila and have continued it at the PDL games. He enjoys it and now we can keep it going!

I haven’t seen enough of Bilal Duckett to fairly judge. He looks gangly and unorthadox on the ball, but hey, if that gets the job done, who cares what it looks like. I would expect Jonathan Leathers to be back in there when he’s recovered from his niggling injury, but it was a surprise to see Bilal start over Wes in the right back position.

Bringing in Akloul for Janicki in the centre of defence I have no problem with. I think he’s the better centre half and one that offers us a bit more at the other end of the field too.

Both Mouloud and Jay had some heroic last ditch tackles out there, especially Jay’s goal-line clearance near the end of the game.

Joe Cannon starting over Jay Nolly is the most contentious of Soehn’s decisions. I’d have gone with Cannon before the season started, but at this time I don’t think Jay has done enough to lose the starting goalie position. He’s kept clean sheets recently and been voted man of the match. Harsh.

Cannon was partly at fault for the Chivas goal. He should certainly have done better getting down to it. That said, the defence were equally to blame for backing off and backing off and allowing the shot in the first place.

Soehn has indicated that we would be playing more attacking and more exciting football. Early days, but we didn’t see that on Wednesday and if there’s a team we could have done that against, it was Chivas.

They’re a poor side and that game was there for the taking both before and after Eric Hassli’s sending off.

The big tactical switch Soehn made was moving Davide Chiumiento to the middle, playing back off Hassli, and moving Camilo to the wing.

Camilo scored a cracking goal but didn’t seem overly suited to the role of left or right midfield. Davide looked good at times and linked up well with Hassli.

Those two have shown a connection in so many games this season and watching their interplay has been a joy. It was a cheeky little back heel from Hassli to Chiumiento that led to the goal. No way should Davide have tried a shot when he did but at least the ball broke favourably.

It was a frustrating game to watch as a Caps fan.

We were outpossessed fairly easily. Disappointing considering the player we have and the ball control they show when they have the ball at their feet.

It’s way too early to judge Soehn, as some have been doing elsewhere. We need to give the guy a chance to stamp his mark on the team. That’s not gong to happen overnight.

We should have a good idea of what a Soehn Caps side will look like by the end of June. Then we can start the judgements, for by then our MLS season could be as good as over, with just exhibition games basically left.

The players need to stand up and be counted though.

Whenever my team has lost a manager, and so many other teams too, the players are so up for it in the next game. Keen to prove a point and keen to pay homage to their old gaffer.

That wasn’t evident at the Home Depot Center on Wednesday.

What kind of team and performance will we see on Rio Tinto Stadium tonight? That’s going to be telling and show what kind of players we have in the blue and white this season.

It’s a hard enough place to go, never mind without your top striker (shocking sending off when I saw the replay, although at the game it looked a rash challenge).

I’m not expecting much. Maybe this is when the Caps will surprise me.

Mon the Caps.

Tommy Can You Hear Me?

The AFTN road trip has finally rolled into California.

I’m typing this from Coalinga. No, we hadn’t heard of it either! LA tomorrow though. Carson to be exact, as Vancouver Whitecaps take on Chivas USA at the Home Depot Center.

Tommy Soehn’s first match in charge of the MLS Caps is a basement battle. As an indication as to how bad Vancouver’s early season form has been, you only have to consider the fact that even a comprehensive win on Wednesday won’t drag the Whitecaps off the bottom spot in the West.

It might keep us from losing all hope though. For without hope, you’re a TFC fan.

Soehn is no stranger to MLS of course. A player of five years with Dallas and Chicago, Tommy made over 100 appearances before turning to management. A three year spell as head coach with DC United saw him win the Supporters Shield in 2007.

He is no stranger to this League. He knows what it takes to win. He’s given the impression that he thinks it won’t take too much to turn things round. Let’s hope that optimism turns to victories on the pitch.

On my trip down to California, one of the cd’s I’d happened to pack was “Tommy” by The Who. Was due to the fact that I’m going to see Roger Daltrey performing it live in October. No, it seems quite an apt album to have on a three game road trip that’s going to cover Soehn’s first three games in charge.

As are some of the lyrics.

“Tommy can you hear me….Can I help you to cheer?”

Teitur was a fan friendly manager. I do feel, and I stated this a few weeks back on the Southsiders forum, that this closeness to the fans clouded some people’s judgements about the decisions he was making and what was taking place on the pitch.

Teitur fully understood fan culture though and the important of it to the team. He encouraged players to come to fan functions and to show their appreciation after the games.

What does the future fan/club relationships hold in store under Tommy? What kind of reaction will he get from the travelling support in LA, Salt Lake and Seattle? And what kind of reaction will he give the fans back?

Does that even matter, if we get the results on the pitch?

I’m greedy. I want both, but if I’m only getting one, I want an aloof coach that brings success.

“We’re not gonna take it. Never did and never will. We’re not gonna take it. Gonna break it. Gonna shake it. Let’s forget it better still.”

Our start to the season has been awful at times. Our play has merited a better haul than our current points total, but them’s the breaks. It’s been too little, too late far too often this season. If it wasn’t for our late heroics in a couple of games, our points tally would be even worse.

Vancouver Whitecaps are a winning team. We are a successful team with a proud history. WE DO NOT UNDERACHIEVE. And we won’t start to accept that now.

We’ve only failed to make the playoffs twice in our history as a top flight side and both of those were our first two years as a NASL side in 1974.

Only on two other occasions, both as a D2 side in the 90’s, have we not made the playoffs.

We’re not an ordinary expansion side, so doing the same in MLS can’t be tolerated when you have assembled as talented a squad as we have.

This is a new start, so let’s forget about the 12 games that have gone before and start anew.

What will that new look like? What is a Soehn Caps starting eleven? Are some of Teitur’s D2 favourites on their way out of the equation now?

Tommy has been instrumental in bringing certain players to the Club. One such player is Joe Cannon. Does he get the nod ahead of Jay Nolly now? Does Davide Chiumiento get moved to the middle of the park like he has craved?

It will be interesting to see.

The players are the key to our future success. They’re the ones that break a Club AND a manager.

We’ll finish for now with one final lyrical quote from ”Tommy”, just for them:

“Listening to you,
I get the music.
Gazing at you,
I get the heat.
Following you,
I climb the mountains.
I get excitement at your feet.

Right behind you,
I see the millions.
On you,
I see the glory.
From you,
I get opinions.
From you,
I get the story.”

That’s what it’s like for us watching you from the stands. So do us proud lads.

Mon the Caps.