So lets start with Wednesday's Fixture vs Toronto FC...
I had a chance to talk to Julian De Guzman before the match and he was saying that he had tweaked his Hamstring durring warm ups the previous weekend in LA and tried to play through it and only made things worse. So he spent the night watching from the sidelines. Toronto started John Conway in goal relieving a tired Stefan Frei. Preki also kept Chad Barrett on the bench until late in the second half.
Turns out as per a discussion with Wes Knight (on Saturday vs Rochester more on this later), he had suffered a similar injury as De Guzman although you wouldn't be able to tell based on his outstanding play on the back end for the 'Caps. He figured heavily on most of their highlights though out the game. If you don't believe me check out the game in 6 minutes available on Toronto FC's website. Martin Nash made his presence known in the second half when he came in and stepped up the pressure in TFC's end. Ricardo Sanchez who played a fantasic game is showing that he is who the Whitecaps were hoping he was coming into this season. On the back end what more can I say about my the play of Janicki and Big Z. These two infront of Jay Nolly have created an impenetrable wall infront of the Vancity goal. They should change the name from Swangard Stadium to Fort Swangard with the way things are going this year.
With Marlon James starting the game on the bench it gave a chance for 20 year old Cornelius Stewart to make his 2nd appearance on the year. The young man from St. Vincent and the Grenadines spent the entire game giving Toronto fits in their own end.
That being said... the game finished in yet another scoreless draw at home for Vancouver. It really is remarkable the way that Vancouver have been preventing anyone and everyone from getting quality chances on goal. The best chance that TFC had was on dipping volley from 18 year old Gambian midfielder Amadou Sanyang. Had it been 2 feet lower it would have beaten a sprawling Jay Nolly but alas, thats the way the cookie crumbles, you don't put the ball on net your never going to score.
0-0 Home draw... Marlon James might make me eat my last post about a 50/50 chance of winning the tourny.
Saturday day saw the arrival of the supposedly high scoring Rochester Rhino's and Adam West. Unfortunately for me he never saw the field as far as I could tell.
After his brilliant performance on Wednesday, Wes Knight didn't suit up for the 'Caps due to the previously mentioned tweaking. Apparently it had nothing to do with an Ikea related injury as I had instantly speculated. He said his MRI earlier in the week came up clear and his fears that previous knee injury wasn't properly healed could be put to rest. In the first 5 minutes of the game Vancouver had appeared to score on a quick attack which I can't really comment on as I was outside the grandstand at the time. Apparently my ball retrievers said that the play was offside by less then a foot. God bless their little eyes.
Then it happened. Allow the horrors and all the terrors of the world came to an end and Cornelius Stewart finally found the back of the net for the Whitecaps. Since he made his first appearance this year against Montreal on May 15th he has injected some much needed speed intensity into the line up. He always looks dangerous on the ball. It would appear that when Mr Stewart (or Corn Dog to his teamates) is on the field the ball spends a lot less time being banged about in the middle of the centre circle. His blinding speed and fabulous touch on the ball keep the defenders wide on his wing creating, space in the 18 yard box. This new found spacing gives guys on our defensive end the chance to push up like they were at the beginning of the season. Not too long after his goal, Stewart was once again sprung on a partial break and pushed a left footed ball just wide of the goal in an effort to bring the lead to 2 goals.
The question needs to be asked so I'm just going to put it out there. How badly is Mr. Janicki's brain oozing from his skull? also Is their a fund that we the fans could donate to in order find a cure for his cranial leak?
Whatever the case, I think his bloody gauze is scaring away opposing forwards. The thing that bothers me the most is that it seems as though the bloody spot seems to change positions game to game, much like King Richard's mole in Robin Hood Men in Tights. Do he and Marcus Haber share the same barber? It seems Haber is constantly being knicked just above is brow but never quite breaks the skin. Does he maybe tip the barber more? Something needs to get sorted out before we lose both these key pieces to perhaps an eye gouge or maybe a severed carotid. Whatever the case something must be done as there is no room for more off field injuries like Martin Nash's "Sorry coach can't play today, threw my back out helping a neighbour move" debacle. I'm reminded of Brian Griese's "I slipped on my driveway while washing my truck" injury.
Anyway, back to reality. Despite his monster zit, or whatever it is Janicki is hiding from us, he managed to fight through the pain and HEAD in a corner from Nash in the 52'.
Vancouver looked the dominant team the whole game again. All the credit to Teitur for getting the boys to play as a unit, once again they kept the opposition from any quality chances. Unless you count Rochester's striker booting Jay Nolly in the stomach with a high footed studs up challenge a scoring chance...
The 'Caps don't play again at Ft. Swangard until June 6th at 4pm vs Tampa Bay. Between now and then, they have a 3 game road swing, which see's them play against Montreal in the Nutrilite Canadain Championship. Then Rochester in the rematch of yesterday's game, and then in Toronto the following Wednesday, for their final and likely the decisive match in the Canadian Championship.
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