Tough Loss at Home Gives Cascadia Cup to Portland

Tonight's match at Swangard was one of the best games the 'Caps have played all season. The atmosphere in the stadium was incredible, it always seems to get that way when the visiting fans are good and loud. Many people will point the finger at the officials for the unfortunate result at tonight's game, some may even have the audacity to blame Greg Janicki, for taking a red on a poor tackle on the leagues leading scorer. Janicki was running hard to catch Ryan Pore who was sprung on a breakaway he then cut across right to left and got Janicki to make contact and he dropped like a sack of potatoes.

It is always tough to blame the refs because they aren't really playing the game but they surely had an impact on the evenings fixture. There were a couple of questionable calls or even non calls for that matter. Including a Portland hand ball in their own box and a penalty was given to Ryan Pore, even though upon further review you can see that Pore wasn't actually in the box when the foul occured. Jay Nolly sprawled out to make the save but just missed a perfectly placed ball. A few minutes later Nolly ended up getting caught out on a crossed ball and after a bit of a scramble Portland was able to hammer home the winning goal. But lets try to focus on the positives here because there were lots of them tonight.

Nizar Khalfan had a heck of a game up front creating all kinds of chances as did Cornelius Stewart. Khalfan took advantage of a fortunate cross for Phillipe Davies in the first half and blasted a shot to the short side on Portland's keeper to give the Whitecaps a lead early in the second half. Dispite what I would refer to as his only mistake this year, Jay Nolly made a couple of brilliant saves, as we have come to expect from him this year. The usual supects on the back line all had strong games and same up the middle.

It was a tough loss but you can't win them all... or even tie them all too bad our first home loss of the season had to come to the hated Portscum Timbers. I guess they were due seeing as they hadn't won at Swangard in 6 years. Tomorrow I am supposed to be getting my burger from Malould Akloul, he says just a burger no frosty, it was worth a shot to try.

Empire Stadium and A Quick Peek at BC Place

I know that it is old news to some but Empire is complete. The BC Lions have played a couple of games there already and will play the entire season there. The Whitecaps will continue to play this season from Swangard before moving over to Empire for the beginning of next season.
Here are a few picture's of Empire that were actually taken by Tyler Green of the Team 1040 and posted on his twitter. The ones of BC place are a couple weeks old I took them as I went up the Harbour Centre Tower. Whitecaps CEO, Paul Barber called Empire a world class facility and said that it was as close as you could get to a true English Football Stadium in North America. I think it is really a shame that they won't be able to play in it for longer then half a season but the reality of the situation is that it is in a less then ideal part of town for transit and for parking. It definitely has one of the best settings for views of the mountains as you will notice in the picture to the right. Although its hard to top the scene at Swangard. Really though, Swangard is in Burnaby. The coolest thing in my opinion as far as Empire is concerned, is how its located beside the PNE. If you are heading west on Hastings the view of this neat little stadium against the backdrop of roller coasters is pretty neat. I'll try to snap some pics this week also.

By July of 2011 the Whitecaps are expecting to move into BC Place which should have 2 retractable ceilings the first one to be on the top of the dome creating a actual retractable roof.

While the second would close off the upper bowl reducing the stadium from a cavernous 60,000+ person venue down to an intimate 20,000 + person venue. The computer generated images I have posted don't show the new Whitecaps branding but they definitely give you a great example of

the difference between the usage of the two systems for changing capacity.

As the week progresses I will try to get pictures of the construction going on at BC Place.

Malould Akloul owes me Lunch!

So as some of you may know I get the pleasure of hosting many of the Whitecaps half-time events and contests. This affords me the opportunity to interact with all kinds of people. So last Wednesday when the 'Caps hosted Miami I had a very special interaction with a couple of the players which is quite a treat for someone who is a fan above all else. So I'll paint the picture for you.

I was going over the script of our contest (kicking a ball blindfolded from 30ft at 10 bowling pins) with some of the other interns from the club and we were not really successful in our attempts at knocking the pins down. Actually almost everyone missed the pins completely. If you happened to catch the actual contest at half-time the results were much the same.

So we tried and we tried. Testing moving the kicking position closer, not using a blindfold, etc, etc; then Teitur came out and in his infinite knowledge told us we would be far more accurate if we didn't take any lead up steps and just stood there and kicked the ball from a standstill position. Then he kindly demonstrated by covering his eyes and from 30 ft away. STRIKE! every pin! He did it on multiple occasions.

As our pregame set up of the stadium progressed some of the players decided that they were going to give it a shot. So Chris Williams and Mr. Akloul had a go as we watched and I politely informed them of Teitur's earlier success.

This created a situation where the always entertaining Malould Akloul challenged me to do it and if I knocked em down he'd buy dinner. So I stepped up and covered my face with my arm. The result is displayed to the Left. Since Wendy's is a sponsor I think I deserve a Classic Triple and a Large Frosty.

Jonny Steele and Ricardo Sanchez traded to Tampa Bay...

and in return we got.... future considerations. Right now its hard to see any value in this move as the future means next season, and we're going to be in a different league. Now if these "transfers" remain through the transition from USSF D2 on to MLS it could prove somewhat useful if the Rowdies happen to have someone talented pushing up through their ranks.

While both players came in with decent resumes, neither seemed to make much of an impact. Sanchez while brilliant in deadball situations, lacked the consistency to stay in the line up, and was even left home on a road trip to Portland. Sources tell me he was a little lacking in the department of work ethic. Which could explain his stints during practices and exhibitions with the PDL team.

Steele also was involved in last weeks pre-game PDL kick about but I've never really heard anything about him to the negative. Any opinions I throw out would be purely speculation, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was a situation where he just wanted to be closer to his home. Supposedly he lives on the East Coast during the off season, and maybe just was homesick. Even guys with tattoos have a sensitive side.

Finally Decent Internet Access Again!

It has been nearly a month since I have been able to maintain this page and now we are finally back on track! In the next 5 days there will be 4 games played by either the Men, Women, or PDL teams so hold please fasten your seat belts and raise your trays and seats to the upright positions.