Clash of The Titans

As the season winds down we get a chance to check out Austin's potent offence while Jay Nolly tries to earn another clean sheet at home. With all the buzz about the new signings added to the Whitecap's most people probably don't realize that several of our players are in the Top 10 in most of the leagues statistical columns. Martin Nash leads the Deuce in assists with 7 including the one he got as I am writing this post and Cornelius Stewart has 4 putting him in a tie for 5th. Nelson Akwari although currently injured is 8th on the chart for Minutes Played while Jay Nolly sits in 3rd. Coquitlam standout Luca Bellisomo has commited the league high in fouls with 56, that's 9 ahead of Austin's Edward Johnson. Greg Janicki rounds out the foul table in 10th with 34.

Stay tuned for a post game update as the Whitecaps currently lead the Aztec's 1-0 on a Cornelius Stewart goal in the 16'

also look out for a podcast that I will be putting together in the coming weeks.

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.

Nutrilite Canadian Championship

Tonight's match between Montreal and Vancouver will mark the return of the dirty scoundrels of last years tournament who played spoiler to the Whitecaps dream of capturing their first Nutrilite Championship. As most Vancouver fans will painfully remember, Montreal rested their key players in the final Nurilite Match vs Toronto. Montreal who had already been eliminated from the tournament had to hold Toronto to
less then 4 goals to secure the championship for the Whitecaps. Toronto had never scored 4 goals in their 3 year history. Somehow they managed 6 balls over Montreal's goal line on that fateful evening in La Belle Provence. Many locals calling the Impact cowards and claiming the game was a fix.

We all know Montreal was resting their stars for a match 2 days later vs. The Whitecaps, which they eventually won to add insult to injury. What we might not realize though is the actual "impact" that it had on Montreal's season.

I recently listened to a podcast (the fan 590's Nigel Reed and Bob Iarusci) featuring Montreal's Technical Director Nick De Santis, in which he stated that had it not been for that victory over the Whitecaps, his club never would have made the playoffs. Thus they never would have been able to win the League Championship. So
personally I can't blame them. It's a tough way to miss out on a championship but look at Liverpool's agrigate loss to Athletico Madrid this week in Europa League. In the end you have nobody but yourself to blame if you don't win the games you need to win. Montreal did just that and won the USL.

The USSF D2 (aka the deuce) introduced stipulations this year that teams must field the best team available to prevent a repeat of what happened in last years Nutrilite Championship. 

Hopefully Teitur's boys will be able to find a scoring touch on Wednesday, as it seems that Jay Nolly's incredible goaltending has been their only saving grace this season. Pun intended.

Montreal Suspended Roberto Brown, their top striker for a couple games, he has also been suspended by the CSA. He was involved in a dust up with Toronto FC defender Nick Garcia in the last match in which Montreal was defeated 2-0 by the Reds. 

Whitecaps felled by Timbers

Tonight the Whitecaps suffered their first loss of the season. It was a tough game to try to judge their performances on as while they were facing their stiffest competition thus far they also had to battle what appeared to be one of the worst pitches I've seen in a good long time. Martin Nash didn't have his strongest game of the season turning the ball over frequently in the first half. The fullbacks appeared to have great difficulty judging the bounce of the ball off the turf at PGE, and Marlon James always seemed to be a step behind the man marking him (as demonstrated first by his brutal shove from behind on his check then later his yellow card on a poor tackle).
2009 Rookie of the year Marcus Haber was virtually invisible through no fault of his own but by poor service from his midfielders. When he did get the ball on the one occasion it seemed as though he wasn't quite comfortable on the ball after having spent the first 3/4s of the game running around without getting any touches. The two bright spots in this match were Jay Nolly's incredible saves to keep the 'Caps in the game and Jonny Steele's debut and instant impact on the game in the second half. He drew a free kick on the edge of the Portland box less then 2 minutes after coming on.
It was a great game to watch back and forth. It was extremely physical with by my count 7 yellow cards between the two clubs and red for Portland to put them a man down. Strangely enough the referee for this match (and one of his linesman) did not make it to the game and were stuck in Los Angeles. A local ref was brought in last minute. He called a rather fair game. I had been expecting a little home cooking but he did well. Upward and onward I suppose.
The Whitecaps play defending USL D1 Champions L'Impact du Montreal on Wednesday at 7:30pm. This will be Montreal's Second Game in the Nutrilite Canadian Championship. They lost on Wednesday in Toronto 2-0. More on that later...