Oh yeah! we Played a Game Last Night!

So the Whitecaps played last night, and should have pulled off a victory had it not been for a fishy play at the end of the first half that saw Carolina be awarded a penalty in the dying seconds.

Carolina came out strong to start the first half put on a wee bit of pressure in the first five minutes but after that the first half was dominated by the Whitecaps playing with the ball in the Carolina end. Strong game all around for the caps as guys like Johnny Steele and Martin Nash consistently pushed the ball into the box with lovely service. In the 31st minute on one of these such runs up the field Johnny Steele played a lovely ball on to a streaking Zurab Tsiskaridze, as the defender caught up to the ball on the left wing, he struck a low hard cross into the box and Ansu Toure flicked a cheeky little back heel into the goal.

As the half was drawing to a close Carolina's keeper punted a ball out of his box and an airborne Tsiskaridze was undercut by a Railhawks player at half, the play continued on and eventually led to Nelson Akwari bowling over Carolina's Etienne Barbara in the 18 yard box. A penalty was awarded and Barbara converted on the free kick.

After that the best chances of the second half came from a Marcus Haber header in the 53rd minute and then another head by Phillipe Davies in the 65th. Not a whole lot else happened in the later stages, Doudou came in for Ansu, in a Toure for Toure substitution, only to be involved in a head on head collision almost immediately after entering the pitch.

A draw while not ideal still keeps the Caps on top of the table.

The next home game from the men will be on July 8th almost a month away! the Residency Team will play Friday and Sunday this week up at SFU I urge you to come up and check it out. I will be announcing the Friday game but will not be at the Sunday game so maybe you guys could keep ME updated on that one!

The Women's next game is at Mcleod Athletic Park in Langley, on June 27th. They will be facing The Pali Blues from Los Angeles. I would imagine we will finally get to see the recently signed Kara Lang, who will have just graduated from UCLA. She actually was a member of the Pali Blues last season so hopefully she will be able to knock a couple past her former club and win one for the good guys

A 50/50 chance of winning it.

Supposedly 'Caps forward Marlon James feels so strongly about this that he was willing to tell it to the local media.

By the most recent reports he won't even be playing in today's match versus the hated Reds of Toronto. The Whitecaps are also going to be missing their fearless leader Martin Nash and his pin point accuracy on set pieces and corner kicks. While Ricardo "Dirty" Sanchez played well in his season debut last weekend against the Montreal Impact he clearly lacks the pace and presence that Nash brings. I can't see him playing the full match this evening. I would expect he'll be subbed out before the 80' mark.

I wouldn't be suprised to see Tikashi Hirano make an appearance potentially coming in for either Justin Moose or Sanchez.

An interesting match up will be how Wes Knight handles Chad Barrett. As of the last 3 weeks Barret has finally been rounding into the form that Toronto had expected when they brought him over from Chicago.

The Whitecaps should look to capitalize on the fact that Julian De Guzman won't be featuring in tonights match. While he is not in the line up Preki will rely on Dwayne DeRosario to continue his dominant play this season in the middle. DeRo was subbed out early on Saturday, in Toronto's away draw with MLS leaders LA Galaxy. So he should still be fairly fresh for tonights fixture.

The match up of  Zurab Tsiskaridze on Obrien White will prove crucial if Vancouver is looking to stop the Toronto attack. All signs seem to point to a game played in the Vancouver end.

At the opposite end of the spectrum it will be quite a task for Marcus Haber to deal with the overly aggressive styles of Usanov and Saric (aka The Butcher of BMO).  I would look to those two early as probably the first players to get booked in this match.

I can't see TFC sitting back and waiting for the Whitecaps to bring the game to them as the local media is suggesting. Clinching the title tonight they would benifit TFC both by being able to rest their first squad in the final Home fixture vs the 'Caps getting many of their young reserve players much needed experience. And secondly allowing them to refocus their attentions on their drive to make the post season in their four year history.

Despite the fact that Toronto is absolutely aweful on the road, Vancouver can't score.

A barnburner is highly unlikely, expect a low scoring affair.

Hopefully Marlon James isn't The betting type.

This post was typed up prior to tonight's match but as my internet was down until after I left for the game I was not able to post.

Postgame Nutrilite Canadian Championship Game 2 Montreal at Vancouver

So yeah it's a day late but you'll have to forgive me I was at Swangard from 10am til 10:30pm last night.

Montreal came into the game with a record of 0-1-0 having lost to Toronto FC last week. Their baby pink 3rd Jerseys have not seemed to bring them any luck thus far in the 2010 Championship, not that the team did anything in last years tournament.

Overall it was a pretty boring game for about 80 minutes. Once Montreal was given a red card everything seemed to change. As you would expect.

Marcus Haber finally got his first goal of the season with the 'Caps which will hopefully get him on a roll as the boys in blue and white have had quite a significant amount of trouble scoring from open play. I'm having a difficult time thinking of an example for you. When the Whitecaps have scored it has been from set pieces and corners and I believe this is the first goal scored by someone who wasn't a fullback.

Montreal do not look anything like defending champions. They definitely have discipline issues. 3 red cards in 2 games and now they have to go play TFC again next week... Good job Impact way to give the fans something to cheer about! It was funny to see the Southsiders splash Montreal's Peter Byers, with beer as he ran toward them with his finger his mouth. Almost as good as the Croatian guy getting punched by the fan.

I was very impressed with the turn out last night at Swangard, it was actually the loudest I've heard it this season.

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...