Blemishes on the Whitecaps record have recently become pretty hard to find. Over the last two months, the blue and white have been on a bit of a tear, losing only once since May 4th. That loss – a heartbreaker which saw them lose star centreback Andy O’Brien – came at the hands of the putrid green-sporting Seattle Sounders. Saturday night, they try and take a measure of revenge at BC Place. Continue reading Match Preview: Vancouver Whitecaps vs Seattle Highlighters
All posts by Chris Withers
Whitecaps Wednesday – July Preview
As the month of June draws to a close, the Vancouver Whitecaps are already –somewhat sadly, in a way– sitting on their best month of the MLS era in terms of point production. The Caps’ previous best, eight points in each of March and July last season, was eclipsed when they beat bottom-of-the-West Chivas USA a week ago. Now, Vancouver looks to beat bottom-of-the-East DC United on Saturday. If they do, they’ll take 12 out of a possible 15 June points before heading in to a tough July schedule.
More after the break. Continue reading Whitecaps Wednesday – July Preview
Public Service Announcement: Vote Timbers For MLS All-Star Game
With the ridiculous annual corporate wankfest that is the MLS All-Star Game once again looming on the horizon, Pucked in the Head has a very important message for all you Whitecaps fans: vote green and white! Portland is having a stellar season, currently sitting in 3rd place in the Western Conference with two games in hand on 2nd-place Real Salt Lake. Their players absolutely deserve the honour of competing in this ridiculous annual corporate wankfest. I assure you that this has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the fact the game takes place on July 31st, just three days before Vancouver has to play a Cascadia Cup match against the Portland Timbers. No siree, Bob. We are absolutely not suggesting that you should attempt to rig the fan voting to ensure that the Whitecaps have the best possible chance of winning their derby the following weekend. Nope. Continue reading Public Service Announcement: Vote Timbers For MLS All-Star Game
Alain Rochat Traded to DC United for Peanuts
Well that was fun. I woke up to a text saying that Whitecaps FC defender Alain Rochat had been traded. (Shut up, I was on a night shift last night.) My good friend Jason was kind: he didn’t tell me who the Whitecaps had got back. Had I received those twin shocks at once, I believe I would now be trying to get brain matter out of the curtains. No easy task when your head has just exploded.
Let me get this straight: Martin Rennie has traded another fan favourite for draft picks, and he’s done it just one week after a heartbreaking Voyageurs Cup loss had many people were howling for his scalp? Wow. Nobody’s ever questioned the gaffer’s testicular fortitude, anyway.
My questions about the deal after the jump.
Continue reading Alain Rochat Traded to DC United for Peanuts
Whitecaps Try To Conquer Canada
The Voyageurs Cup tournament has been a thorn in the side of Vancouver Whitecaps supporters for eleven years now. Eleven times the Cup has been contested, and eleven times the club has found a way to lose. In 2011, Vancouver was less than 20 minutes from victory when torrential rain and lightning in Toronto forced an abandonment, wiping out the Whitecaps’ away goal and necessitating a replay, which they would lose. In 2012, the Whitecaps managed to lose to “the worst team in the world,” as Toronto forward Danny Koevermans called his TFC squad after they’d set an MLS futility record to start a season. But the one that will be on the minds of long-time fans of the Whitecaps will be the 2009 tournament, when the Whitecaps all but won their first championship, only to have it snatched away on the final day of the tournament in a game they weren’t even involved in. The Montreal Impact, who were already eliminated from that 2009 tournament, played a reserve side in the final game and were routed 6-1, handing the championship to Toronto on goal differential. Though not one player remains from that 2009 tournament, thousands of fans remember. Beating then-division 2 Montreal in the first round wasn’t enough. The fans want revenge, and they want it tonight. Continue reading Whitecaps Try To Conquer Canada
Whitecaps Robbed of Two Points
Major League Soccer refereeing is infuriating. The well-officiated game in this league is notable for its rarity, and today’s Cascadia Cup clash between the Whitecaps and the Portland Timbers was not one of those rarities.
More after the break.
My response to “soccer is boring.”
Earlier today, Leicester City and Watford were tied 2-2 on aggregate late in injury time. Leicester has the advantage by virtue of their one away goal. This is the second leg of the nPower Championship playoff semifinal. If the score holds, Leicester goes on to the playoff final at Wembley stadium to play for the final spot in next year’s Premier League. Leicester has been awarded a penalty kick which, at this point in the game, will remove any doubt about the outcome. Watch what happens.
Whitecaps Wednesday – Camilo Must Play
In the two and a half years of the Whitecaps MLS tenure, there has been no more polarizing player than Camilo da Silva Sanvezzo. Fans of the diminutive Brazilian point to his club-leading goal-scoring numbers, his willingness to get a head on a cross, his penchant for taking on defenders in the box and drawing penalties. His detractors, meanwhile, accuse him of being an unabashed diver, and a selfish player to boot. Deserving penalties those were not, say they, and why doesn’t Camilo ever pass the ball? You can throw me firmly in the former category. I love Camilo, but I also like to have some empirical backup for my opinions.
More after the break. Continue reading Whitecaps Wednesday – Camilo Must Play
2013 Seattle Mariners
With the Stanley Cup Playoffs getting underway tonight, you’ll be getting your fill of hockey coverage on Pucked in the Head, don’t you worry. We’ve had a smattering of baseball coverage on the site before, but it’s all focused on the Toronto Blue Jays, and screw Toronto. Today, new PitH correspondent John Stewart takes a look at some ball a little closer to Vancouver with an update from the Emerald City.
Ladies and gentlemen, your 2013 Seattle Mariners. Continue reading 2013 Seattle Mariners
Dallasing
FC Dallas, who played the Whitecaps last Saturday in Dallas, and will play them again this coming Saturday in Vancouver, put out a video yesterday introducing the world to “Vancouvering”. It’s an amusing idea, making fun of Joe Cannon’s habit of resting his head on his arms while laying on the turf after a goal against. It shows people in everyday situations reacting to disappointment in similar fashion. While I did get a laugh (before I realized the thing went on for over three minutes), the Dallas social media team really should learn not to cast stones when the team they’re employed by is renowned league-wide as the biggest bunch of diving, whining cheats in Major League Soccer. “Vancouvering,” you say? I give you Dallasing.