Well, it’s just about time. Tonight, at 7:30, every bloody reporter who’s ever heard of Major League Soccer can finally stop talking about how the Whitecaps ARE the first Canadian team in the MLS playoffs, and, in all likelihood, start talking about how the Whitecaps WERE the first Canadian team in the MLS playoffs.
It’s been a little embarrassing, frankly. Sure, it’s nice to have those bragging rights over fans of Toronto FC and the Montreal Impact, but I’m much, MUCH happier that the Whitecaps have shown considerable improvement over last year’s woeful side than I am that they met some arbitrary, oft-changing yardstick for who makes it into the post-season tournament. It’s been a near-constant barrage of “historics” and “first-evers” since October 21st, when Vancouver qualified. Between huge swaths of the media looking for a lazy angle and the Whitecaps themselves trying to distract everybody from their abysmal record in the second half of the season, I’m ready to just go ahead and vomit if I hear much more about the first MLS playoff game for a Canadian team. Extra queasiness if you fail to mention how the club has existed since 1974 and only missed the playoffs five times in their history.
Anyways, on to the game at hand. The Caps have a tendency to get spanked rather hard when they play the Galaxy. Doubly so when they play the Galaxy in Los Angeles. (We’ve at least managed a draw in one of LA’s trips to Vancouver.) In three games at the Home Depot Center, Vancouver has lost by a combined 8-0. That’s poor. In their last game, September 1st, Vancouver managed only two shot attempts, neither of which was on target. That’s also poor.
If this sounds like all doom and gloom, well… it mostly is. The one time Vancouver showed they might be able to hang with the Galaxy was back in July, when they took a 2-0 lead at BC Place, only to cough it up in the last ten minutes and settle for a draw. The good news for the Caps is they appear to have settled down defensively since then. In their last four games, centerbacks Jay Demerit and Andy O’Brien have partnered well together, and Vancouver’s allowed only a single goal over that stretch (a wonderstrike from 25 yards out). IF that defensive effort can be maintained, and IF Barry Robson can shut down David Beckham the way he did back in July and IF hilariously bad referee Silviu Petrescu doesn’t completely hose the Caps as he’s been wont to do in the past, we might get to hear thousands of “Cinderella Whitecaps” stories over the next few days.
It’s far more likely that the odds-makers and pundits are right, and Vancouver’s off-season begins tomorrow.
Pucked in the Head prediction: Los Angeles 2-0 Vancouver