Sporting Madness

After a 0-0 tie in Puerto Rico in the first leg of their USSF-II semifinal, the Vancouver Whitecaps have returned home ( on the same flight as the Islanders ) for the rematch. They take on Puerto Rico today at 4 p.m., and I'll be live-blogging it from Vancouver's Swangard Stadium. Wes Knight is back in the lineup, which should give the Whitecaps a boost, but facing the Islanders in an elimination game is never easy. Check out game previews from Marc Weber , Ben Massey , Simon Fudge and Bruce Constantineau , then come join me at 4 for the game! Whitecaps - Islanders: Leg II

After narrowly surviving the Portland Timbers in the first round of the USSF-2 playoffs, the Vancouver Whitecaps hope to continue their run against the Puerto Rico Islanders, who upset top-seeded Rochester in the first round. Game One is today at 8 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Pacific in Puerto Rico. The Whitecaps are webcasting it , and it will be live-blogged here (as long as the webcast's working; Puerto Rico isn't on their usual ground, and I know Rochester had some issues trying to get a webcast from the temporary ground). To get ready for this one, check out the game previews from Ben Massey , Marc Weber , Simon Fudge and Bruce Constantineau . After looking through those, come join me for the live blog below! Vancouver Whitecaps - Puerto Rico Islanders

The Vancouver Whitecaps have a 2-0 aggregate lead heading into the second leg of their USSF Division II playoff series in Portland today, but the Timbers aren't going to be an easy foe to dispatch. The game's at 9 p.m. Eastern (6 p.m. Pacific) tonight, and will be streamed through the Whitecaps' website . I'll be live-blogging it here and at The 24th Minute . Check out the previews from Marc Weber , Bruce Constantineau , Simon Fudge and Ben Massey , and then come join me at 6 for the live blog! Vancouver Whitecaps - Portland Timbers

I'll be live-blogging tonight's Vancouver Whitecaps - Portland Timbers USSF-II playoff game from the Swangard Stadium press box. It should be a good one, as this rivalry's always interesting on its own and the playoff atmosphere should only add to that. Kickoff is set for 10:30 p.m. Eastern/7:30 p.m. Pacific, and you can watch the game on the Whitecaps' site here . Come join me then! Vancouver Whitecaps - Portland Timbers

Canada’s two USSF-2 teams start their playoff campaigns this week with home-and-home series. Montreal got off on the right foot Wednesday, beating the Austin Aztex 2-0 thanks to an Ali Gerba brace . Meanwhile, Vancouver will face their long-time rivals from Portland in a two-game series starting tonight at Swangard Stadium (10:30 p.m. Eastern: I’ll be live-blogging from the stadium press box, and the game can be seen via streaming video at whitecapsfc.com ). Both teams are in slightly different situations, but they have some of the same concerns and will face some of the same challenges. For Montreal, putting the ball in the net consistently has been an issue for most of the year. Gerba was solid down the stretch run, scoring nine goals in his last seven regular-season games , but he didn’t score at all in the regular season before that. The Impact weren’t able to find much scoring depth, either, and their depth hasn’t shown up much at all lately. The 2-0 home win was a terrific st...

I'm taking a quick break from CFL coverage to live blog the Vancouver Whitecaps - Puerto Rico Islanders clash this afternoon at 4 p.m. Pacific. Marc Weber , Simon Fudge and Ben Massey have previews posted, so check those out, and then come back to join me in the live blog at four! Whitecaps - Puerto Rico

After a month-long road trip, the Vancouver Whitecaps completed their odyssey with a return to Burnaby’s Swangard Stadium. Unlike certain Greek mythological heroes, though, their return was less than triumphal, and they came away with just one point from a 2-2 draw with the Austin Aztex. Whitecaps’ head coach Teitur Thordarson was impressed with his team’s play overall, but less pleased with their finishing touch. “We created so many chances today, it is unbelievable we didn’t score more than two goals,” he said. “We could have been up 4-0 by half.” Vancouver opened the scoring in the 16th minute when Martin Nash went in for a sliding tackle. The ball went off him and bounced to Cornelius Stewart , who broke in alone and drilled a low left-footed drive past keeper Miguel Gallardo into the bottom-right corner of the net. The Whitecaps dominated much of the rest of the first half, recording six shots against Austin’s two and controlling the majority of the possession. They we...

After another month-long road trip, the Vancouver Whitecaps return home today [ Simon Fudge , WhitecapsFC.com ] to face the Austin Aztex [ Benjamin Massey , Eighty-Six Forever ] in a game I'll be live-blogging. It will be their first match at home in almost five weeks [ Marc Weber , The Province ]. Their last home fixture was a 1-1 draw against Minnesota all the way back on July 25 . The team went 2-0-3 on their month-long road trip, picking up wins at Montreal and Minnesota and earning draws with Carolina, St. Louis and Tampa Bay. They've also undergone quite the roster makeover in that time [ Bruce Constantineau , Vancouver Sun : I focused on the reasons behind that in my World Soccer Reader column a few weeks back , but the changes have come even faster and on a wider scale than I would have imagined. We should see some of the new faces in the lineup today; Weber expects 19-year-old Swiss forward Ridge Mobulu to start, with 22-year-old American striker Cody Arnoux ...

In a twist from three days earlier , the Vancouver Whitecaps came hard out of the gate against the NSC Minnesota Stars—and initially, they wound up worse off for their troubles. In the end, their efforts were rewarded, but not to the degree they would have hoped for as they finished with a 1-1 draw. "It was two points lost," head coach Teitur Thordarson said. "I think we played well, especially in the first half. ... I think we still played well in the second half, but there wasn't the energy and there wasn't the intensity." Unlike Thursday’s game against Portland where they started slow but came on late in the half and collected the match’s first goal, Vancouver controlled the play early on and created plenty of great chances. Marc Weber of The Province tweeted that it looked like a 3-0 Vancouver victory, and I concurred . The game changed dramatically in the 28th minute on a counterattack when Johnny Meyongar sent Simone Bracalello through with...

The weekend of Whitecaps coverage continues here and at The 24th Minute . I'll be live-blogging tonight's clash against the NSC Minnesota Stars. Kickoff is at 10 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Pacific. Here are match previews from Simon Fudge of WhitecapsFC.com and Marc Weber of The Province . Check them out, then join me at 7 for the live blog! Vancouver Whitecaps - NSC Minnesota Stars

The Vancouver Whitecaps will be heading to the W-League Final Four for the first time since they hosted the tournament and claimed the championship in 2006. They sealed a berth today with a 2-1 victory in the Western Conference final against the rival Pali Blues in front of 1,712 fans at Swangard Stadium, but it wasn’t an easy one. Keeper Siobhan Chamberlain turned in a tremendous performance for Vancouver, turning away four shots, including one that went off her and then off the post. She said it was a thrilling experience despite the pressure. "I enjoyed this one, although it was hard work," she said. "You need a bit of luck sometimes and we got it today." Pali began with a lot of pressure, but the scoring chances they generated were repelled by the Vancouver defence. Emily Zurrer and Martina Franko stood strong in the middle, while Robyn Gayle and Chelsea Stewart were solid on the wing and Chamberlain made some key stops. Still, Pali easily could have ...

It's time for a bit of different blogging coverage today, as I'll be heading to Swangard Stadium to live blog the Whitecaps' women's team in their W-League Western Conference playoff clash against the Pali Blues. Alan Douglas has a preview of the game and who to watch over at whitecapsfc.com. The game's at 7 p.m. Eastern/4 p.m. Pacific, so come swing by then for the live blog! Vancouver Whitecaps women - Pali Blues

Last night's 2-1 Portland Timbers victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps was an odd game for a variety of reasons. For one thing, Portland had won only one of their last 17 matches at Swangard Stadium and hadn't won there in six years [ Prost Amerika ]. The victory also allowed Portland to retain the Cascadia Cup [ Simon Fudge , WhitecapsFC.com ]. Furthermore, the result was probably pretty fair given the overall flow of the game, but it came in a highly unexpected way. The Timbers dominated the first half of play, but didn't come away with much to show for it. Vancouver had a few early chances as well, but they looked disorganized at the back at times and not terribly dangerous in attack. George Josten really should have opened the scoring for Portland; he had a tremendous chance in the 26th minute that was nullified by an offensive foul, and had another chance in the 29th minute, but drilled a rebound wide from five yards out. The second half was a different story. ...

I'll be live-blogging tonight's Vancouver Whitecaps - Portland Timbers clash tonight at 7:30 p.m. Pacific (10:30 p.m. Eastern), both here and over at [ The 24th Minute ]. The rivalry games between these sides, both set to join MLS next year, are always interesting on their own, but this one comes with some extra importance. It's only two days since Vancouver made an interesting trade [ Marc Weber , The Province ], sending FC Tampa Bay a pair of fine midfielders in former USL-1 MVP Jonny Steele and all-star Ricardo Sanchez in return for future considerations. It's a curious move from a pure talent perspective, as both Sanchez and Steele had been tremendously successful at the USL-1 level and had played well with the Whitecaps when called upon. However, when you consider other factors, this makes more sense. Vancouver has quite a bit of midfield depth, and the starting central tandem of Martin Nash and Luca Bellisomo has played quite well. Sanchez and Steele were v...

For a long while, Blake Wagner seemed like another cautionary tale of giving athletes too much hype too early. He was identified by the U.S. national team through their Olympic Development Program back when he was 13, was highly publicized and went on to play for the U.S. at the U-14, U-15 and U-17 levels. He then joined Generation adidas and was drafted 18th overall by FC Dallas in the 2006 MLS Superdraft. Dallas did bring him along slowly, only using him once as a substitute in a friendly that season and not starting him in MLS until 2007. He made 12 appearances with the team that year, then started 23 of 24 matches for them as a defender in 2008. He only saw limited time with them in 2009 though, and they opted not to bring him back. It looked like he had fallen off the map, but he then signed with Vancouver earlier this year, and his star appears to be back in the ascendancy. Although this was only Wagner’s fourth match with Vancouver, he has already surpassed his career goals ...

I'll be live-blogging tonight's Vancouver Whitecaps - Miami FC USSF Division II match from the Swangard Stadium press box tonight. Come swing by! Game time is 10:30 p.m. Eastern/7:30 p.m. Pacific. Vancouver Whitecaps - Miami FC

[More discussion of this in the live blog below shortly] The Whitecaps just announced that forward Dever Orgill has been released by the club . As Marc Weber of The Province reported, Orgill was suspended by the team earlier this week after an unnecessarily harsh tackle on Zurab Tsiskaridze in training. That suspension wasn't his first disciplinary incident, and it has now turned into a full-blown release. The release is not inconsistent with the club's previous approach (see last year's Wesley Charles incident ), but it is interesting considering that the team isn't particularly deep at striker and has had trouble scoring goals. Orgill was also a highly-touted prospect who worked his way up through the academy system. He only notched two goals and one assist with the senior side in 426 minutes over 16 matches, but much was expected of him down the road. He may still have a great future in soccer, but it doesn't look like it will be in Vancouver. [ Cross...

The Vancouver Whitecaps are playing their first home game in almost a month tonight against AC St. Louis, and I'll be there at Swangard Stadium to live blog it. The Whitecaps are in good shape coming into this one; they're 6-2-7 on the season, and went 2-0-3 on their recent five-game road trip from hell where they criss-crossed North America from Puerto Rico to Montreal. They're in first place in the NASL Conference and are the only USSF Division II team to have conceded less than 10 goals on the season [ Simon Fudge , WhitecapsFC.com ]. They've only allowed eight goals against in league play. Still, as Marc Weber points out in his preview, they're still looking for consistent goal-scoring , and this week's club-imposed suspension of Dever Orgill over a training incident might result in some further new looks up front. The match will start at 7:30 p.m. Pacific (10:30 p.m. Eastern); come join me for the live blog then! Vancouver Whitecaps - AC St. Louis

Tonight in Vancouver, an immovable object and an unstoppable force decided to forget the whole thought experiment and go for a drink together. The Vancouver Whitecaps came into this clash with a 4-0-2 record at home in USSF Division II play, while the Carolina RailHawks were 2-0-3 on the road, so you would have expected something to give. Neither side did, though, and the game ended 1-1 after a solid battle. Vancouver looked set to pick up another low-scoring home win when Ansu Toure put them ahead in the 31st minute. It was a beautiful goal with a terrific buildup. Former USL-1 MVP Jonny Steele found space for a run down the left flank, where Toure normally plays. Toure shifted inside and Steele sent a cross in for him near the top of the six-yard box, but it was slightly behind him. Toure reached back, though, and with a move straight out of a freestyle competition, hit a behind-the-back sideheel into the net. Their lead was short-lived, though. In first-half stoppage time, con...

I'll be live-blogging the Vancouver Whitecaps - Carolina RailHawks USSF Division II clash tonight from Swangard Stadium. Game time is 7:30 p.m. Pacific, and the match can be watched via webcast at whitecapsfc.com . Come join me then! Vancouver Whitecaps - Carolina RailHawks