** Match report and post-game reaction from the Caps locker room on Vancouver's 4-3 win over New England in MLS action **

Report:

A game of two halfs is the old cliché and often the most apt description. It's more rare to get a half of two halfs but that's just what Vancouver Whitecaps and New England Revolution served up at BC Place on Saturday evening.

The Caps fought back from going two down in the opening 20 minutes to storm back in some style and grab a 4-3 win and three very vital points.

When Juan Agudelo and Kelyn Rowe put New England two up early, the writing seemed on the wall for Vancouver, but the game turned on a soft penalty decision when Kenny Miller went flying in the box and Andrew Farrell saw red for the challenge.

Camilo Sanvezzo's spot kick and goals from Miller and Jordan Harvey saw the Caps go in at the half 3-2 up and they never looked back. A second half wonderstrike from Miller eased the nerves and although Dimitry Imbongo brought them back with a late counter, Vancouver held on and gave the whole Whitecaps camp a massive boost.
...

Scandinavian websites are reporting that 28 year old Danish goalkeeper David Ousted is set to join Vancouver Whitecaps in the summer transfer window in a move that will surprise many.

With three fairly strong goalkeepers already on the books, albeit each with particular weaknesses, strengthening between the sticks wasn't really top of everyone's agenda at this very moment in time.

That said, the Caps would be picking up a highly rated keeper back in his native Denmark and it is a position that needs to be upgraded in the future, so why not now if the opportunity arises?
...

Since our footballing travels take us to a range or weird and wonderful places following the Whitecaps at all the various levels and watching the local soccer scene, we started a "Groundhopping" feature last year to take a look at some of the more characteristic football stadia that we end up watching from in the US and Canada.

We kicked the feature off with a trip to Cheney Stadium in Tacoma when the Caps U23s played there against Seattle in PDL action.

Despite our best intentions, we never continued the series, but we're going to make amends for that with the first of three new stadiums we took in on a recent vacation. Again it was to watch the Caps play the Sounders in PDL action but this time we were east of Tacoma, in Sumner's Sunset Stadium.
...

Episode eleven of "There's Still Time", the AFTN podcast. Our last podcast was just before the Voyageurs Cup final and there's been a lot happening in Whitecapsland since then.

There are no cups running over in Vancouver, just a lot of heartache and a long season still ahead.

Recorded on location at UBC at the Caps' U23 friendly with North Sound Sea Wolves, we briefly look back at the highs of the New York and the lows of Montreal, before moving on to look at the Alain Rochat trade, the heartbreaking loss in Seattle and the back to back home games coming up for the Whitecaps. We also hear briefly from Nigel Reo-Coker.

And there's still time to look at the hot news topic in Canadian soccer this week, the CSA taking action against the Quebec Soccer Federation for their banning of wearing turbans whilst playing. With co-host Steve being a Sikh himself, we get an interesting insight into the whole debacle.
...

"One swallow does not a summer make, nor one fine day; similarly one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy."

Wise words from the Greek philosopher and if we were to put them into a modern day football setting, then it’s a pretty good reflection of the recent happenings in Whitecapsland.

One win does not a season make. Similarly, one game does not make everything suddenly right with the tactics, squad and management. After Seattle, one game doesn't make everything wrong either, but when you have more of those to draw on in the season so far, it certainly adds more fuel to a rising fire amongst the supporters.
...

** Match report and post-game reaction from the locker room on Seattle Sounders' 3-2 win over Vancouver Whitecaps in MLS action **


Report:

Another Cascadian derby and another game goes by with Vancouver Whitecaps failing to get a win against their local rivals.

They came close and served up a five goal thriller in Seattle tonight, fighting back to lead at the half through two headers from Camilo Sanvezzo, after going behind to a Lamar Neagle strike.

Vancouver had shown some great attacking play in the first half, unusual for an away performance, but resorted to their more defensive style in the second half and Seattle staged a fightback to take all three points thanks to a Servando Carrasco penalty and a close range winner from Neagle.

It was more local derby heartbreak and a tough one to take for the travelling throng from Vancouver.
...

Roald Dahl couldn't have written a better tale of the unexpected in New Jersey tonight with a heavily depleted Vancouver Whitecaps side stunning the Eastern Conference leading New York Red Bulls 2-1 and bouncing back from Wednesday's Voyageurs Cup heartache in some style.

Despite going down to an unfortunate Greg Klazura own goal at the start of the second half, Vancouver fought back with two excellent goals from Jordan Harvey and Kenny Miller, missed some chances to kill the game off against a ten man New York side and survived a scare in the dying second to come home with the three points.
...

Our match report and post game reaction from the 2013 Voyageurs Cup final second leg between Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact at BC Place. Not a lot of quotes from Montreal, as much of theirs was in French!

Report:

Vancouver Whitecaps’ Voyageurs Cup heartbreak continued at BC Place this evening. A 2-2 draw gave Montreal Impact their first Cup since 2008 and booked their place in this year’s CONCACAF Champions League group stages.

Goals from Camilo Sanvezzo and Daigo Kobayashi were countered by a strike from Felipe Martins and a header from Hassoun Camara as Montreal won the final on away goals.

Despite playing well, for Vancouver their two biggest woes from this season, poor defending and not taking their chances, were their ultimate downfall.
...

Episode ten of "There's Still Time", the AFTN podcast, and it's another special roundtable discussion, this time looking at the Voyageurs Cup and a look at what lies ahead this season for Vancouver Whitecaps.

Recorded at the Vancouver Alpen Club, we're joined once again by Zachary Meisenheimer and Massimo Cusano, of Whitecaps' supporters' group Curva Collective, and AFTN writer Jay Duke to discuss the highs and lows of Caps season so far.

There's lots of chat around the V's Cup final against Montreal, the importance of the Cup and how it's perceived by the general footballing public, and Zach gives us the first hand insight into what it was like addressing the Whitecaps players in the dressing room before the first leg.

Moving on from the final, especially for those listening to the podcast after the game, we take a look at what lies ahead for the Whitecaps this season depending on whether they win or lose to Montreal. Just how significant will the push for the playoffs become? Where should the squad be strengthened in the summer transfer window? And who needs to make way for any new additions coming in?

And there's still time to introduce our new segment My Favourite Thing. There's no songs from the Sound of Music, but we kick the segment off with a look at our favourite footballing years. Let us know your own ones.
...

Vancouver Whitecaps set themselves three firsts that they wanted to achieve this May.

A first MLS win over Los Angeles Galaxy ✔

A first MLS win over a Cascadian rival X

A first Voyageurs Cup win ??????

One has been achieved. Another was thwarted by a controversial non handball call. And the third will be decided on Wednesday evening.

The Portland draw was a sickener but if Vancouver beat Montreal and do finally win their first Voyageurs Cup final, then don't be sad. Two out of three ain't bad.
...

Our weekly, sometimes offbeat, look at the best and worst of the week's MLS action. We took your suggestions on board and either embedded videos of our best/worst selections or included links.

We've also decided to scrub the fantasy football stats. Too much work to keep on top of, especially once the trades start happening. We'll keep all the other MLS stats though and maybe even add in a few more.

So what did week 13 of the 2013 season throw up for us?
...

Episode nine of "There's Still Time", the AFTN podcast, and it's a special roundtable discussion about Vancouver Whitecaps' season far.

Recorded at the Vancouver Alpen Club, we're joined by Zachary Meisenheimer and Massimo Cusano, of Whitecaps' supporters' group Curva Collective, and AFTN writer Jay Duke to discuss the highs and lows of Caps season so far.

There's lots of chat around how good/bad the first third of the season has been, who should be in the starting eleven and who shouldn't? Who have we missed the most, why can't we buy a road win, is Daigo Kobayashi any good, when will Greg Klazura get his shot, and who should start up front? We look at Martin Rennie's tactics and I'm still trying to trade away Darren Mattocks.

And there's still time to introduce our new podcast gameshow 30 Seconds To Mars, where our guests battle it out to win the coveted AFTN Mars Bar (sadly not deep fried, at least not for this week).
...