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    Michael Mccoll
    "I've been in Vancouver probably eight, nine years now," Day told AFTN. "So my history with the club is that I was kind of with the Residency before then I moved away to take another job then upon coming back I was kind of in and round the club and the PDL group last year, and working with Niall [Thomson] and Steve Meadley last year.
    "It's just kind of dovetailed since then, coming back into the Residency, but it's where I wanted to be. I've wanted to be involved for a long time and lots of discussion with the club."
    Englishman Day headed back to Vancouver with nearly 13 years of coaching experience under his belt.
    After spending close to five years as a staff coach with Charlton Athletic Community Trust, Day first came to Canada, and British Columbia, in April 2008 where he took up the role of head coach with Quest University in Squamish for nearly three years.
    During his final year at Quest, Day also took on the role of Staff Coach with the Whitecaps Residency program for the first time and was head coach of the Youth Prospects sides before moving on to the much sunnier climes of Greece to become the Elite Academy Director with Arsenal FC's first Greek academy in Loutraki. Nice work if you can get!
    After a couple of years in Greece, Day returned to BC where apart from being a staff coach with 'Caps PDL side last season, he has been head coach of Surrey United's U17 boys and U16 girls teams, technical consultant with West Coast FC and an assistant coach with the Whitecaps Girls Elite Regional Excel Centre program.
    It's interesting, but not unusual over here, to find a coach that has taken charge of both boys and girls sides, but Day feels what he's learned from his involvement in the women's game has been nothing but beneficial to his own development and in what he can bring to the 'Caps U16s.
    "As far as coaching the girls sides, it's only as long as I've been in this country I've done it to be honest," Day told us. "I've enjoyed it. I think some coaches are scared of coaching on the female side, but I can say from first hand that there's a lot of things you can learn coaching on the female side that are very useful to use on the male side.
    "So this has all not been new to me. I've coached professional athletes before at the Junior level, so just really excited to be here and enjoying every minute of it."
    Day's wealth of previous experience and his existing knowledge of the Whitecaps Residency program certainly set him in good stead for his appointment and allowed for a smooth progression once in situ.
    "It's been good," Day told us. "Like you say, I've been in and around the club for quite a few years now, so as far as the transitional period goes, it's probably one of the easiest ones that's going to be there. I'm sure that was factor in bringing me into the club.
    "It's a good group, well it's better than that, it's an excellent group. I think the mandate for me was to try and continue on the work that has been done in the past and try and improve it leading into the playoffs and not really try to change too much. It's a group that's expected to do well and I think part of my job has just been to carry that on."
    And carry it on he has. The 'Caps U16's finished the season unbeaten in their last five games, winning four of them, as they wrapped up the Northwest Division of the West Conference for the second straight year.
    They've continued that into the playoffs, winning their first group match on Tuesday 6-1 against Concorde Fire and look to be a good bet to make the quarter-finals once again and hopefully beyond.
    The players have played a big part in the smooth transition. The current U16 set-up is like a well-oiled machine and plays as a very cohesive unit.
    The 2012/13 USSDA season had been a tough one for the U16s but one of what can now be seen to be a huge benefit. The 'Caps fielded a very young squad, with a lot of U15s and even U14s seeing gametime. The thinking behind it was to keep a core group together for more than just the two seasons. Grow them together and develop a chemistry and understanding that would reap the benefits on the pitch.
    The U16s performances for these past two seasons have proved that plan to be a huge success and the chemistry that exists within the squad has made it easy for whoever comes in as head coach.
    "Yeah it has," Day admitted. "It always happens that way. Part of our job, of course, is to push players up and a lot of the guys have been with Rich in the Under-18s this year. We made a conscious decision to bring those guys back, well predominantly most of those guys back, for the playoffs.
    "When you're looking for cohesion in the team, the more the players have played with one another and trained with one another, it just becomes more natural to them. It's a very fluid group and we expect that to be a bonus and a strength for us going in to the playoffs."
    Another big boost for the U16s in this year's playoffs is the ability to draw on last year's experiences. A number of the squad were part of the 'Caps side that won their playoff group last year and advanced to a narrow quarter-final loss.
    Heartache and disappointment build character for sure and just makes a player hungrier to get that success. With a mix of returnees and new faces to the U16 squad, that experienced from last year will be important to draw upon this week and beyond in the playoffs.
    "I think it has to be," Day said. "Everyone's got those nerves going in to it, but the more players you've got that have been there and done it, it can just kind of put the other guys at ease. Those experienced players will know the standard, will know what to expect. There's trials and tribulations that are there with the weather, stop-start intervals and all that kind of stuff. We're going to need that experience for the younger players this week to really sort of kick us on.
    "But at the same time, you've got to also gain that experience by doing it. That doesn't mean that because you're a first year going in to this tournament that you're going to be inexperienced, it's just part of your development and learning. But we see it as a benefit and hopefully that will be proven this week."
    As we mentioned in our piece on 'Caps U18 head coach Rich Fagan yesterday, all the players within the Whitecaps Residency at the moment now have a clear pathway from the pre-Residency groups all the way up the MLS first team.
    The WFC2 USL side was that vital missing link and having that team now, and seeing the likes of Jackson Farmer, Jordan Haynes and Mitch Piraux come all the way through the 'Caps youth ranks and into that squad, has given a boost and a generated a buzz for Day's U16 group.
    "Absolutely," Day told us. "You talk about my involvement with the club over the years and I've watched that grow as well. There is now that serious pathway from being a pre-Residency to making the first team. That wasn't always the case and since I've been here, that wasn't always the case. But now it is there and now it's genuine for these players to believe that they can be a professional footballer.
    "The USL team in it's own right is a professional team, that plays in a very good, competitive league and that's a good standard. Now, of course, the objective is MLS, but I think it's just opened a lot more doors for many players and they can now see that pathway a lot clearer than they did maybe two or three years ago."
    And with the talent in the current U16 set-up only likely to get stronger with a further two or three years development in the Residency program, you have to think that there's certainly a few of the current crop who will follow that pathway under Day and Fagan in the coming seasons.
    Guest
    Until next time, have a great soccer!
    @24thminute
    @KevLaramee
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    Michael Crampton
    The big problem with the heavily pushed Toronto versus Montreal rivalry has been that neither of them has been very good. Yes, the Impact were successful in making the playoffs in 2013, a feat TFC has still never achieved, but even that team eventually limped across the finish line, nearly missing on the final day. The most you could say about most meetings, even in seasons where one team had a chance at success, was that the other could play spoiler.
    2015 seemed to be heading that regular direction during the first few months of the season. Toronto’s road heavy schedule, and the Impact’s CONCACAF Champions League run, conspired to see both clubs start off with heavy runs of losses the sort of points-per-game score that sees teams eliminated from playoff contention by mid-summer.
    The Reds were the first to start turning their season around, even before the road trip ended, and that combined with Sebastian Giovinco’s form in May and early June to transform expectations. The bigger surprise has been in Montreal. Five wins from their last seven matches has seen the Impact making the climb up the standings in the Eastern Conference to the point where the nearly inconceivable has occurred: Toronto FC will host the Montreal Impact with both of them above the red line that separates playoff from non-play positions.
    In fact, based on PPG that takes the smaller number of games they’ve played into account, both the Reds and Impact have created separation between themselves and the lower half of the conference. Only two points behind Toronto, Montreal can leap over TFC with a win, and by the end of the night -- win, lose, or draw – one of the sides will be on at least 20 points.
    So rather than having to manufacture a rivalry – not that they seem to want to stop trying – the focus can be on what should really matter: success in the league at the expense of a direct rival. Playing “spoiler” and never wanting to lose to “them” can only take you so far. At some point, for a rivalry to really blossom, the games have to mean something to both teams. It’s taken longer that it should have, but it seems we’re finally there.
    Guest
    Of course the Blue,White and Black had a few favorable results in the last couple of years, especially in the Amway Canadian Championship over the last two seasons, but a victory at BMO Field is still a myth, a tall tale for now.
    After a rocky start of the season in Major League Soccer and a big distraction called Concacaf Champions League out of the way, Montreal has been able to focus solely on the task at hand, climbing the Eastern Conference table.
    Fifteen points out of possible twenty-one, 4th in the East, 3rd best PPG/Avg in the East, the Impact could overtake their rival in the standings with that possible first ever win at BMO, Tor 19 points MTL 17 points.
    With players like Toia and Oduro finally back to 100%, IMFC can also count on the very effective play as of late of Maxim Tissot, which has been selected in Canada's 23 Man Roster for the Gold Cup. With his playing minutes continuessly increasing, his confidence and poise on the ball is increasing as well. He is performing at a level rarely seen out of a Montreal Academy product and a case could be made to anoint him already, best IMFC Academy product ever!
    So with all the optimism surrounding the club right now and the St-Jean Baptiste on top of it, everything is in place for a true "FEU DE LA ST-JEAN" AT BMO Field , 8pm Eastern Time tonight.
    Michael Mccoll
    Miedema is delighted to be here and blazing the trail for young Dutch players to follow and the pressure that comes with that.
    "I felt a lot of pressure the first games from my home country," she told reporters at training on Friday. "Not that much from FIFA or whatever. It's exciting for us to play. We know that we can play way more tournaments after this, so we're just here to learn and get the experience but also to get the good result."
    As to how well Miedema has coped with the pressure so far, well the nerves got the better of her before the Netherland's first game against New Zealand, but they've been improving.
    "Well, I was sick before the first game, so I think not all that well!" she joked. "Now it's fine. Now we know what we have to do. We know that we can play our own way of soccer. We're getting better in the tournament so we have a good hope for the next game."
    That next game now comes tonight against Japan.
    Expectations of the side from within the country are certainly higher than from the outside looking in. A good high-scoring qualification campaign and some exciting talent will do that in a football mad nation.
    How many outside of the Netherlands expected them to qualify from the group? Hard to say, but finishing third, which they did, would likely have been the first goal to achieve from the tournament. Anything better and expectations exceeded.
    "It's great," Miedema says of qualifying to the knockout stages. "We had to wait till all the other games were done and then we realised that we were one of the best 16 teams."
    Miedema's enjoyed her first World Cup, as have her teammates. They looked good in a strong 1-0 win over New Zealand, really should have taken something from the 1-0 loss to China, and had there been a few more minutes left in their final match, I wouldn't have been surprised to see them grab a second, and a win, against Canada.
    The games, and now tonight's Round of 16 match, have seen the Dutch go from coast to coast, which is tiring for those used to it, never mind anyone else. But like so many of the young players in this tournament seem to do with a multitude of things, Miedema just takes it in her stride.
    "Yeah, that's a lot of travel," Miedema admitted to AFTN. "We played first in Edmonton then back to Montreal, then we came here. You get tired from a lot of travelling, of course, and the time difference the whole time. But you know that you'd have to do that before you came here, so it's fine for me."
    Travel aside, finishing third in Group A could yet prove beneficial for the Dutch. They're in the easier half of the draw, avoiding a number of the big hitters and four of the top five ranked teams in world. Miedema isn't looking too far ahead just yet but she knows the Dutch dodged a few bullets.
    "Yeah I think so, but first we have to beat Japan!," Miedema told us about the half of the draw the Netherlands find themselves in. "That's a really hard game. We have a lot of respect for the whole team. We know they were the World Champions the last edition of this, so we just have to have a good day and we maybe have a little chance then."
    The Netherlands now face a Japan side who have looked solid and composed, if not startlingly impressive. They're well organised at the back and only let in one goal in their three Group C matches, but they only scored four in the process. Not exactly something to strike the fear into other teams and it's something the Dutch feel can be exploited and pave their route to a shock result through the attacking firepower they possess.
    "Yeah of course," Miedema told us. "If we keep them to nil for a long time and they don't score, we really have a chance. We have really good attackers, like Manon Melis and Lieke Martens on the outside and then [Danielle] van de Donk at 10, so we know that we can score every game. So then we have a chance to get a win and we're hoping for that scenario."
    The chemistry within the Netherlands side has slowly been building as the tournament has gone on. Miedema has noticed it on the pitch and she's hoping it just continues to improve to keep the Dutch around the tournament that little bit longer.
    "We didn't play together for a long time before we came here, so you always needs some matches to get into your best field play," Miedema told reporters. "Now you know that it's getting better. When you're on the field, you can feel that. I hope we can do the same against Japan and a little bit better than against Canada."
    Miedema herself cuts an impressive figure. She's confident, refreshingly honest in interviews, yet still has the teenage side to her, giggling during answers. She's a very endearing player.
    She may not have bagged her first World Cup goal yet, but Miedema is a world star in the making and has been since bursting onto the national team scene in 2013.
    Miedema made her club debut for Dutch side SC Heerenveen aged just 15 and her goalscoring prowess (she scored a staggering 78 goals in 69 appearances) soon earned her a move to Bayern Munich who went unbeaten to win the Bundesliga title.
    Wearing the number 10 shirt with Bayern has seen her compared to Dutch compatriot Arjen Robben, only much more likeable. Others compare her to Robin van Persie, who she had previously said she models her game.
    It's the usual lazy journalistic tendency to tag any up and coming player with that of a player of old. It's bad enough in the men's game, never mind when they start crossing genders. Miedema laughs it all off, but has the perfect retort for it.
    "I don't [refer to myself like that], but all the media's doing that," Miedema smiled. "It's a great honour to get that name, but I just hope that parent later say that their daughter play like Miedema or Martens or Melis. I think that's way cooler."
    The Netherlands are making their first World Cup appearance, much to my annoyance after they eliminated Scotland in the European playoffs! But they are most certainly a team on the rise.
    Their U19 side won the 2014 European Championships and many of those players are expected to break in and bolster the senior side in the next couple of years. The Dutch will also be hosting the next senior Euros in 2017.
    Having seen the buzz around hosts Canada, Miedema can't wait to be a part of that in her own home country.
    For now though, she realises the importance that the current squad and their performance at this World Cup will mean to the women's program in Holland. And also the opportunity for herself and the other players to influence and be role models to all the young girls back in the Netherlands, where the women's side of the game is not always taken all that seriously.
    "I think it's important," Miedema said. "We play the European Championships in about two years in the Netherlands, so this is the chance to get it bigger in our country. That I'm one of the role models, is cool.
    "It's getting better now but you still have a lot of people who think that women's soccer is stupid. We just have to change that and I think we'll have a great tournament in two years.
    "But if you compare it with men's soccer, you cannot do that. We're not that fast but I think our way to play is pure. We don't care about money and stuff. We just play because we have fun and I think you see that on the pitch."
    And expect to see it on the BC Place pitch tonight.
    Duane Rollins

    Gold Cup roster

    By Duane Rollins, in 24th Minute,

    GK- Lars Hirschfeld | NOR / Valerenga
    GK- Quillan Roberts | CAN / Toronto FC
    GK- Kenny Stamatopoulos | SWE / AIK
    D- Marcel de Jong | USA / Sporting KC
    D- David Edgar | ENG / Birmingham City
    D- Andre Hainault | GER / VfR Aalen
    D- Dejan Jakovic | JPN / Shimizu S-Pulse
    D- Nik Ledgerwood | GER / Energie Cottbus
    D- Ashtone Morgan | CAN / Toronto FC
    D- Karl W. Ouimette | USA / New York Red Bulls
    D- Adam Straith | NOR / Fredrikstad
    M- Tesho Akindele | USA / FC Dallas
    M- Kyle Bekker | USA / FC Dallas
    M- Julian de Guzman | CAN / Ottawa Fury FC
    M- Simeon Jackson | ENG / Coventry City
    M- Jonathan Osorio | CAN / Toronto FC
    M- Pedro Pacheco | POR / Santa Clara
    M- Samuel Piette | ESP / Deportivo la Coruña
    M- Tosaint Ricketts | ISR / Hapoel Haifa
    M- Russell Teibert | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
    M- Maxim Tissot | CAN / Impact de Montréal
    F- Marcus Haber | ENG / Crewe Alexandra
    F- Cyle Larin | USA / Orlando City SC
    Michael Mccoll
    It's been a relatively good season for both the Whitecaps U16s and U18s. Strange to say just relatively when both teams have qualified for the playoffs? Well after the way it started, especially for the U18s, it looked like it was going to be a romp!
    Instead a lot of squad upheaval and some key departures from the program hit the 'Caps hard and it took them a few games to recover, regroup and find out where the goals were to come from once again.
    The Under 18s started the season in amazing form. They were unbeaten with 11 straight wins to kick off the 2014/15 campaign, banging in 43 goals in the process, including an 8-0 victory over Nomads SC.
    Hat-tricks were the order of the day with Marco Bustos bagging a few and Dario Zanatta joining in the fun.
    Bustos, who was captain of the squad, scored 16 goals in his 12 appearances for the U18s before the Caps management decided that his time and development would be served better training full-time with the MLS squad that he would be joining in January. The 'Caps considered allowing Bustos to fly down to join the guys for the playoffs to aid his recovery from injury and boost the team but some last minute niggles look to have prevented that.
    Losing Bustos was a big loss to the team but it provided the chance for others to step up and Zanatta took on that role before he decided to leave the 'Caps and the Residency program to explore opportunities overseas in February.
    Losing those two key players left a void, along with losing Kianz Froese, who was now with the MLS squad too, and some others who departed for non-footballing reasons. The 'Caps struggled at first. There were a lot of draws and the goals dried up a little, before the team started to hit their stride again and finished the season with three wins out of their last four games.
    The U18s dip in form saw them go from the number one ranked team in all of the USSDA to finishing 4th in a very strong Northwest Division of the Western Conference, ending the season with a record of 19 wins, 8 draws and 5 defeats, for a Point Per Game record of 2.03.
    To give you an idea of how tight the Division was, the second and third placed teams have a PPG of 2.06 and the 'Caps record gave them the 13th best record throughout the USSDA.
    But a wildcard place it was and that obviously meant the possibility of being drawn in alongside some of the top Academy teams.
    As it ended up, the 'Caps were drawn into Group A and kick off their playoff bid on Tuesday morning. They've been draw into a tough group alongside fellow MLS academy DC United, Shattuck-Saint Mary's and Oakwood Soccer Club. The good news for the 'Caps though is that none of their opponents won their Division.
    First up is Minnesota side Shattuck-Saint Mary's at 7am PT on Tuesday.
    The Faribault based side just missed out on top spot in the Mid-America Division of the Central Conference by 0.04 in the PPG stakes to Chicago Fire U18s. Draws were their downfall, with 11 on the season compared to just the three losses, but that was good enough to see them ranked 16th in the playoffs.
    With 59 goals scored and 33 conceded, the 'Caps will fancy their chances of getting off to a good start, but U18 coach Rich Fagan knows the excellent reputation of Shattuck-Saint Mary's in years gone by.
    "Shattucks have a really good pedigree and a really good history of always being kind of around that top 16 of the USSDA," Fagan told AFTN. "We play them first and I imagine that will be a really difficult game for us."
    A tough start and there's no rest for the U18s either, who are back in action at 7am PT the next day when they take on Oakwood Soccer Club. Oakwood play out of Portland, Connecticut (who knew?!) and finished 3rd in the Northeast Division of the East Conference behind winners Montreal Impact.
    Their 10-8-8 record saw them finish with a 1.46 PPG and despite their ranking of 21 in the playoff pool, look to be the easiest opposition for the 'Caps this week.
    "Oakwood, who we'll play in our second game, I really don't know too much about," Fagan admitted. "We've never faced them before. On paper it maybe looks like an easier division, but again, don't really know too much at this point about them."
    Hopefully the 'Caps will have six points in the bag by the end of that one, with fellow MLS academy DC United the opponents in their final group game at 6am PT on Friday.
    DC finished runners-up to the talented New York Red Bulls U18s in the Atlantic Division of the East Conference. They're ranked 8th in the Playoff Pool and finished the season with a 18-6-2 record and 2.15 PPG. With 82 goals scored and 38 conceded from their 26 matches, 22 goal Eryk Williamson looks to be their big attacking danger.
    "DC United play in probably one of the toughest divisions in the entire USSDA," Fagan told us. "They finished in second place behind the Red Bulls, who we've played three times in the last four years. It's always our toughest match. They're always our toughest opponents and it's always been close games between those two.
    "I don't want to say that that'll be the toughest game, but I imagine it will be one of the hardest of the three."
    It'll certainly be a challenge for the U18s. There's no doubting their defensive strength but can they do enough in attack to break down these teams? We'll soon find out but there is definitely a confident air amongst the group.
    The same can be said for the U16s, who made it back to back Northwest Division championships after a dominant season that sees them seeded 7th in the playoffs.
    The upheaval in the U18s meant a lot of players had to make the step up early this season to play at the higher level, but it just shows the depth of talent coming through the Whitecaps Residency system right now that despite missing those players, those remaining and those who were brought in stepped up and continued to strong play of the U16s all season long.
    The team finished the season with 20 wins, 7 draws and just 5 losses from their 32 matches, with a PPG record of 2.09. With 79 goals scored and only 34 against, the 'Caps were a scoring powerhouse, with Daniel Sagno (16 goals), Amanda Glorie (13) and Terran Campbell (11), leading the way.
    They recorded two 7-0 victories, one against Colorado Rush at home in November and away to Santa Cruz Breakers in May.
    The 'Caps U16s ended the season with four clean sheets in their final five matches and are heading into the playoffs looking to follow up on their group win at this stage last year.
    The U16s also kick off their playoff campaign on Tuesday, this time at the rather more toasty 1.30pm PT (which is 4.30pm local time). That in itself will be tough, but a number of the 'Caps players on both squads have played down there before and they were all training in Burnaby playing with jackets on in the hot temperatures we've had here the past few weeks, followed by saunas!
    First up for the U16's is Atlanta side Concorde Fire. The Fire didn't initially qualify for the playoffs after finishing 7th in the Southeast Division of the East Conference and one place outside the wildcard pool. But they're in now! How? No idea. Can't find it anywhere!
    Concorde finished the season 16-12-8, scoring 66 goals and conceding 64. They shouldn't pose too much of a problem for the freescoring 'Caps.
    Once the Fire have been extinguished, the 'Caps are out for some revenge on Wednesday when they face Chicago Magic PSG, again at 1.30pm PT.
    The Magic beat the 'Caps U16s 2-1 at the quarter-final stage last season, in a controversial home match for Vancouver that had to be played south of the border in Bellingham due to passport issues for the Chicago side and featured some dodgy refereeing calls.
    Chicago Magic finished 4th in the Mid-America Division of the Central Conference this season with a 12-6-9 record and 42 goals for and 32 against. That sees them as the 5th wildcard team, so the 'Caps are favourites to get that revenge.
    The final group game is on Friday at 8.15am, so at least they'll have it a bit cooler when they take on Arsenal. The Californian Gunners finished runners up to the LA Galaxy in the Southwest Division of the West Conference with a 21-12-6 record. The Norco based side banged in 57 goals and conceded 34, ending up with 15th placed ranking in the playoff mix.
    The 'Caps already know the danger that Arsenal can be, with the Californians serving up the 'Caps first defeat of the season in October and that 1-0 away loss was to be the only match the U16's lost in their first 14 games.
    On paper, the U16's look to have a fairly easy group. But as we've said numerous times before, football's played on grass (or turf!) and not paper. You don't want to take anything for granted but at the same time, this group of players should have the self-confidence and belief that they have what it takes to advance to the quarter-finals for the second year running.
    "I think we have to stress that to the players," U16 head coach Adam Day told AFTN. "There's always anxiety and nerves and excitement going in to it, but we have to try and eliminate that and really look at the black and white facts.
    "We are the best team in the group and we're the best team for a reason. We have to believe in all the hard work we've done on and off the field and really go there and make a statement and send a message to everybody else."
    But Day stressed that there's a difference between going into the playoffs in confident mood and take any team for granted.
    "We're under no illusions," he continued. "We're not going to take anybody lightly because anything can happen over the course of 90 minutes, but we should feel confident in what we do because we feel we're one of the best, if not THE best, in North America and it's down to us to prove it. That's not a pressure to the guys, it's a reality of what we expect from them."
    And those expectations of just how well the Whitecaps teams will do in this year's Academy playoffs runs high throughout the club.
    Watching the week play out with much interest from afar, with be the Whitecaps' MLS coach Carl Robinson.
    Robinson has always shown a lot of interest in the 'Caps Residency program since coming to Vancouver as assistant coach in 2012. You'd expect nothing less, of course, from a coach who loves to play and develop young players.
    So how does he view the chances of both sides this time around, and just what would it mean to the club for one or both of them to come home with the Championship trophy in July?
    "It's very important," Robinson told AFTN. "I sat down with the parents of the 14s, 16s and 18s on Tuesday night to discuss the progress of the club moving forward. We talk about young players being given opportunities and I said to them I can stand here and say we will give your son a chance and if I never played young players in my first team then they'd probably look straight through me.
    "I said the proof is in the pudding and the pudding is right there in front of us in that we've got homegrown Residency players in our first team MLS squad. We don't need to say it, we're showing it and we're doing it and we want your son, providing he's ready, to be the next one to come through."
    "The Academy finals are huge. It sets a marker for us. I firmly believe that we can go and do very well there. I believe we can go and win it. Why not? Because in any tournament you enter you want to go on and win. But it will show the strength of the program because if we want to attract the best young players, we've got to show we're playing young players but we've got to show we're successful as well. It's a great stepping stone for us if we can go on and win it."

    Michael Mccoll
    "It's been probably exactly what I expected," Robinson told AFTN this week. "Everyone compares us to Portland and Seattle because they're USL teams as well. If you look at the average age of Seattle's USL team, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's older than my first team squad.
    "So every team and every club has their own identity of what they want to do with their club moving forward. Ours was, well we've got a young first team squad so unfortunately Alan's going to have a young USL squad. We've got 18, 19, 20 year olds playing against 23, 24, 25 year olds. They'll learn but they'll learn for the good of it as well."
    Robinson is still trying to find the right balance between how many of his MLS guys to send down to keep sharp and the use of them in his regularly rotating gameday squads.
    To date, 13 of the Whitecaps 30-man MLS roster has turned out in USL action, with the recovering Diego Rodriguez and Marco Bustos perhaps being the best beneficiaries so far.
    That's obviously meant a lot of chopping and changing in the WFC2 starting line-up, as has the rotation of the remaining USL squad members in order to get as many minutes for all the young players as possible.
    "Obviously you want to go and get results but it's about development," Robinson added. "It really is about development at that level for me. If Alan can push players into my team in the next couple of years or I can get players games, which I have from the first team, it's a vital tool."
    After a mixed start, the Caps are starting to see the best of both worlds - player developmental time and wins in the process.
    At the halfway stage of the season, WFC2 sits with a 3-7-4 record and 13 points. Not fantastic, but not the worst in the league either. They currently sit second bottom of a tight Western Conference, but at the time of writing this, that sees them only four points off the sixth and final playoff place in the West.
    Still a lot to play for down the stretch and like MLS, a run of wins or a run of losses can see a team rise or fall down that table pretty quickly.
    With a young squad that was put together pretty close to when the season got underway, it's been an overall pleasing start to their inaugural campaign in the eyes of WFC2 head coach Alan Koch.
    "We're halfway through the season and we're only four points out of a playoff spot," Koch said after last Sunday's loss to LA. "That's a huge positive for the group that we have. It's a young group. I think we still have the youngest group in the league.
    "To be at the halfway mark and be only four points out, that's a huge positive. As much as we're going to address things that weren't good today [in the loss to LA II], we are in a good place and hopefully we can continue the good work that the guys have been putting in during the second half of the season."
    Koch echoed Robinson's comments as to the exact purpose of the team, telling us that "as much as this group is about development, that's the primary mandate, we want to get results".
    And they have been coming. The team was unbeaten at home before LA came to town and had a four game unbeaten streak before hitting their current three match losing one. Fine lines, as Robinson would say.
    But all things considered, is the team where Koch was hoping they would be at this stage of the season or is he a little bit disappointed that they're not a bit further along in terms of development and results?
    "Tough question after we've just lost 2-0 and we didn't play very well," Koch told us. "We are in a good place. The team has got better, I'd say, every single week, other than this week, so we've come on a long, long way. A lot of the young players have really improved and the experience that they're getting is invaluable.
    "They're much, much better players now than they were when we started the season. I think we've come together as a group. We're creating a team identity. So after 14 games, we're in a much better place now than we were at the start of the season and I hope after the next 14 games we can say the exact same thing."
    It will certainly be interesting to see who the standout players have been come the end of the season.
    So far, a few have impressed, some unexpectedly, others have been slow to find their feet but are starting to come on to their game, and some have struggled and you have to give the honest assessment that they aren't likely to be with the club next year if they don't show rapid improvement.
    We won't name names at this stage, that's not fair considering the whole set-up of the team. It should also be remembered that for the vast majority, this is their first experience of the pro game and they're coming up against some much older players. Players will also learn and find their feet and comfort zone at different paces.
    And while it may sound harsh, part of the remit of the team is to see which players the Whitecaps should continue investing in and which players aren't ready or likely to make the grade and should be cut free. Expect a big turnaround in this team over the years. Football's a tough business. You need to perform to survive.
    Have WFC2's games shown that any of the MLS players stepping down could make an impact in the first team squad? Yes. And is there talent on the USL roster that could develop into a MLS player one day? Again, yes. So a win-win situation there.
    Moving in to the second half of the season now, there are some clear areas that Koch and his coaching team will need to focus on at both ends of the pitch.
    Defensively, WFC2 have a tendency to ship goals. The goals against total of 24 is the highest in all of USL and can't continue if they have the playoffs in mind. That's two dozen goals conceded in 14 matches and two of those saw clean sheets. Considering a lot of the Caps defence has consisted of MLS guys this season, that's a bit of a worry.
    "Obviously conceding those goals is disappointing, so we do have to tidy it up at the back," Koch told us. "The positives are we're creating a lot of chances but didn't score. So we've got to address both sides of the ball.
    "We've got make sure we defend better. The big part of that for the young players is learning to communicate a lot more on the field. Sometimes they're timid and sometimes they show that they actually can grab the bull by the horns and sometimes they don't."
    While the aim of WFC2 is to mirror the playing style of the MLS team in terms of formation and tactics, they also seem to have inherited their missedchanceitis. The team are looking good going forward every game until it gets to the final third and chances are regularly squandered.
    Caleb Clarke leads the scoring charts with five goals, but the Whitecaps overall total of 14 goals is second worst in the Conference and sixth worst in the 24 team league.
    Those 14 goals have come from 151 attempted shots, 72 of which have been on target. It's been tough going but a few more chances going in here or there would have made one hell of a difference to the teams standing.
    'Every game that we've played, we've created chances," Koch continued. "We've just got to have the confidence and composure to go and take them. So we'll address both sides. Aim for a clean sheet and aim to score goals and hopefully that'll lead to good performances and positive results too."
    WFC2 get the second half of their debut season underway this afternoon with a home Cascadian clash with Timbers 2. Portland are currently sitting in that sixth and final playoff spot in the west, so it's a game which could give us all an indication as to whether the remainder of the season will be an exciting playoff battle or a tough slog with development and improvement very much in focus with an eye to next year already.
    For everyone involved, let's hope it's the former!
    Michael Mccoll
    "We scored ten goals against Ecuador, but it's not really a reference I think," Dickenmann told reporters after training on Friday. "We want to score goals against Cameroon or Japan. We've scored 11 goals but ten against Ecuador so we're maybe a little bit in the same situation.
    "Although I think we've created a lot of chances. We did so against Cameroon. We had a bunch at the end of the Japan game. That's positive, but we can still improve as well."
    It's been a frustrating tournament for the Swiss so far.
    Heading in to it, they probably didn't really contemplate a third place finish in the group stage all that seriously. After all, they were playing two lowly ranked teams in Ecuador and Cameroon.
    Their opening match in Group C saw them unluckily on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline against the defending champs Japan. Switzerland had their chances to win the game, never mind grab a draw, but the goals just wouldn't come. Still, it was a strong and solid performance that showed that they could be a top team in the tournament.
    That was bolstered when they found their shooting boots in a 10-1 demolition of Ecuador in their second match. It was ten going on a lot more too.
    But the tournament's surprise packages of Cameroon shocked the Swiss 2-1 in their final group game, coming back from a goal behind at the half to snatch second place in Group C and set up a Round of 16 match-up for the Swiss with Canada.
    It's led to some tough internal analysis within the Swiss camp, with coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg very critical of the senior players.
    With over 100 caps to her name since making her international debut as a 16-year-old in 2002, Dickenmann is one of those and although she knows herself they let themselves down, she feels the coach was correct to get it all out there and it will only help the squad moving forward.
    "The Cameroon game has been analysed and all we can do is now profit from the experience," Dickenmann said. "We look to leave behind the negative things and take on the positive things into the next game.
    "I don't need the coach to criticise anything. I know myself very well whether we've had a good game or if we haven't performed very well. But she was right to do so. It doesn't make much sense to talk about a 19-year-old player so it's the older, more experienced players that must be focused. I can accept criticism and I can cope with it very well."
    Although that may read like a slight dig at Voss-Tecklenburg, nothing could be further from the truth and Dickenmann is a huge fan of the German's style and approach to management since she took over as national team head coach in 2012.
    "First of all it's her belief in our qualities," she continued. "What I like most about her is that she's always there if a player needs to talk to the coach. The door is open in to her room, she's always available. It's always a discussion based on a positive way to keep on developing. Unfortunately not all the coaches I've had during my career treat players this way."
    Dirty linen aired, the Swiss took some time to relax and unwind before heading back to Vancouver to prepare to take on the hosts. And it's done them the world of good.
    "The past two days have been very important for the team after a part of the tournament that's been very intense with three games within a short time," Dickenmann added. "We used the time to slow down a bit and now we can focus on the game to come."
    There's no doubting that it's going to be quite the occasion, quite the noise and quite the pressure at BC Place. It'll be a different kind of pressure for each side and we won't know how each team will cope and react to it until later.
    Switzerland have cut relaxed figures this week upon their return to Vancouver. It's a city they feel very comfortable in, having first arrived here to prepare for the tournament three weeks ago. It all plays a part in taking the pressure off them a little bit.
    "It helps because we feel quite at home here," Dickenmann said. "We know the stadium. I don't know if it's an advantage. It's not as if we play here all year round. We've played two games and one practice in the stadium, but it's a good feeling that we have here. But I know that Canada was here all year round as well, so they feel at home here too. But it's good for us that we feel well here."
    That said, feeling comfortable when you have a half full stadium cheering you on, as they were against Japan, will be entirely different to the more hostile pro-Canadian crowd they can expect to run out to today. It still doesn't faze Dickenmann though.
    "Of course there will be 50,000 people against us but it's very much different from the men's soccer," she said. "There's some difficulties ahead, like communication on the pitch within a huge stadium with a loud atmosphere. But we've spoken about that. We found solutions and all we want to do is focus 100% on the game and it's much more important to focus on Canada's team, not on the Canadian crowd."
    The Canadian girls have already had the experience of playing in front of a huge home crowd (53,058 to be exact) in their tournament opener against China in Edmonton. For the Swiss girls, this is likely to be the biggest crowd most, if not all, of them have ever played in front of.
    It's all so very different from when the two teams last met at the Cyprus Cup in 2013 when 50 fans were listed as the attendance.
    Dickenmann has come close, playing in front of 50,212 fans as Lyon lifted the 2011/12 Champions League trophy in Munich, although she doesn't feel you can really compare the two experiences.
    "The stadium was very different," she explained. "It was open and there was an athletic track around the pitch. It's going to be very different. This stadium is much nicer, and much newer and close."
    The crowd and the occasion will certainly be a highlight in many of the player's careers on both sides, but for Dickenmann, it only counts if the result is right at the end of it all.
    "It's one more highlight but the highlight is not playing in front of a huge attendance," she said. "Really, a true highlight would be if we beat Canada because in football all that counts is winning games and not big stadiums and sold out games."
    Switzerland have never beaten Canada and this world stage would certainly be an ideal place to break that stat.
    But the match sets out something of a quandary for the Swiss tactically.
    Do they want to show their attacking prowess early, getting on the scoresheet fast and forcing Canada to chase the game, ramping up the pressure on them even more?
    Or do they sit tight defensively, expecting Canada to come with the early pressure, then playing on the anxiety of the Canadian players and crowd when the breakthrough doesn't come? Playing a Vancouver Whitecaps road counter-attacking style.
    "We like to do both styles," Dickenmann said, before adding that the final decision lies with her coach. "We like to attack high, we like to attack in the midfield."
    But grabbing that early goal would certainly turn the pressure cooker situation for Canada up a notch or two.
    "It puts more pressure on any kind of team," Dickenmann admitted. "We saw that coming out at half-time against Cameroon. They scored two minutes after and that was a lot of pressure for us. It can change the energy of the game. I don't know what our tactics are going to be yet, but obviously scoring a goal early is always good."
    Whatever tactics the Swiss bring, the important thing for Dickenmann is that Switzerland just focus on themselves and what they do, and not so much on what Canada may or may not produce on the day.
    "Maybe in the past three games, well maybe against Cameroon and Japan, we have focussed a little bit too much on the opponent, so we also want to focus on ourselves a little bit more from now on."
    The Swiss certainly have a real chance at pulling off the big upset as far as we're concerned. In fact, cards on the table right now, I think they will.
    But for all their relaxed frame of mind heading in to the game, Dickenmann and the Swiss are expecting a very physical match against the Canadians.
    "They're very solid," Dickenmann said of what she feels Canada brings to the table. "Physically, they're in a very good shape. They bring a lot of energy to the pitch. A lot of screaming and positive energy in the team, from the bench as well, so that can be a distraction for us.
    "They have very good individual players, like Christine Sinclair. Very experienced players, that can make the difference at any time. They have very strong players, fast players. They have a lot of things."
    Will it be enough to see off the Swiss challenge come full time this evening? A nation awaits.
    Michael Mccoll
    REPORT:
    Action-packed is perhaps the best way to describe a dramatic opening 15 minutes of Vancouver Whitecaps' match at New York Red Bulls on Saturday evening.
    That spell provided three key game defining moments, with New York missing a penalty and going down to ten men, before Kekuta Manneh gave Vancouver a lead they never gave up.
    The 'Caps were certainly made to work for their three points in the end as the Red Bulls pushed for an equaliser, missing another penalty on the way before substitute Kianz Froese gave Vancouver a 2-0 lead with 13 minutes remaining.
    Even then, New York pulled one back five minutes later, but Vancouver held out for a huge three points.
    It looked to be the worst possible start for Vancouver when a rash Steven Beitashour challenge sent Sam Zizzo crashing down in the box just four minutes in. The contact seemed to be just outside and the player fell inside and referee Jorge Gonzalez pointed to the spot, in the start of what was to prove to be a busy night for the official.
    Bradley Wright-Phillips stepped up but his kick was saved by a diving David Ousted, his first penalty save as a Whitecap.
    It was yet another massive game-changing moment for Vancouver from the Dane, but it was equalled five minutes later when New York defender Sacha Kljestan was sent off for a kick on Kendall Waston in the 'Caps box as they awaited a Red Bulls corner to be taken.
    The Whitecaps were now in the ascendancy and they made it pay in the 15th minute when Manneh finished off a pinpoint Beitashour cross, after Cristian Techera had set the right-back free up the wing.
    Five minutes later and Octavio Rivero nearly doubled the 'Caps lead, crashing a 25 yard effort off the right post.
    Vancouver smelled blood with their man advantage and pushed hard for the killer second but when it didn't come they slowed the pace down and controlled the rest of the half to head into the break with the one goal advantage.
    The question now was whether Carl Robinson would be happy with his lot and just see out the victory or go for a confidence-boosting win by a couple of goals.
    New York had no option but to come out and take the game to Vancouver in the second half, and they did just that, having the Whitecaps on the back foot.
    The Caps seemed happy to soak up the pressure but were offering little of their own in return.
    The Red Bulls were thrown a lifeline in the 63rd minute when they were awarded a second penalty after Beitashour was adjudged to have tugged Abang's jersey. Wright-Phillips stepped up once again, this time hitting it hard straight down the middle, but Ousted produced another huge save to keep Vancouver's lead.
    It was only the third time in MLS history that a keeper had saved two penalties during a game and the first time that the same player had missed two spot kicks in one match.
    Two pivotal saves from Ousted and New York were soon to be punished.
    Nicolas Mezquida had been having a fairly quiet night starting in the number 10 role for the injured Pedro Morales, but he finished leading the team in shots and let rip from 25 yards out in the 74th minute, forcing Luis Robles into a sprawling save for a corner, which came to nothing.
    The Whitecaps finally got the second goal they craved 13 minutes from time and in true Vancouver road style, it came from a quick breakaway as Rivero set up Kianz Froese and the Residency alumni raced in on goal and coolly slotted past Robles for his first ever pro goal.
    If Vancouver thought they had killed the game off, New York had other ideas and they pulled one back five minutes later when loose marking allowed halftime sub Anatole Bertrand Abang to fire home.
    Ousted was forced into a sprawling save from a bobbling shot in the closing minutes, but that aside, the 'Caps easily held out for a crucial three points that sends them back to the MLS summit in a tie with Seattle.
    FINAL SCORE: New York Red Bulls 1 - 2 Vancouver Whitecaps
    ATT: 20,537
    NEW YORK: Luis Robles; Chris Duvall, Ronald Zubar (Matt Miazga 68), Damien Perrinelle, Roy Miller; Dax McCarty; Felipe, Sam Zizzo (Anatole Bertrand Abang 46), Sacha Kljestan, Mike Grella, Bradley Wright-Phillips (Manolo Sanchez 77) [subs Not Used: Kykle Reynish, Sean Davis, Dane Richards, Connor Lade]
    VANCOUVER: David Ousted; Steven Beitashour, Kendall Waston, Pa Modou Kah, Jordan Harvey; Matias Laba (Deybi Flores 70), Gershon Koffie, Cristian Techera, Nicolas Mezquida (Russell Teibert 88), Kekuta Manneh (Kianz Froese 71); Octavio Rivero [subs Not Used: Paolo Tornaghi, Tim Parker, Mauro Rosales, Eric Hurtado]
    REACTION:
    VANCOUVER WHITECAPS
    CARL ROBINSON
    On the match:
    "It was a bizarre game, I think that is a fair way to explain it. It was a game that had a little bit of everything: a sending off, two penalties, a couple of goals, a lot of intense high energy pressure as well so we are delighted. It's a tough place to come. They're a good team. They play a certain way and we were lucky to come away with three points tonight."
    On Ousted's performance:
    "He's been outstanding, but up to this point he hasn't saved too many penalties. He guess right on the first one, Bradley [Wright-Phillips] stepped up and obviously I know that that's his favorite way, and then credit to David on the second one, he guesses right again. I have to give Bradley Wright-Phillips a lot of credit for stepping up on the second penalty because that's one of the hardest things in football. Once you've missed a penalty, to step up again, and it just wasn't his night - it was my goalkeeper's night, and my team's night and I'm delighted."
    On the play of Kianz Froese and his first goal:
    "That's what we're all about as a club. We've got a certain way of trying to build here and I think that optimizes it today because New York is a good team, they put us under pressure, they have nothing to lose going down to ten men, the crowd was brilliant, and because they have nothing to lose, they can play longer and more direct and they might as well concede a second or third goal because they when you're at home it puts you under a little pressure. I would have like to have caught them on the break a little bit more in the first half because we had three or four dangerous chances, but we couldn't tuck them away. It was nice for [Froese] I'm sure he'll talk to his parents tonight and it's a proud night for him."
    On the play of Kekuta Manneh:
    "He was excellent in the first half, a constant threat. The front four attacking players were all a constant threat in the first half. As good as we were in the first half, I thought we were a little bit disjointed in the second half because against ten men we should be getting more chances, especially in the second half, but it's not easy to play against ten men. Since I've been here we've played against ten men and we haven't won, and we've gone down to ten men and haven't won so I thought we'd make that happen tonight."
    On Kendall Watson playing in front of his mother for the first time:
    "I think it would mean everything to him. I mentioned it to the group after the game, don't forget about your family and loved ones back home or wherever they are watching. Kendall's mom got to watch him tonight, I'm sure she was proud as punch about his performance. Obviously she would be disappointed in his yellow card just as much as I was in the last few minutes, but I think it was fitting that she was there tonight, and it was fitting that it's Father's Day tomorrow. I'll address the group again tomorrow but it's a special day, Father's Day. You have to enjoy it, pick up the phone and call [your father] because sometimes they leave you early which unfortunately mine did."
    On if tonight's win was extra special:
    "It's always special when you come here. As I said, this is a special organization. They've got some good people here, a lot of good people. They gave me an opportunity on my first step of the land here, and I'll never forget that. I'm very grateful to them and I'm very humbled for that opportunity, but it's always nice to come back here and win because it's not an easy place to win. They're a good team. I hope they go on and reach the playoffs because I want the organization to continue to do well and I always will."
    On another road win:
    "It's never easy to win on the road, and I think every team knows that. When you got an opportunity to go on the road you have to be disciplined, and you need to be organized and take your chances, and we played that way last week and came away 1-0, and today was another very difficult place to go to, but the spirit in that group is fantastic and you get your reward, not just in football but I any walk to life. You put hard work in and you get your reward, and tonight we put the hard work in, we didn’t make it easy, but we got our reward. We will enjoy it but we will prepare because we have a big game in New England next week, which we're looking forward to."
    DAVID OUSTED
    On saving two penalties in one game for the third time ever and which was more important:
    "I think the first one was really important. They came out guns blazing and that would have capped a good first ten minutes for them. Its important to save that and keep us in the game. Right after that they get the red card and we go up and score, so that was definitely important. The second one even more keep the lead for us and kept us going forward. They were two important pk’s."
    On what was more important, his saves or the red card:
    "That’s always difficult to answer. I think both are equal I’ll say even after the red card I think New York showed they wanted to go forward and press us especially in the second half. They did well, but luckily we got away with the win."
    On what was going through his mind when the second penalty was called:
    "I stayed positive. My mind goes straight to where he can shoot. Big credit to the guys who do our video every time we play, He shows me ten pks and what the guys normally do on pk’s. Its a big job they do to keep me ready. My thoughts were to go in there and save the second one."
    On Kendall Waston’s performance:
    "This team [shows] all the time that we're a family and I think we showed today that we played today for Kendall he was playing in front of his mom for the first time so that meant a lot to everybody. We played for Carl Robinson being back here in his own home. We wanted to get a win. You can see how this team is getting closer and closer. We do feel like a family. We do want to fight for each, and I think we showed that we can do that today."
    On Kianz’s first goal at the MLS level:
    "Just fantastic it was a great goal. I feel very calm when he is finishing and a great little slot next to the keeper, so I'm glad for Kianz getting that goal he deserved it."
    NEW YORK RED BULLS
    JESSE MARSCH
    On the first 15 minutes:
    "The first fifteen minutes definitely set the tone for the rest of the match. Crazy for the game to go from a penalty to a missed penalty to a red card to down a goal, it’s just the game was flipped on end. There was fanatic energy on the field when we went down a man and the guys tried to push with urgency but it was border-line panicky. That led to us giving up the goal and then tried to get them on the field to calm down and still play the way we know we can a man down. Second half I thought we gathered ourselves, came out second half and controlled a lot of the match even though we were a man down, but just weren’t able to tie it up and went down 2-0, then you’re chasing the game."
    On Wright-Phillips taking second penalty kick:
    "I was happy to see Bradley step up and have the confidence to take it again. I certainly wasn’t going to pull him off the ball. Ousted makes two good saves, not two of Bradley’s best pk’s by any means, but this stuff can happen sometimes and it’s important as an important guy on the team and a good attacker he finds a way to not let this dig a huge hole into his mentality. He needs to now stay focused and finds way to make it up to his team. This happens at different moments with different players whether it’s Wondolowski at the World Cup or different players that have missed important chances for teams, and it’s important to come back and show you’re a man of character and show that you can handle the tough moments. I have no doubts that Bradley is that kind of man and that he’ll come back and find a way to do that."
    On Kljestan’s red card:
    "He absolutely has to be smarter, that was a terrible red card."
    On what’s worse—missed penalties or red card:
    "I don’t know, they’re both painful. It was a crazy game, a game where we dug a hole for ourselves. You make your own breaks and in some ways we’re now making our own breaks against ourselves."
    On if Kljestan’s red card impacts team morale:
    "I would say no because our team responded really well. They stuck together on the field and pushed the game really hard. Again, I look at myself, and if my players aren’t clear about what kind of behavior they have to have on the field then I look at myself. I’m taking responsibility right now and I’m going to find a way to get us out, I’m in this all the way. I’m not panicking right now but we need to find a way to do better. It starts with me, period. It starts with me."
    If this losing streak is similar to anything else he has endured in coaching career:
    "It certainly feels like right now things are going against us. If you dwell on that then it’s being a loser. Quite honestly, if we start to feel sorry for ourselves then we’re going to dig even a bigger hole. Right now I’m not feeling sorry for myself. I’m ready for this challenge, we’re going to figure out a way to get out of it and, again, it starts with me."
    LUIS ROBLES
    On goalkeeper’s perspective on penalties:
    "Well, my initial thought was that I felt bad for Brad; the ‘keeper made some good saves on the PKs. Maybe he was trying to go down the middle on the second one and it was a little too much to the side. But, at the end of the day, I think it was our mistakes that cost us. Sure, we missed 2 PKs but we were still creating chances and then on the backend, they were only dangerous on the counter. They got two good opportunities off the break and they capitalized. We continue to minimize chances. I said this before and I’ll continue to say it; our defense minimizes a lot of the chances, whereas in the past I’m making a lot of saves. The problem is we are getting caught on the break because we are turning the ball over. When we make mistakes, we are getting punished for them."
    On the first 15 minutes:
    "The red card didn’t help. Of course when he missed the PK, I was still very confident in our ability to respond and I felt that we did respond but there was once incident that occurred with Sacha being sent off, that all of a sudden swung momentum and put us on our back foot."
    On the red card and was it a selfish play:
    "I think selfish is the wrong word there. Any one of us under the right circumstance can react emotionally. We do our best as professionals to maintain a certain cerebral approach to the game but emotions are part of it and at that moment, it seemed that his emotions got the best of him. He was very remorseful in the locker room and he apologized but I think it’s going to come down to what we said and what Jesse said - we aren’t making plays. Our record speaks for itself. At the end of the day if we want to be a winning team and a team that we say we are going to be, it requires the effort but it also requires us making those plays."
    BRADLEY WRIGHT-PHILLIPS
    On taking second penalty:
    "I wanted to take it. I was confident I’d score. The keeper wanted a battle today. I suppose that’s how it goes."
    What goes through his head on second penalty kick:
    "I was just trying to get my team back in the game. If I score that first penalty it’s a different game, and if I don’t miss either it’s a different game. I thought even in the second half, with a man down, I felt like we dominated. It’s a tough one to take, especially missing two penalties."
    If he’s ever missed two penalties in one match:
    "Never. I only started taking penalties when I got here last season, so I guess there will be a lot of twists and turns. It’s something I have to deal with, we’ve got another game Wednesday. I guess my team needs me though so I can’t dwell on it. I just have to get over it."
    On directing the penalty kicks:
    "I decide at the time. I usually pick a way and try to hit it hard. I think I’ve done that with both the penalties. The second one, I tried to go down the middle, I don’t know where it hit him but he made a good save."
    On Kljestan’s red card:
    "We don’t need to be playing with a man down. Sacha has already apologized. These things happen in football just like missing two penalties, you have to play with a man down. Like I said before, if these things don’t happen it’s a totally different game. I think we would’ve won that game. Sacha and I disappointed the team a bit today."
    On one win in six matches:
    "You can’t say we deserve more from the game because we haven’t done it, you make your own luck. There’s something we’re not doing. I do feel like in the games we’ve never been under too much pressure, I don’t think the other teams have dominated us. There’s something missing and we’ll find out what it is."
    SACHA KLJESTAN
    On the cause of the red card:
    "It was a stupid play by me. I take responsibility. Waston is hugging me in the box and I threw an elbow towards him to get rid of him. I didn't connect on the elbow and then I don't know if the ref gave the red card for the elbow or for Waston standing over me and I tried to push him back and put my leg up and he acted like I stepped on him. I have to take responsibility for what I did. I made a stupid play and an idiotic decision in the heat of the moment and I have to take responsibility for losing this game for us because I think if I stay on this field we win the game."
    On what he said to his teammates:
    "I gave my apologies to them at halftime for putting them in that position and having to run so much more and work so much harder and put them in a position to be fighting and playing a man down so I apologized to my teammates and they know how sorry I am."
    On Abang getting the call on the penalty kick:
    "I appreciate that. I appreciate that we got a penalty for a chance in the box where we can't make a play because we're being held."
    Michael Crampton
    For all the hype, New York City FC is an expansion team. They sit in last place in the league, both in points and points-per-game. One of their star designated players, Spanish international David Villa, seems to be injured as often as he plays. The other decided not to show up.
    Granted, the Sky Blues of New York have started to get things turned around, and ended an eleven game winless run with back-to-back wins over Philly and Montreal. So they’ve proven that they can beat the East’s weak links.
    That was before Wednesday, however, when City TFC’d in the most spectacularly Reds-like fashion. Fielding a mostly first choice line-up, NYCFC conspired to lose their Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tie with the New York Cosmos.
    It wasn’t just that they lost to an NASL side while conspiring to miss at least three chances to effectively – and once literally – end the game. By taking the game to penalties, New York managed to play many of their starters for 120 minutes, on artificial turf, less than three full days before kick-off in Toronto. If you had asked TFC players what the best result for them was in the Open Cup, it would have been exactly that.
    If the Open Cup loss had a positive for New York, it was the solidification of Kwadwo Poku as one of the team’s bona fide stars. The Ghanaian was picked up from the Atlanta Silverbacks of the NASL and had been emerging as one of the club’s more entertaining and consistent performers though mostly in a series of substitute appearances. Granted a start against the second division Cosmos, Poku scored both of City’s goals, and both were taken in confident fashion.
    Also on the field against the Cosmos was American international Mix Diskerud. The Norwegian-born hair maestro has been the closest thing to a supporting star for David Villa and scored the club’s first ever goal in Orlando. Diskerud hasn’t always been playing the part, however, and was embarrassingly substituted out by head coach Jason Kreis in the local derby defeat by a ten-man New York Red Bulls.
    The rest of the City line-up reads like a who’s who of MLS journeymen. At their best it’s players, like former RSLers Ned Grabavoy and Chris Wingert, who used to be solid cogs in good sides, before age and the strictures of the MLS salary budget caught up with them. But a greater portion of the team feels more like a regular MLS team’s twelfth best player. Mehdi Ballouchy, Jeb Brovsky, Andrew Jacobson, Josh Saunders, and Jason Hernandez will all be names familiar to the hardcore MLS watchers in TFC’s audience, but are unlikely to be memorable to the casual viewer.
    Coming off a bye weekend themselves, the Reds really have no excuse for not “making history”.
    Former captain Steven Caldwell seems unlikely to return from injury, but the makeshift backline Greg Vanney has settled on has been working out for the last month. Using veteran left back Justin Morrow as an emergency right back has been the switch that changed Toronto’s season and possibly saved Vanney’s job. Which of the young centre-backs is chosen to pair with Damien Perquis has been another question, with Eriq Zavaleta more recently preferred to Nick Hagglund.
    Regardless of who plays at the back, Toronto’s offense is not in question. While captain Michael Bradley may have returned from international duty with the United States, Toronto FC has unquestionably become Sebastian Giovinco’s team. The pint-sized Italian has been outstanding, and until MLS defences figure out a way to contain him, the Reds will always be a threat to score.
    Four wins. It should be harder not to do than do.
    Michael Mccoll
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    Michael Mccoll
    Instead of facing a team ranked 48th or 53rd in the world (although how much stock you can actually put in FIFA's rankings isn't even open to any debate anymore), Canada will now be taking on 19th ranked Switzerland, a team who came through their, albeit weak, UEFA qualifying group on the back of 53 goals scored and just one conceded.
    For a Canadian team struggling to score from open play, and with the pressure and the hopes and expectations of an entire home nation on their shoulders, that's not the ideal opponent.
    For the Swiss, the initial disappointment of losing to Cameroon and finishing third in their group is already long past. If anything, that third place finish may yet prove to be the best thing that could have happened to them.
    They now return to Vancouver, a place they've trained, played in and called home since they arrived in Canada on May 30th. They're familiar with the training pitches, the BC Place turf, the timezone and other surroundings.
    They're in a match in which they are the underdogs. The pressure is off them and firmly on the Canadian women. And the longer Canada don't score in the game, or maybe have to chase the match, that pressure just ramps up.
    The Swiss also now find themselves in the easier half of the draw, avoiding four of the top five nations in the world, and the top three of Germany, America and France. Japan are the top team in their half of the draw now, and they've already shown they can compete against them. A break here or there and they'd have taken something from their opening match.
    The fear factor isn't quite the same as what would be in their way had they finished second. So all in all, things aren't looking all that bad for Switzerland.
    "Yes, you could say we did everything right," a laughing Swiss head coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg told reporters after training on Friday. "It is like it is. We did want to qualify earlier but now we are there for this Sunday's game. It's a big challenge for us and we will focus entirely on this game, not losing any time in thinking back how it was.
    "Returning to Vancouver was a good thing for us. We feel like being home again. If we remain in the tournament we will focus on the next opponent to come. We'll see if it's easier or not!"
    The Swiss certainly have the firepower up front to still do some damage in the tournament. As mentioned, they showed that in abundance in the qualifiers and they are the second highest scorers in this year's tournament so far with 11 goals.
    Yes, ten of them, a whopping 91%, came against an out of their depth Ecuador side, so that's not exactly a great yardstick, but you can never dismiss what the confidence of finding the back of the net early in the tournament can do for the players when the tournament enters the real business end.
    While only two players have found the back of the net for Canada, and one of them was from a penalty, five players have already scored for the Swiss, with Ramona Bachmann and Fabienne Humm leading the way with three apiece.
    Canada can take solace from the fact that despite playing well and creating numerous chances against Japan and Cameroon, they were shutout of their first game and managed to bury just one chance against the Lionessess. You can also factor in that while struggling to produce up front, Canada aren't conceding much either. Just that one late goal given up against the Netherlands so far.
    There's no doubting that there's goals in the Canadian attack. They just haven't materialised yet. But do the Swiss see Canada's attack as likely to cause them more problems than the fast paced strikers they faced against Cameroon?
    "It's a different style of playing," Voss-Tecklenburg feels. "Top quality of course. An important aspect for me is that several players and staff members come originally from Vancouver, so there is some kind of special motivation for this team. Apart from that, there is great presence on the pitch and we are going to go up against it."
    And despite not yet scoring in this tournament from open play, the Swiss coach feels that Christine Sinclair is still likely to be her side's biggest threat.
    "[she's a] great personality and very much experienced," she added. "A true leader of the team, even if she doesn't score all the winning goals. But when it comes to decisive moments, she leads the team. All the players can look up to her and she is undoubtedly the most important player of the Canadian team."
    Voss-Tecklenburg isn't reading too much into Canada's goalscoring woes, and feels the pressure on them to perform may be behind their lack of goals so far. In that regard, she notes it's not going to get any easier for the Canadians.
    "We hope they haven't saved them all up for Sunday's game!" she joked. "Seriously, this is part of the team process that Canada has been going through at the World Cup in their home country. Expectations are quite high from the fans at the games.
    "We mustn't forget it's the knockout part of the tournament now, not too easy a situation to deal with for the Canadian team as well. If the inspiration makes them grow wings, anything is possible. We must be aware of anything and be able to react to everything."
    The crowd will certainly have a part to play in Sunday's match. Exactly how, is the unknown factor right now.
    Around a 53,000 sell-out is expected at BC Place. Will it spur the Canadians on to greater heights or will the pressure of the occasion and natural nerves see them freeze? They didn't exactly freeze in their tournament opener against China in front of 53,058 fans in Edmonton, but at the same time, they didn't exactly shine either.
    And how will the Swiss react to such a large, pro-Canadian crowd, the largest attendance many of their players will ever have played in front of? They may feel like BC Place is a second home to them in the tournament, but it's a whole different atmosphere for them now as opposed to their first game against Japan which saw them garner support from, ironically, neutrals.
    "We will see," Voss-Tecklenburg said. "It's a new situation because of 53,000 supporters for the Canadian team. In our first matches there was many supporters for the Swiss team because we played a good match. I think it will be different on Sunday, but we will see.
    "Of course it's a huge crowd, but we have to deal with that. We have to focus on the game and show self-confidence, show courage and give everything we have. It will be an outstanding game for every one of us. At the end there will be a winner and a loser and we'll see what comes out of this game."
    Voss-Tecklenburg is no stranger to playing in front of a large, vociferous and hostile home crowd at a World Cup. The former German internationalist was part of the Germany side that lost a quarter final to the US in front of 54,642 fans in Landover, Maryland at the 1999 World Cup.
    The Swiss coach feels she can share her experiences of that occasion with her squad, but nothing can prepare a player for what it feels like until she runs out on the pitch, pointing out that it's not an exact comparison.
    "It's not quite the same situation," she explained. "Germany were part of the group named as favourites to win the title. Switzerland obviously is not, yet Canada is. Canada can go forward, want to go forward."
    While all the travelling and adjusting to their new environments has made for a busy initial period in Canada, Voss-Tecklenburg has been enjoying it.
    "The regiment of the tournament is quite high at the moment," she admitted. "I like it very much. I prefer it this way."
    The Swiss camp certainly seems relaxed. Training was light-hearted and if the players and coaches are feeling any pressure, they're not showing it.
    What they are showing, however, is the effects of the tournament so far, with a few players a little banged up after a three hard matches in a nine day period, with one of their key concern surrounding their experienced and influential captain, defender Caroline Abbé.
    "We had one day off after the Cameroon game and then a travelling day," Voss-Tecklenburg said. "We used it to do some wellness before travelling. We were in the fitness rooms. We had a short flight [from Edmonton]. Other teams had long flights.
    "Caroline had a good training. She's pretty positive she can play. The artificial ground is giving us some troubles, to the other teams as well. We have players that talk about muscles they haven't felt for five years. All the teams have to be ready and prepared to cope."
    Abbé, who sat out Switzerland's last group game against Cameroon, is looking good to go, and while Canada may be sweating over a couple of players, the Swiss have the luxury of their full squad to pick from.
    Well we say luxury, but the amount of choices is actually giving the Swiss coach a few selection quandaries to ponder ahead of Sunday's match, and she hasn't nailed down exactly what her starting eleven will be just yet.
    "We've got the big choice of all the players available for the game against Canada," Voss-Tecklenburg said. "I've got four starting line-ups in mind. I haven't made up my mind yet. I will do that this afternoon. I'll be watching video and doing analysis of the team [Canada].
    "It depends on certain aspects, like mental strength, physical strength. I also want the players to tell me how they feel and then maybe at the end of today there will be three starting line-ups or even two, but nothing decisive yet."

    ****** [Editor's Note: With so much coverage everywhere on the Canadian team, we thought we'd explore the Swiss angle in the lead up to the game here at AFTN. Watch out for our piece on Lara Dickenmann on Saturday]
    Duane Rollins
    According to an e-mail sent to members of the London soccer community, the club will be called the London Youth Whitecaps and it will be “the sole club within the district with the ability to enter teams in Regional and Inter-District Leagues for the (2016) U14 and below age divisions.”
    The e-mail, which was by London area coach Geoff Painter. In it, he explains the decision: “Our view is that it is advantageous for our players and teams if they have other high level teams from within the same Club above and below them in age division to allow for call ups and also to provide a unified administration. Consequently, we will be initiating the necessary process to transfer the TPS rights for our current OYSL and WOYSL teams to London Youth Whitecaps.”
    It’s important to note that the club will not be participating in the Ontario Premier Development League, the Ontario Soccer Accociation’s preferred system for elite development. Additionally, CSN has been told that efforts to start an OPDL team in London are actively being resisted by the district. A source said that the district went so far as to write a letter of non-support for the OPDL application.
    The OPDL approval process is confidential so there is no way of knowing if the alleged letter has negatively affected the application. Regardless, even if the OPDL application is successful the two clubs will be in direct competition for talent, with the London Youth Whitecaps operating in the YSL system, which does not have the same level of LTPD standards required (which is different from saying the Whitecaps won’t employ those standards – CSN reached out to the Caps to comment).
    Of note, Painter has a contentious past with the CSA and OSA. In 2009 he was suspended by the OSA for six months for, in the OSA’s opinion, “actions detrimental to the game.” The charge relates to him allowing his team to play a game at the national championships with nine players during the second half of that game. His team had already clinched advancement and Painter later claimed that he had no choice but to play with nine players due to fatigue and injury. He said the charge was without cause.
    The London Free press reported on it at the time. You can read that article here.
    Beyond the youth development implications, the move by the Whitecaps is a brazen one. They are moving into the doorstep of TFC’s restricted academy area. It’s important to note that TFC would be unable to do a similar thing. The Whitecaps have exclusive rights to everywhere in Canada west of the Ontario/Manitoba border, whereas TFC only has exclusive rights to a 50 mile radius from its training facility in Downsview Park.
    CSN has reached out to the Whitecaps and to the North London Soccer Club for comment. We will have more on this story on Monday.
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