Winnipeg Fury Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 Caps Insider July 12, 2004 More Caps Insiders This Friday’s massive fixture with Portland will go a long way in determining at least one piece of hardware this season, the Cascadia Cup. The trophy is up for grabs between the Whitecaps, Portland and the current cup holder’s – Seattle, based on results between the teams during the regular season. Thanks to their two wins in Portland, and the 4-point weekend against the Sounders, Vancouver has a 1-point cushion over the Timbers heading into Friday’s match. Both the Timbers and Whitecaps will then have two games left against the Sounders to wrap up the competition. Just when it seemed the Whitecaps were starting to get healthy, along came a two game series with Seattle, which left several players nursing injuries. Carlo Corazzin clashed heads with Seattle’s Zack Scott in the Saturday game. The Sounder defender was unable to continue, while Corazzin soldiered on until half time. Oliver Heald had to be helped off Friday night, after having his ankle clipped. Swelling was minimal, but it’s hard to say when the number 12 will be back with the squad. Neither Jason Jordan nor Johnny Sulentic even made the trip to Seattle; Sulentic complaining of a sore groin, and Jordan tweaking an abdominal muscle. That same type of injury has kept rookie Kevin Harmse out of the line up for almost 5 weeks. Better news for Mike Franks; now almost 100% after his ankle troubles although it may be difficult for the big keeper to take the place of Alex Marques, who has had a string of good form recently. And Jeff Clarke is also fully fit, having recovered from his groin problem. Speaking of the Whitecap number 2, the Jeff Clarke Celebrity Golf Tournament to benefit Cancer research is coming up Friday August 20th. This year’s event will be held at the beautiful University of BC golf course, and will feature Whitecaps Men’s and Women’s players, a great dinner and some terrific prizes including signed jerseys from Everton’s Tomasz Radzinski, and Werder Bremen’s Paul Stalteri. The event will be emceed by yours truly and Paul Dolan, which means there could be the odd sports celebrity popping in to say a few words! It’s a great opportunity to meet the players, and having seen the level of golfing ability last year, ANYONE can play and feel good about themselves. You can download an entry form from the Whitecaps website…just look for Jeff’s picture on the home page. What a treat to see some of the great players of Whitecaps and 86ers past during last Friday’s alumni night. Buzz Parsons took the ceremonial kick off wearing his patented “white shoes”, while the biggest cheers of the evening were reserved for Carl Valentine, and my colleague Paul Dolan. One of the 86er greats I enjoyed seeing again was Port Alberni’s own Jamie Lowery. The blue-collar midfielder was also a member of the ’86 World Cup team in Mexico, and scored one of the best goals I’ve seen at Swangard, a crossbar-and-in bullet against the Winnipeg Fury in ‘87. Lowery now resides in Victoria, and still plays soccer, while also selling uniforms and equipment for Team Sales. Last week, I told you about Seattle’s dreams of becoming an MLS city, which could be decided by the end of this week. The more realistic scenario would have Seattle granted one of 2 expansion franchises by 2006. That would leave a big hole in the Western Conference, particularly for the Whitecaps and Timbers, who would lose a close and historical rival. It would be unlikely that the A-League and MLS could co-exist in the same market, which has led to some speculation that Tacoma could enter the A-League picture. The city has had brushes with pro soccer before, in the form of the Tacoma Tides of 1976, and the “Stars” who played indoor at the Tacoma dome from ‘83-’92. The market has three stadiums that could house an A-league franchise, including the beautiful 3,000 seat natural grass Baker Stadium on the University of Puget Sound campus. The 11,000 seat Stadium Bowl, is a high school football facility that boasts one of the most scenic backdrops for a sporting event, but has an artificial gridiron, and concrete steps for seats. Cheney Stadium is a baseball park, home to the triple ‘A’ Raniers. And how viable would Victoria be for an A-League franchise? The community has had great success in hosting recent U19 Men’s and Women’s qualifying tournaments at the UVIC’s Centennial Stadium, and decent support during the Vistas days at Royal Athletic Park. Victoria recently landed an East Coast Hockey League team (The Salmon Kings) to tenant their new Multiplex arena, and the community has always shown solid support for the WLA’s Shamrocks and BCJHL’s Salsa. The Vancouver-Victoria derby’s in 89 and 90 featured great crowds and good atmosphere, and Vancouver Island has had a history of producing quality players. The Capital would also make sense from a geographic standpoint, as teams coming to Vancouver could then play in Victoria one or two nights later. Peter Schaad provides colour commentary for the Whitecaps this Week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarnCherry Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 quote:he trophy is up for grabs between the Whitecaps, Portland and the current cup holder’s – Seattle How is Seattle the current Cascadia Cup holder? This season is the inaugural season, nobodies won it before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted July 14, 2004 Share Posted July 14, 2004 I was shocked to hear comments about the Cascadia Cup in the news since I thought that noone in Vancouver supported it. When that Sounders fan came on this board to propose it he only got cool responses. So, the question is, is anyone in Vancouver interested in this cup or did Seattle and Portland just go ahead with it regardless of the opinion of the Caps? Or did the Whitecaps say, sure, yeah, in spite of their own fan's indifference? IMO the real Cascadia Cup is the bloody A-League division itself, what really matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarnCherry Posted July 14, 2004 Share Posted July 14, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S. I was shocked to hear comments about the Cascadia Cup in the news since I thought that noone in Vancouver supported it. When that Sounders fan came on this board to propose it he only got cool responses. So, the question is, is anyone in Vancouver interested in this cup or did Seattle and Portland just go ahead with it regardless of the opinion of the Caps? Or did the Whitecaps say, sure, yeah, in spite of their own fan's indifference? IMO the real Cascadia Cup is the bloody A-League division itself, what really matters. The responses on this board towards the Cascadia Cup were negative. However most Southsiders and Vancouver fans do not post on this board. Vancouver supporters in fact raised the most money for the cup early on, and in the end we all paid an equal share. http://soundercentral.com/CascadiaCup/cascadia_cup.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue and White Army Posted July 14, 2004 Share Posted July 14, 2004 No offense to the Voyageurs, but I as a Southsider value the Cascadia Cup more than the Voyageur's Cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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