Drew Shaw Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 27 years of hoping, thinking it would never happen, and then dreaming again finally ended today. I don't think I could have hoped for a game as good as that one for an MLS debut. Players? DeMerit certainly came as advertised. He is one solid guy. Leathers does a great job covering both sides of the defence. Good tackler, and seems to be the best Caps defender at moving the ball forward. Rochat didn't put a foot wrong - the best quality a full back can have. Tiebert is a pretty good looking prospect for Canada. He reminds me of Josh Simpson back when Josh played for Victoria United - and look where Simpson is now: the full national team, and playing in a quality league (Turkey). Dunfield played a good game both ways - what a nicely taken goal. He distributes and links well most of the time: not the greatest midfielder ever, but certainly a good one. Chiumiento is clearly going to be dangerous, and draw lots of fouls. Atiba Harris was fairly good, but he seems erratic. Hopefully more time with team-mates will help that, and make him more consistent. Hassli is the real deal, and that's perhaps the most important thing. This guy will give out more hits than he takes. He really took his chances well, he leads the line, he makes good runs. If he keeps fighting like that even when we're losing, he will be a special player. The crowd was enthusiastic, and the people around me took up claps, stomps, and simple cheers. It will be interesting to see how the fan culture grows as the old fan base of about 5000 absorbs 20000 new fans per game. I'd forgotten about the opposite sides of the field chanting "WHITE" "CAPS" at each other - haven't done that for 30 years. I remember how dire some of the early MLS games I watched in the late 90s were. The calibre of ball control on display has come so far in this league it's amazing. This was certainly the best MLS game I have watched since the MLS Cup where DeRo was the goal scorer for San Jose. Now if only the day manager would let the fans serenade the team off the pitch at the end of the game, instead of turning music on over the speakers . . . When your first game was at Empire Stadium in 1978, it's hard not to get a lump in your throat on a day like today. Sorry Lions and Canucks, I still love you, but I'm afraid I think I have a new crush . . . So what are Voyageur thoughts on the calibre of play, the entertainment value, and the Canadian players on view? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trillium Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 27 years of hoping, thinking it would never happen, and then dreaming again finally ended today. I don't think I could have hoped for a game as good as that one for an MLS debut. Players? DeMerit certainly came as advertised. He is one solid guy. Leathers does a great job covering both sides of the defence. Rochat didn't put a foot wrong - the best quality a full back can have. Tiebert is a pretty good looking prospect for Canada. Dunfield played a good game both ways - and a nice goal. Chiumiento is clearly going to be dangerous, and draw lots of fouls. Atiba Harris was good, but he seems erratic. Hopefully more time with team-mates will help that. And Hassli is the real deal. This guy will give out more hits than he takes. The crowd was enthusiastic. It will be interesting to see how the fan culture grows as the old fan base of about 5000 absorbs 20000 new fans per game. I'd forgotten about the opposite sides of the field chanting "WHITE" "CAPS" at each other. I remember how dire some of the early MLS games I watched in the late 90s were. The calibre of ball control on display has come so far in this league it's amazing. Now if only the day manager would let the fans serenade the team off the pitch, instead of turning music on over the speakers! When your first game was at Empire Stadium in 1978, it's hard not to get a lump in your throat on a day like today. Sorry Lions and Canucks, I still love you, but I'm afraid I think I have a new crush . . . So what are Voyageur thoughts on the calibre of play, the entertainment value, and the Canadian players on view? Have to be happy for the Vancouver fans, TFC provided a great oponent for an opening game, Vancouvers goal scoring has to impress the locals out to see the match..... based on the result and the style of play you have to think Whitecaps will finish ahead of TFC in the Voyageurs Cup which clearly will be the most important competition for both clubs this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killgod Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Have to be happy for the Vancouver fans, TFC provided a great oponent for an opening game, Vancouvers goal scoring has to impress the locals out to see the match..... based on the result and the style of play you have to think Whitecaps will finish ahead of TFC in the Voyageurs Cup which clearly will be the most important competition for both clubs this season. It's a one game final in Toronto (barring an upset), I don't think you can write off Toronto already.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackdude Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 It's a one game final in Toronto (barring an upset), I don't think you can write off Toronto already.... I thought it was changed to a 2 game final. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killgod Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 I thought it was changed to a 2 game final. Ah yeah it was changed from the last time I looked that up. My bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trident Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 All I have to say is WFC finally looks dangerous, FCE is lucky to be playing TFC, and the fans really disappointed me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianSoccerFan Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 the fans really disappointed me. elaborate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trident Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 elaborate? They were disappointing. Failed tifo(what was it?), practically inaudible supporters groups, very little flags and even knowing where the Suppporters section was, it was difficult to identify supporter's group members from run of the mill fans. The top songs? WHITE-CAPS, Ole(jeez), BULL****, nanana, hey hey, goodbye! It was atmosphere more fitting of an NHL game than what people come to expect from MLS "2.0", with the likes of TFC, Seattle, and even Philly. Let's also assume the timbers fans will be much more entertaining, because they will be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keegan Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 They were disappointing. Failed tifo(what was it?), practically inaudible supporters groups, very little flags and even knowing where the Suppporters section was, it was difficult to identify supporter's group members from run of the mill fans. The top songs? WHITE-CAPS, Ole(jeez), BULL****, nanana, hey hey, goodbye! It was atmosphere more fitting of an NHL game than what people come to expect from MLS "2.0", with the likes of TFC, Seattle, and even Philly. Let's also assume the timbers fans will be much more entertaining, because they will be. Give them time TFC's southend has only gotten better with time aside from "All we are saying is give us a goal" there weren't any audible chants at BMO on opening day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trident Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 They're older than the entire TFC franchise, they shouldn't have that sort of growing pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmcmurph Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 They will learn the chants but hearing a huge cheer go up when our players made a great defensive play made me very happy. This is soccer and there are lots of plays to cheer for that don't end in goals. DC nutmegging the TFC player and driving up the field, players fighting for the ball. Lots of cheers for non-goal plays. That bodes well for the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ted Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 There must be something about the acoustics and/or the microphone setup but I only heard two songs from the supporters on the telecast and one was the TFC supporters singing "Oh, Danny Dichioooo". Watching Dunfield leap into the crowd was great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew Shaw Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 They were disappointing. Failed tifo(what was it?), practically inaudible supporters groups, very little flags and even knowing where the Suppporters section was, it was difficult to identify supporter's group members from run of the mill fans. The top songs? WHITE-CAPS, Ole(jeez), BULL****, nanana, hey hey, goodbye! It was atmosphere more fitting of an NHL game than what people come to expect from MLS "2.0", with the likes of TFC, Seattle, and even Philly. Let's also assume the timbers fans will be much more entertaining, because they will be. That was game one. GAME ONE. Your expectations are completely unrealistic. I can only assume from your comments that you weren't at the game, and only saw the TV feed. The game presentation was excellent. The team did NOT manufacture any fake atmosphere over the speakers, and should be thanked for that (now they just need to turn off the music at the end of the game, and the sound on the video screen at half time). I was the guy in the west stand, south half with the BIG striped flag (3 feet by 10 feet) on the telescoping pole; but being on the camera side of the field wasn't seen on the game feed. There were only two others in the main stand with flags: a "WHITECAPS" one in the lower left that has been at Caps games at Swangard, and one in the SW corner from a group of about 20 Latin-Canadian Caps fans who had drums, and just formed their supporters group 2 months ago (nice meeting them outside the stadium, BTW). The east stand (in the television main view) had no flags, which disappointed me. The Southsiders had their 3 HUGE flags. The good news on flags? That security didn't say a word about mine, and that means that the number of home made flags will grow. I had two teen-aged lads ask me how to make a flag. People need to be taught this stuff. We can all help out newbies. I agree that there should be WAY more flags. I did my bit with a big home-made one. Secondly, the Southsiders had 100 paid members a year ago. 100 members. They now have 400 paid members, who need to be taught the songs. And they now sit among 2000 or so people in their end zone, so they're a minority even in the "supporters" section. How do you expect all those "newbies" to learn how to sing in one day? Singing publicly is NOT normal behaviour in Canada, so this takes some time to acclimatise people to. Those of us at the game definitely saw and heard the SS, and you could easily see that they are now a minority even within the south side. Give the newcomers a few weeks to learn how to chant, and then what to chant. Be realistic. At Toronto FC games, the Red Patch Boys haven't even got their whole end singing yet, and this is their fifth season. I did my bit by buying a membership with the Southsiders, even though I live on Vancouver Island and can't go to all the games (ferry travel is expensive and takes about 8 hours of time). Thirdly, in European stadiums, only a small proportion of the crowd actually sings all game long. Hard-core fans here need to understand that. The entire crowd in European games only sings very simple things, and not that often in a game. "You'll Never Walk Alone" is the only thing the entire crowd at Liverpool sings. Other than that, 3/4 of the fans don't sing a single song or ditty, they only clap and yell. We Hard Core Fans need to accept that. And in Europe, clubs cover the stands to protect their fans from rain, and to amplify the sound they make. Canadian cities and clubs are apparently too cheap and too stupid to do that, which causes crowd noise to dissipate; though it is louder live than on television. Fourthly, and most importantly: Hard Core fans need to accept that there is nothing wrong with the boring, simple stuff that everyone joins in on. The calls of "WHITE" from the east side, answered by "CAPS" from the west side, were a great start. You need to get people involved with that, and clapping/"WHITECAPS" type stuff if you ever want to move to having them join in with 2 rounds of "White is the Colour". Simple chants by the main stand are way more audible than songs from the hard-core on the South Side, no matter how witty the really funny and rude stuff is. Don't frustrate yourself by demanding more from the main stands than the people there will ever deliver. I sat in the west stand, and the foot stomping, the clapping, the standing up for corner kicks, the "WHITE - CAPS" was all there. It was a fantastic base to grow on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew Shaw Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 There must be something about the acoustics and/or the microphone setup but I only heard two songs from the supporters on the telecast and one was the TFC supporters singing "Oh, Danny Dichioooo". Watching Dunfield leap into the crowd was great. Hey Ted. I was at the game with my boys. The atmosphere, for game one, was outstanding. I had a huge flag, but was in the stand with the cameras so was not seen on the broadcast, and will be making one in Black & Gold for VH games this year. The SS were singing, but you couldn't hear them on the TV feed. I hope you heard the "WHITE" "CAPS" chants, and the noise the crowd made on corner kicks. SS membership has gone from 100 to 400, and they are the minority even in the supporters section along the south side of the stadium, so it will take some time to absorb new people into their singing. Good news is that big flags and big flag poles are allowed into the ground, so we should see some growth there. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ted Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Overall the atmosphere came across the telecast as fantastic and yes indeed the WHITE - CAPS chants were heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew Shaw Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 Overall the atmosphere came across the telecast as fantastic and yes indeed the WHITE - CAPS chants were heard. Glad to hear. I look forward to getting to more Caps and Highlanders games this year. The Caps in MLS has really ramped up my enthusiasm for the game. I've bought Nantes, Fiorentina, Ajax, and Aston Villa jerseys in the last few weeks. I look forward to making a VH banner and flag this year. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trident Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 WFC Dude: Nope, of course I wasn't at the game. Why for a group around since 99, do you have only 3-4 flags on cartoonishly large poles? That's one of the things I find odd. And I dont expect you guys to have the entire stadium singing in unison, but I was expecting to hear some songs aside from generic ones that the whole stadium sings. And I dont need to realise anything about the atmosphere of regular fans in Canada, it's pretty apparent and I've known that for as long as I can remember. A lot of what you said is pretty much something said to no one in particular, all I did was answer what the OP asked, and I said I was disappointed, which I was. You guys are having fn, and doing your thing, so all the more power to you, I hope you continue enjoying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slamo Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Trident, the Southside wasn't mic'd at all and the generic crowd noise was astronomical. I'm guessing that won't be the case in the future and you'll be able to hear some chants in the future. Lots of swearing so, I'm guessing they'll never put mic's on that side of the stadium. Most likely they hired the drums to drown out the Southsiders from TV and families. I can tell you the song list is extensive and will prolly need to be paired down. Look forward to having you guys in league play next year. As much as it's fun beating Toronto it's a bit like kicking a dying dog. WFC Dude: Nope, of course I wasn't at the game. Why for a group around since 99, do you have only 3-4 flags on cartoonishly large poles? That's one of the things I find odd. And I dont expect you guys to have the entire stadium singing in unison, but I was expecting to hear some songs aside from generic ones that the whole stadium sings. And I dont need to realise anything about the atmosphere of regular fans in Canada, it's pretty apparent and I've known that for as long as I can remember. A lot of what you said is pretty much something said to no one in particular, all I did was answer what the OP asked, and I said I was disappointed, which I was. You guys are having fn, and doing your thing, so all the more power to you, I hope you continue enjoying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smartlikefox Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Haven't seen the game on TV but the atmosphere at the game was fantastic. Never make assumptions of the atmosphere based off of a TV broadcast.. The White-Caps chant was awesome. It sounded great. I was in 218. I was hoping to hear more songs but our area was consistently singing: Vancooouveerr Vancooouveerr We're Blue We're White We're ****ing dynamite Finally got my voice back this morning. I think it ran away after I yelled **** you mexican at the ref just as it got oddly quiet for a minute. Oh and damn that PNE security. Some middle aged asian dude trying to tell our row to sit down (we were in X). We told him to shove off and start at the bottom if we wanted people to sit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trident Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Well... if you want to bring up your song list being extensive... Only a few songs, repeated ad nauseum. But yes, maybe I'm wrong, and it's only due to the fact there isn't a mic right in front of the section. Maybe I'm right as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew Shaw Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 "but I was expecting to hear some songs aside from generic ones that the whole stadium sings." There were no microphones in the Southside. Therefore you couldn't hear them on the television broadcast. I wouldn't have known what they were singing if I didn't know their songs, because they are about 200 people out of a crowd of 23,000. This was game one for them in spreading what they do to more people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFCRegina Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 "but I was expecting to hear some songs aside from generic ones that the whole stadium sings." There were no microphones in the Southside. Therefore you couldn't hear them on the television broadcast. I wouldn't have known what they were singing if I didn't know their songs, because they are about 200 people out of a crowd of 23,000. This was game one for them in spreading what they do to more people. People could hear Dichio24 on the broadcast. I had texts coming in from folks saying they could hear us sing. No excuse. We had only about 80. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soju Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 OK Toronto and Montreal fans, you're right. Vancouver has a ways to go at sing song game and waving flags game and tifo game...but know what game they're good at? The one that matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyCanuck Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 People could hear Dichio24 on the broadcast. I had texts coming in from folks saying they could hear us sing. No excuse. We had only about 80. The people with the hoarding over their heads can be heard, the folks not covered cannot, because the sound just escapes... It was rocking loud in the southend, but only to those IN the southend.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuscan Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 OK Toronto and Montreal fans, you're right. Vancouver has a ways to go at sing song game and waving flags game and tifo game...but know what game they're good at? The one that matters. Game. Set. Match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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