Whitecaps against City

[canucker]

The game has been good so far and the caps are playing one of their best games. But the surface is becoming the story. It looks like they are playing game on mattress. And judging from the way Yaya Toure was carried off, It looks pretty serious.

Apparently a twisted ankle, so if it's not sprained, not too serious.

[Free kick]

Apparently a twisted ankle, so if it's not sprained, not too serious.

Im surprised. He Was holding his knee.

[canucker]

Im surprised. He Was holding his knee. I did not see an ankle twist at all.

I thought it was his knee as well but the ESPN announcers said twisted ankle after the half.

Good effort by the Caps. Morfaw is godawful.

[Free kick]

I didn't see Tiebert out there. Did he get left on the bench? this is the kind of game where you owe playing time to cnds.

[jonovision]

I didn't see Tiebert out there. Did he get left on the bench? this is the kind of game where you owe playing time to cnds.

I don't think he got in. But at least Philippe Davies finally was allowed to make an appearance.

[canucker]

I don't think Teibert was on the bench. In the match preview for the postponed Salt Lake game, it mentioned he was doubtful with a a hip flexor. So probably still injured.

Edit: According to the MCFC manager, Toure's injury isn't serious and he'll be out 3-4 days.

[amacpher]

The game has been good so far and the caps are playing one of their best games. But the surface is becoming the story. It looks like they are playing game on mattress. And judging from the way Yaya Toure was carried off, It looks pretty serious.

That surface pi$ses me off to no end! Geezus! I mean, Vancouver's weather isn't any different than most of England's so what lame-duck excuse is there not to have a proper field?

[ThiKu]

1. That surface was brutal and City must have been thinking "we'd prefer turf."

2. Morfaw and Davies' performance make me wonder why in heaven's name they aren't getting first team action. Khalfan needs to go away.

3. Amacpher - what does weather in England have to do with Whitecaps being able to set-up a temporary grass surface or not? City had nothing to do with the grass set-up.

[amacpher]

3. Amacpher - what does weather in England have to do with Whitecaps being able to set-up a temporary grass surface or not? City had nothing to do with the grass set-up.

I guess my question is, why isn't there grass installed there in the first place? One excuse is often Canada's unique/harsh climate, but that doesn't apply to the west coast.

[Danny Boy]

I guess my question is, why isn't there grass installed there in the first place? One excuse is often Canada's unique/harsh climate, but that doesn't apply to the west coast.

BC Lions

[Free kick]

BC Lions

Has there ever been talk or consideration to:

Staying at empire field after BC place is ready. Installing a grass pitch at empire and leaving BC place to the lions? And making other alterations to make it more soccer friendly. Seems to me the best option next to getting a soccer specific stadium. I always thought that BC place was too much capacity for MLS anyways. Plus you'll never have to see football gridlines.

I know that it's the city that dictated this solution but the recent events have to be good ammo against that solution.

[Scottie]

Has there ever been talk or consideration to:

Staying at empire field after BC place is ready. Installing a grass pitch at empire and leaving BC place to the lions? And making other alterations to make it more soccer friendly. Seems to me the best option next to getting a soccer specific stadium. I always thought that BC place was too much capacity for MLS anyways. Plus you'll never have to see football gridlines.

I know that it's the city that dictated this solution but the recent events have to be good ammo against that solution.

I believe it has something to do with building code regulations, since empire field is only a temporary structure.

[Danny Boy]

Has there ever been talk or consideration to:

Staying at empire field after BC place is ready. Installing a grass pitch at empire and leaving BC place to the lions? And making other alterations to make it more soccer friendly. Seems to me the best option next to getting a soccer specific stadium. I always thought that BC place was too much capacity for MLS anyways. Plus you'll never have to see football gridlines.

I know that it's the city that dictated this solution but the recent events have to be good ammo against that solution.

The Caps have signe on to a 5 year lease and have all their seasons tickets based on BC Place seating. There is technology (see Seattle, or Tempire for that matter) to remove the lines. It would be awesome as I love Empire with the view and being so open and it can get nice and loud there. But ideally it would be best if during the next 5 years the Caps were to be able to build their own SSS as originally planned by Kerfoot.

[amacpher]

BC Lions

I guess I'm missing something obvious, but why does CFL have to be played on cheap crap instead of grass?

[Danny Boy]

I guess I'm missing something obvious, but why does CFL have to be played on cheap crap instead of grass?

durability and maintenance? To be honest, I'd rather play on turf than on grass after a gridiron game.

[Richard]

I would wait before knocking the new artificial turf that's going into BC Place. I understand it's being imported from Germany and costing almost 10 times what was spent on the turf at Empire Field. I think many people will be very pleasantly surprised.

[CanadianSpur]

I don't think Teibert was on the bench. In the match preview for the postponed Salt Lake game, it mentioned he was doubtful with a a hip flexor. So probably still injured.

Edit: According to the MCFC manager, Toure's injury isn't serious and he'll be out 3-4 days.

Tiebert was ina suit signing autographs at half-time...defintiely did not dress for the game.

[amacpher]

I would wait before knocking the new artificial turf that's going into BC Place. I understand it's being imported from Germany and costing almost 10 times what was spent on the turf at Empire Field. I think many people will be very pleasantly surprised.

Do they/can they generally water field turf before games?

[canucker]

2. Morfaw and Davies' performance make me wonder why in heaven's name they aren't getting first team action. Khalfan needs to go away.

Morfaw is the worst player I've seen signed to an MLS contract. He was the worst player on the field yesterday by a mile. What a complete waste of a contract spot. I agree that Davies showed well, hopefully he gets some time as a sub.

[Richard]

Do they/can they generally water field turf before games?

Yes, they do at Empire and also in Seattle, probably elsewhere too. Watering before the game and at half time apparently makes the turf more 'lively' otherwise it tends to slow the ball down according to Tom Soehn. An interesting contrast with what one tends to experience on the lower quality, poorly maintained and often worn down community FieldTuf pitches where the complaint is that the ball bounces too much and which I suspect influences many of the anti-AT comments.

[Nick Sabetti]

Turf is terrible, its bad for the players, its bad for the game overall. why cant they play on grass on the west coast?

[Richard]

^ Because the facilities available to the Whitecaps (who do not yet have their own facility despite their best efforts) must a) be shared with the BC Lions of the CFL who would tear up any grass field and make it unplayable for soccer. Well do I remember the state of the glorious grass pitch at Swangard Stadium after gridiron football games when the place was shared between the Vancouver 86ers and Simon Fraser Clan gridiron football program, almost unplayable, and BC Place is a multi-use facility shared by both soccer and gridiron football as well as countless trade shows and other function, in fact far more for the latter than the former. Grass would simply not stand up.

Artificial turf is used used increasingly for community fields because of the heavy usage it permits, far beyond what any grass field can withstand and still be playable.

[canucker]

Yep, I'd say the main reason they can't have grass is that they want the stadium available 365 days a year for concerts/trade shows, etc. So having grass even just during the summer for one game a week (sometimes 2 games a week) is not financially feasible for BC Place and a government that just spent $500m+ renovating it to be a completely multi-use facility 24/7/365.

The real pressure should be on the Port lands and the government to finally sort out the issue with the Caps over the Waterfront stadium so that 5-7 years from now, the Whitecaps can play on permanent grass pitch. It simply won't happen sooner than that and it'll definitely not happen in BC Place. The turf being brought in is supposed to be the best one that currently exists though and it'll be way better than the temporary crap at Empire.

[Richard]

I am confident that the five years of the 'Caps tenancy at BC Place will be well used to explore every possibility for furthering their Waterfront Stadium. Activity has slowed because the front office has other matters to deal with at present but the project is not dead.

[CanadianSpur]

I am confident that the five years of the 'Caps tenancy at BC Place will be well used to explore every possibility for furthering their Waterfront Stadium. Activity has slowed because the front office has other matters to deal with at present but the project is not dead.

While not dead the Port has no interest in the discussions at the present. They are focused on development of land that they own for use by businesses that are complementary to the Port's main purpose. I'm not sure how Kerfoot can get the Port's attention. The offer to swap some of his valuable commercial zoned land in exchange for the port land for the Stadium wasn't of interest.