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.

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."

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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]

It could have been all so different after Ian Christianson was sent crashing in the box as half-time approached and with the game still goalless. Caleb Clarke hit a woeful penalty wide left and the 'Caps were punished when LA took the lead moments later, in the 43rd minute. Carl Robinson always talks about "fine lines" and that was one there in a huge game-swinging two minute spell. "I think it would have made a huge difference," Koch said of Clarke's missed penalty. "We would have been a goal up shortly before half-time and hopefully would have gained some confidence, some momentum and maybe the game would have been better in the second half. "Any time you miss a penalty kick like that, it has huge implications on the game and today it certainly did." LA added a second half penalty of their own, after a harsh handball decision on Craig Nitti, after the ball hit his shoulder, and there was no way back for the 'Caps after that, the closest they came being when LA keeper Clement Diop tipped a Clarke shot onto the post in stoppage time. The game marked the halfway point of the regular season for WFC2 and saw the young 'Caps slump to three straight losses. That in itself is bad enough, but to be scoreless in all of those games will cause further concern. But, onwards and upwards. We'll have a look at the season so far through the eyes of Alan Koch and Carl Robinson later in the week. Next up for the 'Caps is a home Cascadian derby on Sunday against Timbers 2. How Canada's second round match-up against Switzerland at the Women's World Cup will affect the crowd will remain to be seen, but treat your dad for Father's Day if you can and take him along to the match. AFTN photographer Tom Ewasiuk was at WFC2's loss to LA II to capture all the action before, during and after the game and here's his "Story In Pictures", with a full Flickr slideshow at the end. [Also check out Tom's website www.residualimagephotography.com for more of his photos and work]. Ready for battle - the teams come out Oh Canada Victor Blasco was lively early and came close to giving the 'Caps the lead The game marked Marco Bustos' first USL start, and appearance, at home after injury WFC2 get the chance to take the lead after Ian Christianson is sent crashing in the box and the referee points to the spot Caleb Clarke steps up... But hits his 41st minute effort woefully wide And sod's law, LA go up the pitch and take the lead two minutes later after Travis Bowen is left unmarked and heads home Worse is to come in the second half as Craig Nitti is wrongly adjudged to have handled after this shot which hits his shoulder And Aeriel Lassiter makes no mistake from the spot to make it 2-0 LA in the 60th minute The 'Caps try to get back into it, switching to a 3-5-2 formation, but Blasco is thwarted again Others try but there is just no way past Clement Diop And it finished WFC2 0 LA Galaxy II 2 You can see more photos from the match (and of dogs!) in the Flickr slideshow below:

Having the US hordes here on Tuesday, and days of pre-match build up, and with Canada coming on Sunday, obviously helps. Prior to that, Group C wasn’t the most exciting group on paper to get fans’ juices flowing. The games turned out to be entertaining or high scoring affairs though and that also helped get a buzz generated. Now some will argue that it was a great group. It contained the World champions after all in Japan. But realistically, how many of the target audience really knew or cared about that fact? The first round of Vancouver’s group games wrapped up on Tuesday evening as the US narrowly saw off Nigeria 1-0 to top Group D and send the Africans crashing out of the tournament. A vociferous crowd of 52,123 packed into BC Place, the largest crowd for a football match since the renovations at the stadium, and one which the ‘Caps will dream could one day be a regular occurrence for MLS matches. A long term dream admittedly, as we're still a very long away from a Seattle-style attendance here. One day! The Vancouver crowds have been good in general for the tournament so far. 25,942 for a Monday afternoon/evening double header that kicked off at 4pm was sneered upon by some out east, but was excellent as far as we’re concerned. Friday’s Group C double header brought out even more, 31,441, making a combined total of 109,506 for the three first round gamedays in Vancouver. Considering who was playing, that’s been great and above my expectations. As have the matches themselves. Five games, 22 goals, some of them crackers, penalties galore. Not bad going. Sure there’s been a couple of blowouts against Ecuador, but goalfests can be entertaining too if the goals are good, which they were. Plus we got to see the excellent and entertaining dark horse, or should that be lionesses, of the tournament, Cameroon. We’ve seen some of the world’s best female players so far. Japan legend Homare Sawa delighted her supporters and long time fans of the women’s game. Switzerland’s Ramona Bachmann, put in a great performance and could still be a star of the tournament. You feel here future in the women’s game is wherever she wants it to be moving forward. Then there were the US girls, some of whom we’ll grudgingly acknowledge are amongst the world’s elite. Cameroon were a delight and their coach Enow Ngachu a real character. In Gabrielle Aboudi Onguene and Gaelle Enganamouit they have two players that could find themselves offered some lucrative deals once the tournament is over. Keeping with the African teams, I liked Nigeria centre back Onome Ebi as well. Solid, tough tackling and held off most of the US attacks. The fans we’ve spoken to have all pretty much enjoyed themselves. There’s been a couple of reports of some security buzzkill at the first Japan match, but on the whole a good time has been had by all. Well maybe not Ecuador supporters. The tournament already feels like it’s been going on forever, and there’s still four matches to be played in Vancouver – two 2nd round match-ups, a quarter-final and, of course, the final itself. The Final has already sold out and Canada’s 2nd round match-up this weekend against Switzerland will bring in the crowds and should be a cracker. If that doesn't sell-out but the US game does, then there's something wrong with the general Vancouver fanbase. It could also very realistically signal the end of Canada’s run at the tournament if we see the Swiss side of the qualifying campaign and the shooting boots from their slaughter of Ecuador. If Canada do advance, that should mean another full house at BC Place for their quarter-final game on June 27th. That seems a long way away right now mind you. Outside of the matchday experience at the stadium, the Fan Zone has proved to be a success, especially when the US games have been playing. There's been a couple of thousand fans watching games, with daily combined highs of up to 8000 in attendance. The custom built Fox Sports set has also been a talking point and a place fans have congregated. So all in all, so far so good. It's hard to see the buzz dying down, but if Canada and then the US crash out early, that may not still be the case. We'll have to see. For now, we can say the tournament has been a success. It's set to break the record for most tickets sold for a Women's World Cup and Vancouver has certainly played its part in it all. We'll leave you with some fan photos from the five first round games played at BC Place so far and a couple from the Fan Zone. And the excitement's really only just begun. Now the real tournament starts.

Cameroon are no strangers to World Cup shocks. They have thrilled football fans worldwide with their play in the Men's World Cup in recent times. In particular, their fantastic Roger Milla inspired run to the quarter-finals of Italia '90 will long live fondly in my memory and many others. While the Indomitable Lions have qualified for six of the last seven World Cup Finals, the women are appearing in their very first ones here in Canada, after qualifying as African runners-up to Nigeria. Their appearance builds on their first ever qualification for an Olympics in London three years ago and sees the continued rise of the team under their charismatic coach Enow Ngachu. He never seems to be without a big smile on his face. Ngachu has been the coach of the team since 2004 and his building work is now reaping some real rewards and producing some impressive talent, perhaps none more so than Monday's hat-trick heroine Gaelle Enganamouit. For the Cameroon coach, it was all about showing that continued improvement on the world stage. "Our main objective was to do better than 2012," Ngachu told reporters at Thursday's pre-match press conference. "In the last Olympics games in London, we conceded 11 goals, scored only one and had three defeats. "We've been working with this group for the past seven years together. They started with the under-17. After the game against Ecuador, they have started dreaming, but we need to be humble. We have attained our objective." So just what has been behind the team's turnaround and recent successes? "As a coach, after each game, you must go back to the drawing board and see what went wrong and we discovered that in 2012," Ngachu added. "We made tactical errors. Everybody was young. "We've worked very hard. We want to exist on defending first before attacking. We're quite happy because in the last African Nations Cup, we conceded less goals and we had the best goalkeeper in the tournament. So it means we've improved a lot and can only be happy." Going into the Ecuador game, it was hard to know what to expect from either side. Ecuador were ranked 48th in the world, Cameroon 53rd. You wouldn't have been surprised by a draw or a narrow win for either side. But the Africans produced a hammering that caught, I think, pretty much all of us by surprise. Right now, we don't know if that 6-0 scoreline was because Cameroon were good or Ecuador were just really, really bad. Maybe it was a mixture of both. What 19th placed Switzerland do to the South Americans in the first game this evening, will perhaps be a better indicator as to how Cameroon might fare in the second against Japan. It's a match Ngachu and his squad are relishing, no matter how daunting it may be and how much of a one-sided scoreline could be doled out by the defending champs and the side ranked 4th in the world right now. "It's a dream come true playing against the Champions," Ngachu said. "It'll be another experience for the Cameroon national team. We know it's going to be very tough but the best team will win." Japan looked exciting and patchy in their narrow 1-0 win over Switzerland on Monday. It took a debatable penalty for them to get the job done and they had a few narrow escapes and had to thank some poor Swiss finishing for coming away with all three points in the end. They should make it six out of six tonight. On paper, there is only one possible result. But football's not played on paper. Japan coach Norio Sasaki genuinely seemed concerned about Cameroon's attacking firepower in his own press conference on Thursday. Ngachu countered by saying he was concerned by both Japan's attack and defence. Cameroon played relaxed and were a joy to watch against Ecuador. With no pressure, comes more free-slowing football and Ngachu said you can expect the same against Japan. "We're excited to play against Japan," Ngachu admitted. "For us, Japan, so far, is the best in the world. My girls are excited. Over the past years they've been watching the Japanese team over the TV. Today, most of them can recite the names of the Japanese players. It's just like in Playstation. You play against the best team in the world. "They're quite excited but we don't have pressure on our side. The Japanese will be having that pressure. We don't have any pressure, so we'll play as usual and if we can have a positive result then fine." Whichever side wins, they'll be guaranteeing themselves a spot in the Round of 16. But after banging in six goals in their first game, barring two horrible defensive collapses, Cameroon look set to be a top third placed finisher at the very worst, no matter how they fare against Japan and Switzerland. Do the squad dare to allow themselves to dream and look beyond the group stages at what may lie in store? Striker Gabrielle Aboudi Onguene doesn't want to get too carried away but the goal deluge against Ecuador has certainly got them believing. "I would say that mentally it is a good thing to score," she told reporters in translated French. "It shelters us, it protects us a little bit. As was said, we came here with the objective of doing better than 2012. We dream of making it out of this first round. We're going to stay focused. So why not? Keep scoring, so that we can advance." Ngachu knows Japan head into the game as very heavy favourites and should win comfortably, but whatever the result in this one, the impact that his Cameroon side have made back home has already been immense and if they can advance beyond the group stages, then what it will do for women's soccer in the country will be seismic. "Football is full of surprises," he said. "If we can create that by going through to the next round, then it's going to be very fine, and I believe if we do that, it's going to have a positive impact back in Cameroon. "From the feedback we've been getting, many young girls have started playing soccer and that is the target for the individual Lionesses of Cameroon."

Have a listen! And apologies for the slight echo feel to most of it when we had to change mics a little bit in! You can listen to this, and all previous, episodes of the podcast on iTunes HERE. Or download it for your later listening delight HERE. We also have an iPhone app, so you can now add our podcast to your phone as an app. Visit the podcast's mobile site HERE and then at the bottom of the screen just click the "Quick Launch" icon and the podcast will be added to your home screen and appear as an app. And if that's not enough, we're on Stitcher Radio Network. Download the app and listen to the AFTN podcast on your device, along with over 20,000 other shows HERE. Or after all that, you could just listen on the player below!

Recognised as the finest Japanese female player to have ever played the game, Sawa made here first appearance in a World Cup Finals in 1995, playing three games in Sweden, as Japan went out at the quarter final stage following a 4-0 loss to the US. After three appearances in each of the next three tournaments in the US and China, Sawa came to prominence at the world level with a stellar tournament performance in Germany in 2011. Sawa played all six of Japan's matches as they lifted their first World Cup trophy following a dramatic penalty shoot-out win against the US in the Final. With Japan looking set to lose out in extra time, Sawa hit a stunning equaliser with three minutes remaining to send the game to penalties. That goal was her tournament leading fifth of the Finals, earning Sawa the Golden Boot as top-scorer, along with the Golden Ball award as the Best Player. Her performance also saw her named the 2011 Female World Player of the Year. The support the Japanese girls received back home during the last World Cup was exceptional and Sawa is hoping for more of the same this time around. "Many, many people supported us," Sawa said. "With that power we could win the title again." Sawa made her professional debut in Japan's L-League in 1991, aged just 12. Her international debut came at 15 in 1993 and her World Cup Finals debut aged 16. With nearly 25 years experience in the women's game, Sawa has seen a lot change, especially in her home country. "Talking especially about Japan, before, like about 20 years ago, the number of registered players was very small," she revealed. "Also the skills and technique were not enough. It's been very long from that time until 2011, but year by year I think we've developed." There's been a lot of talk about the legacy of the women's game in Canada after this tournament, but Japan's win four years ago sparked a marked increase in interest in the women's game in the country. After 2011, the awareness and attention among the Japanese people changed dramatically and the country went from 35,000 registered players at girls to senior level before 2011 to its current level of almost 50,000. Still not phenomenal numbers for a country of 127 million but a step in the right direction. To put that into perspective, there are 4.8 million registered female players worldwide, with Canada and the US making up 47% of that number. Sawa will be hoping to generate more interest this time around and add to her 18 World Cup Finals appearances this month. Although no-one else has reached that milestone of appearing in six tournaments before, the Japanese midfielder is likely to find herself having company with that honour in Canada, with Brazilian midfielder Formiga also poised to reach the six tournament milestone. An appearance for Sawa tonight, however, will see her reach the achievement first. It will be quite the feat for Sawa, but one which the 36-year-old looked like missing out upon after falling out of favour with head coach Norio Sasaki in recent months through injury and a dip in form. Sawa wasn't selected for Japan's 23 woman squad for the Algarve Cup tournament in March this year. A major setback for the midfielder's hopes, but after Japan finished second bottom of their group, and ninth overall in the tournament, Sasaki had a rethink and felt that the squad needed a player of Sawa's experience for the upcoming Finals in Canada. Sasaki's late change of heart filled Sawa with boy joy and relief. "It's a very special feeling to wear the jersey of the national team," Sawa said. "I want to play for the team and for Japan in order to get a good result in the World Cup." With her recent injury concerns, is Sawa ready to go in the tournament? She certainly looked the part at training, cutting a striking figure with her long ponytail, and the veteran feels she's ready to play a key role once again for Japan on the world stage, but she's not taking anything for granted. "I am ready to play 90 minutes but it depends on the head coach," Sawa continued. "It's his decision whether I will play on the pitch or not but I am ready." As defending champions, a lot of eyes will be on Japan to see if they can follow in Germany's footsteps and win back to back titles. Watching them train, they come across as a slick, well-oiled machine, running relentless, productive and impressive attacking drills. Despite sitting fourth in FIFA's Women World Rankings, they'll be hard to beat if they can play to their best. But just how much improvement should we expect to see from the team from four years ago? "That's something that I want you to see in the games!," Sawa joked. "That's difficult for me to explain." The group stage should prove to be little concern for Japan. Drawn alongside Ecuador (ranked 48th in the world) and Cameroon (ranked 53rd), their toughest game will be their first one against Switzerland tonight. The Swiss are ranked 19th in the world and do pose a threat after a strong qualifying campaign that saw them go undefeated, recording nine wins and one draw, banging in 53 goals in the process and conceding just one. Japan may be the favourites, but they're not taking anything for granted against the Swiss. "Switzerland are newcomers to the World Cup, but they're one of the strongest teams in Europe," Sawa said of the match. "Even though we have won the title four years ago, we are still challengers. We'll respect Switzerland and we want to show our style of football." We'll see just what that is, and what threat the Swiss pose, at 7pm this evening at BC Place.

We told you it was a busy show, so have a listen! You can listen to this, and all previous, episodes of the podcast on iTunes HERE. Or download it for your later listening delight HERE. We also have an iPhone app, so you can now add our podcast to your phone as an app. Visit the podcast's mobile site HERE and then at the bottom of the screen just click the "Quick Launch" icon and the podcast will be added to your home screen and appear as an app. And if that's not enough, we're on Stitcher Radio Network. Download the app and listen to the AFTN podcast on your device, along with over 20,000 other shows HERE. Or after all that, you could just listen on the player below!

REPORT: Los Angeles Galaxy's last defeat at the StubHub Center came on March 8th last year in a 1-0 First Kick defeat to Real Salt Lake. That was 29 games and counting, in all competitions, as Vancouver Whitecaps headed to Carson, California. 'Caps coach Carl Robinson has said post match that records are made to be broken, so why couldn't it be them? No reason at all as it turned out. Kekuta Manneh's 32nd minute strike was the difference between the two teams on the night, but Vancouver had the far better chances throughout, hitting on the counter and squandering their opportunities to win by a few. That's still a concern, but that's also for another time. After making six changes to his starting line-up for the midweek loss in Montreal, Robinson returned his big hitters for this one, against a weakened, but still strong, LA side. The home side had the better of the early going without creating any real threat to David Ousted's goal. Goalmouth action in general was hard to come by, with both defences mopping up whatever was coming towards them. The game needed a spark. It came in the 32nd minute and opened the scoring for Vancouver. Manneh collected the ball inside his own half, playing it forward to Octavio Rivero who took a few touches before playing it back out wide to the winger. The Gambian had been a handful for the Galaxy defence to start the match and gave them more trouble, cutting inside of a backing off Omar Gonzalez before firing home past Brian Rowe from the edge of the box. The young speedster was having an impressive game, both in attack and with a strong defensive shift, and he nearly set Cristian Techera up for the second with four minutes of the half remaining, but the Uruguayan fierce strike was touched off the near post by Rowe. A strong first half by Vancouver, and keeping themselves tight in the second was now the key. As it turned out, LA didn't really look all that threatening in the final third and Vancouver continued to have the best chances, just not taking them and killing the game off. Manneh had a chance to add a second ten minutes into the second half, when he sprung the Galaxy defence, but his first touch let him down and allowed Rowe to come out quickly and block the danger. Robbie Keane came close moments later, as you wondered how costly a miss Manneh's could be. But there was more, and worse, to come! Sub Alan Gordon came within inches of getting his toe on a dangerous Stefan Ishizaki ball across goal in the 63rd minute, in a lucky escape for the 'Caps. As LA pressed, Vancouver should have made it two in the 72nd minute on a quick counter-attack. Rivero received a pass from Pedro Morales just inside the 'Caps half, easily turned Leonardo and bore down on goal on a two-on-one break with the 'Caps captain. With Rowe narrowing the angle, the Uruguayan made the perfect pass inside to Morales but the Chilean could only look on in anguish as his shot crashed off the left post with the goal gaping. The rebound fell to Rivero but took an awkward bounce and LA cleared the danger. The Galaxy nearly made them pay, but Keane was unable to connect on a long ball forward. It was deja vu with seven minutes remaining when Rivero found himself on another two-on-one break, this time with sub Darren Mattocks, but the strikers ball inside was too hard for the Jamaican to get on to. A concerning as the misses are, it wasn't to matter and the Caps held on for a historic win. Vancouver now go into a bye week and two weeks rest until their next match away to New York Red Bulls on June 20th. It just got a lot more enjoyable for them. Psychologically, this result could be massive. FINAL SCORE: Los Angeles Galaxy 0 - 1 Vancouver Whitecaps ATT: 20,219 LOS ANGELES: Brian Rowe; Oscar Sorto, Omar Gonzalez, Leonardo, Baggio Husidic; Stefan Ishizaki, Juninho, Mika Vayrynen (Kenney Walker 56), Ignacio Maganto (Sebastian Lletget 75); Robbie Keane, Edson Buddle (Alan Gordon 60) [subs Not Used: Andrew Wolverton, A.J. DeLaGarza, Tommy Meyer, Rafael Garcia] VANCOUVER: David Ousted; Steven Beitashour, Kendall Waston, Pa Modou Kah, Jordan Harvey; Matias Laba (Russell Teibert 75), Gershon Koffie, Cristian Techera, Pedro Morales (Darren Mattocks 80), Kekuta Manneh (Mauro Rosales 75); Octavio Rivero [subs Not Used: Paolo Tornaghi, Christian Dean, Nicolás Mezquida, Robert Earnshaw] REACTION: VANCOUVER WHITECAPS On how it feels to get the win tonight: "It feels very good; it feels very nice after a long road trip in Montreal on Wednesday and then coming here against the champs, 29 games unbeaten. I challenged them before the game, I said 'you got to believe you can do it', because I firmly believed we could, and I was proved right." On the play of Kekuta Manneh tonight: "I thought he was excellent, if you look and see what he does off the ball well, his movement, his patterns are getting better, on the defensive side he is getting better and obviously he could have maybe scored another goal or two because he got through once or twice and his touch let him down. With all young players, they make mistakes, it is important you work with them and you continue to evolve with them and we will continue to do that with him. Octavio [Rivero] put two on a plate, one for Pedro [Morales] which he hit the post, Cristian [Techera] was a constant threat, and then Mauro came on and showed passing range as well. I am delighted for the boys because we put a lot of work in this week." On the performance of the defence tonight: "Excellent, really really was positive with them, because if you do you jobs correctly, individually and collectively then you have a chance to win any game and you rely on your forwards to take chances. Kendall and Pa were excellent, we know Los Angeles likes to attack the fullbacks and get width that way, you have to defend your box and we did that very well today. All of the guys in the locker room deserve a huge pat on the back for their performance tonight." On moving forward after this win: [On TSN radio] "It's important that we keep a perspective on this. We'll keep our feet ground. I don't get too excited when we get a really, really good result and I don't get too beat up when we don't get a very good result. What's important to me is performance. Over the first period of this season, our performance levels have been pretty high for three quarters of the time. When we come back I've got to make sure that we can kick on again because the quality and belief in the squad, if it continues to improve on a daily basis, on a weekly basis, then we'll hopefully get to where we want to get to." KEKUTA MANNEH On the team's performance tonight: "I thought it was great, we played as a team like we always want to. It was a great result, we have never won here I heard, so it was a good win for us going into the break and we can put our feet up and relax. It was a really good win for us." On matching up with Omar Gonzalez: "The first time I took him outside, second one I took him inside and on the goal he probably didn't know where I was going to go. I talked about it with the coaching staff and the players, they told me 'you have a lot of potential', but you have to learn the game, go in and out on the defenders and it will be difficult for defenders to predict where you are going to go, so that is what I did. The first two opened up the goal. I had made up my mind, talking with the coaches since last year, just have the ball on your feet, make your mind up, decide what you are going to do before you have the ball and that is what I have been working on and finally pulled it off today." On getting the victory going into a bye week: "It's really big, like I said we had never won here so it was extra joy for us, but it is a really good win. I don't know where we are standing on the table but I think we are up there now, it is a good win, we can have a week off and everybody go where everybody want to go and then come back and get ready for New York." MAURO ROSALES On the match tonight: "I am obviously very about the team and how we worked, that kind of game makes us think how good this team can be, we just have to believe in this team and believe in the work that we do every day to become a good team. The Los Angeles Galaxy, and this stadium, and their fans, they had a 29 game unbeaten streak, it was a very good game for us, and the motivation was perfect for us. I have high praise for the guys and collectively we were very sharp and focused. We did what we had to do to win this game, and we did what we need to do to win these kinds of games in this environment. If we want to become a very good team, we have to win games like this, so I am very happy for the team." On rebounding from the game on Wednesday: "We took many positive things from Wednesday, it obviously wasn't the result that we wanted, but we came here with the same mentality, just play in a way to be focused, be together, try to work, and we fought to the end. We did the same in Montreal but we couldn't hold the result last minute, so there were a lot of positive things and I am really happy for the team." On winning before the break: "Knowing what we did today, we have to come after the break with the same mentality, with the same willingness to go and commit to become a good team. This is the halfway point of the season, but nothing is going to be OK if we just take everything we have done up to this moment and throw it away. We need to keep moving forward, we need to keep moving to the level that we want to be at and everybody knows that. Everybody obviously is going to take a rest, we had too many games and we need that break and it is going to help us charge our batteries for the last part of the season." LA GALAXY BRUCE ARENA On having zero shots on goal: “I don’t think it was from a lack of effort, we should have shot a few more times. They did a good job, got a lot of players behind the ball, made it tough in and around the penalty area to their credit.” On tonight’s match: “Conceding that goal in the first half, it was tailor made for their team. The way they play, and with their speed on the counter, and we gave away a ball in our middle third of the field and they got a goal. They certainly did a very good job having good numbers behind the ball, and countering us in the second half. We had some chances to have a little bit better quality, perhaps create a few dangerous chances, but we fell short.” On Vancouver’s centre of defence: “They played well. Obviously they are very good in the air and they dominated us there. We weren’t good enough on the ball to play around them.” On Robbie Keane’s fitness: “Well he is just coming back from being away for two months. I think we’re doing the best we can; it’s been a little bit of a patchwork job in the first half of the season. That’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it goes. No excuses, but we’re a little bit short handed in a lot of the spots on the field and it shows with some of our quality. He’d probably tell you that the last 20 minutes were pretty rough for him. We had to be aggressive with our substitutions to try and get a goal. I decided to keep Robbie out there. It might have been a little too much for him, but it’s probably good for him to get the 90 minutes in.” On Kekuta Manneh: “He was pretty much their dangerous player in the first half. A couple times, he burned us and we got caught on the goal. He is a good player. Perhaps we could have been a little bit better on a few of those plays. We stopped him a couple times, but the goal, give him credit. He did well to get the goal.” ROBBIE KEANE On having zero shots on goal: “We didn’t play obviously as well as we had too. They played well, give them credit. The game plan’s to stop the balls in the middle. Go through the middle. They defended well so full credit to them, they deserved to win the game” On Vancouver: “They have pace. When you’ve got pace like that, it very hard for defenders. Especially with someone who is quick with the ball. It’s hard to defend against so they did that very well.” On inconsistent season: “We’re still in there, so it’s no crisis. We’re inconsistent, but we’re still there in the pack which is the most important considering the inconsistency that we’ve been playing. So as long as we’re there, and everybody gets fit, more minutes that people get on the field, and all the players that come in, I think you’ll see a different Galaxy side. But full credit to the players that have been working their socks off, it’s been a difficult few months. But the players are showing a lot of character. Even tonight, we kept pushing and pushing to get that goal, it didn’t happen. Naturally, when you do that, of course they are going to get chances on the counterattack.” OMAR GONZALEZ On losing against Vancouver twice this season: “I thought they were very organized. I though tonight they played very well. They came here with a set tactic and they played it very well where they got everyone behind the ball. They clogged holes, we couldn’t find Robbie [Keane], we couldn’t find Edson [buddle], and we were just going side trying to open them up but they shifted as a team very well and didn’t allow us to break them up too much. Unlucky on a pass and [Kekuta] Manneh picks it up and just takes off and I tried to take him to the outside and he just cut inside really quickly and got a shot off and that’s how that goal happened.” On Kekuta Manneh’s play: “I know he likes to cut inside so I made sure to take him outside and close the angle but there was a time where he was more central so I was vulnerable to both sides and I allowed him to cut inside a bit more and that’s why he was able to get open on that shot.” On whether Manneh is the fastest player in MLS: “[He is] definitely one of them. He is up there with [Fabian] Castillo, fast with the ball. There’s a few guys in this league who are very fast without the ball and also with the ball and those guys are very dangerous.” On Vancouver’s counter attacks in second half: “The reason why they got so many counter attacks later in the second half is because we’re just going for broke. It’s either going to be 1-1, or 3-0. We wanted to tie the game so we have to take chances and we took chances by sending players forward and we just kept on losing the ball. We didn’t have the quality up front tonight and so we kept on coughing it up and they kept on going on counters. It’s a tale of us not being sharp enough and them making the most of our mistakes.” On getting no shots on goal tonight: “Obviously we had a tough one. I think it was a long month of May. Maybe guys were a bit tired and we just have to bounce back, I know we will, and it’s going to be a tough game in Columbus. Long travel and we just have to bite down and just grind another win." STEFAN ISHIZAKI On Vancouver: “I know that they were going to play on the counter, and they did. They didn’t have many chances in the game, but they got the goal and that’s all that counts in this game. They are very, very tight. Especially in the center of the field; they are playing with a tight back four and then two guys sitting in front. It made it really hard to find our strikers and really get any possession centrally on their field. We didn’t play the ball fast enough to the wings and we didn’t cross it early enough. Especially in the first half, we played a little bit too slow. We played better in the second half and penetrated them a little, and we did have chances even though we didn’t have any shots on goal, we did have our chances. With a little bit more luck, we could have scored, and maybe even gone for a second goal. But I give credit to them; they played a good game and tactically very smart." On tonight’s match: “I thought we did well the second half. We switched it, and we had a couple of crosses. But obviously sometimes you can’t just cross it in the area because they have two big men there centrally. [Kendall] Waston and [Pa-Modou] Kah are big guys who are really good at heading the ball. But I thought we had a couple of good chances and Ignacio beat his man a couple of times, went down the line. I did a combination plays with Keane a couple of times, and I went around my guy a couple of times. We were a lot more dangerous the second half.”

This isn't the first football World Cup to be played on artificial turf. Finland hold that "honour" in 2003 when ten of the matches in the U17 Men's World Cup were played on such pitches, including the final. Two years later, Peru hosted the whole tournament on them and Canada played several games at the Men's U20 World Cup in 2007 on the surface. In the Women's game, the 2012 and 2014 U17 World Cups were played on the surface in Azerbaijan and Costa Rica, as was last year's U20 World Cup here in Canada. Elsewhere, a number of World Cup and EURO qualifiers have been played on non grass pitches. It doesn't make it right, that's an argument for another time for this grass lover, but it does show the growing acceptance of the pitches around the world. What that means is that a number of women in this year's World Cup have played on an artificial pitch, whether at international or club level. The flip side of that though is that the vast majority likely haven't and as such, their unfamiliarity with such surfaces could very well impact their performances and their team's results. As of Thursday, all bar six teams had already arrived in Canada to acclimatise to both surroundings, time zones and football turf. How used can you get to such a surface in a short period of time if you've never set foot on one before? Or seldom have? It will certainly give some teams and some players a competitive advantage. But what can you do? Well you could moan a lot like Abby Wambach or you could say ok, this is the hand we've been dealt, let's get on with it. And that's just what Australia have done, going as far as to say, well if you can't beat them, join them in the whole turf debate, and having a special artificial surface constructed for them to play and practice on ahead of the World Cup. "We were lucky enough to have one built for us back in Australia," Matilda's midfielder Katrina Gorry told AFTN. "We've been training on it pretty much since January. So we've had a bit of experience in the last six months. Obviously America and Canada pretty much play all their games on turf so they're probably more experienced on it. "But in the last six months, we've had a lot of experience on it. We've come to terms that we're going to be playing on it so that's not really in our minds any more, we're just here to play. The turf is just a part of it." That certainly seems to be the right attitude to have. The reigning World Cup Champions, Japan, have BC Place as their home for two of their group games, and maybe more as the tournament goes on. They seem pretty unfazed by the whole turf issue. Former Women's Player of the Year and 2011 World Cup winner, Homare Sawa, is non-plussed by the fuss surrounding the artificial surfaces and the woman regarded as the best Japanese player of all time is in fact very used to playing on such pitches from her many years playing in the US and with her current club, INAC Kobe Leonessa. "I train on artificial grass when I train with my club in Kobe every day," Sawa told reporters through a translator at training on Tuesday. "So it's just natural to me." Japan coach Norio Sasaki takes that attitude a step further and feels that the turf will actually be a benefit to his team because of the way that they play their football. "Japan has had a training camp in Japan for two weeks before coming to Canada," Sasaki told reporters through a translator. "We trained on grass rather than artificial turf. For Japan, we don't think that we need to change the style of football. It's kind of like an advantage for Japan because we move the ball a lot compared to other countries." We'll get a good idea just how much of an advantage or a leveller Canada's turf pitches will be for certain teams pretty soon. We'll also get an idea of just how the pitches are accepted across the world with a view to future tournaments being held on artificial surfaces. Will we ever see a senior men's World Cup played completely on football turf? You still feel it's unlikely, but if one ever is, Canada will be remembered for leading the way.

The campaign to introduce goal-line technology into football was a long one that certainly split opinion. Purists didn't want it to change the game or slow it down with referees having to take time to review decisions. Advocates felt that with so much at stake in the modern game, and with the ever increasing and intense scrutiny on referees from television cameras, the introduction of the technology would reduce crucial, and often multi-million dollar costing, wrong decisions, easing pressure on the officials in the process. After years of arguments, matters came to a head when Frank Lampard wrongly had a goal not awarded for England at the 2010 World Cup against Germany. Replays showed the ball very clearly crossed the goal-line but the goal wasn't given. England went on to lose the match 4-1, but had the goal been given, it would have levelled the match up at two apiece and changed the whole dynamic of the game. Now, as a Scot, I found that particular decision to be absolutely fantastic and hilarious! I still do! But it was to be a literal game changer in may ways. The non goal triggered the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to review the introduction and use of goal-line technology once more in the months after the World Cup. Less than two years later, in July 2012, and after rigorous testing, the IFAB approved, in principle, the use of the technology and in December that year, the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan made history when it used it in competition for the first time. Since then it's been used several times by FIFA, UEFA and other governing bodies on the international stage. At club level, goal-line technology has been successfully implemented in the English Premier League for the past two seasons and the Dutch Eredivisie is another top league in Europe to use it. From next season, you will also find the technology used in the German Bundesliga and Italian Serie A, with "a lot of interest" being shown in the technology from other leagues around the world, including Major League Soccer over here. There are actually a couple of different providers of goal-line technology systems now, but the best known name is that of Hawk-Eye. The Hawk-Eye name probably first came to most people's attention with their instant replay system in tennis, and it is their technology (in association with Acorn) that will be used at this summer's Women's World Cup in Canada. We'll all remember the television graphics from Brazil showing whether the ball had crossed the line or not, even when it most obviously had! You have to show off your new toys though. But just how does the actual system work? There are two different technologies in use - a magnetic field system and a camera based system - and it's the latter that was used in Brazil last year and will be used in Canada this time around. With the camera based system, there is no technology in the ball, in the goal or on the posts or crossbar. The information is all captured in 3D by 14 cameras placed around the stadium, with seven focused on each goal. "The goal-line technology system we have is completely optical," Laurence Upshon, Head of Football Operations at Hawk-Eye Innovations, told reporters at a demonstration at BC Place on Wednesday. "It's a completely passive system. We use 14 high speed cameras around the field of play, seven looking at each goal, to provide all tracking and triangulation to work out exactly when the ball crosses the goal-line." The positions of the cameras are quite flexible. They can be mounted on catwalks, the back of stands and floodlights. "There's seven cameras looking at each goal, dotted around the field of play, so that in a close, goal-line scramble the ball is always found in at least two of them to triangulate up to show a goal," Upshon continued. "We have two, which are typically located behind the goal. We have three on one side, one of them looking down the goal-line. We have two on the reverse side as well looking at each goal." The cameras automatically tracks the ball and automatically tells match officials, assistants as well as referees, whether the ball has crossed the line by sending an almost instantaneous decision through to a watch worn by the officiating crew. That decision comes through in less than a second via a special wristwatch worn by each official. If it's a goal, the watch vibrates for several seconds and "GOAL" flashes up on the screen. We were given one to wear during the demonstration and it really is impressively instantaneous. "As soon as the ball crosses the goal-line, it alerts all the match officials by using the goal-line technology watch," Upshon added. "They'll have a vibration and an alert [on the watch] to show that it is a goal and they can award the goal. "The really key thing about vibrating is that the referee, and certainly the rest of the match officials, can keep their eye on the game, watching for fouls and handballs." But can the technology be fooled? What if it isn't the ball that crosses the goal-line? Not an issue. "A ball is very particular, so it looks for certain characteristics of a ball," Upshon said. "Not only the shape but how it's moving, the colour of it, what's on it. So it uses all of these factors to work out what is a ball and also what is not a ball, so it's not fooled by a keeper throwing his towel in or a water bottle or a sun cap or something like that. It looks at all these parameters." The other aspect in this technological age is just how secure is the entire system? Can it be hacked and could other transmissions in the stadium on gameday interfere with it working? Again, that turns out not to be an issue. The watches are not on a public network. Systems are encrypted and very reliable. Even in the most congested stadium with bluetooth, wifi etc all pinging around, the goal message will get through. Seeing the whole system in action really is quite an eye-opener. Any qualms about it delaying games are far removed, but there is still one big issue we have with goal-line technology and that is the universal accessibility of it. The beauty of football is that it is the same rules, the same game basics whether you're playing a match at the Nou Camp in Barcelona or on some gravel pitch in the middle of nowhere. Goal-line technology is not a system that continues that. It's fine having it in World Cups and in the top flight leagues around the world, but it will likely be a long time before you see it in say the Scottish lower leagues, the English non-league or USL games at Thunderbird Stadium. And let's not even look at youth soccer. It's a rich man's toy. The big money leagues and governing bodies can afford it, helped by the huge television revenues that present a growing need for such technology in the first place. But the costs are prohibitive for many leagues and clubs to even contemplate installing the system. At least for now. But like all technological advancements over the years, whether it be DVD players, mobile phones, tablets or televisions, one thing is a constant. Wait a little bit from when it first comes out and the prices come tumbling down. "When you look at technology as a whole, systems as a whole, the price is always evolving and getting more attractive and I think it's only a matter of time," Upshon told us. "We've had a lot of interest from other leagues as well. Two years ago it was a brand new system and over time it will evolve."

While everyone wants to focus on the football without any distractions (which will be close to impossible with the happenings back at FIFA HQ), the reality is that some will be awaiting the first opportunity to berate the turf pitches and further their argument that the tournament should not be getting played on them. And let's be honest here, we are just one bad injury away or one bad bounce costing a crucial goal for the whole situation to blow up. The likelihood of that happening? Pretty high I would say, especially due to many players unfamiliarity with the surface. The newly laid BC Place pitch will be one of the centres of all the attention. It is after all hosting the Final, along with eight other matches, and has been held up as state of the art. Anyone who follows the Whitecaps or Major League Soccer knows the reputation of the turf at the stadium. Well the old turf at any rate. It was widely panned. Visiting teams hated it, Robbie Keane was always good for a soundbite about it, and Thierry Henry was one of the players who wouldn't even travel to play on it. Even the home players hated the damn thing. Thankfully it's now gone. Ripped up and sent to place where turf monsters go to die, or Surrey as the locals call it. In its place is a brand spanking new turf pitch. Top of the range and one of only three such pitches around the world, including Bayern Munich's training ground. The Polytan Ligaturf surface, or to give it its full name LigaTurf RS+CoolPlus World Cup Edition 260 W ACS 90 Bionic Fibre Infill, is a FIFA 2-Star field. What does that mean in everyday language? It's not as crap as a 1-Star one. The new BC Place pitch was installed at a cost of $1,327,000, with BC Place owners PavCo contributing $827,000 towards it and Canada Soccer and Rugby Canada splitting the $500,000 balance between them. The pitch is two shades of green and has a special infill. The infill has been specifically made for the use in sports fields. It's made to look like natural dirt, just coloured green for maximum HD quality TV viewing at home. It's also meant to prevent as much dust and pellets coming up. The jury's still out on that one. It's like no other pitch in the tournament, which has in itself already seen questions being raised as to why that is. Why were all the stadia not refitted with a similar pitch? "It's not the same manufacturer across all six of our stadia," NOC Chief Stadia Officer Don Hardman told reporters at a media turf briefing at BC Place on Wednesday. "What we have is a FIFA preferred producer program. There's a number of manufacturers that all meet the specific criteria and football turf so we have different manufacturers across the country." But surely FIFA and the organisers would want continuity between the six pitches being used. "We tried to develop the legacy and the infrastructure that we have in place," Hardman continued. "We've been utilising the football turf that has been in place at a number of stadiums and also going through the tender process to get the best installation possible." That installation of the new pitch is not even one week old at the time of writing this and there's already been moans about it and some anguish behind the scenes from officials. There's only been one actual game played on it so far, last Saturday's MLS match between the Caps and Real Salt Lake. Neither team were able to get a full practice session on it prior to the game and it didn't win a lot of plaudits from the visiting RSL players. A new pitch usually takes around eight weeks to be fully broken in. By the time the first World Cup game kicks off at BC Place on June 8th, the pitch will have been ready for just 10 days. "If you have a brand new pitch, you have to bring people on to the pitch and need activity on the pitch," Johannes Holzmüller, Group Leader of the FIFA Quality Programme, told reporters at the briefing. "Only after a few weeks or after this activity, depending how much you always try to maintain the pitch, then you have the best pitch conditions. "Similarly, when you have an older pitch, you have to maintain the pitch accordingly. That will bring the fibres upright. Especially here in Canada, where we have some pitches used not only for soccer but also some other sports, it's very important to maintain the pitches so at the end you have upright fibres in the end. If everything is done the right way, then these pitches can meet the FIFA 2-Star requirement." With that in mind then, why was the new BC Place pitch only installed last week when it clearly doesn't meet that criteria for breaking it in? "Part of it was timing," Hardman told us. "This is a very busy building between the trade show in the offseason and the MLS schedule. We had a window of opportunity in May and we made the best efforts we could." Officials say the prep has been fast-tracked, to break it in and age at a quicker rate, and it's not a concern. It was on Saturday though when the Whitecaps took on Real Salt Lake. "It needs time, it needs time. It is what it is." That was the view of RSL boss Jeff Cassar after Saturday's game, who was one of many who bemoaned the fact that their shoes were left dirty and in many cases had now become green in colour. RSL's veteran goalkeeper Nick Rimando expanded more in his criticism of the new surface. "I wasn't a fan," Rimando told reporters after Saturday's game. "Every time a ball comes, the sand gets in your eye and rubbers gets everywhere. As you saw, everybody that's played, it's all over your feet and legs. Hopefully that kinda wears in as more players play on it. "Slippery for sure. You saw all the guys slipping out there. First game though, so you can't be too critical on it. I think as more players play on it, it's going to get broken in and be better hopefully." Now you can take the view of a losing visiting team with some pinch of salt of course. More concerning are the rumours that the pitch didn't fare well in FIFA's official initial testing of the surface on Sunday, although that wasn't confirmed by the team doing the testing, Sports Labs Ltd. Sports Labs are an Edinburgh based, FIFA accredited test institute that carries out all the performance testing on the surfaces and they told us that the testing is ongoing and still far from complete. "The process we carry out is on the surface and then we go back to the lab in Scotland and carry out the performance test," Sports Labs engineer Niall MacPhee told AFTN. "It's a phased process. It doesn't happen that we just turn up and test, so we're still going through that process. "As you can see, I'm still here with the equipment. We need to get back to the laboratory and do all the sample checks. So it would be premature to say pass or fail." The actual testing of the surface is rigorous. What does it involve? Well here's FIFA official blurb on the subject from their "Football Turf Background Information" document: The FIFA Quality Programme for Football Turf is a rigorous testing programme for artificial football surfaces. At the core of the FIFA Quality Programme for Football Turf are four basic objectives: - Playing performance (ball/surface interaction) - Safety (player/surface interaction) - Durability - Quality assurance This quality testing scheme compares results on football turf against those on natural grass pitches in good condition so that the playing characteristics are mirrored. The football turf has to be rigorously tested both in the laboratory and in its installed location to ensure that the surface reacts to the ball as it would on a grass pitch in good condition in terms of roll and bounce. Similarly, the tests are designed to ensure that players can play on football turf with the same confidence as they would on a natural grass pitch in good condition. Successfully tested fields are awarded one of the two FIFA RECOMMENDED marks, provided that all of the stringent criteria are met during the testing procedure. The FIFA Quality Programme has set the industry standard and put the focus on player well-being and playing performance. So there you go! But to break it down specifically to what's happening at BC Place, all tests are around the safety of the player and to make sure the pitch plays the same all over whether you're a winger, a defender or a goalkeeper. The tests are also to make sure that the pitch is built to endure. All new pitches are expected to last for way more than one or two seasons and ideally six to eight years of high quality use is the expectation, depending on the correct maintenance. Part of the testing at BC Place has seen the use of a torque metre by dropping weights and seeing how much traction is there when you turn your foot. They're also testing the rolling and rebounds of the ball, ageing and the dimensions. It's all very thorough and exhaustive. "We've tested the surface on over 19 occasions and carried out performance tests in the laboratory back home in Scotland, but we also carry out performance tests on the surfaces," Sports Labs MacPhee told reporters. "The performance tests we carry out are players surface interaction tests and ball surface interaction tests. "A lot of these tests will tell you how hard the surface is compared to concrete, how much the surface deforms under your foot, how far the ball rolls on the surface, how much a ball rebounds on the surface and we also look at the type of polymers used. All these tests are carried out on the surface and prior to that in the laboratory. Although no-one is admitting it, it's fairly obvious to the layman that the pitch is not ready yet. My shoes will also testify to that. The amount of dirt and debris coming up off the new pitch is not good and how healthy it is for the players playing on it is a whole other debate. "This pitch has been installed very recently and you're going to get that," MacPhee told us. "You'll get compaction of the rubber over a period of time." Can the rapid ageing process they're putting it through compound the pellets enough before Monday's opening matches? Publically, at least, everyone is hopeful. "This is probably just the natural break in process, with this being less than a week old," Hardman told us. "We still have to work on some of the compaction and letting the natural settlement of the pitch happen and this will dissipate in time." "We're working with the manufacturer and the stadium groundkeeping staff and we're definitely addressing all those issues in advance of the first match here." Let's hope he's right. For now, we have to hope that the artificial pitches don't become anything like one of the main talking points from the tournament and all the action and drama stems from the actual action taking place on them. FIFA would love that too right now.

REPORT: Vancouver Whitecaps made it three losses in their last four matches, crashing to a 2-1 defeat in Montreal. Despite dominating play against the Impact at times, the Whitecaps couldn't get the job done in front of goal and once again it proved to be very costly. Jack McInerney gave Montreal a first half lead, but Pedro Morales gave Vancouver a lifeline with a penalty 11 minutes from time. The Whitecaps sensed a winner but as they pushed, the Impact hit them with an 83rd minute winner from Ignacio Piatti. With one eye on Saturday's trip to LA, Carl Robinson made six changes to the starting line-up. A risky move in for the more winnable game of the two, on paper at least. The Whitecaps made an unusually slow start out of the traps and the Impact weren't much better. It was the home side that took the lead, however, in the 14th minutes and it was pretty much out of nothing. A weak clearance from Diego Rodriguez fell to Lauren Ciman about 25 yards out and his dipping volley crashed off the crossbar. David Ousted was beaten all ends up in the Caps goal and was left looking for where the ball had gone. Straight into the path of Jack McInerney as it turned out and the striker made no mistake in firing home the rebound from 12 yards out. The goal spurred Vancouver on and they took the game to Montreal, dominating play and controlling the midfield, but, once again, without getting the vital breakthrough in the final third. They certainly came close. In a blistering spell to end the half, Kekuta Manneh had the ball in the back of the net in the 40th minute but it was quickly called back for offside. Nicolas Mezquida then saw his shot deflected over the bar on the stroke of half time and there was still time for Darren Mattocks to crash an effort off the left post. Promising signs, but a case of same old, same old for the Caps in the final third? Montreal started the second half strong and McInerney forced Ousted into a save at his near post in the 50th minute, winning a corner that the Impact couldn't capitalise on. Both teams were enjoying possession but Montreal were coming up with the better chances, with Ousted tipping over from Andres Romero just past the hour mark. Vancouver used all their subs in an attempt to get something from the game and they were handed to the opportunity to do just that when Jordan Harvey was brought down in the box by Romero in the 79th minute. Morales, who had not long come on as a sub, easily slotted home the Caps' first penalty of the season and it was 1-1. The Whitecaps' joy was to be short lived. Four minutes in fact. Piatti was given too much space in the box and collected a pass from Romero to fire home between Tim Parker and Harvey and past Ousted, to put the Impact back in the lead. Montreal nearly made it three moments later when Anthony Jackson-Hamel headed narrowly wide. The Caps pushed for another equaliser, but the home side shut up shot and there was to be no way through. Piatti had the last chance of the game in stoppage time when he nearly scored a fantastic chip over Ousted, but the Dane did well to grab the ball. A very disappointing loss for many factors, the two biggest being the way that the Caps dominated the play at times but mostly because this was perhaps the most winnable game on Vancouver's gruelling five game stretch on the road. It's only going to get tougher over the next five weeks and the rest of the season. This one could really be costly for the Caps. FINAL SCORE: Montreal Impact 2 - 1 Vancouver Whitecaps ATT: 10,035 MONTREAL: Evan Bush; Donny Toia, Wandrille Lefevre, Laurent Ciman, Ambroise Oyongo; Calum Mallace, Patrice Bernier (Anthony Jackson-Hamel 81), Andres Romero, Ignacio Piatti, Eric Alexander (Maxim Tissot 63); Jack McInerney (Nigel Reo-Coker 78) [subs Not Used: Eric Kronberg, Bakary Soumare, Victor Cabrera, Romario Williams] VANCOUVER: David Ousted; Tim Parker, Kendall Waston, Diego Rodriguez, Jordan Harvey; Matias Laba, Russell Teibert (Pedro Morales 74), Mauro Rosales Octavio Rivero 70), Nicolas Mezquida (Cristian Techera 63), Kekuta Manneh; Darren Mattocks [subs Not Used: Paolo Tornaghi, Christian Dean, Gershon Koffie, Robert Earnshaw] REACTION: VANCOUVER WHITECAPSCARL ROBINSON On the overall game: [On TSN radio] "How we were one-nil down at half time was beyond me. We played very well with the ball. We gave away, obviously, a goal in the first few minutes and we were chasing. The character in the second half, we continued to play the way we wanted to play, continued to chase that goal, we got the goal and we let them off the hook again. The second goal could have been avoided." [On TSN radio] "I can't fault the performance, the way we played. I can fault the result because we didn't win." On continuing inability to convert chances" [On TSN radio] "Teams are not going to roll over and let you have endless chances. You've got to create your chances and sometimes we don't create enough chances. We created a number of chances today. Are they clear cut ones? No. If you look at the chances we had in the first half compared to the ones Montreal had, they go in one ahead. It's a learning process. We'll deal with it." On resting players v Montreal and not v LA which is harder game to win: [On TSN radio] "You talk about three games in a week and how you manage that. Effectively, it's done in results. If you lose a game, it's the wrong decision. I could have played exactly the same team as Saturday and we lose and it's the wrong thing to do. Today, I decided to freshen it up because it's the right thing to do. The energy in the team was good, the performance was good, so it was the right thing to do. We lost, so I'll have to accept that and will take responsibility for that." [on TSN radio] "It's about managing it, but again with managing it, you need to get results. If you don't get a result, people will question you and say it's the wrong thing to do." [in scrum] "I firmly believed this team could win this game, and it showed based on performance that they should’ve won the game. So I’ve got confidence in every single player in my group, and my starting roster was based upon that." On going for the win and not settling for a draw: [On TSN radio] "We made our substitutions based on wanting to try and get back in the game. If you put an attacking sub on then obviously you get back in the game and we've got attacking players on the field. When we went to 1-1, I firmly believed we could go on and win the game, and so did the group. It's not naive from us because the worst case was we had a point, but if you don't do your jobs correctly you give up a point sometimes. Unfortunately we lost a point today." On bad start to stretch of road games: [On TSN radio] "We know we're on the road for five games. This is the first game, unfortunately it's a loss, which you have to accept. You've just got to go and try and win the next game." On what they did wrong and how to improve for Saturday: [in scrum] "We need to out our chances away. Football is a game where, if you’re able to take your chances when you’re on top, you’re going to win the game. We were 1-0 behind at half somehow and obviously showed great character to get back in the game. We gave a bad goal, we left him, but it was a good finish, he’s a very talented player, but we could’ve avoided that." DAVID OUSTED On the Whitecaps going for the win: "I think we need to go in and try to get three. I feel like we had the chances going forward today and we don’t want to sit back and get draws in a row, we need to get wins as well. Today it didn’t go our way." On the first 15 minutes: "If you go away from home, sometimes you won’t have the ball. We’re good at that and hitting them on the counter. I thought we did well today creating chances, but we let in two bad goals and that killed us today." RUSSELL TEIBERT On Montreal winning: "I think Montreal was clinical on the chances that they had and they ended up getting two goals. I think there are a lot of things that we can do better but there’s a lot of positives that we can take away from this game. Resiliency; I think we have this never say die attitude that when times are tough and we need to get back in the match, were never going to say it’s over if there’s still time on the clock." On the last 10 minutes: "It’s about being focused for 90 minutes. You can do things right for 85, but if you don’t do the tasks you’re assigned for 90 minutes, good teams will capitalize, and that’s what Montreal did tonight." MONTREAL IMPACT FRANK KLOPAS On the win: "This game was really important; a tie would’ve been like a loss to us. There was some pressure on the guys, and not only fatigue, but from the mental aspect as well, when you’re under pressure, winning like this was huge." On a different starting XI: "We make decisions based on how guys play in games. I wasn’t going to make a lot of changes because it’s very hard to stop the rhythm of the team, but I thought the changes we made were good, and I think it’s important because it keeps everyone on their toes and we need to be fair with everyone." EVAN BUSH On playing at home: "We have a good feeling when we’re playing at home, and regardless of what we did on Saturday there’s always a way to bounce back. It’s a funny league. Columbus for me is one of the best teams in the league and they got smoked tonight on the road." On taking success to the road: "We need to be a little more comfortable on the ball. We did well with where we drew the line tonight defensively. We didn’t get too high, we didn’t let them get their fast guys in behind us. With our guys up top we do well with when were in transition. From that standpoint we take that on the road, and to be fair you sit back on the road creating a lot of space, and from there we should be confident in exploiting that space." PATRICE BERNIER After not having played for so long: "Personally, it’s always great to start the game and have the support of the crowd as well. The most important thing of course is to win, and this was a very important win after Saturday’s performance. We needed to bounce back and now were perfect at home, now we need to start getting points on the road." On finding success on the road: "We need to start finding success in the second half, where we don’t always have the ball and it’s not always easy. But tonight we were alert, concentrated and focused, we didn’t give them great chances and we took advantages of our opportunities. On the road its never the same, we need to be more alert and focused, and more mentally alert."

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You saw that for this past Sunday's USL game when the 'Caps bizarrely marketed it in part as "The return of Long Tan". I'm not quite sure just who the target audience was with that one (apart from a certain 'Old Fan' on the Southsiders forum and he couldn't even make the game!). Having all that potential was all well and good, but the problem was that Tan didn't actually cut it on the pitch with the 'Caps in Major League Soccer. Now, some would argue that that was because he didn't get the opportunity. Tan decried that fact himself on Twitter. But, to us, the fact was that he just wasn't MLS quality. DC United thought otherwise, and Tan played briefly with them towards the end of the 2012 season. A Championship winning stint in Orlando followed, before Tan returned to China for a year before returning to the US. But after all the travelling, and what felt at the time as a not so amicable parting of the ways between the two parties, Tan was back in Vancouver on Sunday when his Arizona United side headed to Thunderbird Stadium in USL action. It wasn't a happy homecoming for Tan as his side was on the end of a 2-0 loss, but he was still delighted to return to familiar surroundings. "It felt good," Tan told AFTN after the match. "It's been a long time not coming back. I feel like this is my home, so I was very excited. "I feel happy, but we lost, so I feel sad, but I still feel good that I come back home here." Tan came to Vancouver in late 2010. Having moved to the US from China in 2008, the striker first cut his teeth in the North American game with PDL side Atlanta Blackhawks, scoring seven goals in 12 appearances. Staying in the USL ranks, he moved up to D2 level with FC Tampa Bay for the 2010 season, before being part of a bizarre trade at the time that saw Tan head to Vancouver and Jonny Steele (later of New York Red Bulls "fame") and Ricardo Sanchez. Tan stayed with Tampa till the end of the season. After officially signing a MLS contract with the Caps in March 2011 after being on trial for a couple of months. He made his MLS debut a couple of weeks later and went on to play 13 games, and 437 minutes, for the Whitecaps during their inaugural season. As to what his favourite memory is of his time in Vancouver, that's an easy one. "I think it's my first goal, my first MLS goal," Tan was quick to reply. "I'm happy because I scored my first MLS goal with the Whitecaps here." Tan got that sole MLS goal against DC United on October 12th 2011. It was the match winner in a 2-1 victory and he became the first Chinese born player to score a goal in Major League Soccer. Tan made just four starts that inaugural MLS season, contributing two assists as well as his lone goal. He made more starts for the Caps PDL side, banging in five goals in six games. And therein lay one of the problems. Tan was too good for PDL level, but not quite at the MLS grade. A USL club back four years ago could have been the different breaker for him. It's something he's thought about and he's delighted to see MLS clubs in USL this season and the chance it gives the fringe guys to show their talent. "It's good for the USL and the league," Tan said. "It's good for pushing players to make the first team. It's very good for the young players." Despite shining at PDL level, grabbing that first MLS goal and with a managerial change for the 'Caps, it wasn't enough to convince new boss Martin Rennie that he was MLS calibre for his rebuilt side, and he only played 28 minutes and made four appearances in the first few months of the 2012 season. Tan was upset at the lack of opportunities, and after scoring three goals in two PDL matches, he sent out this tweet: When a player isn't getting playing time, he's going to get frustrated. That's what you want. You want that desire to get back into the team and the reckoning. It's how you express that of course that dictates how you're then viewed. The tweet earned Tan a suspension and at that point it was probably time for both parties to have a fresh start. And they did. DC United came in for Tan in return for a third round draft pick and the striker was traded 20 days after his tweet. Tan featured in six of DC's next nine games, making three starts and grabbing a goal in the 4-2 win at Chicago. But then the minutes dried up, he was loaned out to USL side Richmond Kickers and didn't feature in DC's last eight matches. He was released at the end of the season but went back to USL to join Orlando City, making 25 appearances and scoring 5 goals in their Championship winning season. "It was good, we won the Championship!" Tan told us. "They have good fans and we had a good coach and a good team. I really enjoyed there. "After they moved to MLS I had to go back to China because of my family. But now I come back to play in America again. I tried to come back to play in MLS." Tan spent the first part of 2014 with Chinese Super League side Harbin Yiteng before heading back to the US and joining Arizona United, which brings us bang up to date. He made 12 appearances for Arizona last season, banging in five goals and earning a multi-year contract with the club. After all his trials and tribulations, he's very happy in Scottsdale. Well, fairly happy! "I enjoy it there, but the weather is too hot," Tan laughed. "It's nice weather, it's better than over here! [in Vancouver]" Tan has continued his fine form with Arizona this season. He may have been blanked by the Whitecaps on Sunday, but he leads the team with four goals and an assist from their 10 games so far and he still harbours hopes of impressing at USL level with an eye to a step back up to Major League Soccer. "I hope to play MLS," Tan told us. "I hope I come back by doing good here [in Arizona]. I want to play in MLS [again]." Tan has shown he can score at the lower levels of the North American game. Can he do it at MLS level on a regular basis and earn another shot? Stranger things have happened and we wish him nothing but the best to try and get there.

"If you look at the schedule, we've got so many USL games that we've got going on and so many MLS games and we've got a few injuries too, we actually had to ask for an exemption and the CSA approved it," WFC2 coach Alan Koch told AFTN after the game. "I don't think it's something we'll be using very often. You can see in our roster that we've been playing a lot of Canadians. We only started four today but we did get it approved by the CSA before the game." It wasn't the most exciting first half. Vancouver tried to take the game to Arizona but as with the first team, putting away those chances was proving difficult. The Whitecaps turned up the pressure at the start of the second and Caleb Clarke showed quick reaction four minutes in to tuck away a rebound after Arizona keeper Carl Woszcynski had done well to keep out a Kianze Froese shot from the edge of the box. The goal was Clarke's fourth of the season and his second straight game with a goal. Vancouver had several chances to add a second and were in control of the match. They finally got their second killer goal with 12 minutes of the game remaining. It came from Brett Levis and was the Saskatoon native's first professional goal. And what a beauty it was too as the midfielder won possession at the half way line and skipped past two Arizona players before burying it in the bottom right corner of the net. There was no way back for Arizona and the young Caps go marching on. Next up are two away matches in four days. Colorado Springs are first up on Wednesday followed by a trip to OKC Energy on Saturday. AFTN photographer Tom Ewasiuk was there to capture all the action before, during and after the game and here's his "Story In Pictures", with a full Flickr slideshow at the end. [Also check out Tom's website www.residualimagephotography.com for more of his photos and work]. The teams come out at Thunderbird Stadium, ready for battle WFC2 starting XI A small but loud supporters' section for this one The closest WFC2 came in the first half was a Caleb Clarke header But Clarke wasn't to be denied and put the Caps ahead in the 49th minute Victor Blasco comes close to making it two And so does Caleb Clarke as he tried to round Arizona keeper Carl Wozscynski But the Caps do make it 2-0 in the 78th minute when Brett Levis picks up the ball at halfway line and runs in on goal Getting past two Arizona players on the way and slotting home his first professional goal Much to his joy And relief! The young Caps applaud the fans after back to back home wins While it's a meeting of mutual respect at the goalkeepers' union Paolo Tornaghi is in demand after his clean sheet Former Whitecap, and Arizona striker, catches up with an old friend, AFTN contributor and Curva Collective's Zachary Meisenheimer, after the game You can see a Flickr slideshow of all of Tom's photos from the game below:

[Also check out Tom's website www.residualimagephotography.com for more of his photos and work]. The Southsiders March to the Match - BC Place awaits A close up of the new BC Place pitch Vancouver Whitecaps starting XI Real Salt Lake starting XI Coaches Carl Robinson and Jeff Cassar share a laugh before kick off Nick Rimando has an eye for a camera In the 36th minute, Gershon Koffie dispossess Joao Plata after some sloppy play And the man making his 100th MLS start for the Caps hit a 25 yard thunderbolt into the postage stamp corner - 1-0 Vancouver And boy is he happy! But the joy wasn't to last long as Javier Morales spots some poor wall positioning And curls a beautiful free kick past David Ousted Octavio Rivero has a chance to restore the Caps lead in the second half But the Uruguayan is like the rest of us and can't believe he didn't tuck it away A huge turning point in the game comes in the 64th minute as David Ousted pulls off another 'Save of the Week' candidate from an Elias Vasquez header Denied at one end, Vasquez gives up a goal at the other when he attempts to chest the ball back to Nick Rimando But before the keeper can collect the ball, Cristian Techera nips in And rounds Rimando before slotting home the winner The joy and ecstasy of your first MLS goal The Bug is squished! The secret behind why Kendall Waston is so good in the air - steam power! Kendall Waston does the postgame humba with Curva Collective You can see a Flickr slideshow of all of Tom's photos from the game below:

REPORT (by Steve Pandher) The first part of the match saw both teams getting used to the new surface at BC Place with the first chance coming just after ten minutes when Pedro Morales forced Nick Rimando into a diving stop on a shot that was heading inside the post. Vancouver squandered two clear chances to open the scoring in the space of four minutes when first an unmarked Cristian Techera fired wildly over in the 20th minute, after being set up by Mauro Rosales, and then Octavio Rivero crossed the ball right to an open Gershon Koffie who hit the bar from inside twelve yards. The Ghanaian midfielder would make up for his miss in the 36th minute with an unstoppable strike into the top corner. After stripping Joao Plata of the ball, Koffie took a touch and blasted a shot from 25 yards out past a diving Rimando to give Vancouver the lead. With less than five minutes to go in the half, Kendall Waston had an opportunity to double the lead when his header, off a Morales free kick, sailed just over the bar. The inability to convert that chance would prove costly and Real Salt Lake evened the match when Javier Morales placed a 25 yard free kick with power into the top corner past a helpless Ousted and a poorly set up wall. Pa Modou Kah had a chance to restore the 'Caps lead before the break, but his header was saved on the line by Rimando and the teams went in all square. Ten minutes after the break Morales almost give RSL lead when he got free inside the box but Kah was able to get in the way at the last moment to block the shot. As the hour mark it was the Caps who were denied as Rivero was stopped by Rimando after being sent in one on one by Laba. Four minutes later the Whitecaps were scrambling to keep the ball out of the net after Ousted punched a Vasquez goalbound header off the line. A five minute span between the 71st and 76th minute saw the Whitecaps dominating the visitors with a total of eight corners attempted but only one blocked Morales chance coming from it. Just three minutes later the Whitecaps would capitalize on a RSL mistake allowing Christian Techera to score his first in MLS. Matias Laba crossed the ball to Rivero who was able to head the ball into the six yard area. At this point Vasquez chested the ball to Rimando who was not ready for it. Techera nipped in and had his first attempt stopped by Rimando. The pint sized winger followed up on the loose ball and deposited into the open net for the 2-1 lead and what proved to be the winning goal. The remainder of the match saw the Caps keep RSL at bay except in the final moments when Alvaro Saborio’s shot from six yards out went into the side netting. The win over RSL ended Vancouver’s mini two game losing streak and they end the month of May with a two wins, two losses and a draw. It also improved their home record to 4-1-3 taking advantage of the last match BC Place until July 12th. While that match is far away the next week sees Vancouver traveling to the East to take on derby rivals Montreal Impact mid-week before returning to Southern California next Saturday to play the LA Galaxy. FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 2 - 1 Real Salt Lake ATT: 21,000 (sell out) VANCOUVER: David Ousted; Steven Beitashour, Kendall Waston, Pa-Modou Kah, Jordan Harvey; Matías Laba, Gershon Koffie; Cristian Techera(Darren Mattocks 86), Pedro Morales(Russell Teibert 90+3), Mauro Rosales(Kekuta Manneh 69); Octavio Rivero [subs Not Used: Paolo Tornaghi, Nicolás Mezquida, Tim Parker, Robert Earnshaw] SALT LAKE: Nick Rimando; Elias Vasquez, Justen Glad, Aaron Maund, Abdoulie Mansally; Kyle Beckerman, John Stertzer(Luis Gil 81), Javier Morales; Joao Plata (Olmes Garcia 70), Sebastian Jaime(Alvaro Saborio 84), Devon Sandoval [subs Not Used: Lalo Fernandez, Tony Beltran, Wellington Paeckart, Luke Mullholland] REACTION: VANCOUVER CARL ROBINSON On a great win before a long road trip: “Very important. I was dreading coming in here and saying to you guys ‘Oh, we played really well, but we didn’t win.’ That’s the frustration I felt after 45 minutes because I thought we were absolutely excellent in the first 45 minutes without scoring more than one goal. And the dangerous off-set plays and set pieces, we were giving up one or two silly free kicks. If you give Rosales an opportunity, he scores. So I was disappointed, but pleased. But it was an important win.” On being some of the best play this season: “It is. Whether we can score enough goals to win the games has been the big question. As I said to the guys in there today, ‘Well-played. But, I’m sick of saying well-played, but we’re not winning. Let’s go out and challenge.’ After the game, it was nice, because I said the group can go to a very special place if they really believe they can and want to. And today I found out a lot about them. It was pleasing for them. It was an important win.” On Cristian Techera and what he brings to the team: “All of my players have different attributes. He brings energy about him. He’s small, he’s dynamic, and he scores goals. If you look at his record prior to when he came here, he scored goals. And that’s one thing we need our wide players to do, if we’re going to play the shape that we play. It wasn’t the prettiest of goals, he’s scored many better goals than that but we’ll take it. But, it’s not just him. Mauro and Kekuta [Manneh], when he came on, were excellent as well, so he’s different to what we have.” On David Ousted’s big save and how it influenced the match: “He seemed to be very happy with that afterwards, didn’t he? You know, calling the crowd, putting his arms up, which was great. Key moments, fine lines, this game. As we talk about every week, and our fine line today was David produced a great save. He’s in the team to do that, so when he does that, we’ll pat him on the back as well. Then obviously the forward players took the goals.” Thought’s on the newly surfaced turf: “Great. Good. I don’t use excuses. It’s the same for both teams. Our advantage is the 12th man out there, these fans. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Real Salt Lake are a good team, they have good players. After a long road trip for them, well, three games in a week, you know they are going to have a period of play. When they did, the fans got us through that as well and we kicked on again, which was a pleasing thing. We were looking very strong at the end, so it was fine.” Thoughts on Gershon Koffie: “He can do it. I keep saying to him every week, he can do it. Gershon has shown on his day he can arguably be one of the best midfield players in the league, without a doubt. I gripe with him, and it is a gripe. His potential is massive. He’s got to fulfill his potential with my help and my coaches’ help and he’s pushing himself, day in and day out. Because, what I don’t want is him to play well one game and not so well for two or three games. It’s about playing well. Kyle Beckerman, perfect example. Plays well every game. Gershon can do that and challenge him. Russell [Teibert] wasn’t quite ready today and he’s been excellent for me. And Matias [Laba] is Matias. Gershon can score goals. He was a beauty today, really was.” On the combination of Mauro Rosales, Pedro Morales, Cristian Techera, and Octavio Rivero: “I think in certain games, in certain halves of football, we’ve played very well. Sometimes we go with pace out wide. Cristian brings us the pace element. Mauro brings us the brain. I thought Mauro was excellent again. Different games require different things. When we go on the road, it’s going to be different. We have a tough stretch now of five games. So we’ll pick and choose who we use and when we use them. But the boys performed today. I’m leaving good players out of this squad, I really am. Sometimes people say, ‘Well why you do you keep changing the line-ups’ and things like that. The energy levels have to be high. Salt Lake did it today if you look at the bench with Tony Beltran, Luke Mulholland, Luis Gil, and Alvaro Saborio. They left their good players out. They play every week for them, but three games in a week is hard for any player. It will be what it is.” GERSHON KOFFIE Thoughts on his goal: “I just read what [Nick Rimando] was going to do. That he was going to turn outside to the right side because there were a lot of guys inside so he could not go inside. So I just followed up and had a shot.” Thoughts on missed chance earlier in the match: “I was at the right spot and should have buried that one. But fortunately, I did what I could and I got rewarded with the second one.” On whether he has practiced on his finishing: “Yes, we have been putting in a lot of work on that. But even the strikers who score every single game, they miss some chances that are expected. You just have to keep working on your finish.” On his 100th regular season start: “It is special for the whole team and it is very special to me.” On importance of this win: “It’s always good to win. We are not going to be here for a while. The win was very important for us and it gives us motivation for the next game.” CRISTIAN TECHERA Thoughts on the match: “I think it was a game that we may have complicated a little bit for ourselves after the first half. But we came out in the second half and made it happen.” On his first MLS goal and shoe celebration: “It’s good. Anytime a player scores a goal it gives you confidence going forward and it settles you down and makes you look forward to the next one. I was telling the guys in the locker room that the ball that was pretty high up in the air and the Real Salt Lake goalkeeper is not the tallest so it made sense that the defender would be trying to chest it back. I just recognized that and was able to capitalize on the opportunity. I told my family I would score a goal and send them my shoes.” Thoughts on playing in front of Whitecaps FC fans and on the new turf: “Fans have been great from the get-go. It’s always nice to come into a full stadium with passionate support. The turf was nice. It looks really good. It’s always nice to play at BC Place especially with the new turf.” On whether he feels more comfortable now: “It’s been great. Especially with a few Latino players here. It helped me settle in a lot quicker. The support from the club has made that transition a lot smoother. Anytime you go anywhere as a player, there is always a bit of a transition and settling-in phase and I am thankful it has gone relatively smoothly.” REAL SALT LAKE JEFF CASSAR Thoughts on the game-winning goal: “At that junction of the game, it’s ‘boom’ and get it out. We talk about it all the time. It’s a learning experience but I think Nick Rimando had a very good game.” On whether the sun was a factor on the game-winning goal: “I don’t know, I haven’t talked to Nick Rimando about what happened. It should be a simple play. Just ‘boom’ and get it out. I know Elias Vasquez is very comfortable back there on the ball. Sometimes, it doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to be effective so we can walk out of here with the result.” On the changes in the lineup: “This is our seventh game this month. Three games in eight days isn’t easy. Credit to our players for sticking it out. Credit to players like Javier Morales and Kyle Beckerman. These guys are coming back from injury. Kyle has played three games of 90 minutes. These guys are warriors. It’s good to give them as many extended minutes as possible with Sebastian Jaime and Joao Plata because we need to work them in back to full fitness. It’s not easy to go on the road twice, and three games in eight days. We hung in there, we did a good job and we should’ve had the result for sure.” On Justen Glad’s debut performance: “Very good. I thought he was very good. It’s not an easy task to deal with Whitecaps FC wingers. They’re technical, they have speed. I thought he did a great job.” On the upcoming home schedule: “It’s been hard for us to get in rhythm. It’s one match away, then one at home. You can use these home games to really get on a streak. To get going, we’re going to have to do that.” On their recent performance: “I don’t think we struggled tonight. We didn’t get the result but you look at everything and I think we played a very good game. Same thing in LA. We were all over them for long stretches of time, but we’re doing things to shoot ourselves on the foot. But if we don’t give up penalty kicks, we don’t give up set-play goals, and we don’t give up red cards, we’re a pretty good team. But if you gift goals, it’s hard to get results.” JUSTEN GLAD On his debut performance: “I think it went well. Unfortunately, we didn’t win but I think as far as experience goes, I think it was a good game. We had to grind it out at the end. That’s how defence is and that’s what it comes down to. Coming from an experience standpoint, it’s a huge step.” On transitioning from the USL to the MLS: “Obviously, everyone’s a little stronger, a little faster. You just have to play a little quicker. The nerves definitely came in the first half and they played a part. But in the second half, it was a lot easier. It’s a fitness game. Coming in, I tired more quickly. For example last week, at the end of the USL game, I wasn’t tired. At the end of this game, I’m a lot more tired. It’s a tough transition but helpful to the USL side to have this experience. Obviously, there are things to work on. There’s always room for improvement. I’m alright with it.” On the FIFA 2015 Women’s World Cup being played on the new turf: “It should be fine. It’s a really nice stadium. It’s a nice set-up they have up here. I think they’ll enjoy it.” NICK RIMANDO Thoughts on the match: “They scored more than us. I thought we did enough to at least tie that game but we figured out a way to lose it.” On the Cristian Techera goal: “That comes down to language barriers. Elias Vasquez wanted to do one thing, and I was saying something else. Obviously, you saw the result of what happened. That’s us figuring a way not to win the game. We have to figure out a way to reverse that this year. It was a mistake and we’ve had a lot of those this year. We just have to move forward and learn from them and keep grinding out and get results.” On what they can take away from the match: “The good thing we got out of this is we got a lot of guys some good minutes. A lot of guys got some rest. I don’t think any of that had to do anything with the result. We had chances where we could’ve scored. At the end of the day, they scored more than us and put away their chances.” On the team’s early season struggles: “It’s one that we just need to go with. It’s definitely unusual compared to what we’re used to. A lot of changes but we knew it was going to be different from the beginning and it’s still relatively early. We have to start getting some points and grinding it out. It’s not going to be pretty at times but if it’s ugly, it’s ugly. If it’s ugly but we grind out some points, it’s fine with me. We have to find who we are and keep moving forward and somehow get healthy because we have a lot of guys out.” On the new turf: “It’s the first game so you can’t really be critical of it. As more players play on it, it’s going to get broken in and get better.” KYLE BECKERMAN On the early season struggles: “It’s frustrating. It’s part of the game. It’s about the team that makes the least amount of mistakes. It’s about punishing the other team when they do make a mistake. We just weren’t able to punish them. They did on a couple of mistakes we made. That was just the story of the game today.” On the adjustments to the lineup: “Guys gained a lot of experience today. Hopefully that helps us in the long run. Justen Glad played his first game, I think he did really well. There are a lot of positives to take away from the game. It’s not all doom and gloom. We’ll take the positives. We’ll see where we can get better and keep marching forward.”

Well, technically it's Burnaby as it's at Metrotown Shopping Centre today, Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free and it's open from 11am till 7pm at the Grand Court lower level. Sponsored by Coca-Cola, this is the first ever tour of the trophy and similar to what Coke did in Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics, the event features interactive elements, a photo opportunity and a free commemorative bottle of Coke at the end of it all. Interactive aspects feature a Beat the Goalie competition against a robot competitor that doesn't quite have the loud commanding presence of David Ousted. There's also two foosball tables and chance to visit the "locker room" where jerseys are hanging commemorating the four countries that have lifted the trophy since 1991. The scary/sexy owl mascot Shueme and some football freestylers are also meant to be there but they weren't when we headed along on Friday. In fact, neither were the crowds! It was very quiet and when one of the volunteers asked us if we knew it was on or if we'd just stumbled across it, she was surprised when we said that's why we had headed to Metrotown. Apparently, not many others have known about it. I do have to say that it is somewhat indicative of the whole tournament here in Vancouver so far. There's been little buzz, little hype and little promotion that I've seen around the place, but hopefully this will change once the competition gets into full flow next week. The pinnacle of the tour is the trophy itself and once you've had your fun in the interactive sections, you can head through the "Winners Tunnel" to have your photo taken with the actual Women's World Cup trophy. Well beside it as it's encased in glass. You can't take your own pictures but someone is there to take them for you and print off a couple of copies for you to keep. All that's left is to make your way out, pick up your special limited edition Women's World Cup bottle of Coke (regular, light and zero varieties available) and outside the attraction you can get your picture taken at a TSN Sportscentre desk. The whole thing is likely to take you 5 to 10 minutes to go through once you get to the front of the queue. We expect it will be bust at the weekend, so head along if you can for a fun memento of the World Cup. The Trophy Tour in all its glory Beat The Robot Goalie! "You'll never beat the robot Erin McLeod" chant doesn't scan so well Will a "Canada 15" shirt be hanging on the next Trophy Tour? The "Winners Tunnel" - we're pretty sure everyone we saw enter actually left, apart from that kid in the TFC shirt The Women's World Cup trophy in all her beauty Your chance to be a TSN reporter for the day And if you want to see more photos, check out the slideshow below:

Have a listen! You can listen to this, and all previous, episodes of the podcast on iTunes HERE. Or download it for your later listening delight HERE. We also have an iPhone app, so you can now add our podcast to your phone as an app. Visit the podcast's mobile site HERE and then at the bottom of the screen just click the "Quick Launch" icon and the podcast will be added to your home screen and appear as an app. And if that's not enough, we're on Stitcher Radio Network. Download the app and listen to the AFTN podcast on your device, along with over 20,000 other shows HERE. Or after all that, you could just listen on the player below!

It was a goal that you sensed was coming from McKendry’s recent performances, and he came agonisingly close to grabbing it on a couple of occasions against OKC Energy last weekend. For a player who often plays more as part of the two man defensive midfield shield, McKendry has a very strong attacking element to his game. He’s very much a box to box midfielder and scored 14 goals (five of them match winners) from his 61 appearances with New Mexico Lobos in NCAA action. Watching him these past couple of weeks, you could sense his desire to find the back of the net, and now that he has, it’s a weight off his shoulders. "It's huge," McKendry admitted to AFTN after the match. "It's a bit of a relief to be honest. A little bit of a monkey off the back. I feel like I could probably have had one last week and this week I just wanted to come back with the same mentality and when I got my opportunity I wanted to take it, and I did. Credit to Victor [blasco] it was a great ball across, and I think [Chris] Serban was also involved on the wing there." McKendry has been a staple of the Whitecaps’ USL team this season, starting all nine of their matches and logging the most minutes of the side with 723. He is also second on the team with shots (11) and third with shots on goal (5). Despite those numbers, McKendry hasn’t been completely happy with how he was playing with WFC2 to begin with. "I think it was a little bit of a slow start," McKendry feels about his initial performances with the 'Caps USL side. "For not only me, but probably the whole group, to the season. But slowly we've all gotten better and I think you can see that, especially these last few games. You just got to keep your head down, keep working and things will pay off." What’s been interesting to see these last couple of weeks is how well WFC2 have played when it is the core USL group and there’s not been as many MLS players in the line-up, just the regular guys that have been loaned down like McKendry. The chemistry is much better, and although all the chopping and changing hasn’t been ideal, McKendry sees both the MLS and USL squads as one big, combined unit. "Obviously it's not ideal having guys in and out of the group," McKendry admits. "But you saw Diego [Rodriguez], he came in and he was fantastic I thought. I think we get on well with the USL guys. We hang out off the pitch and stuff and credit to them, they've been great about us coming and playing with them." WFC2 coach Alan Koch has been pleased with McKendry’s performances of late and delighted to see him get on the scoresheet on Sunday. "It's great for Ben to score," WFC2 coach Alan Koch told us after the win over Real Monarchs SLC. "That should give him a bit of confidence in terms of getting in to the final third. His energy's always good. "First half he played probably a little bit higher than we'd like him to but then he found better shape in the second half. But full credit to him. He got the goal and we keep moving forward. He's played very, very well the last few weeks so it's nice to see him getting rewarded with scoring the goal." McKendry picked up a booking for his celebration after he scored, as he ran to the corner flag and knocked it over. That in itself came as a surprise to him, having done it numerous times before without caution. "That's my go to celebration, hitting the flag," McKendry told us. "I don't quite understand why I got a booking for that. I've never had a yellow for hitting the flag over but that's ok." One celebration that didn’t get him in trouble came after the match, when McKendry went into the stands to celebrate with Curva Collective and do their now traditional match winning ‘Humba’, but as Ben explained to us, that in itself has been a long time coming! "It was brilliant," McKendry enthused. "I was actually meant to do it the first home game if we won. Again the second home game. Again the third home game. We just kept on tying so today we got the win so I was finally able to do it with Zach [Meisenheimer], which was awesome. It was special." Sunday’s goal was just another part of McKendry’s journey with the club. It’s a journey that still has a long way to go, with the next step being minutes with the MLS side. The Whitecaps had monitored McKendry’s progress closely at New Mexico and ‘Caps coach Carl Robinson has long stated that he is a fan of the 22-year-old, citing the fact that the club offered him a MLS contract and not just a USL deal as an indication of how much. McKendry has yet to feature in a gameday squad so far this season, not even for the Voyageurs Cup games against Edmonton. That would be the next step but the ultimate goal is to make his MLS debut and earn his first minutes. It's a tough midfield to break in to and he has Matias Laba, Russell Teibert and Gershon Koffie ahead of him, with young Honduran Deybi Flores also seeing time on the pitch before him this season. As frustrating as it must be to sit and bide your time, McKendry knows that how he plays in the USL games will shape how and when Robinson wants to use him and give him his debut. Making the USL 'Team of the Week' will help too, and with a tough five game road stretch coming up and with players set to leave on international duty, June and July's games may give him his chance. It's certainly something he's thought about. "Yeah, absolutely," McKendry says. "Of course that's what you're working towards. I'm happy to be getting minutes here and I'm just going to keep working and good things will come." The man that holds the answer to when McKendry will get his chance on the MLS stage is obviously Robinson, but the 'Caps coach is happy with what he's seen from the Residency alumni in both training and USL play and hinted that that chance may come soon. "He is [pushing for minutes]," Robinson told reporters at training on Tuesday. "He's getting better and better each week. The last two weeks have been excellent for him, they really have. Last week's game in the USL was excellent and he produced another one on Sunday. "You see him in training, he's getting used to playing with our first team group of players and looking stronger. With the games coming up, I'm sure he'll get his minutes, but it'll be because he deserves them. If they're not ready, I'll won't put them in. If they are ready, and they deserve them, then they'll get their minutes and Benny's certainly knocking on my door."

Have a listen! You can listen to this, and all previous, episodes of the podcast on iTunes HERE. Or download it for your later listening delight HERE. We also have an iPhone app, so you can now add our podcast to your phone as an app. Visit the podcast's mobile site HERE and then at the bottom of the screen just click the "Quick Launch" icon and the podcast will be added to your home screen and appear as an app. And if that's not enough, we're on Stitcher Radio Network. Download the app and listen to the AFTN podcast on your device, along with over 20,000 other shows HERE. Or after all that, you could just listen on the player below!

The Uruguayan has had a tough start to his MLS career. Rodriguez joined Vancouver on a one-year loan with a transfer option from Primera Division side Club Atlético Juventud de Las Piedras in January. Beaten out of a starting spot in the preseason by veteran Pa Modou Kah, the centre back made his MLS debut with a start against Orlando City in the third week of the season. Rodriguez played well in the 1-0 win and many, ourselves included, felt that he immediately formed a formidable centre back pairing with Kendall Waston. It looked like they could be the partnership to move the club forward but unfortunately he was to pick up a two game ban for his now infamous grabbing of Aurelien Collin's balls during the second half of the match. After sitting out the wins against Portland and LA, Rodriguez immediately came back into the starting line-up to face Columbus on April 8th. His MLS woes were to continue, however, limping off in the 15th minute with a right quad strain. It was a tough setback for a 22-year-old starting off life in a new country and league. He worked hard to get back fit, but just when he was close to a return he suffered a heartbreaking relapse in training and was carted off in tears. You really had to feel for him and what it meant to him to get fit enough to play for his new club. The whole time that Rodriguez has been rehabbing, the Whitecaps defence has had mixed results. On the whole, pretty solid but with some lapses and the play of Kah can be something of an adventure at times. The good news for Rodriguez and the Whitecaps is that he is now back healthy and raring to go. He scored a wonderful long range goal at training last week that beat David Ousted all ends up, leaving the Dane waxing lyrical about the strike. "It was tough for me because I was in a good moment," Rodriguez admitted to AFTN. "Then I had the injury and came back and then had a step back, but now I feel very good. The turf sometimes means adapting but now I'm very healthy, I'm very good and ready to play." Which is what everyone connected with the Whitecaps wanted to hear. 'Caps coach Carl Robinson indicated that Rodriguez would get a run out for the USL side on Sunday to test his readiness and we're pleased to confirm that he came through it with flying colours. Rodriguez played 64 minutes for WFC2, looked comfortable and was rarely troubled at the back, while coming close with a header and looking a danger at set pieces in the opponent's box. The Uruguayan was delighted to come through the outing unscathed in what is the final step to his recovery and being back in the MSL reckoning. "I feel very good," Rodriguez told us after the match. "It was a good game, it's a good group and we wanted to win. I felt very comfortable on the field and felt very happy. "First up was this moment, that I passed, but now I feel very good. and looking forward to playing." Rodriguez captained the young 'Caps on Sunday and the experience and professionalism he brought to the squad over the weekend delighted head coach Alan Koch, who was delighted to see the Uruguayan back to full fitness. "It's huge [having Rodriguez in the WFC2 team]," Koch told us after the match. "Diego's a class act. He's a true professional. He came and trained with us yesterday for the first time. He jumped in right away. He embraced everybody and he got to know [the squad]. He didn't know some of the guy's names yesterday when he got there. But he was asking guy's names, he got to know them. "You could see today that he wanted to play the full 90 odd minutes but we were told to play him the 60 odd. He put in a quality performance." Rodriguez knows it's not simply a case of waltzing straight back into the 'Caps starting line up in MLS. Competition is fierce in the centre back position right now, with Kah having ups and downs, Waston close to suspension and Tim Parker and Christian Dean both pushing hard to get minutes. It's that competition that's driving Rodriguez on, however. "It's like an internal competition that we have," Rodriguez added. "We have great players, but it's good for us because we're pushing up the levels. When the coach needs me, I'll be ready. I'm very comfortable here, very happy and it's a great group." So just how ready is he? He certainly looked comfortable against Real Monarchs and felt no adverse effects or pain during the match. A great sign and great news. Robinson may feel that he needs another USL match next weekend against Arizona United to get back to full match fitness, but he may find himself on the bench to face Real Salt Lake on Saturday first, with an eye to getting minutes in the horrific five games on the road that the 'Caps have coming up. Whatever plans Robinson has for him, he'll be good to go. "I work every day," Rodriguez said. "I have to thank all the medical staff that have worked with me and all the guys for the support and my family. They're all together for me. When the coach needs me. I will be ready." Despite the trials and tribulations he's had during the start of his MLS career, Rodriguez is loving his time in the city and with the Whitecaps. He loves Vancouver and despite it being hard watching games from the sidelines these past few weeks, he's been very impressed with what he's seen of Major League Soccer so far. "I've enjoyed the games," Rodriguez told us. "MLS is a great league. There's great stadiums, great players. I feel very comfortable here. The club here is great and all the fans. It's different but on the field it's all the same. Eleven versus eleven and we do the best to win." The Whitecaps certainly need to get back to winning ways with a tough five game road stretch coming up. Having Diego Rodriguez back in the mix should definitely help.