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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 Voyageurs are out in force in BC And in amongst them is a familiar face in Karina LeBlanc Flag tifo in full force In Floro We Trust? Canada's starting XI The enemy lines up A moment of quiet reflection on the day's atrocities in Paris The pain of World Cup qualification is quick to appear! Not much to choose between the teams early, but Julian de Guzman unleashes a screamer from the edge of the box Which Noel Valladares does well to tip over In the 38th minute, Will Johnson heads the ball towards goal, hitting off Cyle Larin on the deck and into the Honduran net Okay, we'll forget the Timbers part of him for now Canada celebrate what proves to be the match winning goal Johnson nearly makes it two in the 63rd minute but his free kick crashes off the right hand post An impressive Honduran travelling support As Honduras push for the equaliser, Milan Borjan makes a crucial late save Then minutes later acts quickly to recover a spill and keep Canada's lead secure Another late scramble in Canada's box but the good guys survive for the crucial 1-0 win And you can see what it means to Borjan And his Canadian teammates Things you never thought you'd see at BC Place - Curva Collective's head honcho hugging Portland's Will Johnson! Will Canada be back at BC Place in March? Floro says "Yeeeeeessssss" You can see a Flickr slideshow of all of Tom's photos from the game below:

"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:

The calm before the storm - when 'Caps fans were hopeful Would it be a feast or a famine for Sigi Schmid? Carl Robinson gets lost in the moment Vancouver Whitecaps starting XI The other mob Early trouble for Vancouver as Chad Barrett latches on to a Clint Dempsey through ball and fires home the opener Five minutes gone and 1-0 Seattle amid jubilant scenes from the visitors Pedro Morales almost ties it up immediately with a looping effort that it tipped over the bar Then Kendall Waston comes close to an equaliser for the 'Caps Matias Laba picks up another early yellow card More Whitecaps woe as Barrett gets on the end of a perfect Pappa pass Firing past Ousted in the 38th minute to make it 2-0 Seattle Someone loves X-Box (us if there's any freebies going!) With nothing happening in the second half, Darren Mattocks sees what it's like to be Cristian Techera for a bit Octavio Rivero seems unlikely to get a penalty call in MLS this season Darwin Jones nearly makes it 3-0 for Seattle late on, but Ousted comes up big Sadly someone's going home happy 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]. Oh Canada, Oh Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps starting XI Gershon Koffie's mistake lets in Tomi Ameobi Who easily fires home the opener for Edmonton just four minutes in Happy days indeed for the Eddies Worse is to come for the 'Caps as Sam Adekugbe strains his right ankle A tough injury for young Sam. He's been for tests. How long he'll be out is still unknown. More bodies hit the floor The Whitecaps will have been glad to see the back of that half Meanwhile, Sam is already in a boot and on crutches The second half starts more brightly as Erik Hurtado has an early chance Before wasting an even more golden opportunity in the 66th minute The shock of seeing indoor plumbing was too much to take for some Edmonton players Just as it was looking bleak for Vancouver, Koffie shows some nice footwork in the box and fires home an 87th minute equalizer Can we get our ball back mister? As the game enters stoppage time, Robert Earnshaw finds himself clear in the box But it's just too tight and angle and the ball ends up in the side netting Paolo Tornaghi finally got to get a Whitecaps start. Really pleased for the Italian keeper Twas a tough night for Captain Koffie Eddies coach Colin Miller knows history is in the making for his side next week While Carl Robinson knows his 'Caps have a tough time ahead of them if they are to advance You can see a Flickr slideshow of all of Tom's photos from the game below:

The Whitecaps starting eleven The 'Caps get fired up in their pre-match huddle Scarves up if you love the 'Caps David Ousted starts as he means to go on, getting down to thwart a low George Fochive shot Fochive is in the thick of the action again, bringing down Octavio Rivero for a 15th minute free kick Up steps Nicolas Mezquida Who curls it over the wall and into the bottom corner for the opening goal Nico and Pedro celebrate the 'Caps going 1-0 up Dirty, dirty Ridgewell Portland dominate an uninspiring second half until Fanendo Adi pokes home an 82nd minute equaliser Boooooooooooo But there's still time for Robert Earnshaw to pop up with a dramatic 90th minute winner for Vancouver Another debut goal, but Earnshaw enjoys them all like it was his first And there's the famous flip! And the crowd go wild! David Ousted lets out a roar at the final whistle Earnie's feet won't touch the ground tonight Carl Robinson does the Humba with Curva Collective A happy footballing day all round for Welshmen You can see all of Tom's photos from the game as a video slideshow (with added crowd noise) below:

"The first 25 to 30 minutes against SFU, they gave us a good challenge," Koch told AFTN after the Oregon match. "Then I think our guys figured things out and picked it up, came out and put in a good performance the rest of the way through. "Today, and I give Oregon State credit, for the majority of the 90 minutes they made us question ourselves at times and made us have to go out and actually problem solve on the pitch. Having said that, I give our guys credit. It wasn't a great performance but they figured it out, they got themselves a result. We win and we should move forward now to the season in good confidence and feeling pretty good about ourselves." Oregon State started the match strongly, going ahead just two minutes in, as the 'Caps defence were being given a testing time. But they saw off the pressure and Spanish winger Victor Blasco tied the score up in the 16th minute, after his shot was deflected in off a Beavers defender after some fantastic build up work from Ben McKendry, who had broken up an Oregon attack. The Whitecaps finished the half the stronger but Oregon State came out refreshed for the second half and went ahead for a second time six minutes in when they headed home a corner. But the 'Caps regrouped and then controlled the rest of the match. WFC2 captain Tyler Rosenlund tied things up again in the 65th minute when the ball came to him on the edge of the box from a corner and he drilled a fine shot into the bottom left hand corner of the net. You got the feeling that a WFC2 winner was coming and it did with six minutes to go, when McKendry went on a run and played in Blagojevic, who took a touch before burying it past Whitecaps Residency alumni Nolan Wirth. McKendry and Blagojevic had linked up well, and that was one of the positives to take from a mixed performance, that didn't see too many players stand out on the day or stake a claim for themselves in next week's starting eleven. The WFC line-up for the game was as follows: Spencer Richey; Ethen Sampson, Jackson Farmer, Craig Nitti, Jordan Haynes (Chris Serban 57);.Mitch Piraux (Alex Marrello 77), Tyler Rosenlund, Victor Blasco (Jovan Blagojevic 69), Ben McKendry; Brett Levis (Sahil Sandhu 69); Caleb Clarke (Mackenzie Pridham 57) Preseason is in the history books and the WFC2 squad now have a week to focus and prepare for their inaugural USL match next Sunday. Seattle Sounders 2 will provide a stiff test for the Whitecaps at Starfire next weekend. The Sounders kicked off their USL season on Saturday night with an impressive 4-2 win over Sacramento Republic in front of a sold out home crowd of 2,951 fans. All six goals game in a frenetic second half. But after a preseason which has seen his squad quickly gel and start to show the makings of an impressive attacking side with fierce competition for places, Koch is heading into the USL season in confident mood. The tough part is actually now nailing down what his starting eleven is going to be. "I think we're in a good place, " Koch told us. "We have a good group of players They're enthusiastic, they're motivated, they're fit, they're ready. We have a good grasp on how we're asking them to play. At this stage it's now trying to figure out exactly what the starting line-up is going to be. "If you ask me right now, I have no clue, because it's not just looking at our group that we have right now, it's also about trying to manage the player pool that the group has within the club. But the group that we have here have been working very hard for us and I'm very proud of them so far and I'm excited to work with them going into the season." Exactly what players from the MLS squad Carl Robinson will want to get regular minutes right now is the unknown quantity in all of this. Several have featured in the preseason matches and training scrimmages, including centrebacks Christian Dean and Tim Parker. While they, and others like Marco Bustos (who is currently injured) and Kianz Froese, will move freely between the two squads, we also expect to see Andre Lewis announced as being loaned to the USL team for the season. This frees up both a roster and international spot, allowing Robinson to finally sign Robert Earnshaw. But as Koch told us before, competition for places on the team is fierce and he has a couple of players battling it out for every position. We expect Marco Carducci to get the initial nod in goal, although Spencer Richey has been pushing hard. They may share starts to begin with but Koch has told them both that the best keeper will win out in the end and make the starting spot his. Carducci can still play for the U18s in USSDA action, as he was away doing this weekend. The defence is a toss up right now, with so many players pushing. Jackson Farmer has looked very good in camp in both the right back and centreback positions and we're fans of what Chris Serban can bring to the team in either full back role. The two centrebacks could change from game to game with four guys, including new addition Craig Nitti, all wanting and needing minutes. Captain Tyler Rosenlund should fill one of the DM roles and whether it will be Mitch Piraux or Ben McKendry beside him will have to be seen. All three can also play other midfield roles. Brett Levis has featured regularly in the preseason games but I think he may miss out on a starting spot initially. Victor Blasco may have done enough against Oregon State to see him starting on the right, with Jovan Blagojevic coming on as a sub, although it is Blagojevic who has the contract right now. Marco Bustos will play the number 10 role when fit, but there's a few others who can step in there right now until he is. Up front, for me, Mackenzie Pridham has shown much more than Caleb Clarke these past few games, although Clarke did do well against Seattle. Pridham banged four goals in against SFU and hit the bar against Oregon State, and that one looked like it had crossed the line. We all know what Clarke can do, he now needs to start showing it. So a lot for Koch to think over this coming week. But whoever ends up taking the pitch at Starfire next Sunday, the WFC2 coach is confident they'll get the job done and the 'Caps will get their new USL era off to a successful start. "We're going in to Seattle," Koch said. "They played last night and won, so they've picked up three points already. They've got that first game, first jittery nerves, out of the way already too. But we've got a good week [ahead]. We'll put in a good week of training in together, go out and give it our best shot. We're feeling good about ourselves, so there's no reason why we can't go there and win the three points."

Now the backend of the CSN site isn't really best suited to hosting the galleries like the old site used to. We felt they looked kind of crappy last season, so for a pure pictorial guide, check out AFTN's new standalone site HERE. We're trying something different and additional for this season, so we're putting together all of Tom's photos from the match as a video slideshow, paired with crowd noise from the game. We're still fining tuning it, but here's the first one:

You can find his full gallery from the game HERE. Marie Hui sings the anthems in with the fans After a slow start, Sebastian Fernandez nearly opens the scoring but Clint Irwin comes up big Steven Beitashour picks up a hamstring injury giving Sam Adekugbe another chance to shine Into the second half and substitute Kekuta Manneh makes room before crashing one off the bar Manneh is in the thick of the action again, as he wins a corner and the crowd gets loud Kendall Waston heads home to make it 1-0 and the Caps players and crowd go wild! The big man enjoys his moment Erik Hurtado is played in and nearly makes it 2-0 But one goal is enough and jubilation ensues at full time Kendall Waston carrying the team! The Caps salute the crowd Pedro Morales may be tired, but he ain't flagging! Captain Chile and Captain Canuck An ecstatic Carl Robinson in his postgame presser You can follow Tom on Twitter, where he goes under the name Residual Image.

You can find his full gallery from the game HERE. Clouds gather over BC Place, but it was a perfect storm for the Whitecaps Dominic Mobilio's family gather for his moving 'Ring of Honour' induction Curva Collective's excellent Dominic Mobilio tifo The Whitecaps starting XI Some last minute warming up and huddling After some chances at both ends, Mauro Rosales whips in a perfect delivery And Sebastian Fernandez rises to head home the 14th minute opener Seba celebrates his first goal since July 5th The Caps keep the pressure on and Pedro Morales knocks a ball loose for Mauro Rosales to pick up Rosales sets up Fernandez to bury the second low past his Dallas namesake And Seba celebrates once again David Texeira has a great chance to pull one back for Dallas But he didn't bank on the tackle of the year from Matias Laba. Stunning. The second half was quiet apart from David Ousted coming out quick to deny Tesho Akindele Victory! After the final whistle, Michel takes offence at Kekuta Manneh's showboating And still he mouths off. A sore loser? No, just a loser As is his coach Oscar Pareja who shoves Vancouver's Martyn Pert in the chest Both coaches have to be held back As you can see Pareja and Michel's walk of shame Matias Laba does the 'humba' with Curva Collective You can follow Tom on Twitter, where he goes under the name Residual Image.