Monday, October 13, 2008

Finally! Good news for a Canadian soccer team

For the second time in three years and the seventh in club history (includes play in USL-1, NASL and CSL), the Vancouver Whitecaps are champions.

The 'Caps captured the USL-1 title with a 2-1 win over Puerto Rico in Vancouver Sunday.

It's moments like this that it becomes clear that the Whitecaps deserve to be awarded a MLS franchise (deserve and "are gonna get" are two very different things). The team, which has survived the folding of two leagues, is as close as you can get to a football institution in this country. An argument can be made that the Whitecaps are the only club left that can trace itself directly back to the NASL -- that's something to be proud of.

Who knows whether the 'Caps will get the MLS nod for 2011. But, if they don't it won't be Vancouver that is losing out.

2 comments:

Andrew Bucholtz said...

Great to see. The Whitecaps had a tremendous team this year: I got to see five of their games in person this summer, and was quite impressed by the lineup they were able to field. This is terrific timing, as well: this championship gets them back in the news in Vancouver and brings some more attention to the MLS bid. It's been a great year for Canada's USL teams, with Vancouver claiming the championship and Montreal doing so well in CONCACAF: too bad Toronto FC and the national side have had worse luck.

Jordie Dwyer said...

Too bad a good chunk of the Impact and the Whitecaps can't play for Canada's national side...then we might be able to win a qualifier let alone score more than a goal per game.