Finally The Break Is Over

Vancouver Whitecaps finally return to match action this evening against the Minnesota Thunder at Swangard Stadium.

Unbelievably it’s been 16 days since the Caps last played a match and a full month since they last had a home game. You’d be forgiven for forgetting that they actually played football in Vancouver in the summer.

For those unaware, this isn’t an official League break. Oh no, the USL has been in full flow in all that time, it’s just that the Caps haven’t been involved in any fixtures.

A few weeks back we looked at how the English and Scottish fixtures are worked out. It would be interesting to see how the USL come up with theirs. I picture a bunch of monkeys pulling names from a wizard hat. Maybe best not to have that image spoilt.

The reason for the Caps enforced break seems to lie at the hands of the Canadian Soccer Association who apparently informed the USL and MLS that they would be holding their Canadian Championship games in this period, except they didn’t. According to a Caps employee posting on the Southsiders Caps fan forum, the CSA forgot the slight matter that Canada were taking part in the Gold Cup at this time.

The result being Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver ended up juggling their Voyaguers Cup games inbetween busy League schedules and now they’re quiet and the fans are sitting twiddling their thumbs and trying to remember what watching a live match is like.

If the CSA hadn’t cocked this up, would Montreal have fielded a stronger side against TFC and would Vancouver then have rightfully claimed their Champions League spot?

All speculation of course, but let’s face it, there’s been very little else to do for the last 16 days.

Authored by: Michael McColl

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