Tag Archives: Real Salt Lake

Articles, Soccer

Four goals is not enough, say four is not enough

The Vancouver Whitecaps steamrolled a third-string Real Salt Lake team 4-nil on Saturday in what can only be considered an apology for the mutt of a game they put forth in their first-ever Champions League match three days prior.

RSL midfielder John Stertzer says "Bring it on, Kekuta!". Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
RSL midfielder John Stertzer says “Bring it on, Kekuta!”. And bring it on, he did. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.

Ugh. Memories of that Wednesday Champions League match plague me like large, hulking plague-y things. Both the Caps and Sounders fielded third-string rosters who played uninspired, irresponsible football.

Having RSL field their USL affiliate against the Whitecaps first squad, then, was going to end one of two ways: a close match that had Vancouverites wringing their hands in horror, or a blowout. Thankfully for the local boys, it was the latter.

RSL starting 11 vs Vancouver Whitecaps FC, 8 August 2015
RSL keeper Jeff Attinella isn’t sure he even recognizes half the guys in this starting XI. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.

The biggest story isn’t that Octavio Rivero scored his ninth on yet another penalty kick. It’s not that Christian Techera put a brace into the back of the net for his third and fourth goals of the year. It’s not that Jordan Harvey is playing his best soccer just when Christian Dean is showing he’s got game and Sam Adekugbe is rounding into game shape to push him for minutes. It’s not that All-Star keeper David Ousted has the best goals against average in MLS, having allowed just two goals in the last four games and 22 overall this season. It’s not even that Pa Madou Kah scoring his third goal in two games — Pa Madou Frickin’ Kah, my friends, who had only scored once in his previous 58 MLS games.

Christian Techera keeps tabs on RSL defender Olmes Garcia. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
Christian Techera keeps tabs on RSL defender Olmes Garcia. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.

No, it’s the fact that all of these remarkable storylines are coming together at the same moment. When Rivero hasn’t scored from the run of play since May. With Pedro injured and/or playing so-so football for the majority of the year. When Manneh still hasn’t found a regular groove and Mattocks is still, well, Mattocks. In a season that features a loopy schedule because BC Place hosted the Women’s World Cup. The Vancouver Whitecaps have tied the franchise record of 13 wins this season, and there are 10 games remaining.

This is an exciting time to be a Whitecaps fan. Come on, you blue and white, indeed.

Coach Carl Robinson chants along with the Curva Collective,:"Four goals is not enough, four is not enough!" Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
Coach Carl Robinson chants along with the Curva Collective,:”Four goals is not enough, no four is not enough!” Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.

You want highlights? You got ’em.

Articles, Soccer

The March to March – Part 3

Whitecaps Wednesday

Welcome once again to Whitecaps Wednesday – and the 3rd installment of Pucked in the Head’s “March to March” series. If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that the Whitecaps have managed to pull five victories from their first nine games.

Now mired in their busiest stretch of games (but not the most frenzied – we’ll see that in Part 4), we take a look into the third month of the season and forecast the results of their five May matches.

Buckle up quick, as their month kicks off with an away fixture in Portland, the first of two Cascadia matches in a three-week stretch.

Continue reading The March to March – Part 3 →

Articles, Soccer

Whitecaps FC 0, Real Salt Lake 1

Blame him if you want to, but Jason Kurylo was not in the starting eleven against Real Salt Lake. Hell, he wasn't even in the building on Saturday.
Blame him if you want to, but Jason Kurylo was not in the starting eleven against Real Salt Lake. Hell, he wasn’t even in the building on Saturday.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC pulled off a stunning piece of PR on Friday, inviting nearly 50 local media personalities to compete in an afternoon of friendly competition. The club set everyone up with their own stall in the dressing room, dressed them in a full team kit, then put them through pre-game warmups before three 25-minute matches on the BC Place turf.

Somehow we managed to get on the list — although Chris’s game report today may put that status in jeopardy for next year. Soccer poet Russell Arbuthnot and Yours Truly donned the blue and white to represent the mighty Pucked in the Head, both playing on a squad led by former Team Canada captain Jason Devos. We didn’t do too badly, either. Russell scored a couple of highlight goals, while I made weekend warriors look like a goaltending god on four separate occasions. (Sure, I’d like to have tiptoed around a couple of defenders and slotted a cheeky left footer under Peter Schad’s outstretched arm, but I’m mostly just happy my recent spate of exercise kept me from having to spend the afternoon wheezing and retching. It’s amazing what eight weeks of training will do for a body.)

Highlights? In the first of three games, I put a 25-yard cross onto the head of our team captain just a few feet from the goal line — may I remind you that this is the same Jason Devos who scored the game-winner to secure Canada’s only Gold Cup crown in men’s soccer history? — but the big man got submarined by some morning newspaper hack, and wasn’t able to put the ball in the back of the net.

I did score once, on a beautiful give-and-go with Whitecaps staffer Ann Nikitiuk. She gave me the ball pretty much on the goal line, so there was no chance to mess it up. Still, I’ll take it and fill out my top three moments with the time I put the ball through Martin Rennie’s legs to go round the bench boss on my way up the right flank in game #2.

But oh yeah, the Whitecaps.

One week after a convincing 3-nil road win in Montreal, the Whitecaps were looking to carry some good karma forward; the mood at BC Place Friday suggested they were doing just that. Rarely have sports media in a city been so unanimously positive as they were this day, as everyone taking part had a flipping blast. Team Sulkowski won the trophy with an undefeated record, while we on Team Devos brought home a hardfought 1-1-1 record.

For duffers like me, it was gut check time during the first annual Whitecaps Media Challenge on Friday afternoon.
For duffers like me, it was gut check time during the first annual Whitecaps Media Challenge on Friday afternoon.

Unfortunately, the positive juju didn’t last, as the club was unable to muster much against a squad of Real Salt Lake reserves. The 1-nil loss Saturday afternoon was just their third home loss of the year, but it all but guarantees Vancouver will be on the outside looking in come playoff time.

To make matters worse, during the loss, TSN ran a clip of me looking desperately out of position as a right defensive back — and that yellow pinny during game time doesn’t let me hide what’s left of my gut. I swear, I’ve lost 10 kilos and it’s still a work in progress! Jeez, you people are harsh.

More after the jump.

Continue reading Whitecaps FC 0, Real Salt Lake 1 →