All that was missing at BC Place on Saturday was a new car smell being wafted through the air ducts onto the blue and white hordes below.
A new season, new players, in a new strip, with new tactics, facing a new look opposition, and a new standard set in tifo for the Vancouver supporters' groups.
At least Toronto not coming away from Vancouver with a win retained some sense of familiarity to proceedings. If Vancouver can now only go to Toronto and get a victory this season, then that will be real change.
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The Whitecaps team that started against TFC on Saturday contained five changes from the side that started November's playoff game in LA. Quite the overhaul, but one we're becoming used to in Vancouver.
And it wasn't just the personnel that was different out there. We saw a much different style of play from what was served up in the last few months of last season.
Despite the Caps becoming even faster than last year, the long punt forward for Darren Mattocks, or whoever, to chase after was nowhere near as prevalent. There was a lot more passing and ball to feet, neat little interchanges, and after some dismal displays last term, an 82% passing accuracy.
Despite all of this newness, there were some old traits still around. Failure to kill off the opposition and leaving them that hope that they could still sneak something being the main one.
Toronto never really looked like doing that though and all in all it was a comfortable first performance from the Whitecaps, with enough positives to show what this team might be capable of this season and what adjustments may be needed to get them there.
After an opening flourish and some glimpses of danger in the first half, Toronto fell out of the game as a threat in the second, with no shots on target.
It was understandable, considering the issues the team had to the build up to the game, but they put up a strong performance and Vancouver didn't steamroller them as many expected, and struggled to find many inroads through the backline.
The initial stages of the game gave the impression that the pace of the Caps attack would have the Toronto defence all over the place, but they quickly regained composure and Vancouver just couldn't get the speed kings released.
As soon as the second half started though, there was only ever going to be one winner. Vancouver took control and you were just waiting for the breakthrough to come, as Toronto were bending and bending but not breaking.
The breakthrough, and what proved to be the winning goal, couldn't have come at a better moment. Gershon Koffie's fine strike immediately took the pressure of expectation off the Whitecaps' shoulders and they relaxed a little and played some nice free flowing football for the rest of the game.
They should have made their dominance pay by at least adding one more to their tally, but they got the three points and really, that's the main thing that matters at the end of the day.
There's no doubt that the 2013 Whitecaps are still very much a work in progress, and all of the final pieces aren't yet in place yet. There is still likely to be more squad movement this month with some players heading off to pastures new, whether permanently or on loan.
There were more than enough signs out there on Saturday to suggest that this could be a very exciting year for those of us of a Whitecaps persuasion but there is still a lot of work to be done to get them to that point.
The game changer seemed to be the introduction of Nigel Reo-Coker.
Martin Rennie had said that he would definitely feature and many of us expected it to be from the start for around an hour or so, but as it turned out, the former Premiership star made his mark far better by coming off the bench and adding a bit more spark and impetus to the Caps.
Reo-Coker's introduction also seemed to bring the best out of Koffie.
Koffie didn't really have a good first half and was unnoticeable for much of it and despite him grabbing the only goal of the game and having a much better second half, he was certainly not the Whitecaps 'Man of the Match', as he was awarded at the final whistle.
For me, that accolade went to Daigo Kobayashi. I think he did a lot that went unnoticed on Saturday by a lot of the fans, but from my vantage point you got to see the creativity he brought to the team. Lots of nice little touches here and there and a fantastic instinctive layoff for the goal. Once he settles into this League he's going to be very integral to the Caps playoff push.
Of Rennie's Rockets, Darren Mattocks didn't have his best game. There is no doubting the Jamaican's talents and his ability to get goals, but there are still some pretty major pieces missing from his armoury.
When he isn't getting those long balls to run on to, or finds himself in space to run with the ball at his feet, he seems to struggle and be a little bit short of ideas. This will come in time, as he learns from playing with those more experienced, but it can make him look ineffective out there right now.
What he does have is that aura that give him some chances and he'll at least bury one of them. On Saturday he didn't get those chances and Toronto did pretty well at snuffing him out, which better teams will also manage to do effectively.
Kekuta Manneh and Erik Hurtado made their MLS debuts and as expected with two raw rookies, there were highs and lows. Of the two, Hurtado looks like the more finished article, which he should with the years he had on the Gambian.
Manneh looked lively to start with but had trouble getting past that last man. As the first half went on, he started to seem a little lost and almost nervous out there. He said afterwards that he wasn't but that fans may have got the impression that he was.
Manneh has performed well at all the levels he has played at, but MLS will be a steep learning curve for him and I would be very surprised to see him as a starter for the next few games.
He needs to find his feet and is likely have a role as an impact sub for the next few games, which his skills indicate he will be very good at. When he got the ball at his feet on Saturday, there was an expectant buzz in the crowd and the pressbox that he was about to do something special. There is no doubt that he will at numerous times this year.
It's fantastic having a player that brings that excitement and he is only going to get better with age. His timing is maybe a little out but that's only to be expected and will come pretty quickly with more minutes under his felt and time with the team.
Hurtado is another that brings that buzz and he really impressed me with the short time he was on the pitch. Some of the trickery and confidence he showed on Saturday was a joy to watch. When he wriggled past the two defenders at the corner flag, that was just sheer natural talent and that's going to be hard to defend against.
You get the feeling that once he bags his first MLS goal, and gets the confidence booster from that, he could be unstoppable. He nearly grabbed that on his debut of course, but just that split second of hesitation over hitting it first time cost him dearly. I'm sure he'll replay it over and over in his head and won't make the same mistake next time around.
There's still the flip side to his game, which is trying to do too much and giving the ball away cheaply. The ball he gave away in his own half late in the game could have proved really costly if there was a different opposition out there.
He'll benefit from having experienced heads around him and one of them is Kenny Miller.
Miller had an excellent game and was a leader on the park, but was let down a couple of times by giving the ball away cheaply with misplaced passes in good positions and a couple of overhit crosses. He got in some great positions and looks really sharp in that attacking mid role that he seems to have acquired.
What he also did was cover one hell of a lot of ground, epitomised by his first half sprint from the centre circle to the right back slot to clear the danger from a quick Toronto breakaway that caught YP Lee up the pitch.
Although he will still get slated by some of the fanbase, it was desire that didn't go unnoticed from Martin Rennie.
<i>"When you've got a forward running back to the corner flag against the full back, three or four or five, six times in a game then you've got someone who cares about your club and that makes a big, big difference. Whether they have every perfect touch or not, it's very, very significant, especially when it's someone who's been there and done it.
"Those guys sometimes come over here to this league and don't show that kind of hunger and that desire, but when you see that from a player like him it makes you very, very happy as a coach."</i>
The backline wasn't exactly put through a hard test. There were a few heart in mouth moments when the Caps defence seemed a little bit flat footed early on, but you expect that rustiness in the first game of the season.
Brad Rusin was a concern to me after his shaky preseason performances, but he increased his worth considerably when he came on for Jay DeMerit and didn't put a foot wrong.
With the news today that DeMerit has had a successful operation on his ruptured Achilles tendon and is likely to be out for most, and possibly the rest, of the season, Rusin now has to battle with Johnny Leveron for a starting spot.
Rusin did himself no harm at all on Saturday and was more commanding in the air than we saw from a lot of the centrebacks last year and offers better work on the deck than DeMerit, but this can also be where he can be caught out.
Rennie is high on Rusin though and had been trying to get him to the Caps for over a year.
YP Lee was looking like his old self on Saturday, after seeming to be a little bit tired and lacking in the preseason action. He was obviously conserving his energy for when the season started and covered a hell of a lot of ground up that right flank.
It was great to see Alain Rochat back in that left back slot and playing some killer through balls in the first half. The inswinging pass he played to set Miller through in the opening minutes was sublime.
It was also great to see Jun Marques Davidson back in the starting eleven. The Caps sorely missed his presence at the back in the second half of last season, where he wrongly found himself out of the team.
We harped on about this enough last season, but just to continue it, when Davidson plays we have that safety that he is back there covering and allowing Lee and Rochat to tear up the wings. He showed that again several times on Saturday.
The team suffered dearly in that regard when he missed out for most of the second half of the season.
In a lot of ways it was good that the Whitecaps stuttered and struggled to get really going against Toronto. It may temper expectations for some.
There is a long season ahead and the Caps are going to have to battle for every point and earn their playoff spot with some hard fought victories.
The signs are there that once this team clicks, they'll do some damage in MLS. If we can be a slow build, whilst still getting the points on the board, then motor on fully in the second half of the season this time, we could be looking at an exciting season ahead.
The Caps need to work on creating more chances. That's what cost us last season and although there was some nice build up work, the final ball was either too long, behind the player or just simply snuffed out. I'm very confident that will come the more the core of the team play together.
A lot of it is simply down to timing, both when piling forward and in the need to cut down on the number of giveaways. A more dangerous side could have really made us pay for the number of sloppy passes.
We also need a few of the players to look up a bit more and see what is developing around them. Hard when you're running at such pace I know, but vital.
The Caps could have had a second on Saturday when Reo-Coker broke with Miller to his left and Mattocks to his right. Miller was in great space but the ball went to Mattocks and his rocket of a shot was deflected over. Not to say that Miller would have buried it but it was a disappointing end to a great move.
For now, it's back to the hard work of training. Ironing out some of the glitches and making some little adjustments here and there ahead of Columbus on Saturday.
Six points out of six from the first two home games will be a very fine base to build the rest of the season on.
'Mon the Caps.
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<b><u>AFTN 3-2-1:</u></b>
We kick off this year's 3-2-1 competition with a selection that may not be on the same page as others out there!
3 points - DAIGO KOBAYASHI (Busy, creative and doing a lot of unnoticed work)
2 points - KENNY MILLER (Covered so much ground and showed real commitment to the cause)
1 point - NIGEL REO-COKER (Definitely added the vital spark when he came on)
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