There's a lot of hyperbole in football. And I'm as guilty of it as anyone.
The words stunning, spectacular and vital are thrown around way too often.
All of those words are very fitting however to describe Eric Hassli's equalising goal for the Whitecaps last night.
That strike was the diamond in the rough. And boy, was it rough out there.
The Caps turned in an uncreative and unconvincing performance in a game which they needed to stamp their authority all over.
Despite themselves, they are still very much in this Cup tie and it's still all to play for.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Apart from the wonder strike, a big positive to take from the game is that once again, this Vancouver side fought to the final whistle. Heads didn't go down like they did last season and we were rewarded by another stoppage time goal.
Martin Rennie echoed that in his post-match comments:
<i>"The thing that I really like is that we never give up.
That's been a number of times now where we keep going right to the last minute and that's the very basic part of building a good team and a team that can win things.
And that character shone through again tonight."</i>
A lot is going to be made of Rennie's choice of line up.
For what it's worth, I think he did get it wrong. Toronto also played way better than many of us expected and a different style of game at that.
It was always going to be a no win situation for the manager if he didn't come out of the next two games with two wins, or at the very least, two very impressive performances.
If he played a full strength side against Toronto but slightly weaker against Seattle, and then dropped League points, the knives would have been out by some.
As it is, he played a weaker than expected side against TFC and we struggled, only salvaging a draw and a lifeline from some late heroics.
He will no doubt be criticised for that from some quarters as well.
A lot of it will come from the non soccer savvy sections of the media. Probably the same ones that complain when there are closed training sessions the day before a game. Education of the game is a long battle, but one we must win.
With two more huge games coming up next week, only a few players will play considerable minutes in all four of the games. Some players have to be rested at some point and there is no right answer at to who gets rested when.
By only drawing against TFC, and conceding that vital away goal, Vancouver are now in the position where they have to pretty much play their full strength side against Toronto in the second leg.
What I didn't like about the Caps side last night was the defensive nature for a home first leg tie, coupled with a major uncreative quality to it. Surely that's the side to play in the away leg, having already put a comfortable lead behind you?
Last night should have been all about building a lead to defend in enemy territory. At no time did we ever look like getting that.
Maybe going in to that second leg behind in the tie is what is going to be best for Vancouver anyway. I would hate for us to go there trying to play for a draw. We can't do that and it's usually a recipe for disaster. Mind you, going into Toronto level last year didn't work out too well either in the end.
Now we have to go to Toronto and score. I just hope we don't go in all defensive and try and hold them for the first hour and hit the winner on the break. Although if that works, then obviously all is then fine and dandy! It would be too risky.
Am I still confident that the Caps are going to lift their first Voyageurs Cup? Hell yeah. I'm in the 90's percentage wise now as opposed to the full hundred though.
I always thought we would go to BMO Field and score. Now we have to. So no concerns there.
The pressure is on Toronto. Rennie is already playing the mind games and saying it's Toronto's Cup to lose.
With their MLS playoff hopes currently being ranked at less than 1% by several sites, their whole season depends on this one game.
TFC can't go for it too much and leave themselves exposed at the back and allow us to get an early away goal. Then desperation will start to creep in.
Toronto played a good game last night. You certainly cannot say otherwise. But I'm not sure how many mirrors they have broken at BMO field, for their luck in games this season has been terrible.
The interesting thing in all this is just how much this will change Martin Rennie's gameplan for the second leg, and the MLS games around these two matches.
Very few players in a white jersey rose to the occasion last night.
The defence was dreadful at times. Marking was non existent, tackles were missed and there was just some horrible defending of crosses and set pieces.
Martin Bonjour had a bit of a mare. He was outjumped a couple of times, but thankfully only punished the once. I could see him missing one of the next three games for Carlyle Mitchell, who played well with Jay DeMerit at the tail end of last season.
John Thorrington won 'man of the match' but I found him posted missing for a lot of the game. All of the midfield were and Toronto marked them out of the game perfectly.
The introduction of Davide Chiumiento added a little spark, but it was Alain Rochat who was whipping in the dangerous crosses, including that inch perfect pass for the goal.
Camilo and Le Toux both seemed a little out of sorts. Camilo had his quietest game of the season and his passing sometimes lets him down on attacks. That's when he does decide to pass.
He is a very predictable player these days. You know he's going to get the ball, cut inside and try to run through a mass of players. When it works, it's spectacular. When it doesn't it's infuriating.
It was a tough game to throw Etienne Barbara in to. He didn't play terrible, but neither did he shine. It's going to take a few games to get him to the match sharpness we saw in Carolina.
Hassli was hungry and eager when he came on, although he wasn't allowed to be effective. But then that strike, along with his other recent goals, is going to be such a boost to him. He is a confidence player and he must have that currently in abundance.
I watched him at training on Tuesday, fearing for my life as he practiced that very shot he scored with. Balls were flying all over the place and walking to and from the media room was like walking a gauntlet! No idea what practice the Sportsnet guys were watching. He even joked that he'd killed a bird with one of his wayward shots. No mean feat since the roof was closed!
It all came good though on matchday. Get those misses out of the way in practice.
Eric's goal was also very important in another way. It maintained Vancouver's record of never having been beaten at home by Toronto FC in any competition.
At least we can bask in that glory.
The referee was terrible for both teams, with missed penalties, phantom calls and, of course, blowing the first half five seconds early. He just lacked authority.
I can't finish without mentioning the awful crowd.
Just under 15,000 for a vital Canadian Championship final that the Caps have stated they badly want to win. I thought we'd get between 18 and 19,000 and the Caps were probably secretly hoping for around 20,000.
Shocking stuff. Shame on you Vancouver. Way to give YOUR team that vital home advantage.
In my <a href="http://metronews.ca/voices/all-caps-the-vancouver-whitecaps-blog/221439/tardiness-is-a-vancouver-disease/" target="_blank"><b>Metro column last week</b></a>, I lambasted the Vancouver public for constantly turning up late to games.
It was the same last night. The fans in attendance seemed to have tripled in the first half hour of the match, those that did have the desire to even turn up in the first place.
This was a huge game for the team.
It means a lot to the hardcore fans, but a lack of support to the team like this makes you question whether the general Vancouver public deserve to have a successful team and big games played in this city.
Maybe we're not quite the footballing city I thought we were, or was always told we were. It's just so frustrating.
By not having Champions League football and big games punishes the faithful of course and I, and many many others, would be absolutely devastated if we weren't Voyageurs Cup winners yet again.
Maybe playing some attractive football in the competition would help the sell. There's not been a lot of it all round in this year's Voyageurs Cup.
We now have Seattle visiting on Saturday.
Winning the Voyageurs Cup is my number one priority, but beating this shower comes a very close second.
Next Wednesday both Vancouver and Toronto will need to be at their best. Let's hope we see a feast of football and the crowning of new Champions.
As I said earlier, I still can't see us not doing this, but if we were to fail, this time we will have nobody to blame but ourselves.
Hopefully.
Time to start checking that weather.
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<b>AFTN 3-2-1:</b>
Another tough one to rate.
3 points - ALAIN ROCHAT (had a slightly better attacking game than a defensive one, but still our most creative player for most of the night and man, that cross for the goal)
2 points - JOE CANNON (had a couple of key stops)
1 point - ERIC HASSLI (what a strike. He deserves some reward just for that)
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