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    Guest

    Frei has surgery

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    Toronto FC announced tonight that Stefan Frei had surgery Tuesday to repair torn ligaments in his left ankle.
    He is expected to be out of action for 4 to 6 months.
    Toronto FC will likely place the keeper on the long-term injury list. His salary will not count against the cap.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Guest
    With Julian de Guzman there are three main questions that have to be addressed. Those are:
    1) – Is he worth a DP slot?
    2) – If not, is he worth re-signing and, if so, at what price point should TFC bring him back?
    3) – Is he any good at all?
    With the latter two questions we can have a debate using statistics and logic. The DP question, however, does not require any supporting data.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    A DP in MLS has to do several things. It has to inspire fans. It has to act as a marketing arm of the team and it has to actually make the team better. Of those three requirements the last one might be the least important. There were long stretches of David Beckham’s time in LA where he absolutely did not make the Galaxy better. However, there has never been a time when he wasn’t a very valuable DP player for the club and the league.
    With de Guzman, there was a time when he lived up to the marketing side of the equation -- a brief time that mostly came before he played a game.
    When TFC signed de Guzman they were in the middle of its first real crisis of trust with the supporter’s groups. Amongst that group there was a clamoring for then Director of Soccer Mo Johnston to sign any and all Canadian Internationals. The problem with that was that to get Canadians to play for TFC – quality Canadians – you had to pay a premium.
    With de Guzman you had a player that had excelled in La Liga and for Canada in the Gold Cup. He was arguably the most accomplished Canadian player of all time at a club level (at least among those that decided to play for Canada internationally) and was very popular with the biggest and loudest TFC fans at BMO Field.
    He was also out of contract and involved in a nasty contract dispute with his Spanish club. See, they didn’t pay him or any other players for long stretches of the year. When de Guzman has the gall to call them out on it, they reacted by blackballing him. No one would offer him a contract in Spain. Suddenly the TFC offer he kept getting, which paid him like a global superstar rather than a very good role player, was too good to turn down.
    He was always reluctant. It’s likely that he understood that the contract was setting himself up for failure. As an undersized player playing a highly nuanced role surrounded by very skilled players he could excel in Spain, but in the brutal reality of MLS...
    Well, that didn’t seem like a great fit.
    It wasn’t. And it wasn’t long before most of the same fans that demanded that he be brought in were calling for his head.
    It didn’t help that he was carrying an injury when he came, or that he was being played completely out of position.
    The fans didn’t know and didn’t care. Toronto is not a patient sports town – it likes to think it is, but it really isn’t – and de Guzman’s dismissed as a failure before he was a quarter of the way into his time here. There was very little that he could do to appease fans that had already made their mind up.
    Flash-forward to today and you see a level of irrational hostility directed at him that in no way matches his current form. Fans have pinned their frustration on him and there is literally nothing anyone can do to reverse that.
    He’s failed to be an inspiration to the fans and, as such, he’s become a lightning rod for criticism. Actually, he’s becomes an anti-DP, hurting the club from a fan relationship perspective.
    Even if bringing de Guzman back as a DP made sense from a competitive standpoint – and it probably doesn’t. The club needs the slot for an upgrade elsewhere -- it would be unfair to the player to hang the label around him again.
    Bluntly, both the club and the player would be insane to want to continue the same arrangement next year. It works for neither party. So, the answer to question No 1 is a clear and undeniable no.
    As for question No 2, we will need to look at some more data. Actually, we’ll need to look at question No 3 first before we can decide whether TFC should be looking to bring him back at a lower price.
    We will do so in the next part of the Julian de Guzman debate.
    Guest

    QPSL: Lift off!

    By Guest, in SoccerPlus,

    Five Montreal-area teams will play in the inaugural season of the Quebec Premier Soccer League, a new professional circuit.
    A few former Impact players including Antonio Ribeiro, Sandro Grande, Elkana Mayard, Frederico Moojen, Abraham François and reservists Mohammed Sylla and Christian Nunez will play in the 20-game schedule set to begin on April 15.
    Hear why Ribeiro and Grande decided to give it a go.
    One of the main architects of the project, former Quebec Soccer Federation president Dino Madonis talks about the league's genesis and Commissioner Stef Lessard talks about the future of this league.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Click here to listen to our 25 minutes show.
    You can also subscribe directly on the iTunes Store.
    Guest
    Anelka, Trezeguet, Del Piero and now Antonio Di Natale! SoccerPlus has learned that Montreal can now add the name of 34-year-old Italian striker to the list of reputed European players declining to join MLS side.
    A well-informed source, with connections on both sides of the Atlantic, said the Canadian side offered between $3 and 4 million to the Udinese captain, but he turned the offer down flatly. The 2010 Italian Footballer of the Year, and top goal scorer in Serie A that same year, will be out of contract on July 1, 2012, making him a very attractive target for Montreal and other MLS clubs with available designated player spots.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Whatever comes out of this, it is now clear that Joey Saputo and Nick DeSantis are working hard to bring a high profile designated player and this can only mean good for the club’s fans and marketing department.
    Whether this new high-paid player will bring results on the field is still a big 'if' and it bares reminder that there are not that many DP success stories in this league.
    DI VAIO, CLOSER THAN EVER
    Most of our sources around the club are convinced, more than ever, that Bologna striker, Marco DiVaio, is coming to Quebec this summer.
    However, the Italian’s agent, Federico Pastorello, told our colleagues at 98.5FM that he’s not aware of any transfer negociations with the Serie A side, but he did confirm that his client’s next contract could well be outside of Italy.
    The key statement from Pastorello is the following:
    Once again, Joey Saputo said he’d rather not identify his DP target to “let the player complete his season and focus on his current club.”
    Local fans will be glad to find out another little gem of information stemming from the interview with Jeremy Filosa: Di Vaio speaks French.
    Guest

    SoccerPlus - Weekly Commentary Show

    By Guest, in SoccerPlus,

    Thierry Henry stopped the Impact dead in its tracks on Saturday and we discuss what happened for Les Bleus and how it can be corrected.
    This week, our guest analysts are Pascal Milano (LaPresse) who was in NYC for the game and Pat Leduc (RDS/LaPresse).
    We also discuss the rest of the action around MLS with Lisa Erickson in SF and Jonathan Tannenwald in Philly. We'll hear about a rumored opponent at the 2012 MLS All-Star Game and how one team's fan club paid the tab at the post-game party for the visiting team players.
    Finally we draw the parallel between the dismal Pierre Gauthier Era with the Montreal Canadiens and the lessons to be learned by the Montreal Impact.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Click here to listen to our show!
    Guest
    Tonight, we’re joined by Michal Misiewicz, goaltender with FC Edmonton and the star of the U23 Olympic qualifying tournament, to talk about the Canadian run, how he found his way back to Alberta and FC Edmonton and what’s next for this young talent
    We’ll also breakdown Toronto’s loss to Columbus, set up their game against Santos Laguna and with all the talk about Canada’s promising future, we look at exactly how deep is the next generation of Canadian footballers.
    The show is now available.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Our next show will be up on Thursday. And I had a chance to speak to Michal at greater length after the interview was done and I will have a column up his journey to Europe and back on CBC in the next day or so.
    <embed src="http://itscalledfootball.podhoster.com/FlowPlayerLight.swf?config={embedded:true,videoFile:%27http://itscalledfootball.podhoster.com/download/2540/30676/apr22012final.mp3%27,initialScale:%27scale%27,controlBarBackgroundColor:%270x778899%27,autoBuffering:false,loop:false,autoPlay:false}" width="400" height="25" scale="fit" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed>
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    Guest
    To give a fuller view of the performance of TFC players this year, I calculated the POP and PE numbers for the full year.
    They are listed, without comment, below the jump. Again, I encourage readers to draw their own conclusions. Later, I will break down the numbers and look at them in a deeper way – especially as they relate to Julian de Guzman.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Players with less than 100 total possessions are excluded:
    de Guzman – 183 – 65.5%
    Dunfield – 217 – 63.6%
    Silva – 123 – 59.1%
    Harden – 140 – 58.8%
    Emory – 88 – 57.8%
    Frings – 84 – 56.3%
    Aceval – 127 – 54.9%
    Plata – 83 – 54.2%
    Eckersley – 253 – 53.6%
    Soolsman – 108 – 52.1%
    Koevermans – 72 – 48.0%
    Johnson – 160 – 45.8%
    Morgan – 145 – 43.8%
    Lambe – 183 – 40%
    What are your thoughts?
    Guest
    As usual, Julian de Guzman was the talking point after yesterday’s 1-0 loss to Columbus. The midfielder is a target of many – most, probably – TFC fans who need to find a scapegoat to pin their frustrations on.
    Yesterday, de Guzman lost the ball near midfield creating the counter that Columbus used to score the game’s only goal. Where I was in the stands, there was an immediate explosion of anger directed at him. That there were at least two other comical errors by the Toronto defense after the giveaway was irrelevant to the fans. It was de Guzman’s fault.
    In fact, the entire loss was being hung on him. Every time de Guzman touched the ball the complaining started. Even if he actually made a positive contribution to the game, he was at fault in their mind.
    As this played out I was involved in a long debate with a friend I watch most home games with (Hi Sonja!) about whether the fans were right to target him.
    Her position was that fans need to be inspired by players that are in important positions. By virtue of his contract – and the attention that brings him – de Guzman was held up as a key part of TFC by the club and, clearly, he wasn’t inspiring many fans, she said.
    I argued that the fans were blinded by one or two isolated moments a game where de Guzman made a mistake and thus were unable to see the multitude of moments where he made contributions that were above and beyond the typical MLS player’s ability.
    She countered that it was impossible to take passion out of a fan’s experience and that trying to use logic to counter passion was not likely to be effective.
    She wasn’t wrong. Fans have every right to express their frustrations at a player they feel isn’t meeting expectations. Where our opinion differs is in the impossibility to sway opinion.
    In he post Bill James sports world many fans are as passionate about looking for evidence of a player’s performance as they are in screaming at the stadium. The two solitudes of stats-grinding geek, and drunk, rowdy super fan are no longer separate. They are the same. It’s all forms of obsession.
    With that in mind I set out today to create a measure that could be used to compare de Guzman to the other players on the pitch yesterday. The numbers are unlikely to stop many of those that blame de Guzman for the team’s struggles. However, they might allow us to have a more informed discussion about his – and others' – play.
    Below the jump, a look at the numbers
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]I attempted to create a measure that would put a value on how effectively a player utilized possession. As with any statistical evaluation, it’s only a partial look at a player’s performance and is not intended as black and white evidence that one player is better than another.
    Since we are looking at de Guzman’s play in particular, I chose to look at a factor that is more important to a defensive midfielder than it might be to other positions on the field. For instance a defender may score high on this measure, but struggle in other areas that are more important for a defender. That doesn’t mean the findings here are irrelevant to defenders. Rather, they are simply less important than they are for midfielders. We will provide data for all outfield players that played in yesterday’s game.
    I have created two statistics. Positive Outcome Possessions (POP) and Possession Effectiveness (PE).
    POP is found by taking the total amount of possessions a player had in the game (i.e. how many times he had the ball in all situations) and subtracting the amount of times the player lost possession (failed passing attempt, or a turnover resulting from a challenge).
    The POP is a measure of how involved a player is in the game. However, it doesn’t necessarily illustrate how effective he is. A player with a high amount of lost possessions is arguably less effective than a player who has less of the ball, but does more with it. So, I took the POP number and divided it by the amount of touches he had. That number is the player’s Possession Effectiveness.
    All data can be found on MLSsoccer.com in the game reports. Click on the Chalkboard tab. I encourage readers to have a look at the raw data there and to make suggestions about how we can make this measure better.
    The numbers are below, presented without comment. I have excluded players that had less than 20 total touches:
    TFC
    POP -- PE
    HARDEN - 42 -- 67.7%
    De GUZMAN - 48 -- 67.1%
    DUNFIELD - 29 -- 64.4%
    KOEVERMANS - 17 -- 62.9%
    MORGAN - 31 -- 49.2%
    ECKERSLEY - 45 -- 47.3%
    JOHNSON - 26 -- 45.6%
    PLATA - 17 -- 44.7%
    SILVA - 17 -- 39.5%
    SOOLSMA - 10 -- 30.3%
    Columbus
    POP -- PE
    MARSHALL - 30 -- 71.4%
    GEHRIG - 39 -- 68.4%
    VARGAS - 18 -- 64.2%
    GAVEN - 31 -- 58.4%
    MIROSEVIC - 43 -- 57.3%
    MIRANDA - 33 -- 52.3%
    ANOR - 22 -- 52.3%
    FRANCIS - 23 -- 38.9%
    RENTERIA - 11 -- 34.3%
    URSO - 15 -- 34.0%
    As stated, I will not speculate on any conclusions from these numbers. However, I encourage readers to have a look at this and to offer your conclusions and suggestions to make the measure better. Later this week we will expand on this and take an even deeper look at de Guzman’s play.
    Guest
    For about 10 glorious minutes, it looked as though Canada really was capable of pulling off another stunning Saturday-night upset in the Olympic qualifying tournament.
    The energetic Canadians pressured their heavily-favoured Mexican opponents early on, nearly claiming the opening goal (foiled only by a goal-line clearance). It seemed, for those 10 minutes, that anything was possible, that we could be on the verge of witnessing a truly transcendent moment for the game in this country.
    Then, the Mexicans managed to settle in. Given not only the benefit of supreme skills, but also a massive advantage in terms of resources and preparation time, Mexico broke down the Canadian side, and claimed a deserved spot in the London Games.
    But this was no blowout. No "typical" Canadian loss. In this tournament, a young Canadian squad -- assembled for the first time less than two weeks before play began -- fought hard, beat the Americans and put a real scare into a Mexican squad that has lots of Copa America experience.
    The next transcendent moment in Canadian soccer didn't come on Saturday night; but we saw that such a moment might be much closer than many of us had dared to expect.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    For your own mental health, it might be best to avoid reading the comments sections of mainstream media stories about the game, lest you burst blood vessels in rage at the same-old, same-old trolling from the sorts of people who take utterly incomprehensible delight in intermittently telling us how bad Canadian soccer is, and how irrelevant it is (if you don't care about it, why comment about it? Ah, trolls don't have internal logic systems, why am I bothering to ask?)
    But those who truly support this program, and this nation, could see the sparks of potential during this tournament. Despite the team's relative lack of experience playing together, there was a surprising level of cohesion on display. Whether that was due to efforts by head coach Tony Fonseca, or a fortuitous combination of easily-meshing personalities amongst the players, or some combination of the two, it was encouraging to see.
    Michal Misiewicz was a revelation in goal, providing some solace to men's national team supporters who've had angsty times since the retirement of Craig Forrest. Lucas Cavallini and Andres Fresenga showcased the skills they've picked up playing in Uruguay -- skills that will be handy against Canada's opponents in CONCACAF. Samuel Piette, still just 17, turned heads when he got a call-up for the men's national team in February, and turned even more heads with his performances in Olympic qualifying.
    Those names were largely unfamiliar even to most Canadian fans prior to the tournament ... not anymore.
    Then, of course, you have the contributions from some more familiar faces: Doneil Henry, the first-ever graduate of the Toronto FC Academy, and original Red Nana Attakora; current Vancouver Whitecap Russell Teibert and criminally-underused ex-Whitecap Philippe Davies; and Montreal Impact draft pick Evan James.
    Not all of these players will make significant contributions with the men's national team. For some of these youngsters, the victory over the U.S. will prove to be the apex of their national-team careers. But it's difficult to deny that amongst this group, there is cause for optimism.
    The call will now come, of course, for some of the team's standouts to instantly become regulars with the senior men's national team, for whom World Cup qualifying resumes in a few months' time. This simply won't happen. And if Canada fails to qualify for Brazil 2014, many will forget the positivity shown by this U-23 squad, presuming that yet another generation of Canadian talent has been squandered. The trolls will be out in full force to remind us that the win over the U.S. was a fluke, that Canada will eternally be an also-ran in world soccer, that we should simply give up.
    But they'll be wrong.
    Is one win over an ultimately-disappointing U.S. team, and a hot start against Mexico, enough to declare that these are the boys that will lead Canada to Russia 2018? Of course not. That, even I'll admit, is ridiculous.
    But this truly seemed to be a team that desperately wanted to play, and wanted to win, for each other, and for the country. And the fan support, feverishly whipped up following the U.S. win, seemed to have a more positive tinge than the response usually reserved for the senior men's national team. Many of these boys will suit up for the CanMNT in the not-too-distant future; will they take such attitudes along with them? We can only hope.
    At the start of the tournament, most Canadian fans probably would have expected a semifinal loss to Mexico to be Canada's final destination. But the roller-coaster ride that this ragtag bunch managed to take us on, in the course of just over a week, rightly ignited some passion, pride and belief both on and off the field.
    That's what these kids were able to do after being quickly cobbled together, with many of them barely knowing one another.
    Imagine what they could being doing a few years from now.
    .
    Guest
    What can you say about this Whitecaps defence?
    Four games, four clean sheets, and now, just 62 minutes away from taking New York Red Bull's record for the longest start to the season without conceding a goal.
    As we said in our <a href="http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?3017-Caps-Remain-Undefeated-And-Unbreached" target="_blank"><b>match report</b></a> yesterday, what a difference a season makes. Or should that be, what a difference a decent coach makes?
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    And of course the players. All of the defenders came out of yesterday's match with pass marks and Y-P Lee, Martin Bonjour and Joe Cannon were simply outstanding.
    A clean sheet record is nothing major in the grand scheme of things, and going forward, all the clean sheets in the world aren't going to help us too much if we can't put the ball in the net at the other end of the pitch.
    We are most certainly a team of two halves, trying to make a whole. One half is solid and in full flow, the other is stuttering and trying to find its way.
    But let's just bathe in the positive moments whilst we can.
    When you look around MLS, and especially the Western Conference, the top teams are leaking goals left, right and centre, so every point won and every goal not conceded could prove vital at the end of the season.
    The Caps remain unbeaten and are the only western side that can boast that.
    We ground out a result, but that is to be expected, as Martin Rennie came with a reputation of putting out strong defensive teams that are especially hard to break down on the road.
    We're already only one point away from matching last season's away point haul and that's after just two games!
    It would be foolish not to think that we haven't had a fairly easy start to the season. Our first two games were against the sides many feel will be propping up both Conferences come October, then the next two were against sides looking for their first win.
    The latter is always a dangerous proposition, no matter who it is, and I think we'll find at least DC United in the playoff mix at the end of the season. Their 4-1 demolition of Dallas on Friday night should show Caps fans just how good last week's scoreless draw against them was.
    There is no doubt that next week's game against San Jose Earthquakes will be the Whitecaps biggest test to date.
    And if they are to come through it, they need to play a lot, lot better than the past three games and get some kind of attacking threat going. It's simply not there at the moment and you can't just write it off to this week's injuries, as it's been the case for every game bar the season opener so far.
    When a defender like Y-P Lee is our biggest attacking threat and creative danger in a match, you know you have issues.
    At some point we're going to come up against a good team and they're going to crucify us. An Easter meeting at Buck Shaw Stadium has an ominous foreboding about it!
    If we can have pretty much everyone back healthy over the next week, then we may finally see the real 2012 Whitecaps in operation.
    None of this should be taken as doom and gloom, especially when you look at some of the shock results this MLS weekend. It just reality and I still say, if we can play poorly and remain unbeaten, that'll do nicely.
    We can only develop, gel and get better. And we will.
    The Philly match was the Caps first foray east this season and Martin Rennie decided to keep the players on Pacific time, with wake ups, breakfast and training all being held later in the day.
    After all of our woes on the road last year, I'd take anything that can improve that and I personally love this idea. It's so simple and you have to wonder why we never thought of doing that last season.
    Something else we didn't seem to think of doing in a lot of games last season was to keep our discipline, but that focus helped us grind out a point yesterday. 13 fouls conceded to Philly's 20, and only one yellow card to Philly's three.
    All the attention going in to the match was on Sebastien Le Toux. Although he didn't get his fairytale moment back in Philly, despite numerous chances he could have/should have taken, he put in one hell of a shift. It will be interesting to see just how much grass he covered as he was all over that pitch, often popping up at the back when you least expected to see him there.
    His finishing is still a little off though, it has to be said. That chance in the 82nd minute wasn't easy, but you expect him to bury it more often than not.
    It was good to see both John Thorrington and Atiba Harris back in the line up. In a healthy squad, I would want to see Thorrington starting, but Harris is more a bench player for me.
    Yes, we did better last season when he was in the team and he had some good assists and goals in the few games he did play, but I also remember some of the chances he should have buried and didn't. For me, he is not a striker and is much better trying to create the chances than trying to score them.
    Thorrington did well at times, but was coming up short in a number of passes. Too many seemed to be going astray all round, whether that can be blamed on the apparently long grass or just sloppiness, who can say?
    The official stats say just three unsuccessful passes, which is nothing compared to Jun Marques Davidson, who had 17 unsuccessful passes.
    I thought Davidson had his poorest game for the Caps so far, trying to force passes and looking long instead of continuing with the short passes that had worked well to date.
    All of the midfield were poor. It's our biggest weakness in the team right now and a big factor in the strikers not producing goals, along with their poor finishing.
    Barry Robson can't come quick enough to bolster this department, but in the meantime, Martin Rennie needs to look at freshening things up there.
    We need a bit of creativity and pace, so it may be a case of having Thorrington move to DM, giving Davidson a break, and maybe giving Russell Teibert a run after his impressive displays for the national team (albeit as a left back).
    Saturday's other games were interesting, as two midfielders stood out for me as players that could really help the Caps at this moment. Lee Nguyen impressed again for New England and Philippe Davies for Canada. There's not been many of Martin Rennie's decisions that you would query so far, but letting both of these guys go are two of them.
    I would much rather have one, or both, of them in the Caps squad than Floyd Franks, who frankly hasn't impressed at all to date (no pun intended).
    There's certainly going to be some work to do in training this week to try and generate some spark in the midfield and striking areas.
    A final word on the TV coverage of yesterday's game.
    I don't know who was responsible for the camerawork at the match, whether it was Sportsnet or a local station, but it was awful and all over the place at times. Focussing on the crowd, players and the benches instead of the action on several occasions.
    It's bad enough having to listen to Craig MacEwen for ninety minutes (although he wasn't as dreadful this week to be fair and was tolerable), never mind having to put up with motion sickness as well.
    This feels like it's one giant moan this week, but it's not meant to be. I'm very happy and positive about not only how the season has gone so far, but what lies in store in the weeks and months to come.
    We need to be aware of what isn't working though, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Martin Rennie and his management team most certainly are and will be constantly working to improve on the weaknesses and flaws we currently have.
    It will be interesting to see what the make up of the team is in San Jose next week. Not only who plays, but what formation and tactics are chosen to go with.
    It's our first real test. Let's hope we pass with flying colours.
    In Rennie We Trust.
    Mon the Caps.
    <center>********************</center>
    <b>AFTN 3-2-1 :</b>
    3 points - YOUNG-PYO LEE (The Caps best creative player on attack. Whipped in some great crosses, whilst still managing to be in all the right places at the back)
    2 points - MARTIN BONJOUR (A couple of little lapses but basically a rock back there and wasn't afraid to put himself about against a robust Union side, something we missed there last year)
    1 point - JOE CANNON (Did everything you could have asked of him. "You'll never beat Joe Cannon" indeed)
    <p>
    Guest

    Caps Remain Undefeated And Unbreached

    By Guest, in AFTN,

    Vancouver Whitecaps and Philadelphia Union fought out a goalless encounter at PPL Park this afternoon, in their only meeting of the season.
    Going in to the game most of the attention focussed on the returning Sebastien Le Toux, as the home side looked to avoid beginning their season with four straight losses and the Whitecaps hoped to build on their unbeaten start and keep their fourth consecutive clean sheet.
    Having made only one change to the starting line up in the first three games of the season, Martin Rennie was forced into making changes for today's game, with both Eric Hassli and Camilo Sanvezzo failing to shake off knocks in time.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Camilo made the trip but couldn't get through yesterday's training session, whilst Hassli stayed in Vancouver. Their omissions meant the return to the team of both John Thorrington and Atiba Harris, coming in fresh from their own injuries to make their first MLS appearances of the season.
    The third change for Vancouver saw ex Philly favourite Jordan Harvey start at left back for the injured Alain Rochat.
    Philadelphia sprang a surprise of their own, opting to go with rookie Chandler Hoffman up front instead of Congolese international Danny Mwanga.
    With all eyes on Sebastien Le Toux, the Frenchman seemed keen to impress from the off and was just unable to get on the end of a long ball from John Thorrington in the third minute.
    The Union had the first real chance to open the scoring, eight minutes in.
    Thorrington had given away a free kick wide right and although the initial danger was headed clear, the ball came out to Gabriel Farfan, whose delightful lob over the Caps defence left Carlos Valdes one on one with Joe Cannon on the edge of the six yard box.
    The Philly captain sent the ball across the goal instead of taking a shot and Vancouver's own captain, Jay DeMerit, was on hand to knock it out for a corner. If Valdes had got the ball on target, the home side would probably have been looking at a 1-0 lead.
    With 15 minutes gone, Atiba Harris picked up a misplaced Union header in his own half and ran at the Philly defence, before playing in Le Toux. The Frenchman was denied a fairytale return by Zac MacMath, who did well to rush out of his goal and dispossess the striker, as he looked to round the underfire keeper.
    Both sides were enjoying possession but not seeing any penetration at the back. The telling final ball was missing and too many passes were going astray for both teams.
    A looping ball from Harris played Le Toux in again in the 27th minute, but as two defenders closed him down, the vital final ball was just ahead of the charging Harris and MacMath collected.
    Philadelphia immediately went up the field and Lionard Pajoy pounced on a slack Thorrington pass and evaded a sliding Martin Bonjour tackle to fire narrowly past the left post.
    The game was starting to finally flow and Matt Watson came close in the 29th minute when he got on the end of a bouncing ball on the left sideline, cut inside and bent his effort narrowly left.
    With five minutes of the half remaining, it was Cannon's turn to be on his toes, and he was quick to come out to first block, and then smother, a Farfan ball into the box before Pajoy could get on the end of it.
    That was the last real action of the half and neither side would have been particularly happy or unhappy with how things had gone so far. It was the tight, scrappy game many had expected.
    Philadelphia tried to liven things up by bringing on Michael Farfan at the break and they came out quickly to start the second half, almost taking the lead two minutes in when Valdes got onto the end of a Keon Daniel corner to the back post, but his close range shot bounced off the ground and then the post, allowing the Caps defence to clear.
    It was poor marking at the corner and Vancouver's clean sheet record was certainly being put to the test.
    And they were tested again two minutes later when Gabriel Gomez crossed deep into the box to an unmarked Brian Carroll, but his weak shot was easily stopped on the goal-line by Cannon.
    Vancouver's best form of defence was clearly going to be to attack and they responded with a nice passing move from the back, which saw Harris narrowly fail to get on the end of a perfect cross into the box from Y-P Lee in the 51st minute.
    Philadelphia continued to push and Daniel forced a good save from Cannon with a strike from the edge of the box.
    'Man of the Match' Lee was proving to be Vancouver's best attacking threat and he sent another great cross into Harris midway through the second half, but the St Kitts striker was sandwiched between MacMath and Danny Califf and the danger was cleared by the Union defence, with both the keeper and Harris left needing treatment.
    The Caps defence again had to be alert as the game entered the final twenty minutes. Daniel tried to dance his way towards goal, but a robust shoulder charge from Jordan Harvey, allowed Cannon the chance to smother the loose ball.
    As the teams exchanged half chances, Vancouver had their best chance of the match so far with eight minutes remaining.
    Davide Chiumiento's delightful chipped pass, saw Le Toux stay onside and leave two Union defenders in his wake, before firing high over MacMath and the bar with the goal gaping. He should have done better and he knew it.
    With two minutes remaining, Cannon bravely punched away a Gomez free kick from the right, as two Union players pressured.
    Neither side could find the breakthrough in the closing moments and the final whistle saw the Caps leave Philadelphia still unbeaten and the Union still winless. I know which side will be the happier.
    Not the best, nor the worst, scoreless game you'll ever see and if the Caps can ever get some clinical finishing clicking, just watch us go!
    The Caps now head to San Jose next weekend, looking to try and break the MLS record for the longest start to a season without conceding a goal. If they can hang on until the 62nd minute at Buck Shaw Stadium next Saturday, then they take that record from the 2007 New York Red Bulls.
    Nothing major in the grand scheme of things, but from Vancouver's point of view, it shows the steps forward that this team is taking under Martin Rennie.
    What a difference a year makes. Or should that be, what a difference a decent coach makes?
    FINAL SCORE : Philadelphia Union 0 - 0 Vancouver Whitecaps
    ATT : 17,189
    PHILADELPHIA : Zac MacMath; Sheanon Williams, Danny Califf, Carlos Valdes, Porfirio Lopez (Michael Farfan 46); Brian Carroll, Gabriel Gomez, Keon Daniel (Danny Mwanga 86), Gabriel Farfan; Lionard Pajoy, Chandler Hoffman (Jack McInerney 51) [subs Not Used: Chase Harrison, Chris Albright, Amobi Okugo, Josue Martinez]
    VANCOUVER : Joe Cannon; Young-Pyo Lee, Martin Bonjour, Jay DeMerit, Jordan Harvey; John Thorrington (Gershon Koffie 59), Jun Marques Davidson, Davide Chiumiento, Matt Watson; Sebastien Le Toux, Atiba Harris (Long Tan 70) [subs Not Used: Brad Knighton, Greg Klazura, Carlyle Mitchell, Floyd Franks, Omar Salgado]
    <p>
    Guest
    It will be hard for North American fans watching this evening's do-or-die Olympic qualifying match between Honduras and El Salvador to avoid doing so in the context of one overwhelming narrative: the football war.
    Yep. For the football-as-war metaphor it doesn't get much better than the 100-day conflict that broke out between these two countries in and around qualifying for the 1970 World Cup. Of course, like most wars, the root causes were far more complex than a few soccer games, but anyone who watches football knows its capacity to inflame emotions. And if there's one thing that doesn't help matters when two countries are already on war footings, it's inflamed emotions.
    Yet 30-odd years on, in the buildup to Saturday's match that will determine which of these two soccer-obsessed nations earns a ticket to this summer's London Olympics, there's been an absence of the jingoistic rally crying you'd find in say, English tabloids, whenever the Three Lions play anyone that Great Britain has fought a war against.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    That may simply be because Honduras and El Salvador have played so many times since their war took place. Or, more optimistically for humans in general, it may be because people in both countries would rather just move on.
    For some in the Salvadoran press it is certainly about revenge, but not for incidents on a battlefield. It's about revenge for incidents on a football pitch. Recent incidents.
    In April 2007 it was Honduras who knocked El Salvador's U17 out of the running for the upcoming World Cup in Mexico. Not exactly the stuff grudges are made of, but I suppose if you're tasked with stirring some passion on the eve of a big match there's no harm in nudging readers' collective memory.
    But there was another incident. One that may have been far more galling to those who witnessed it. In October 2009 it was Honduras who put the finishing touches on El Salvador's failed bid to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. El Salvador was already out of contention when Honduras travelled to Estadio Cuscatlan in San Salvador and beat the home side 1-0.
    The game of course was crucial to the Hondurans, who desperately needed the already-qualified U.S. to get some kind of result against Costa Rica in Washington D.C. on the same night.
    Many of you will recall that the U.S. did, in incredibly dramatic fashion. Jonathan Bornstein headed an injury-time equalizer to knock Costa Rica from the World Cup and send Honduras instead. The Hondurans of course
    on the pitch in San Salvador and some home supporters felt their noses were being rubbed. As the author in the above article put it, many felt the "desecration" of their beloved stadium created a debt that would someday be called in.Maybe today will be that day?
    The Football War started forty years ago and took forever to sort itself out. From my limited understand it doesn't really appear that either side gained much from it. As Bono would say: "There's many lost but tell me who has won."
    So if you get the chance to watch today's match - which kicks off before Canada and Mexico -- remember that the two nations' senior mens' teams have played each other on 63 occasions, with Honduras winning 31 of those meetings. Honduras wants its third trip to the Olympics, having enjoyed all the recent success by qualifying in 2000 and 2008. El Salvador hasn't been to the Olympics since 1968. Violent military history aside, this was always going to be an intense match. And one well worth watching.
    Guest
    The women's national team really did play a friendly against Sweden in Malmo on Saturday morning. And they really did lose the game 3-1, with Sophie Schmidt scoring Canada's consolation goal in the 89th minute.
    But as there was no way to watch the game here -- what little information was available came through tweets from a website and a player -- there's no way to recap the game without making stuff up. So, here is a completely fabricated synopsis of Canada v. Sweden.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    The game started well, with no fewer than five Swedish players seen cowering in fear and/or wetting themselves at the mere sight of the fearsome Canadian squad. Canada got several scoring chances quickly, but none hit the target. Reports at field level suggested the Canadians were intentionally missing the net, in an attempt to hit Swedish fans as punishment for having the audacity to cheer against Big Red.
    Canada, thinking so little of their opponent, decided to spend the seventh minute practicing Celine Dion's Power of Love (in preparation for their upcoming Olympic victory) rather than paying attention to the ball, allowing Caroline Seger to score a goal for the Swedes. Desiree Scott, angry at having her flawless vocal stylings interrupted, burned down most of the grandstand at the stadium. She was shown a yellow card.
    Canada spent the rest of the first half playing keepie-uppie, reaching a cumulative total of 486 before a loud cough from one of the assistant referees caused a momentary distraction. The game continued with only one assistant referee.
    To start the second half, Canada decided once again to tune up their singing voices at the seventh minute, once again allowing Sweden to get through for a goal. Scott proceeded to burn down the remainder of the stadium, and was thus sent off. The game continued without a referee.
    With the game quickly breaking down, Christine Sinclair used as-yet-undiscovered-by-human-beings telekinetic power to assume control of Kosovare Asllani, using her to score a goal on the Canadian net. Sinclair, you see, enjoys scoring goals just for fun.
    Late in the match, Canada -- controlling 115% of ball possession by this point -- played an excessively convoluted, 10-way game of rock-paper-scissors to determine who'd finally be the one to score a goal on the Swedish net. With a brilliant run of rock-rock-paper-rock-scissors-rock-paper-paper-scissors-scissors-punch, Sophie Schmidt claimed the honours, scoring a goal for Canada which -- as determined by substitute referee Karina LeBlanc -- counted for four.
    All in all, a glorious 4-3 victory for Canada, with only $1.8 million in damage done. Olympics, here they come!
    Michael Mccoll
    Every few weeks we bring you "MLS Back Catalogue", where AFTN revisits artists' discographies, authors' bibliographies and different genres of music, books and films, all re-imagined with the current and recent players and managers of Major League Soccer. And this week, also future!
    And it's all done in a full 'Top of the Pops' style top ten countdown.
    We were inspired with our feature today by the Whitecaps MLS Reserve League game on Monday and the appearance of a certain Residency player for the Caps.
    Watch out for him featuring as we bring you today's MLS Back Catalogue by The Beatles....
    ************************************
    (10) Adrian Cann Buy Me Love
    (9) A Hard Day's Wes Knight
    (8) Blue Jay Nolly Way
    (7) Marco Pappa's Lonely Hearts Club Band
    (6) Jamison Olave Me Do
    (5) Justin Morrow Never Knows
    (4) I Want To Hold Your Hans Backe
    (3) I Am The Tyson Wahlrus
    (2) Magical Miss Terry Dunfield Tour
    (1) Back In The Yassin Essa
    Some MLS tidbits...
    - We thought number two was particularly appropriate because when we think of Terry Dunfield in Vancouver, we still think of that penalty miss.
    - Portland's Darlington Nagbe is just crying out for an Eleanor Rigby pastiche.
    - An unconfirmed rumour suggests that Joe Cannon's favourite Beatles song is "All You Need Is Glove".
    - The Portland fans prefer "Spenny Lane"
    - But for Montreal Impact fans, by the end of the season it is clearly going to be "Help".
    Guest
    Today we have a special interview only edition of It’s Called Football. Duane Rollins had the opportunity to sit down with Santos Laguna star Herculez Gomez on Friday and talk all about the Santos game against Toronto, some confusion that has arisen over quotes and what is to come next week in Mexico.
    Gomez is an explosive player and some of comments this week set off an explosion of interest.
    Have a listen to what he had to say about Toronto, the fans and his future with the U.S. national team.
    The show is available on iTunes and after the jump.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
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    Subscribe and download It's Called Football on iTunes
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