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    Michael Mccoll
    It's Episode 27 of "There's Still Time", the AFTN podcast and it's the second part of our end of the season roundtable.
    Steve and myself are joined once again by Steven Lamothe and Zachary Meisenhamer from Curva Collective and former head honcho of the Southsiders, John Knox.
    We look at the Whitecaps squad that finished the season and debate who should stay and who should go. I'd get rid of pretty much most of them, but others aren't so quick in doing so!
    Our "30 Seconds To Mars" gameshow returns, for three quickfire rounds, looking at the most disappointing Caps loss, most damaging Caps injury and Sam Adekugbe, with a much cherished mars bar awaiting the winner.
    And there's still time to read out tweets from our listeners as to some of the weird places that they've met footballers over the years.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    So have a listen and sorry about the echoey feel to some of it!
    For now, you can listen to this week's podcast on iTunes HERE.
    Or download it for your later listening delight HERE
    We also have an iPhone app, so you can now add our podcast to your phone as an app. Visit the podcast's mobile site HERE and then at the bottom of the screen just click the "Quick Launch" icon and the podcast will be added to your home screen and appear as an app.
    And if that's not enough, we've joined Stitcher Radio Network. Download the app and listen to the AFTN podcast on your device, along with over 15,000 shows HERE.
    Or after all that, you could just listen on the player below!
    Michael Mccoll
    Ben McKendry graduated from the Vancouver Whitecaps Residency in the summer of 2012.
    It felt at the time like the end of an era for followers of the program, with the close knit group splitting up and going their separate ways after years of playing together.
    After making the decision to continue his career in the college ranks, McKendry made the move to New Mexico, where the Lobos became his new family.
    McKendry was part of the Caps' exciting U18 side that reached the 2012 USSDA Championship game before going down to a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Dallas. It was a team rich in talent but as is the case all over Canada at the moment, the opportunities to continue their professional development were limited.
    Bryce Alderson and Caleb Clarke earned MLS contracts. Ben Fisk should have but was given a PDL one and has been loaned out twice now. Others, like Daniel Stanese, have sought careers overseas. Some still had another year to go in the Residency and graduated this summer, whilst others continued their education in NCAA and CIS schools.
    Although much maligned by some, the college route is the only viable option for many graduating academy players, with all that getting a good education behind them does for their future career prospects outwith the game.
    This latter point played a big part in Ben's decision to join a talented New Mexico team.
    "After graduating from the Residency program I was kind of unfortunate not to get signed by the first team, which is obviously the goal of the program and all of the players in it. So I kind of had to reassess what I wanted to do with my career.
    "I decided that the college system was right for me. I'm extremely fortunate to be able to get an education and play soccer. I'm really happy with how things turned out."
    McKendry had a stellar first year in Albuquerque, scoring seven goals, four of them game winners, and contributing two assists in his 22 appearances. That goal tally placed him in the top 15 players in the country in goals by a freshman.
    "The first year was fantastic for me. I was fortunate enough to be part of a great team and we had a great leadership group last year that really helped me to kind of ease myself into the college system."
    Two of that team were selected in January's MLS SuperDraft, with Montreal picking up Blake Smith in round one and RSL getting a great late pick in Devon Sandoval in round two.
    McKendry picked up the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation 'Newcomer of the Year' honours and made the MPSF All-Tournament team, before the Lobos bowed out of the NCAA tournament in the third round following a 2-1 double overtime loss to Connecticut.
    Making the leap from U18 level to the college ranks isn't always easy, but at least the vast amount of time spent travelling the US with the Caps gave him some good experience and preparation to take with him. As has the experience he gained playing for Canada at U18 and U20 level.
    There have of course been differences that he's needed to adjust to, the main two being the speed of play and physicality of playing with older guys.
    With such a short season and the way the NCAA rankings can play out, there is also a feeling that every game is huge, with a strong must win mental approach constantly needed.
    It's a mentality that Lobos' 12 year head coach Jeremy Fishbein expects of all his players.
    McKendry's sophomore season has continued to see him develop as a midfielder, and bring more to the table in games.
    "This season I'm taking on more of a leadership role, which is important. I'm having a great time and really thankful to be with the team."
    When we caught up with Ben following a last seconds 1-0 win in Santa Barbara in September, he seemed to be playing more of a defensive midfielder role. Has that been the plan for him to play a bit deeper this year?
    "Last season I was more of a box to box midfielder, kinda jump into the play late to try and pick up some loose balls. Definitely tonight I was just trying to protect the back line a bit more because we know they throw lots of guys forward. I'm kind of a little bit more mobile and willing to go forward I think as well."
    After a bit of a slow start and finding his feet in the new role, Ben's offensive game came to the fore and he currently sits with four goals and one assist from 17 games so far this year, making the All-Conference first team.
    With things going well down New Mexico way is the plan for Ben to stay with the Lobos for the full four years or would he consider putting his education on hold if the right opportunity came along, whether that be from the Whitecaps or elsewhere?
    "Definitely. It's something you wait and see what happens. I'm happy with where I am right now but if it gets to the point where it feels like I'm ready to go into the professional environment then definitely, I make that jump. But I'm in no rush. I think I'm in a good position right now."
    McKendry headed back to Vancouver this summer and trained with the Caps' MLS squad.
    "The Whitecaps organisation has been great since I left the club. They've been emailing me and keeping tabs on how things are going. I'm extremely thankful that they've given me opportunities to come back and train with them in the summer to stay fit.
    "They're doing a great job with that and I think it's something they'll continue to do as more players are graduating from the Residency program and going into other environments like the college system."
    Ben's ultimate goal is still to make a career as a professional footballer, whether that be with the Whitecaps or wherever the game takes him.
    "I never really thought much about anything other than soccer, so it's kind of weird doing the school part, but I'm enjoying the school part of it as well."
    Although McKendry is listed on the Lobos website as studying psychology, he doesn't think that this will be what his major will end up being.
    "In the American college system you get two years to decide what you want to major in, so really I'm still deciding. It says psychology but I don't think that's what it'll be. Maybe business or economic or something like that."
    We still have hopes here at AFTN of seeing a Whitecaps midfield of McKendry, Fisk, Alderson and Alex Rowley again one day, so we'll be watching where Ben's future footballing career takes him with interest.
    The Lobos made the move to Conference USA for this year and won their first new Conference title with an 11-4-2 record.
    Their postseason gets underway on Friday when they take on Tulsa in the Conference USA semi final, with a place in the NCAA tournament first round awaiting.
    Good luck to Ben and good luck to Lobos.
    Guest
    There are very few positions in the professional world with less job security than a coach. Even a successful season, one where you meet all the goals laid down for you, can lead to an immediate and unceremonious departure.
    It demands long hours, enormous amounts of time away from your family and the understanding that even if you are at the top of the heap, you will still be surrounded by so-called experts who want to tell you how you could have done it better.
    It’s a life that Colin Miller, FC Edmonton’s head coach and periodic stand-in for Canada’s national team, knows the hardships of well.
    And despite his love for the job, he won’t feed you some fairy tale about ‘never trading it in for anything’ or oversell its ‘rewards.’ But he will tell you the blunt truth about soccer and the profession he’s been in for 35 years. And he’ll give you hope for how there can be lasting change for soccer in Canada.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    “We don’t do enough as a country to bring people together, to work together to try to raise the standards right across the country. It’s almost like: ‘oh this is my own little empire here. I don’t want anybody knowing this.’ People will hoard information for self preservation,” Miller said.
    And it’s easy to understand where those oozing, misplaced attitudes spawn from. At just under a year of service at FC Edmonton, having just taken over at the end of November last year, Colin Miller is currently the longest serving coach with a Canadian team today. Not exactly an honour to be placed on your mantle.
    “It’s a horrendous business to be in. I say that because I love it. I have really enjoyed my time here in Edmonton. We have a terrific owner, terrific general manager, fantastic staff and great players,” Miller said. “But I know if we have 12 draws next season, there is a real possibility that Colin Miller will no longer hold that somewhat tongue in cheek distinction you’ve mentioned.”
    Having played and coached professionally on both sides of the proverbial pond and dotted his way across B.C. as he climbed the amateur coaching ranks, Miller has had his eyes opened to the precarious nature of the job – precarious both for his career and for his family.
    “You don’t go into this line of work expecting to be in a job for 25 years,” Miller said. “But that’s the nature of the beast. You hope you can go into a job where you can build a program or a culture that has a lasting effect.”
    A side effect of that dedication, is that it takes away from other areas of your life.
    “I saw my wife and my kids four or five times this year. They live in Abbotsford (British Columbia) and I’m in Edmonton. Now that the season is over, I’ll get to spend six or seven weeks with them at home but I’ll still be working everyday from home.”
    Again, there is no sugar coating.



    “The toll it takes on a family is tremendous. It may be one of the reasons that I’m 29 years married next year — I’ve only seen her for seven of those. And it’s another reason why it’s a horrendous line of work,” Miller said. “I’ve been in the business since I was 17 and I’m 49 now. There is not a t-shirt I have not bought, mate. In terms of a family it’s obviously not the best way to go about it, but I care very much about trying to raise the standards for coaching and soccer in Canada.”
    One of those ways he’s helping younger coaches is enacting what amounts to an open door policy around Clarke Stadium in Edmonton. Miller has made a habit of ensuring those without the closet of t-shirts get a chance to see what it takes to make it in the professional ranks.
    “For a lot of guys coming through, they don’t understand what it takes to coach at the next level. Until they’re here and seeing it happen, it’s hard to understand what is expected,” Miller explained. “I’m not re-inventing the wheel here or something … But I’m trying to promote Canadians all the time. As you know, with my background and my experience, I’m desperate to see people advance. I don’t want to see them fail.”
    But more than failure, it's about getting a chance. Miller says there is a gap between topping out on the amateur side of things and finding your way into the pro ranks. It's something Canada needs to do more of if their coaches are going to progress.
    "I went through the youth ranks in Abbotsford. On average that type of profile position, head coach of the entire club or technical director, you would be looking at anything between $70,000 to $90,000 a year. It’s not the type of money you would walk away from. But where does a guy would go from something like that? Making the jump from youth to professional ranks is certainly in question. But right now, we’re not seeing that kind of transition to clubs like, say, a TFC."
    And, according to Miller, it's not from a lack of talent. He points to some of the Canadian success stories south of the border.
    "I don’t think there has been a lacking of quality on the top end. If you look at the opportunity Marc Watson and Nick Dasovic – both Canadians – have had in San Jose. Frank Yallop there before them. Marc Dos Santos now in Ottawa. There are guys getting work. But what I’d like to see is a Canadian guy get a chance at a Canadian MLS club. … It would be good to see Canadians in charge of Canadian clubs."
    But as it is anywhere, success can breed jealousy — which comes full-circle to those insular attitudes that Miller mentioned.
    Miller, along with a number of other coaching professionals, will put their heads down in January and go to work when the University of Toronto hosts the second annual National Soccer Coaching Conference. TFC Academy head coach Danny Dichio, Ottawa Fury Head Coach Marc Dos Santos and the CSA technical director Tony Fonseca also find themselves in the mix — as well as a number of other notable Canadian coaches.
    The FC Edmonton coach will be running clinics over the three-day conference and keeping his own coaching license up to date at what he calls a “gathering of likeminded people.”
    And while he speaks highly of the concept, he also addresses some of its pitfalls as well.
    “What I would like to see too is a more open-minded approach. Instead of coming into a session and making a quick conclusion that you’ve seen this kind of session before and brushing it off as something you can’t learn anything from. Stay with it, watch and learn anything you can from it,” Miller said.
    “Learn about that coach’s philosophy and take parts and add it to your own. Even if it’s a little thing. That’s the way that we raise the standards across the board. That’s the way we make better coaches in Canada and that’s the way we become better coaches ourselves.”
    Guest
    Toronto's efforts to sign Alberto Gilardino may have been fatally derailed by an unlikely group of people -- its own (alleged) fans.
    As has been widely reported, the Italian international has been deep in negotiations with TFC to make a move to MLS either after the World Cup or in January, depending on his status with the Azzurri.
    And, although reports that the signing was almost complete were premature, the two sides were making significant enough progress that Gilardino's camp had started to do some due diligence on TFC.
    This is where things went wrong.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    According to multiple people with knowledge of the situation, several influential people in Toronto's Italian community either reached out, or were contacted by Gilardino's management group to give input. Their message was nearly uniform--stay away.
    The detractors told Gilardino's management that not only has TFC's past record been woeful -- something Gilardino understood -- but that it was their opinion that under current management there was no chance that there would be improvement. Further, the detractors went so far to suggest that coming to TFC would derail Gilardino's career.
    The information rings true because it's not the first time it's been suggested that there are people in Toronto's soccer community that aren't just indifferent to TFC, but actually hostile. This feeling isn't limited to the Italian community, but rather it can be found in almost every identifiable group beyond a general British/Canadian group. To be clear it's not everyone who feels this way. It's probably not even most people. However, it's most of the influential people in the soccer community.
    People that truly have connections with agents around the soccer world. People that truly could sabotage efforts to sign a major player.
    The hostility steams not just from losing. In fact, losing is a very small part of it. Rather, it has to do with the lack of relationships TFC has forged with the soccer community, particularly on the academy side of things.
    There remains a great deal of frustration and anger amongst certain segments of the youth club community in and around Toronto towards TFC.
    Is the toxic environment fatal to TFC's ambitions to sign a major player for 2014? No, but it will take a considerable effort to overcome a determined group of detractors that now take joy in watching TFC fail. Ironically, Tim Leiweke may want to set his sights on a player that does not come from a background with a significant ex-pat community in the city.
    Regardless, he may want to dampen expectations now that he understands the full range of what he's up against.
    Guest

    Shut the **** up season

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    It's common around the world to refer to the off-season as "silly season" -- silly rumours of silly signings dominate the headlines in place of real news.
    In Toronto silly season would be better named Batshit Insane I Wish Management Would Just Shut The **** Up season.
    It's been that way since the start. Mo Johnston would gather us all around the fireplace and tell fanciful tales of big name signings that would lead the Reds to Narnia, or something.
    That was followed by the great Dutch fables of the magical 4-3-3 forest, then the promise of the Greatest Dragon Slayer of the Modern Era, then Saint Kevin of the District's white horse (that he rode into town on) and, now, we have Captain Hollywood here to tell the rubes about all the beautiful people that are coming to town to make their miserable lives better.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]No one in management seems to have figured out the the rubes are more intelligent than they are given credit for and that, for the most part, they just want to see management SHUT UP and SHOW THEM ACTUAL EVIDENCE OF SIGNINGS rather than hint at them about it.
    All of this is a long-winded way to say that you won't ever read "news" of Tim Leiweke's latest pronouncements on here. In fact, our unwritten policy is to not report pure rumours. If we independently verify *new* information we will report, but the "so and so is reporting they heard" stuff?
    No. I might Tweet it. But, there is more than enough evidence out there to demonstrate that 90% of the noise is just that. If you really want that kind of reporting there are other places to find it.
    What we will talk about is the general idea of whether a type of signing is a good idea. Is the idea of signing, say, a 30-something Italian forward to a big money 4-year contract a good one (also replace "Italian" with English)?
    As much as you might want to hear something more definitive the answer is "it depends."
    It depends on their motivation to be here, it depends on when they get here and it really depends on what else they do to build around them.
    Let's repeat that last one: It really depends on what they build around them.
    If you bring in the high priced Italian and English internationals but nothing else and the result will be a couple more sell-outs in April and even more empty seats in October.
    The sexy DP signings are going to get all the attention, but what fixes this mess will be the moves that were not first rumoured in the Daily Mail.
    Guest
    The first legs of the conference championships took place over the weekend, pitting a pair of familiar foes against one another.
    Houston and Kansas City had met here before, with the Dynamo knocking Sporting out of the playoffs the last two seasons, while Salt Lake and Portland were well-acquainted having met four times – in league and cup play – throughout the season.
    With the compressed schedule it should come as no surprise that tired legs played a factor in both matches, though with very different results.
    The cautious beginnings provided one draw – a scoreless one at that – while the other saw six goals; once the deadlock was broken the floodgates opened.
    And surprisingly, given how physical the Houston-KC match was, only one yellow card was shown – to Portland’s Jose Valencia, no less.
    Before the results, the goals of the round:[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Two nominations this round, in chronological order – Will Johnson’s driven free-kick and Salt Lake’s counterattack perfection, capped off by Devon Sandoval.
    <iframe width="533" height="300" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Tp5IsSHbEWE?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
    Yes, Nick Rimando should have done better, but what a hit.
    <iframe width="533" height="300" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/90XoDQO7yI0?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
    Devastating perfection.
    Results
    Houston 0 – Kansas City 0
    The Eastern Conference Championship began very tentatively, with each side feeling the other out, neither willing to risk conceding in order to go ahead.
    Sad to say, but the best chance of the match came after fifteen minutes when Graham Zusi found space down the right and rolled a ball into the middle. Paulo Nagamura left it to Jacob Peterson, who whiffed on his attempt, wasting a free look from inside the box.
    Two minutes later it looked as though Kofi Sarkodie had put the hosts in front – finishing a chance past Jimmy Nielsen after an Omar Cummings through-ball, but the flag was raised and the goal deemed offside.
    A chalked off goal was a blow, but even worse for Houston was that midfield general, Ricardo Clark, was injured in a challenge with Benny Feilhaber, shortly thereafter. He tried to gut it out, but was back down moments after returning to the pitch and was forced off after just 26 minutes
    His absence was a huge blow for the Dynamo, especially should he remain unavailable for the second leg - the half-time report indicated it was an MCL strain, the severity of which will be determined this week.
    Houston shuffled their formation, bringing on Andrew Driver and switching adroitly to a three-man midfield, leading immediately to a few good chances – Cummings had a shot deflected wide by Matt Besler and Oscar Boniek Garica’s free-kick was pushed away by Nielsen.
    The physicality of the match ramped up with Besler fouling Brad Davis hard and Davis shortly thereafter returning the favour to Graham Zusi.
    The repeated ‘interactions’ between Bobby Boswell and Aurelien Collin were more akin to a straight-up street brawl, than any kind of actual soccer at times.
    Then, the long throws set in with Mike Chabala and Besler alternately flinging missiles into each other’s boxes with reckless abandon.
    Will Bruin found a slight opening on a break in the 39th minute and sent a long-range drive whistling over the bar, drawing a congratulatory nod from Nielsen for the quality of the effort.
    The second half saw the introduction of Cam Weaver for Bruin, who joined Boswell in running into Collin at every available chance.
    The French centre-back was lucky to not see yellow for hauling down Cummings on the turn at the side of the box and the ensuing free-kick led to a maddening goal-mouth scramble that came to naught in the end, after some desperate defending.
    The effect of so many matches over the past two-plus weeks – Houston were playing their sixth match in seventeen days and Kansas City their fifth - set in and that mental exhaustion nearly led to a penalty kick when Collin stepped on Weaver’s foot at the side of the Sporting box, but the infraction went unnoticed or overlooked.
    The remainder of the second half – and some seven minutes of stoppage-time – played out with no real chances, that is until Driver found himself open at the back-post in stoppage-time, volleying a flicked cross towards goal. But he got it all wrong and sliced horribly wide.
    The scoreless draw leaves the tie delicately poised as it returns to Kansas City in two weeks.
    Houston’s Dominic Kinnear took heart in the gutsy performance from his side driven to the edge by the schedule, “I'm really proud of the guys, the effort they put into today knowing what we've gone through in the last two weeks we easily could have taken the easy way out and complained but they didn't say nothing.
    “They're enjoying the competition, tough game today probably the toughest of the six that we have played and it was just a very physical game on both sides and we couldn't get a goal, so it's going to be another tough game in Kansas City.*“
    Peter Vermes acknowledge the scrappy affair and predicted a similar occasion in the return, “It was definitely not a pretty game for either team. It was an absolute battle. It's good to get out with no goals scored against. We know what the return match will be. It'll be the final because it's the last game for both teams.
    “What I really credit my guys for is keeping their composure, battling every single roll of the ball, and getting a clean sheet here which is not an easy thing to do here against this team. As I've said quite a few times already, this is a very good team and we have a lot of respect for them. I have a lot of respect for Dom and we go back a long way. I think they do a great job and their guys are always prepared so it's never an easy place to play.”
    <iframe width="533" height="300" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4AeQn-TJo2g?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
    Salt Lake 4 – Portland 2
    Sunday’s Western Conference Championship was historic before it even kicked off, marking the first ever Sunday match in the Mormon rich state of Utah.
    It too began cautiously, as the teams poked and prodded each other without either really looking overtly dangerous.
    In a contest between two heralded ball-playing teams, it was a little ironic that it took a thunderous tackle to spark the action - a ill-advised, twice-costly one at that from Chris Wingert on Diego Valeri.
    Not only did Wingert succeed in injuring himself in the play – taking a heavy clattering to his rib-area that forced him off within fifteen minutes – but it set up a free-kick attempt on goal from former Laker, Will Johnson.
    Will stepped up to the ball in the 14th minute, some thirty yards from goal, slightly to the right of centre, and guided a laser beam of a drive over the wall and past keeper, Nick Rimando, who was caught cheating ever-so-slightly away from the left-side of goal and was punished by the blast.
    An old saying warns that a team can score too early, putting them on the back-foot, unsure whether to hold and protect that lead or play as they had originally intended.
    Whether Portland became too cautious or Salt Lake ramped it up a notch, the results were devastating.
    Four straight goals, starting in the 35th minute, saw the hosts take a two-one lead into half-time, add a third moments after the restart and then a fourth in the final ten minutes with an impressive display of style, largely thanks to the scintillating form of playmaker Javier Morales.
    Chris Schuler, extra-time hero against Los Angeles, nabbed the first in the 35th minute, rising over Futty Danso to nod in an out-swinging Morales corner kick from the right. His header nestled in the left-side of the net to level the match at ones.
    Pa Modou Kah nearly played the goat when he inadvertently redirected a Salt Lake corner kick towards his own-goal, but Valeri was on hand to clear from the line.
    Robbie Findley would put Salt Lake ahead in the 41st minute when Danso again was victimized.
    Findley pressured the centre-back on the ball, forcing a poor touch that allowed the attacker in clear to calmly slot past a helpless Donovan Ricketts with his right-foot, having shaped to round the keeper, before opening his body and tucking in at the short-side.
    A mere three minutes into the second half the match was decided by a textbook counterattack execution:
    Morales rolled the ball down the right flank for Findley, who squared to Devon Sandoval at the near-post. The first-year striker easily held off the attentions of a recovering Jack Jewsbury and put a right-footer through Ricketts for their third.
    The sheer exhaustion of the visitors was particularly evident on one play where Jose Valencia attempted to take on six Salt Lake defenders, as no teammates could be bothered to get up-field in support. He did not succeed.
    Ricketts would be called into action to prevent further embarassment, making a spectacular save on a flicked Luis Gil header from a lofted Morales ball.
    It appeared the series would be over when Morales himself got in on the act, racing away from his marker, Darlington Nagbe, to the near-post to get on the end of a right-sided Joao Plata out-swinging corner kick and seeing his diving header deflect off Frederic Piquionne, handcuffing Ricketts for a fourth in the 82nd minute.
    But the Timbers would find a lifeline in the fourth and final minute of stoppage-time, when Jewsbury was allowed to saunter up the right and pick out Piquionne with a cross. The forward won the aerial challenge, placing an arcing, bullet header beyond the reach of Rimando and closing the gap to two for the second leg.
    Three goals would have been near insurmountable, but two leaves the series within grasp, given the dominant home form exhibited by Portland this season, where they have not lost since March.
    Salt Lake’s Jason Kreis, buoyed by the performance, did not want to wait for the second leg, “I prefer not to wait two weeks to play the next match. I’d like to continue this week’s momentum because we’ve had similar starts-and-stops this year, and it’s been tough to deal with. It is what it is, and so we’ll just do our best. They’ve got a two-week break as well and so we’ll probably both be dealing with a little bit of rustiness in that match.”
    His opposite, Caleb Porter, basically wrote a novel on what went wrong, opening with, “I thought we came out with the energy and spirit and mentality that we have shown over the last several months, really the last 10 games. We came out on the front foot, got the first goal, and then for whatever reason we just stopped playing. We dropped off far too much. We let them have the ball and come at us and you could start to feel it coming – the goal.
    “I wasn’t surprised when they scored because when you sit back that much and you drop off as much as we did against a team like Salt Lake, who’s very good on the ball and has some good attacking players, then you’re bound to give up a goal eventually.”
    <iframe width="533" height="300" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/pUNsHBOYvGs?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
    CanCon
    Portland’s Will Johnson is the last Canadian standing in the MLS playoffs. He picked up his second goal in as many matches with that free-kick assault on his former teammate, but could do little to raise the energy of his tired team after the emotional elimination of Seattle.
    Overheard
    Not much to report on the sounds of the round – Peter Vermes shouted a lot, nothing new there - but there was a very good question asked of Kansas City’s Aurelien Collin, after his running battles with Bobby Boswell and Cam Weaver:
    “Do you need to wear a helmet next time?” to which he responded, “I'm sure they received some hits too. I like it when it's physical. I would say the referee was good tonight. Nothing is perfect, but he was quite fair tonight and I'm happy.”
    Collin, along with several other players, was on a caution warning – nobody will be unavailable for the second legs. Coincidence? Hmm.
    See It Live
    Several visual nuggets to bring a smile to the face:
    Mike Chabala’s savvy spring-boarding off the advertising boards on his long throws, getting an extra bit of spring into the launch, though at times he looked like a bear scratching his back on a tree, while the tag-team wrestling campaign from Bobby Boswell and Cam Weaver against Aurelien Collin was truly no-holds-barred.
    Diego Valeri’s goal-line clearance for Portland prevented at least one Salt Lake goal, while Donovan Ricketts came up huge on Luis Gil to deny another.
    Controversy
    Was Kofi Sarkodie offside?

    Should Cam Weaver have won a penalty when Aurelien Collin stepped on his foot?
    Opinion Poll
    After a whirlwind two weeks, the playoffs fade to the background for thirteen days.
    The question is, will they drift into irrelevance? Or will the remaining drama still draw eyes to the action when it resumes?
    Will you be watching?
    Upcoming Fixtures
    Having played fourteen playoff matches in twelve days, rushing to fit in the first two-plus rounds before breaking for International fixtures, there will now be nearly two weeks before the second legs resume on the weekend of November 23-24.
    Saturday: Kansas City-Houston. Sunday: Portland-Salt Lake.
    Should be good.
    All quotes – and the gif - courtesy of MLSsoccer.com
    Each week James takes a look at the league as a whole.
    You can follow James on twitter @grawsee or read more of his writing at Partially Obstructed View
    Guest
    The MLS playoff blitz continued midweek as all four of the Conference Semifinals were wrapped up with the second legs taking place on Wednesday and Thursday.
    The weekend’s drama extending into the return fixtures, while perhaps less exhilarating, the tension of possible elimination ratcheted the emotion to the next level as players and coaches took to the pitch with their futures on the line, where only the winners would progress to the next round.
    Four matches were played – two each day - and not a match was drawn, while just one road team managed to find a win in their travels – crucially so.
    Fourteen goals were scored – one from the spot – and only eleven yellow cards were shown, as the referees – more or less – wanted to let the players on the pitch decide the outcomes.
    Before the results, the goals of the round:[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Three of the series-deciding goals are nominated this round, in chronological order – Claudio Bieler’s welcome-back strike for Kansas City, Chris Schuler’s back-post sneak for Salt Lake, and Diego Valeri’s cleave-and-finish for Portland.
    Bieler’s finish was as much a product of the awareness and hunger of Benny Feilhaber – against the team that let him go - as it was of the out-of-favour DP’s predatory instincts:
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    All the hard work and industry in the world will never replace a cultured penalty box finisher when it counts.
    Desire too played a key role in Schuler’s efforts to get on the end of a ball that many would have considered lost:
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    A tip of the hat to Javier Morales’ troublesome set-piece delivery, that, well, troubled LA all night long.
    And the league is fast running out of superlatives to describe the impact of Valeri to this fascinating Portland team:
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    An individual may have minted a pretty penny by placing a wager on them to win it all in the off-season.
    Results in Brief
    New York 1 – Houston 2 (Houston advance 4-3 on aggregate)
    Wednesday’s opener was sure to be a classic, given how Houston fought back from a two-goal deficit in the second half of the first leg to tie the series at 2-2 before travelling to New York.
    Irked at having squandered their lead, New York came out itching and the first good chance fell their way after twelve minutes when Thierry Henry’s ball over the top played in Bradley Wright-Phillips – he touched past the on-rushing Tally Hall, but could not get enough to ensure it trickled over the line.
    The match was more open and quick-paced than either coach would have liked and given the extremely short turnaround – having played the first leg on Sunday afternoon – it was no surprise that the goals would come from mistakes.
    Hall has been near-impervious this season, developing into one of the premier, if lesser discussed, keepers in the league, but the blame for the opener rests squarely on his not-unimposing shoulders:
    Tim Cahill fed Lloyd Sam wide on the right; the fleet-footed winger skipped past Corey Ashe on the outside and hit a harmless cross to the near-post. Hall fell on the ball, but spilled, simultaneously blocking the path of the nearest defender, Eric Brunner, to the loose ball in the process, allowing Wright-Phillips to pounce and right-foot into the open net after 23 minutes.
    At home and having taken the lead, New York appeared to be in the ascendancy, winning most of the second balls and nearly adding a second within ten minutes when Henry had a clean look at goal from a Wright-Phillips cross, but he could not square his shoulders and sent the header harmlessly wide.
    A thrusting Houston move in the 33rd minute drew a stretching block from Ibrahim Sekagya, leaving him strained and limping, ultimately precipitating the tying goal:
    Having cut out Will Bruin’s cutback and aware that defensive options on the bench were limited, Sekagya opted to gut out the injury, never even going down to receive treatment and take a moment to compose himself.
    Three minutes later that discomfort would craft a horrendous error, when Sekagya, rather than punting a clearance up-field under duress, tried to play out of the back and Brad Davis alertly pounced on his rash pass, stealing in alone and placing a left-footer to the left-side of goal past a helpless Luis Robles.
    Error balanced, Houston keeper, Hall, would find sweet redemption with a miraculous reaction save on an Henry shot that was redirected by Cahill at the last moment.
    The second half opened with a string of New York chances, the best of which came in the 65th when Henry’s header from a Brandon Barklage throw flicked on by Cahill rang off the bar and then drew another brilliant save from Hall, reacting to a redirected Cahill header that skimmed off teammate, Giles Barnes.
    The match seemed destined for the looming extra time, but not before one last chance as a late David Carney free-kick fell to Henry and his bicycle attempt was blocked en route to goal.
    New York would see a shout for a handball waived away before the dagger from the first leg reared his head again.
    Omar Cummings, the most unlikely of threats after a season spent on the sidelines, for the second-straight match would prove the difference maker, scoring another late, game-winning strike, this one in the 104th minute:
    Oscar Boniek Garcia laid a ball down the right-side of the box for Kofi Sarkodie, who sent a looping cross to the back-post, where it was met, nodded down and back across to the near-side by Cam Weaver.
    Cummings reacted faster than both Sekagya and Marcus Holgersson to get a touch towards goal with the outside of his right-boot, forcing the ball over the line, if barely, past the dive of a scrambling Robles, who got there a fraction too late.
    Desperation set in and New York proceeded to punt long passes rather than keep their heads, the panic made worst by an injury to Cahill, who played on, despite obvious limitations.
    One final chance for salvation graced the home team in the 117th minute when Henry was fouled by Bobby Boswell atop the left-side of the box.
    Images of last season’s end, when Henry allowed Roy Miller to take the last-minute free-kick against DC United, flooded the minds of fans and pundits alike, but this time Henry took the attempt himself, disappointingly to the same effect – off target.
    And thus ended a historic Supporters’ Shield-winning season from the much-maligned New York-New Jersey franchise.
    Mike Petke was asked to sum up and grade his first season in charge post-match, "Come on, it's not the time for that. I'll never give myself a grade - that's for you guys to do and my bosses. I don't think I'm in the right frame right now to sum this season up, but listen: It was a long journey, for sure. I learned a lot. And like I said, I'm proud of these guys for this entire year. And for responding to what we were trying to do and accomplish. You'll have to give me a week or so to answer that question properly."
    Houston would win the match 1-2, take the series 4-3 and move on to the Eastern Conference Final to meet the winner of Kansas City-New England.
    Afterwards, Dominic Kinnear was asked why his side is so good in the playoffs, laughing off such a notion, "I mean, we just try to win a game, to be honest. There were a lot of chances coming the other way, and Tally made some huge saves and some great last-line defending. We try not to think too much about it, we just try to win games and move on to the next round" and offering a quick remark about the play of Cummings, “We brought him here for a reason. He’s definitely making me look good.”
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    Kansas City 3 – New England 1 (Kansas City advance 4-3 on aggregate)
    But who would face Houston in that conference final?
    That would be decided in front of an intense, baying crowd in Kansas City; a fierce atmosphere for the visiting New England side, who carried a one-goal advantage from the first leg.
    Sporting started brighter, seeing several chances missed before forcing a big save out of Matt Reis on a Dom Dwyer header from a Seth Sinovic cross.
    The emotion in the stands led to a confrontation on the pitch as Chance Myers and Darius Barnes tussled over the ball on a disputed throw-in – Barnes was lucky to only see yellow for raising his hands to the face of his opponent, who also saw yellow.
    The fractious physicality intensified, aided by the return of the yapping bulldog that is Paulo Nagamura, who got stuck in and barked at the referee at every opportunity.
    Kansas City would finally find their breakthrough in the 41st minute:
    Dimitry Imbongo was whistled for a foul on Uri Rosell; former Rev, Benny Feilhaber, took it quickly, touching wide right for Myers who sent a cross towards the back-post, where Dwyer got a flick that bounced off Andrew Farrell and fell to Aurelien Collin.
    The big French defender would score his second playoff goal in as many matches, smacking a left-footer in off the inside of the left-post to erase the advantage of the first leg and put his side in front into half-time.
    Ten minutes after the restart, Reis was called upon again to keep New England alive with a fantastic double save as the game got more and more stretched.
    New England would ride his keeping to a goal of their own in the 70th minute, putting them back in the driver’s seat:
    Kelyn Rowe’s free-kick from the right touch-line sailed to the back-post, where Imbongo managed to get body position on Matt Besler and beat the keeper with a right-footed side-volley that overpowered Jimmy Nielsen on the goal line and trickled in.
    That advantage was short lived as Sinovic, another former Revolution player, would re-equalize the series at threes nine minutes later:
    A long ball out of the back from Collin was flicked into the path of the left-back by Graham Zusi and Sinovic would thunder a left-footed blast across Reis into the right-side of goal.
    Rowe would waste a good look, dropping a pass back rather than realizing he was in clear between the centre-backs before Diego Fagundez skipped a hopeful shot from distance off the intersection of post and bar in the 85th minute, prompting a half-hour of extra time.
    Sporting redoubled their efforts, looking better through the first half of extra time, but Nielsen was forced to come up big on one of the few chances the Revolution crafted - Juan Agudelo skipped in, nutmegging Besler, only for the keeper to deny his shot.
    Having held firm for large sections of the match, New England’s undoing would be of their own making:
    In the 113th minute of play, Reis tried to spring a counter by lobbing a throw towards Fagundez, but Feilhaber read and intercepted, charging down the right-side before pulling a low cross to the penalty spot, where Claudio Bieler, returned from exile, turned it in with the inside of his left-boot.
    With the seconds ticking down, any hope of a New England goal would take a severe blow when Reis was forced off injured after trying to play sweeper and jarring his knee, requiring his removal from the match, and leaving his side reduced to ten – Kansas City played on and nearly took advantage of the empty net, but missed and Farrell was forced into goal with all their subs used.
    Bieler’s goal would stand as the series decider and a 3-1 win on the night would see Kansas City advance to face Houston in the Eastern Conference Final, 4-3 on aggregate.
    Winning Manager, Peter Vermes, was much cheerier than he had been in the build-up, heralding all and sundry, "We came into this game with the idea that we were going to play. We outplayed them tonight. From the beginning of the game all the way to the end we were fantastic. There's not much I can say about the determination and the ambition of the players. But their effort from the first to the last minute of the game and the way they managed the game was exactly what we talked about during the week leading up to this game. So I can't say enough about the perseverance and their determination to make sure that they left here with a win and they did it in incredible fashion. And the last thing that I'll say is that the crowd was absolutely incredible and the fans were unreal. It was amazing how the guys ran as long as they could, and so much of that has to do with the motivation of the fans and the way that they are behind the team."
    While Jay Heaps handled the defeat with grace, "I think we fought hard. Unfortunately, the first half is what did us in. We didn’t play real well, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. We tried to get our bearings but credit to a good bunch of players on that team. I think they’re a good group of players. I think that’s a player led team.”
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    Salt Lake 2 – Los Angeles 0 (Salt Lake advance 2-1 on aggregate)
    Thursday’s Western Conference deciders began in Salt Lake with the hosts needing to claw back from a one-goal deficit against a visiting Los Angeles side.
    As such, it was no surprise that Salt Lake looked the hungrier of the two in a rather dire first half, affected by the mercilessly swirling winds, while LA’s profligacy of the first leg carried into the second.
    Salt Lake would find their goal to level the series after 35 minutes:
    Javier Morales received the ball from Kyle Beckerman at the edge of the attacking third, moved to the right before retreating towards the left to swing a ball wide to Chris Wingert charging up that flank.
    Having drawn Robbie Rogers in-field, acres of space were vacated for Wingert to hit an unchallenged cross to the edge of the six-yard box where Sebastian Velasquez pushed up from midfield, finding a gap between the occupied LA centre-backs. The diminutive Colombian’s downward header nestled into the left-side of goal.
    With all to play for, the two exchanged half-chances and a deep Morales free-kick that was pushed wide at the last second by Jaime Penedo in the 53rd minute provided a portent of things to come.
    Salt Lake keeper, Nick Rimando, would look equally shaky, spilling a Rogers cross straight to Landon Donovan, but reacted sharpish to deny the opening.
    At home and sensing LA’s vulnerabilities, Salt Lake would come close twice more – a Morales corner kick was sent off the bar by Chris Schuler in the 74th and Alvaro Saborio would strike the base of the post after Olmes Garcia couldn’t burst through a crowd of defenders – before it appeared, if only for a brief moment, that they had found their winner:
    Morales drifted another deep free-kick towards the back-post that eluded all players and found the back of the net, but the referee blew play down and disallowed the goal for an apparent foul – Schuler appeared to be holding the wrist of Omar Gonzalez, perhaps preventing the centre-back from making a play on the ball.
    Twitter alit with controversy, as first it was posited Nat Borchers was offside – he probably was – then, as such, that he had interfered with play – but no flag was raised – before settling on the soft-but-correct nature of the decision.
    As the debate quieted down, LA keeper, Penedo, ensured extra time with big save on Garcia in the 91st minute.
    Extra time prompted further discussions when substitute Khari Stephenson clattered forcefully into Marcelo Sarvas and was lucky to only see yellow for his efforts.
    Equilibrium in the call department established, Salt Lake left no doubt of whom the worthy winners were when Morales was fouled by Sarvas in the waning moments of the first half of extra time:
    Morales swung a free-kick from the left to the back-post, where Schuler ghosted around the back, catching Sean Franklin napping to get on the end of the service, once it had cleared the head of Kofi Opare.
    Stretching, Schuler would direct the delivery in with his right-leg to put the hosts ahead after 102 minutes.
    No victory ever comes easy and Salt Lake were forced to play the final eleven minutes down a man when, having already used all three subs, Saborio was forced off with an injury.
    LA would muster two good chances – the first in the 116th when a Juninho knuckler troubled Rimando, resulting in a less-than-graceful face-save and again in the 122nd when Sean Franklin, hero of the first leg, found himself a free header from a Gyasi Zardes cross, but sent his effort woefully off-target.
    A 2-0 win on the night was enough to overturn the one-goal deficit from the first leg, taking the series 2-1 and advancing to the Western Conference Final where Salt Lake will face the winner of Portland-Seattle.
    Jason Kreis was asked post-match how it felt to put the ghosts of several high-profile home losses – the CONCACAF Champions League Final and this season’s US Open Cup Final, to name two - in the past with the win, “It’s huge. I think it just builds an incredible amount of momentum for us; an incredible amount of confidence and positivity. To get that goal in the first half, I think was gigantic for us. It took a big, big monkey off our backs.”
    LA’s Bruce Arena lamented a pair of poor displays to close the year from his side, “We didn’t play well tonight. We really had our opportunities on Sunday to have a cushion coming in here and didn’t do it. Tonight we failed on defensive set pieces. The wind made the game terrible with the field conditions and all of that, so it was a real sloppy game – a scrappy game. They were more opportunistic in their set pieces than we were, and that was the difference in the game.”
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    Portland 3 – Seattle 2 (Portland advance 5-3 on aggregate)
    The final match of the round would decide which of the Cascadian rivals would earn the right to face Salt Lake in the Western Conference Final.
    Portland took a surprise one-goal advantage back home from Seattle and wasted no time in asserting their dominance over an opponent who was forced to field Shalrie Joseph as a stop-gap striker for the first half with Obafemi Martins still smarting from injury.
    The early warnings of intent flashed after just three minutes as Diego Valeri slipped the ball to a wide open Rodney Wallace on the left, but his low shot could only find the side-netting.
    A few half-chances came their way before extending the gap in the 29th minute from the penalty spot:
    Jack Jewsbury touched a throw-in past Djimi Traore at the edge of the Seattle box and the defender reacted by flicking his hand up, making contact with the ball in the box in the 27th minute, prompting the nearby assistant referee to wave down the foul and the referee to point to the spot.
    Will Johnson stepped up, gave Michael Gspurning the eyes, sending the keeper sprawling to his right before calmly slotting to the left with his right-boot from twelve paces.
    Portland would put themselves firmly into the next round with a second goal moments before the half-time whistle:
    Adam Moffat saw his touch intercepted by Will Johnson, who touched out wide right to Jewsbury. He, in turn, played to Valeri, and received a return ball before faking a cross and rolling the ball across the top of the box to Wallace.
    The Costa Rican touched into path of a streaking Valeri, freed by Marc Burch’s lapse in not tracking the run. Valeri took a touch forward then slid to tuck a right-footed effort across Gspurning into the far-side-netting in the 44th minute.
    Portland continued the onslaught with the start of the second half, adding a third – and stretching their series lead to four – two minutes in:
    A quickly taken free-kick on the left-flank by Will Johnson caught the Sounders napping and found Wallace in space down the left. His cross to the near-post was flicked by Futty Danso past Gspurning after leaving the attentions of Traore trailing in his wake.
    With the outcome nearly settled, Seattle finally came to life in the 74th minute, grabbing their first goal of the match:
    A long Brad Evans throw from the left was flicked on by Eddie Johnson at the near-post, Traore lunged to get a piece that deflected off Michael Harrington and squirreled to the back-side where DeAndre Yedlin was on hand to roof a right-footer over both Donovan Ricketts and Will Johnson sprawling in his way.
    The Sounders would make a contest of it two minutes later with a second goal:
    Clint Dempsey laid out wide to Yedlin on the right; he took on Harrington and hit a cross to the edge of the six over Danso, where Eddie Johnson rose over Jewsbury to power a header into the top left-side of goal.
    But it was too little, too late and Donovan Ricketts would tip an 80th minute header over the bar before Dempsey wasted a final chance in the 89th minute, snatching and sending it wide.
    The 3-2 home win saw Portland advance to the conference final to face Salt Lake by an aggregate margin of 5-3 over their hated opponents, winning their first-ever MLS playoff series at the first time of asking.
    Post-match Caleb Porter would not rest on his already-substantial laurels, when asked what the win meant, “I think it means that we’re three games away and we have two teams in our way. I think if you went in the locker room you’ll see a team that’s happy, but they won’t be truly happy unless we win it all. We’re not going to get ahead of ourselves. We’re not going to think past this next round. Obviously, we have to get to the championship in order to raise a trophy, and we’ve got a difficult team ahead of us in Salt Lake. We’ll keep taking it one at a time, but we’re getting closer. This team genuinely believes that we have a realistic shot at this. It means a lot, but we’re not going to think about what it means until, hopefully, the end.”
    Seattle’s Sigi Schmid, on the other hand, was left to reflect on a frustrating end to their season, "It's disappointing, but when you're adding people during the season it's sometimes tough. Being able to play as a team is something that we have to become better at. In terms of that unselfish running for people at times is something we have to become better at as well, and that's something that we'll improve upon and be better at next season because that was one of the keys for us and with the changes in the lineup game in and game out. We were never able to build upon that and never be able to get the roles down. The roles for people were changing and the roles for people today in the game changed; all that makes it tough."
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    CanCon
    Kofi Opare was eliminated from the 2013 MLS Cup Playoff with LA’s 2-0 loss at Salt Lake – he was partially culpable for both Salt Lake goals, having covered the same man (Saborio) as left-back, Todd Dunivant, on the Chris Wingert cross, leaving Sebastian Velasquez unmarked for his header and failed to clear the Javier Morales free-kick that led to Chris Schuler’s game-winner in extra time.
    Will Johnson’s post-season with Portland will continue, having been named as NBC Sports Man of the Match on Thursday, scoring from the spot, playing a role in both Diego Valeri’s strike and collecting an assist on Futty Danso’s header, while patrolling the midfield like a general.
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    Overheard
    Just a single remark this round - Arlo White’s subtle mention of “one or two messages for the travelling supporters” after a pan shot of the Timbers Army showed a few unsavoury hand gestures intended for the visiting fans.
    See It Live
    Plenty of visual delights from Brandon Barklage’s playoff-worthy beard – much respect – to the malaise of Thierry Henry’s disbelief and all its glorious Gallic shrug:
    <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Henry face. <a href="http://t.co/KZ3wr3OWt8">pic.twitter.com/KZ3wr3OWt8</a></p>— Jason Davis (@davisjsn) <a href="
    ">November 7, 2013</a></blockquote><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
    And then there was Tally Hall’s jaw-dropping reaction save on Tim Cahill.
    There were some flashy-eyed cardboard robots in the stands at Sporting Park in Kansas City and who does not love when an out-field player is forced into playing goal.
    Bruce Arena’s skill on the ball needs a little work – as does his evaluation of whether the ball had left the field of play (courtesy of MLSsoccer.com’s Matthew Doyle):

    While Jaime Penedo and Nick Rimando each put their bodies – and faces – on the line.
    And what about that tifo in Portland – though surely they could have found a scarier wizard than the black mage from Final Fantasy:
    <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Smoke obscures tifo, which says " This magic is real." <a href="http://t.co/Dsfdx49SOQ">pic.twitter.com/Dsfdx49SOQ</a></p>— Don Ruiz (@donruiztnt) <a href="
    ">November 8, 2013</a></blockquote><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
    Controversy
    Should Darius Barnes have seen red for raising his hands to the throat of Chance Myers?
    What about that Javier Morales goal that was ruled out?
    Did Khari Stephenson deserve more than a yellow for his tackle on Marcelo Sarvas?
    Opinion Poll
    Any thoughts on this hectic playoff schedule?
    Is the compression of the drama good for the league, drawing in fans? Or is it too tight, affecting the play on the field – and perhaps, the results?
    Upon the realization that the comment section remained unavailable, these polls seem superfluous, but the decision was made to solider on – feel free to reach out on twitter for any discussion (see below).
    Upcoming Fixtures
    No rest for the weary as the conference finals are set to begin on Saturday with the Eastern Conference tilt before Sunday’s Western Conference opener, prior to taking a two-week break for the international window before the second legs.
    Saturday: Houston-Kansas City. Sunday: Salt Lake-Portland.
    All quotes courtesy of MLSsoccer.com
    Each week James takes a look at the league as a whole.
    You can follow James on twitter @grawsee or read more of his writing at Partially Obstructed View
    Guest

    Catching up with... Jackson Farmer

    By Guest, in AFTN,

    After a season that saw a number of injuries to the first team centrehalfs, the most consistent player at that position in the Vancouver Whitecaps organization was U18 defender Jackson Farmer.
    The Edmonton native's consistent and improving play in the USSDA has seen him become a key player in the Caps' focus on their Residency program.
    The central defender is confident on the ball, is able to distribute from the back and plays a physical game, delivering solid tackles. Since the 2012/13 USSDA season ended, Farmer has seen his stock rise to the point where the Caps had him train with the first team on a regular basis.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    <i>"It's a great experience always coming in here and I learn a lot from the older guys. I'm always excited to come here and play with them. Different perspectives and different coaching styles. It's great. I love it."</i>
    He's using the experience with the first team in order to help the younger players when Farmer returns to train with the Residency.
    <i>"Whenever I go back to the Residency I always try to keep it the same tempo and the same attitude as I would with the first team. It carries back and forth."</i>
    By the end of the summer he received his first call up to the Canadian national team where he was excited to receive his first senior cap against Mauritania, which he naturally describes as a <i>"great"</i> experience.
    The camp was the first for new national coach Benito Floro and the Spaniard seemed to impress the young defender as the new man in charge of Canadian soccer.
    <i>"I thought it was good. I really enjoyed it, learning new stuff from him and definitely just adapting to the way he wants to play.
    "Definitely there's a different perspective with the way he wants to coach and the way he likes to play the line, attack and defensive transitions and attacking transitions."</i>
    While most young players may find it difficult to train with so many sides, it seems that Farmer feels it can only benefit his development.
    <i>"You always have to adapt to whatever environment you're going to, whether that be the first team, the Residency, the Canadian team, the under 20 team. It's just that you always have to adapt. It's good to be in those environments because it challenges you."</i>
    Despite his movement through multiple levels the defender realises the most important coach and team in his career at the moment is Gordon Forrest and the U18 residency squad.
    <i>"We have great staff in Gordon and Steve and even the medical staff. They always do a great job. Our goal is to keep the winning streak going and maintain composure and make sure we're just organised throughout."</i>
    After making the Finals week again last season, Farmer feels they have the team to return the same level of success they achieved in the USSDA again this year, even if they lose a player or two due to international call up.
    <i>"We know we're going to lose people and gain people. We just need to keep organised and when we do that we win matches because we keep the ball well, we switch it side to side and we break teams down. It's not like we don't have a playing style."</i>
    The U18s have had a solid start to the season winning seven of their nine games despite missing five of their top players and Farmer feels the team can get better as the season progresses.
    <i>"We're just growing too. It's the start of the season and it's great to have the wins, especially right off the get go because a lot of people were coming from trips and we just met for the first time. It's definitely going to get better as the season goes on."</i>
    Farmer continues his journey to the first team when the Whitecaps Residency squads wrap up the first half of the season on Saturday when they take on Cascadian rivals Portland Timbers at Percy Perry Stadium in Coquitlam.
    The U18s kick off at noon and the U16s take the field at 2.30pm. With the Whitecaps' increased focus on their Residency prospects, a good support is expected, so get out if you can and support the future.
    <p>
    Guest

    Return of the DeRo?

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    One of the oddest, and most telling, numbers from Toronto's first seven years is zero.
    Not zero playoff games, that's telling but not odd. Rather, it's the amount of former TFC players that returned to the club for a second go-around. You would have thought that the insane volume of former Reds would have seen at least one repeat offender.
    But, nope. Once they escape Hogtown they either fade away into obscurity, or never look back.
    However, there are some whispers -- very early whispers that are too unsubstantiated to even call rumours yet, but whispers none-the-less -- that that might be changing in 2014. And changing in the most insanely spectacular/infuriating way possible.
    There was a boy from Scarborough...
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    When the news first broke that Canada's and TFC's all-time leading scorer, Dwayne De Rosario, would be a free agent (insofar as any MLS player is truly free) nearly everyone jumped to immediately squash any and all talk about the possibility of the world's most potentially hilarious homecomings happening.
    "I don't want to talk about the possibility," long-time commentators spat. "Get it out of your head; it's not happening," others suggested.
    I resisted writing this column for more than a week because I initially agreed. But, the logic of it -- along with the previously mentioned per-rumour whispers -- has forced me to adjust my thinking.
    (As an aside, I'm referring to the logic of the team wanting to sign him. I'm not saying it's logical to actually do it. The discussion of whether TFC should do something is much different than the discussion of whether they will do something).
    Yes the majority of long-time, informed TFC fans are, at best, ambivalent and, at worse, hostile, to the idea of revisiting DeRo. However, there is a larger group of former or would-be fans that simply don't care about chequegate and who would be excited to see DeRo back. That excitement probably wouldn't move season tickets, but it might be enough to get those fans paying attention again, or coming out to a single early season game.
    This is where you need to get into Tim Leiweke's head -- he of the don't pay us until January mantra. If the money was right -- and it goes without saying that the money would have to be right. He's not a DP anymore -- then bringing DeRo back would be a fairly low-risk move that could have huge potential benefit.
    From DeRo's perspective it's a fully new front office so there would be no lingering hard feelings. He is also a proud athlete with a healthy ego. The thought of riding back into town and being the man who dragged TFC back from the dead is probably compelling.
    And, it's home. That does matter.
    TFC is also placed in a position where they are a team that could roll the dice on him. They have cap space and lots of allocation. As a Canadian he doesn't take an international spot. They also sit third in the re-entry draft order and one of the teams above is the team that dropped him. Unless you think Chivas is interested, TFC is effectively the first team to have a shot at him.
    Again, they aren't using a DP slot on him, but an incentive heavy one year deal for about $200,000?
    That would probably be worth the gamble in their minds.
    Would it be worth the gamble though? This is where it gets a bit murky. From a business perspective I think yes. There are far more TFC fans that still love DeRo than dislike the way he left. He'd return a hero to 80 percent of the fan base and the other 20 percent would forgive immediately following the first chicken dance.
    It is, however, possible that he's done. His ability to be managed has also been rightly criticized. There would be risk.
    There could be reward too. His raw offensive ability is nearly unmatched in MLS. He is in great shape and a long off-season could help that knee recover.
    If he could come back at about 80 percent of his form from just a couple years ago, and if he was willing to be a secondary player behind new DPs, and if they could find a salary that was both enough to satisfy his ego and low enough to give TFC flexibility, then...it's not as out there as people initially suggested.
    TFC's done dumber things, after all.
    Michael Mccoll
    It's Episode 26 of "There's Still Time", the AFTN podcast and it's our first end of the season roundtable. Still feels a little premature that the season's done and dusted.
    Steve and myself are joined by a couple of familiar voices in Steven Lamothe and Zachary Meisenhamer from Curva Collective and at long last our schedules aligned and we're joined by long time listener, first time podder, former head honcho of the Southsiders, John Knox.
    It's the 3M edition - Mattocks, Martin, Managers.
    It's been a busy time in Whitecapsland since our last pod and we kick things off this episode with the main talking point of the week - the Darren Mattocks' mouth. Is there any love in the room for last year's leading scorer and is there any way he'll be kitted out in a Whitecaps strip next season?
    From someone that might be leaving to someone that has already left - Martin Rennie. Rennie's departure split the fans and it also splits our panel. We discuss where it all went wrong for the Scot, but there's also some love coming his way for his turning of this team around, something that's been missed a little in all the managerial hotseat fallout.
    So now that the Caps are looking for a new manager, who will it be? We chat about the expected contenders and throw in a couple of other names that have been rumoured to have made the shortlist.
    Do we want any of them and are our options going to be a little bit limited by the infamous committee?
    And there's still time to read out tweets from our listeners as to who they would ideally like to have at the Whitecaps helm, and show how up with the times we are by talking about the TV show "Cheers".
    We'd planned to talk about a lot more, but once we get started, the time just flies. So we recorded a second podcast and you can here that next week!
    For now, you can listen to this week's podcast on iTunes HERE.
    Or download it for your later listening delight HERE
    We also have an iPhone app, so you can now add our podcast to your phone as an app. Visit the podcast's mobile site HERE and then at the bottom of the screen just click the "Quick Launch" icon and the podcast will be added to your home screen and appear as an app.
    And if that's not enough, we've joined Stitcher Radio Network. Download the app and listen to the AFTN podcast on your device, along with over 15,000 shows HERE.
    Or after all that, you could just listen on the player below!
    Guest
    Alright, the next stop for the Baby Reds is actually Saturday's final of the CONCACAF U-17 Women's Championship against Mexico, who upset the United States on penalty kicks on Thursday.
    But realistically, teams come into these CONCACAF tournaments with one predominant goal in mind: Qualify for the World Cup. And for Canada, it's mission accomplished.
    Canada qualified for the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup (March 15-April 5 in Costa Rica) by soundly defeating Jamaica 5-0 on Thursday night in the semifinals of the aforementioned CONCACAF tournament.
    The Canadians rarely took their foot off the pedal in a resounding performance against the host Jamaicans (who had finished first in their group), but can afford to relax somewhat in Saturday's final with the pressure of World Cup qualification now relieved.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Of course, it's unlikely that head coach Beverly Priestman will be telling her young charges to relax -- surely, Canada will be looking to win the CONCACAF tournament for the second time. The Canadians met Mexico in the 2010 CONCACAF final and won 1-0 on a goal from Kinley McNicoll.
    On Thursday against Jamaica, the goals came from familiar sources -- Marie-Mychele Metivier (six in the tournament), Emily Borgmann (five), Marie Levasseur (five) and Jessie Fleming (three), while Sarah Kinzner also added her first of the competition. Four goals from Nadya Gill round out what's been a goal-scoring explosion for Canada in these four games.
    Of course, Canada was largely stymied against the United States in a 2-0 loss in the group stage, and the team struggled mightily (to put it very kindly) to find the back of the net at the 2012 U-17 Women's World Cup after cruising through qualifying in similar fashion. So while the young Canadians' prolific scoring thus far has been encouraging, it would be dangerous to automatically assume that it's a portent of things to come.
    After all, the U-17 game is wildly unpredictable. Canada thumped Jamaica. Jamaica tied Mexico. Mexico beat the USA. And the USA thumped Canada. All in the course of a week. So none of us really know what to expect in Saturday's final against Mexico.
    But we do know two things...
    This team has a handful of players that know how to find the back of the net. And they are going to a FIFA World Cup.
    That should be music to the ears of any Canadian soccer follower.
    .
    Guest
    It's been a bit of whirlwind year for Simon Thomas.
    Since returning to Vancouver to rejoin the Whitecaps at the start of this season, Residency alumni Thomas has seen action for the Whitecaps in Reserves and PDL action, been on loan to Edmonton and made his senior debut for the Canadian national team.
    <i>"I feel like I've been all over the place this year to be honest"</i>, is how Thomas sums up his many travels in 2013.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    <i>"Racked up the air miles. It's good.
    "I was able to get quite a number of matches through the PDL and Reserve League. Not the consistency I would like but it's all part of the process."</i>
    As we've said before, being a goalkeeper is one of the hardest positions on the pitch and one of the most heavily scrutinised when you make mistakes. It's also the toughest one to get you actual playing time.
    Barring injury or a sending off, there can only be one keeper turning out in any given match and as a third keeper on a squad, that makes it harder to show your worth and challenge for that starting spot.
    That's tough enough, but when you then find yourself as one of four keepers on a MLS squad, well, how do you keep that focus and motivation going?
    <i>"You just got to learn from it"</i> says Thomas. <i>"I feel that I have age on my side right now and it's just about developing myself, so I'm trying to take as much as I can from David, Brad and Joe, and anybody else I see that has an aside that they can offer to me."</i>
    With all those keepers around, and those coming through the Residency program, it did make it hard for Thomas to get a lot of actual playing time this year.
    With first Brad Knighton, and then David Ousted, seeing a lot of time in the MLS Reserve League, Thomas only saw minutes in three matches, playing the full 90 in only one of them. He did get additional time in four Reserve friendlies, playing the full game in two, and also split the goalkeeping duties for the U23 side, where he made seven appearances in PDL action.
    In amongst it all he was part of a loan deal with Edmonton that saw the Victoria born stopper train with the Caps but on call if the Eddies had a goalkeeping crisis. Although he travelled through to Alberta a couple of times, he was only ever on the bench, but that's a situation Thomas has no issues with.
    <i>"I was just there for cover. It was just the way it worked out with them. I think if they brought me in every time they needed a keeper and played me, it says something to the guys they've got there."</i>
    He may not have seen any NASL action but Thomas did make his senior debut for the Canadian national team in January. He came on as a half time sub against Denmark, conceding one goal in the 3-0 loss. Three days later he started and kept a clean sheet in the 0-0 draw against the US in Houston.
    Impressing the coaching staff, Thomas was named as one of the three goalkeepers in Canada's Gold Cup squad in the summer, although he didn't play in any of the three group games.
    How has he found the whole Canadian experience this year?
    <i>"It was awesome. It was my first major tournament. I can't speak enough about it. Apart from the results, it was the highlight of the year for me, other than getting my debut for the national team."</i>
    Looking ahead, the uncertainty of the coaching situation in Vancouver will impact a lot of the players at the club right now.
    On the goalkeeping front, Joe Cannon is likely to move on or move up the organisational ladder. Brad Knighton is also felt likely to move on to pastures new.
    Depending on which manager comes in, and how he views things, there is a good chance that Simon Thomas will move up into the back up spot with the Caps behind Ousted.
    But that isn't enough to satisfy the keeper, and neither it should be.
    <i>"I'm always looking to be the number one. If you don't have that ambition in your career you're not much of a footballer. Every day it's just focus on getting better and reaching that goal of being the number one."</i>
    At just 23, Thomas certainly does have time on his side and could be a Whitecaps fixture for quite a few years still to come in his quest for that goal.
    <p>
    Guest

    Alberto Gilardino!

    By Guest, in Some Canadian Guys,

    Hey everyone, guess what?
    Alberto Gilardino is a soccer player who exists.
    Toronto FC is a team that exists.
    Put those two terms into the same article, and oh boy, here come the clicks!
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Has Gilardino being signed by TFC been substantively confirmed? Nope! Hell, if the Tal Ben Haim saga taught us anything, it's that even the team itself isn't a reliable source when it comes to player transfers.
    But hey, Gilardino TFC, Gilardino TFC, Gilardino TFC. How's that for SEO? C'mon Google, sniff this out and give us some sweet, sweet page views!
    And don't worry, if the Gilardino move doesn't pan out, at least we'll always have Diego Forlan.
    .
    Guest
    We may not know what sort of shenanigans the off-season will hold in Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal.
    But we now know that when the 2014 Voyageurs Cup rolls around, Nicki Paterson will almost surely be a part of it.
    Paterson, a 28-year-old Scottish midfielder, was announced on Wednesday as the first player signing for Ottawa Fury FC, who will begin play in the NASL (and the Voyageurs Cup) next year. Marc Dos Santos -- the former Impact head coach who will lead the Fury into their first NASL campaign -- lured Paterson to Ottawa after Paterson had spent the last three seasons with the USL's Charleston Battery.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    "We're thrilled to have a player of his ability join us for our inaugural season," Dos Santos said in a news release. "We believe that he has the exact profile and attitude this club needs, and we're certain that he'll be a fan favourite and leader in our community."
    With Ottawa's new stadium at Lansdowne Park passing an important milestone in late September*, and a head coach and first player now in place, the reality is beginning to sink in concerning the arrival of Canada's fifth professional side.
    The 2014 Voyageurs Cup will see #4-seeded FC Edmonton take on #5-seeded Ottawa Fury in a play-in, to determine who'll meet the #1-seeded Montreal Impact in one semifinal. The other semifinal will feature the #2-seeded Vancouver Whitecaps and #3 seeded Toronto FC.
    * The Ottawa Fury will play at Keith Harris Stadium at Carleton University during the 2014 NASL spring season, while the stadium at Lansdowne Park (which they'll share with the CFL's Ottawa Redblacks**) is being finished. Lansdowne will become the Fury's full-time home starting in the NASL fall season.
    ** No, I'm not going to capitalize that ridiculous word.
    .
    Guest
    Much has been made since Martin Rennie's dismissal about the need to see more of the Residency talent make the transition not only to the MLS squad, but to actual playing time.
    We looked at that very desire for progression on <a href="http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?5023-Residency-progression-will-be-a-key-focus-for-new-Whitecaps-manager" target="_blank">Monday</a>. Bobby Lenarduzzi waxed lyrical at last week's press conference about the hope and expectation for this to happen and those thoughts were backed up by the likes of Nigel Reo-Coker and Russell Teibert at the last training session of the year.
    But how realistic is that plan? And would it have a detrimental effect on the team and the new manager?
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    It's a subject that sparks a lot of debate.
    Some argue that even at the best academies across the world, developing one first teamer a year is thought to be excellent production. Two or more would be hitting the jackpot.
    Are the Whitecaps and the fans being unrealistic in expecting more just because a lot of money has been ploughed into the Residency program and we're seeing promising signs?
    Many of those academies are in superior leagues however. Where it's harder for not just young, but also domestic talent to break through into becoming a starter. Where a manager's job often hangs by the narrowest of threads and it's much preferable to go out, splash some cash and buy a proven talent, than have your career at the feet of an unproven young starlet.
    Major League Soccer is not like a lot of those other leagues. There is often more patience, although we may be seeing the start of that environment changing.
    It is a League where young talent can be brought on in an actual competitive environment and flourish. But like any football league in the world, results are king.
    As a veteran of the game, and MLS, Joe Cannon knows it's a tough dilemma, especially for any coach coming in to a new club, as we'll soon see in Vancouver.
    In a results driven business, does a coach really put that much emphasis on youth development when he needs to gets points on the board?
    <i>"It's a difficult question because as a coach, you know they're kind of looking to get results now and they don't have the opportunity of say like an American university coach who can know that they're not always under the gun, that they have years to develop and bring recruits in"</i>, Cannon told Steve Pandher last week.
    <i>"Here, it seems the timeline's really quick, but you're seeing more of an emphasis on it. I think it's just a slow process because in certain markets, and because of how soccer is in North America, it's not a given.
    "We're still trying to sell the sport so you're trying to kind of balance selling the sport and entertaining the fans with a product that the city's going to be proud of. Then on the flip side, finding new players that are going to fill in that product, so that balance, every team, does it differently.
    "I think honestly, for every franchise I've seen now, because the Residency, the development academies are so new, they're trying to evolve individually."</i>
    The salary cap also plays a role, where there needs to be cheap, young talent in a squad to make up the numbers.
    With the right development in a full time set up, who knows how many of these up and coming players make the breakthrough into being first team regulars?
    That's the gamble that the Whitecaps are looking to take and it's the right one as far as we're concerned. We feel it is realistic but we also know it could easily all go horribly wrong.
    Much better to use your time, energy and money developing players fully from an early age through your system than acquiring what is often just a pig in a poke in the drafts. You at least know what you're getting. Their strengths, their weaknesses and their desire to play for the club that has nurtured them.
    They won't all work out, and maybe after being in the first team environment for a couple of years it turns out that some just aren't good enough for that level. But others will and some will then get sold on to bigger and better things.
    And this is the crux to my argument. If you don't put them in that environment, how can you ever know if they'll succeed or fail and if they don't get the playing time, how will they ever get the proper chance to develop and reach the required level?
    I admit that this is where we're wandering a little down the idealistic trail.
    As the outsider looking in, that's the right thing to do. It isn't my job on the line after all if it all goes tits up.
    In reality, it takes either a brave or a confident manager to take that step. Or one
    that has the full backing of the owners to make that move and the guarantee of time to see it through to it's full fruition.
    The Whitecaps are indicating that this will be the case here. But will it?
    It's not always that what the owners want in some situations, they can get. Sometimes fan and media pressure can pull the plug early on such plans, especially if the former are walking with their feet, and wallets. And how much stock does a manager put into boardroom promises?
    Ultimately the prime goal of a football club is to have a winning team on the park and some modicum of success.
    And that now brings us to the infamous old saying of <i>"you can't win anything with kids"</i>.
    It was coined by ex Liverpool and Scotland defender Alan Hansen on the BBC and aimed at Manchester United in the 1995/96 season where they swept out the old guard and brought in the new. United had the last word in the argument, winning the League and Cup double that season.
    Most occasions, that's not going to happen and you're not going to blood the likes of David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville at the same time.
    But playing younger players doesn't have to and doesn't always equal poor results. To quote one of Reo-Coker's favourite sayings on the matter - if they're good enough, they're old enough.
    The flip side is that often it can and teams can get hammered. You only have to look at some messes in MLS to know how easily it can all go wrong and how hard it then is to turn it around.
    If the team was failing on the park, how much appetite would there be amongst Vancouver's owners, supporters and media to keep going down a youth route if there were positive signs being shown?
    It is all a bit of a vicious circle.
    As a coach you need results, and when your predecessor was canned after delivering more points, wins and goals than the season before, you know you're at a club with high expectations.
    But those expectations are also to see the much lauded academy bear fruit.
    The Whitecaps have the options to go out and buy success or try to develop it from within.
    In reality, the correct path will lie somewhere inbetween both of those avenues.
    The Caps executives seem to be saying the right things with regards to youth development. It is realistic, but there has to be an acceptance that it could be difficult path. The players may make it on to the MLS squad, but they still might not actually see actual minutes.
    It's now up to the new manager, and others within the front office team, to try and make this happen.
    Let's just hope that others outside of the club, have the necessary patience to see this plan through.
    That could be the hardest and most unrealistic part.
    <p>
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