Closed Door Exhibition Exclusive: Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Colorado Rapids

East Vancouver-- The final dress rehearsal before the Vancouver Whitecaps' First Kick was held behind closed doors at Empire Stadium. The last exhibition match of the pre-season brought defending MLS champion Colorado Rapids. With exactly 7 days remaining until the Caps' first-ever MLS home game, the stage was set for what amounts to probably the most important game of the pre-season.

It was not just a chance for the operations crew to work out all their kinks before the grand opening gala. Saturday night was the first time that new Whitecaps striker Eric Hassli got a chance to play in a full match with his new squad. After arriving from Switzerland earlier this week, there will be incredible pressure on the Frenchman to produce after signing on as the club's first designated player. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

Starting Lineups-

Hassli did not disappoint in his first showcase to fans and the media. Initially there was a little concern in my mind when, in the 7th minute, Atiba Harris dummied a ball through to Hassli in the middle of the pitch just inside the Colorado end. It looked like maybe a communication breakdown, but after that it was nothing but smooth sailing for the two as they terrorized the Rapids defence.

Within the next two minutes Harris and Hassli hooked up twice more, and the French striker managed shots on goal. While they were not incredible shots that called for magnificent saves, the fact he was able to get a foot on the ball and direct it on net shows that there is a lot of promise in the new signing.

Connor Casey is the current MLS player that Whitecaps Director of Soccer Operations says Hassli resembles most. Casey, though, is slower then Betty White in poorly fitted shoes; it was obvious to everyone when he was sprung on a break and no less then three Whitecaps were able to catch him before he could manage a shot on goal. Casey's physicality is where the comparison was truly drawn from, and it's legitimate: both are physically imposing and strong on the ball -- but as Soehn said, Hassli has better footwork.

Colorado's only real pressing moment came when Casey got away with a push from behind on Gerson Koffie, who was in the air about to head a Colorado goal kick. The slight push sent Koffie tumbling; the ball would have been sent back into the Rapids' end, but instead drifted deeper into the Caps half and was collected by Omar Cummings, who was then promptly tackled by Greg Janicki resulting in a free kick from out side the 18-yard box.

Jamie Smith put the free kick wide of the net. He managed to screw up another free kick later in the game. Set pieces were ugly at either end of the pitch though. In the 19th minute Terry Dunfield, Russell Teibert and Alain Rochat teamed up to bungle a free kick and didn't even manage a shot. Hopefully that can get that worked out by next week.

At the 28th minute, we all had a chuckle as Harris made me look like a genius. He got a beauty of a pass and quickly turned, getting himself clear to the right of the goal. He then promptly hammered a shot so far wide left of the goal that it actually went out for a throw in.

Hassli and Harris connected one last time before half, with Hassli playing a deft little touch off the tip of his toe to Harris who had a opening to take a shot and got it off in a hurry. Unfortunately the shot was blocked, so we will never know how badly it would have missed.

After that, the ball just sort of got passed around by the Rapids in their own end. That was the story of the first half though, with possession being split 51% to 49% in favour of Colorado. The 'Caps had a slight disadvantage in possession, but they definitely looked to be the more dangerous team when on the ball. Colorado were more than content to let the 'Caps chase them around in their own defensive end and rarely looked to counter when they took control of the play.

To start the second half the only substitution that was made was Joe Cannon coming into the game for Jay Nolly. It only took 3 minutes for Casey to take a little revenge on Koffie for his earlier attacks on Rapids players. Koffie actually started the second half having already committed 4 fouls. He finished last year with a bit of a reputation for being an aggressive tackler and many have predicted that he will lead the club in fouls this year. If SportsAction takes bets on that sort of thing, the smart money is on him actually leading with that stat.

Cannon got his first test at 52' when he had to make a waist-high save on a very hard shot, he was unable to corral the ball, but it was cleared by the defence quickly. No less then 3 minutes later the 'Caps were breaking down the right side of the pitch and a strong pass came across the top of the 18 to Atiba and he dummied it through to Russell Teibert, who was open on the right side. Teibert's hard low shot was saved by Perkins but the rebound squirted out to a charging Dunfield. The former Manchester City youth player blasted a shot so high over the goal I thought that it was going to clear the scoreboard and break a windshield in the parking lot.

Not too long after that (57') Wes Knight, Omar Salgado and Alexandre Morfaw came in for Nizar Khalfan, Eric Hassli and Gershon Koffie.

Then the ball got passed around in the Rapids end for another 10 minutes. That is until Atiba got fed up with watching the Rapids defence playing keep away in their own end. Harris snuck up on the Colorado keeper who had his back to him and nearly stole the ball off of him.

Salgado had been in the game for almost 16 minutes before he finally got a touch on the ball -- and his first touch was a turnover. He looked good out there but by the time he got into the flow Colorado had decided to take some initiative and start pressuring the Vancouver back line a little more steadily. It seemed as though when Khalfan came out of the game the 'Caps were no longer able to push forward. I might like Wes Knight better as a defender anyways, but Jonathan Leathers had a very good game.

With Gershon out, they didn't seem to win nearly as many balls in the middle of the pitch. While Koffie did win a lot of balls he also had several mind-blowing turnovers that we're not capitalized on by the Colorado squad. Not too long after Salgado got his first touch and we all calmed down a bit Long Tan and Jeb Brovsky came in for Harris and Rochat. Then the air completely left Vancouver's sails. Teitur wanted to see how Jeb would do as a left back.

Then it happened... Colorado finally got the goal everyone was waiting for. Let's just be realistic here for a second: we are an expansion franchise, and they are the defending champions. Brovski was a serious downgrade from Rochat and it showed almost immediately. The goal was very reminiscent of Seattle's second goal over the weekend. The ball came up the right side and there seemed to be a miscue between the defensive backs, and as the ball came across the 6-yard box nobody cleared it, nobody collected it, and it came to an opposing player. After a quick pass Jamie Smith drove a ball past Cannon into the right of the net.

The 'Caps played well when their starting line up was on the pitch, and they definitely did not look out of place against the defending champs. Once their starters came out it was a bit of a different story but that is to be expected.

While tonight's result was not ideal, it was still a great game. The team looked very good, and they will be tough to score on all year. The tandem of Harris and Hassli is going to cause a lot of problems for opposing teams once they get their chemistry. I am left to wonder if Gershon lacks the composure while in possession of the ball to really be successful in this league. Defensively he is sound but as predicted he kind of got pushed around a few times when faced with a bigger stronger opponent.

Speaking of big guys, Michael Boxall had a fairly decent game filling in for an injured Jay DeMerit. By the sounds of it, expect "The Big Kiwi" to be the club's next international signing. I could only see Mouloud being signed before him with regards to the international players. Teitur seems to be really high on the kid and his footwork and positioning are fantastic. He likes to put the body on guys and it's good to see cause he's a brick house. Mouloud is still a risk because he is not back to full health yet almost a year after his ankle injury last year.

Hassli had a huge smile on his face when he was addressing the media. The tone of his voice made it seem as though he was genuinely really happy with how things are looking here in Lotus Land. Toronto may be in for a bigger test than what everyone is expecting. While we have all known that Vancouver will be strong in the back end of the field, it looks as though there will be lots of excitement around the other teams goal this year as well.