It has been a slow couple days on the news front from a Vancouver Whitecaps supporters perspective. Nothing has really happened since Vancouver lost a pair of pre-season exhibition matches against the L.A. Galaxy — and even those were held behind closed doors. Today, the club gave us all a little something to keep the saliva flowing. The most prominent was the news the Whitecaps are looking to bring in a "Major" European Club for a friendly this season. Apparently they are in negotiations with at least two clubs but the one that immediately jumps to mind is the Paul Barber Tottenham Hotspur connection.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
It's an easy connection to make and it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility. Keep in mind that the word on the street is David Beckham (who is currently training with Tottenham) is working on an alliance between the London Club and the L.A. Galaxy for a potential partnership between the two clubs. If Spurs were to make their way to the Southern California Coast, it would not be that great a stretch of the imagination that they could simply make the two hour flight up the Left Coast to Vancouver and be wined and dined by their chum Paul and his new Canadian friends.
Tottenham are not the only club that are tied directly to the Whitecaps.
Jeff Mallett, who is a part owner of the Whitecaps, is also a part of the ownership group at Derby County in the English Championship. Realistically, nobody would call Derby a "Major" European Club, but it would be a great chance for the coaching staff to have a look at a couple of potential purchases for next year. And if you're talking about Derby on these shores, then you're talking about Conor Doyle. He's an American kid, with an Irish father, who has played for both country's youth set up and is yet to declare who he intends to play for as a senior national. Americans love Americans coming back to their league.
Speculation
There have been several reports that Manchester United are set to return to North America again this summer for a few pre season friendlies. Real Madrid are also rumoured along with every other major club sponsored by Adidas. Adidas recently extended their current deal with MLS until 2018 and it is supposedly worth upwards of $200 Million.
No grass in Vancouver
Everton proved to be the most recent example of why Vancouver will have trouble drawing international players to its roster, not to mention big European clubs for friendlies. In 2009, Everton did a North American tour and even played the MLS all stars. Apparently The Toffees were going to set up camp in B.C. and play a friendly against the Whitecaps but pulled out after they discovered that there were no adequate grass training pitches for them to prepare for the match.
Paul Barber put it best when he was referring to a similar problem as he described the issues with developing a training facility in the lower mainland. "Too many hills and too much water." But turf is the trend that is sweeping the nation as funding becomes harder to find in municipalities where pitches require constant care and reseeding after being torn up all fall by High School football.
When I spoke with Whitecaps defender Alain Rochat about playing on turf in Switzerland he exclaimed "I hate it!" Recently, trialist Ryan O'Leary missed most of the first trip to Arizona with Turf Toe - something he suffered in just the first 3 days of training at Empire.
While B.C. Place will have FIFA Approved field turf, it will still make foreign players and clubs cringe at the thought of playing there. Swangard presents a potential training pitch for foreign teams while in town and B.C. Place General Manager Howard Crossley assured me that it is possible to lay grass over the turf at BC Place — is a similar fashion to how Seattle did when Manchester United visited The Emerald City.
Until the turf issues get sorted, don't hold your breath for them to be rolling out the big boys for a friendly against the Blue and White.
But who needs Eurotrash anyways?
With all that being said, don't forget that sometimes the best matches are the domestic ones. If you are a new fan of the club and are not really too sure what games you should be getting excited for — the May 4th match against L'Impact de Montreal (Montreal Impact for all the rest of us anglophones) is going to be one of the most intense of the season. Montreal and Vancouver already absolutely hate each other - the 2009 Nutrilite Voyageurs Cup is a point of contention as many 'Caps fans feel that Montreal capitulated in a 6-1 loss to Toronto that cost the Vancouver the championship - so when they meet in May for another V's Cup game it will surely be another for the ages.
But what European team are you hoping to see this year? What games are you looking forward to? Toronto FC on opening night? Portland at BC place?