Unnamed Trialist Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 As we are half way through, let's talk some of the main narratives of the season: -Forge is not as dominant as previous years and seems to have lost a bit of it's flash. With basically a similar roster. -Pacific was all set to run away with it, with a chance to go almost 10 points up with their games in hand, then loses two. So things remain tight. -Related, the league looks more like it's based parity than we had anticipated. VFC have done just enough to not slip off the pace, and the streaks and runs are spread around. Looking at the last 5 games, all teams have won at least twice except York, who have 4 points out of 15 but are still close to the league lead. Cavalry is on a run but that does not put them ahead of Pacific. VFC has risen itself out of the bottom, only to fall back down, but no team is out of it and the competitive level is evenly spread around. -Attendance is slightly better than when we were coming of the pandemic conditions, but perhaps not enough. Still work to do. -Refereeing is significantly improved and is one aspect of the game that is rising to the occasion and settling in well. And that's the part of the league most dependent on the CSA. -The CPL does not have clearly dominant players from one year to the next. Some stars have slipped from previous years (Borges), others are way behind last year after a breakout season (De Rosario). In fact, there are basically only two players who are premium and consistenly amongst the best year after year, Bekker and Carducci. Neither of whom is really close to MVP status this year. Another way to say this: the CPL still does not have a clearly recognizable star, the kind of player even opposing fans are wary of but want to see. -Related to the above, and surprisingly, the CPL is not a high-scoring league, apart from the odd blowout, and not really lax defensively either. This suggests balance between attacking and defending lines across the league. davey_twelve and Metro 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey_twelve Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 (edited) - Forge is still probably the most threatening team, lots of attacking talent and if just a couple of them get going (Campbell) they'll be the top team again. They do need to start expecting less from Bekker as he is dropping off. - Pacific had a fortuitous start to the season: lots of home games, no injuries, the only team to begin the season with the same CB pairing. Those advantages have started to wear off and it's starting to show. Will be interesting to see how they rebound after this stretch of games but the lack of a decent striker and Manneh being a bust will likely prevent them from being a top team. - Halifax has been a big success. The personnel moving up from L1 are doing well and they seem to have a clear identity to how they play. Maybe this will be their year? Edited July 12, 2023 by davey_twelve nolando 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narduch Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 The referee comment is interesting as the 2 best CPL refs (Dujic and Lauziere) both graduated to MLS now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aird25 Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 56 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said: -Refereeing is significantly improved and is one aspect of the game that is rising to the occasion and settling in well. And that's the part of the league most dependent on the CSA. Interesting perspective, and not one I’ve seen before. What do you base this on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unnamed Trialist Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 2 hours ago, Aird25 said: Interesting perspective, and not one I’ve seen before. What do you base this on? Objective fact as always🙃 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkomar Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 To me, it looks like the players' fitness and defensive training has improved enough to make every team good at defending. The old bread-and-butter attacking plays don't seem to be able to penetrate very far or produce many good chances anymore. With so little time and space, attacking players seem to be making touches that are just on the edge or beyond their abilities to try to get the ball through. I'm interested to see if their attacking skills will rise over time to meet the challenge. I think it would be a great advancement for the league if both attacking and defending levels could improve so much together in just a few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnigMattic1 Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 What is the current situation regarding expansion sides? The individual threads have been quiet for a couple of months it appears, with the only one that has anything recent being a Montreal area CPL team thread. Nello and narduch 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmen Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 3 hours ago, EnigMattic1 said: What is the current situation regarding expansion sides? The individual threads have been quiet for a couple of months it appears, with the only one that has anything recent being a Montreal area CPL team thread. I think you've answered your own question. All is quiet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolando Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 I think part of the elephant in the room must be the relatively cool reception that Vancouver FC has received. If this club, and the quick-build stadium experience, had drawn something closer in support and buzz to Halifax and less like York, then you can bet Kelowna, Quebec, and the prairies would all be lining up for a piece of the action. I think the Diaz aquisition is a sure sign that Friend and Co do take this very seriously but also that they realise that this might be a time-sensitive opportunity. I suspect anyone connected to CPL expansion plans is in a hold-your-breath-and-hope mode. johnyb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie_the_parrot Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 (edited) The bitter controversy over the CSB deal where funding of the national teams is concerned and what might be recommended by the federal audit of CSA finances likely doesn't help either. Edited July 17, 2023 by Ozzie_the_parrot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soccerpro2 Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 4 hours ago, nolando said: I think part of the elephant in the room must be the relatively cool reception that Vancouver FC has received. If this club, and the quick-build stadium experience, had drawn something closer in support and buzz to Halifax and less like York, then you can bet Kelowna, Quebec, and the prairies would all be lining up for a piece of the action. I think the Diaz aquisition is a sure sign that Friend and Co do take this very seriously but also that they realise that this might be a time-sensitive opportunity. I suspect anyone connected to CPL expansion plans is in a hold-your-breath-and-hope mode. Agreed. Some people seem to reluctant to admit that attendance has been bad for some reason. There’s no denying things have not gone as hoped so far. saladroit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saladroit Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 not saying it would've made a seismic difference but i think vfc being in a canchamp game versus the caps could've created some needed buzz and they missed out on that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aird25 Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 5 hours ago, saladroit said: not saying it would've made a seismic difference but i think vfc being in a canchamp game versus the caps could've created some needed buzz and they missed out on that That sort of buzz hasn’t really translated to league games in Victoria. Our schedule sucks though. Increased costs to borrow money in order to build needed infrastructure might play a role for hesitant investors Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmen Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 7 hours ago, saladroit said: not saying it would've made a seismic difference but i think vfc being in a canchamp game versus the caps could've created some needed buzz and they missed out on that Or cemented them as "minor league" in the market if it's a bad loss. For all their faults (and there's plenty), the Whitecaps really didn't struggle against CPL sides this year. saladroit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmen Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 12 hours ago, nolando said: I think part of the elephant in the room must be the relatively cool reception that Vancouver FC has received. If this club, and the quick-build stadium experience, had drawn something closer in support and buzz to Halifax and less like York, then you can bet Kelowna, Quebec, and the prairies would all be lining up for a piece of the action. I think the Diaz aquisition is a sure sign that Friend and Co do take this very seriously but also that they realise that this might be a time-sensitive opportunity. I suspect anyone connected to CPL expansion plans is in a hold-your-breath-and-hope mode. I have no idea if the Vancouver situation has impacted Kelowna, Quebec, or the prairies. The one market that I think it would definitely give pause to is Laval (or any Montreal area team). York + Langley wouldn't be an optimistic sign for a Montreal team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpursFlu Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 (edited) Vancouver fc hasn't received a cool reception in the area they play. I'm not sure why people keep pushing this narrative Edited July 17, 2023 by SpursFlu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianjc Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 What is the capacity of the Vancouver FC stadium and what is the average crowd attendance?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soccerpro2 Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 10 hours ago, SpursFlu said: Vancouver fc hasn't received a cool reception in the area they play. I'm not sure why people keep pushing this narrative It's not a narrative. It's lots of empty seats in the first season of a team. If that's not a cool reception, I don't know what is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmen Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 1 hour ago, brianjc said: What is the capacity of the Vancouver FC stadium and what is the average crowd attendance?? Capacity is over 6k. If you take out the first game (a "sell out"), the average attendance is about 2600. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpursFlu Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, Soccerpro2 said: It's not a narrative. It's lots of empty seats in the first season of a team. If that's not a cool reception, I don't know what is. What's wrong with empty seats? I saw lots of empty seats on Hamilton over the weekend. I saw lots of empty seats at the last Whitecaps game Edited July 17, 2023 by SpursFlu jonovision 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aird25 Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 17 minutes ago, SpursFlu said: What's wrong with empty seats? I saw lots of empty seats on Hamilton over the weekend. I saw lots of empty seats at the last Whitecaps game I think the concern is that attendance isn't sustainable and as such the owners won't remain invested. Considering Vancouver's owners just started their second team, and are rumoured to be looking into a third, those concerns ring a tad bit hollow for me. Still, it would be nice to see more sold out stadiums. nolando 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmen Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 7 minutes ago, Aird25 said: I think the concern is that attendance isn't sustainable and as such the owners won't remain invested. Considering Vancouver's owners just started their second team, and are rumoured to be looking into a third, those concerns ring a tad bit hollow for me. Still, it would be nice to see more sold out stadiums. I don't think Friend is giving up on the Vancouver market. But we know they're trying to sell Pacific. And I don't think they're the group behind a potential Kelowna team, as Friend referenced hoping an owner would step up during the initial discussion of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmen Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 29 minutes ago, SpursFlu said: What's wrong with empty seats? I saw lots of empty seats on Hamilton over the weekend. I saw lots of empty seats at the last Whitecaps game And people talk constantly about the Whitecaps relocating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aird25 Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 4 minutes ago, Watchmen said: I don't think Friend is giving up on the Vancouver market. But we know they're trying to sell Pacific. And I don't think they're the group behind a potential Kelowna team, as Friend referenced hoping an owner would step up during the initial discussion of it. Friend isn't exactly the money though, and this group selling has been the rumour for a long time at this point. I think it would take a considerable investment for them to actually sell, considering what they've built with Pacific, the Island Training centre, VI Wave, and everything else in the community. I don't think them considering options has much to do with attendance. The group is clearly in it for more than a short term, single CPL club. That's been proven in their actions and desire to expand into Europe, and stadium construction Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpursFlu Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 22 minutes ago, Watchmen said: And people talk constantly about the Whitecaps relocating. They do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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