“Village of Vancouver”

Reflecting back on our younger days we often have fond memories or the past thinking of how things were and how things have changed in today’s world.

As the Whitecaps fans rallied around the home team with Toronto in town for a visit the topic of the day surrounded around the Toronto Raptors run to the NBA final.

In order for the Whitecaps to reach the final they had to first get past Dallas in the quarterfinal, then Las Angeles in the conference semi-final and finally the New York Red Bulls  in the conference finals allowing them to reach the finals.

While we can’t go back, we can keep the memories alive and for the Vancouver Whitecaps that moment in time dates back to their days in the NASL winning 1979 Championship for the “Village of Vancouver” as mentioned on national TV by ABC Broadcaster Jim McKay mentioning “Vancouver must be like the deserted village right now”, with so many people watching the game on TV as they defeated the powerhouse New York Cosmos allowing to advance to the final.

They squared off against the Tampa Bay Rowdies at Giants Stadium in front of 50,699 to a match that had sold 66,843 that saw the growth of soccer in the lower mainland escalate, which also saw the community rally around “White is the Color” which is still going strong to this day.

At present the Whitecaps seem to be the “hottest selling ticket” in the area and if you look back at the stats dating back to 1983 and 1984 they held the NASL attendance record with 29,164 and 15,208 fans respectfully.

The pre-game on this special day focused on the introduction of the 16 players from 1979 team played in front of 21,083 fans.

Also as an added feature was a video montage showing the clubs history of yesteryear as well as the induction of Tony Waiters into the Whitecaps FC Ring Of Honour.

Reflecting back we should know Doneil Henry (26) calls Brampton Ontario home and is an avid Raptors supporter as his Aunt used to take him to some of the games and he mentioned that winning after 24 years is a bonus for everyone.

Now back to the game!

The Caps should have wrapped it up coming away with a 1 nil score off Fredy Montero’s penalty kick goal in the 84th minute, but the last minute of the contest saw Toronto FC simply throw one at the net in the 89th minute that took a strange deflection off defender Ali Adnan sending it to the back of the net.

The Caps still managed a point with the draw drawing even with FC Dallas, which is good for 7th place and the final playoff position in the Western Conference of the MLS.

It was a nice to see the return of Yordy Reyna after his injury kept him out of the line-up for six matches and his presence alone changed the complexity of the match with him entering in the second half.

He managed to get inside the box drawing a foul that ended up setting up a penalty kick by Montero who timed it perfectly giving the Caps the lead as the fans finally had something to cheer about.

The Caps return to BC Place playing host to Colorado Rapids Saturday June 22nd with the kick-off set for 7:30 pm.

Great action and a fun night for the entire Family!!!!