Yes, this is likely to be the last post for a while. I am all caught up on Japan (go read them!) and I will do a quick post on this past weekend. But we’re about to start a pretty significant renovation on our townhouse, and so i will need to pack away my computer for a while. So for this last post we’ll talk about the Whitecaps big win and a quick trip to Reifel - more birds!
First Up - Whitecaps Win!
Justine and I have been (part) season ticket holders for the Whitecaps, our local MLS soccer team for many years now. Generally they have been average (at best), with the odd flash of hope that generally led to disappointment. Also generally true of most of the teams I support…
The Jays of course gave us a great ride this year, Liverpool did amazing well last year, and now the Whitecaps are on their way to the Western Conference Final! The win came against a very talented LAFC team that has broken our hearts in the playoffs so many times. And what a game. The media has been throwing around “instant classic”, and they are not wrong. The Whitecaps owned the first half, completely controlling play and we were up 2-0 at the half. The second half was the complete opposite, as LA came out strong and scored one goal fairly early in the second half. Then the atrocious officiating caught up with us. OUr best defend was sent off for a second yellow card on a call that was not even a penalty, let along a yellow card. And his first yellow card should not have counted either, as the player was clearly offside. The officiating was scandalously bad. Nothing new - MLS officiating has been horrendous, an absolute joke, for as long as the league has existed.
LAFC tied the game close to the end of regulation on a spectacular free kick, as they piled on the pressure. It was amazing that the team held on until the end of regulation, down to 10 men. There were two 15-minute extra time halves. It didn’t look great for us. And then it went from bad to worse as our second best defender went down with what ended up being a season-ending ACL injury - we were down to 9 men. LAFA kept piling on the pressure, and in one sequence they hit the goalpost 3 times in a span of about 15 seconds! It was unbelievable. Somehow, the boys dug deep and managed to survive both added time periods and they got to penalties to decide the winner. And they managed to pull it out - it was unreal, and the stadium just about blew the top off. It was an incredible night.
Now we’re off to play San Diego next week in the Western Final! Sadly, this is the end of our home playoff games, unless we can win next week, and New York can pull the upset on Messi and Miami. We shall see…
A Quick Reifel Trip
The rain stopped for a while on Sunday, so we headed down to Reifel to see what was about. Justine was still not feeling great after her gum surgery, so it ended up being a short walk. But it was nice to get outside and get some fresh air and go for a wak. We saw a few cool things…
