Voyageurs Cup matchday 5 report: TFC are Champions

Congratulations to Toronto FC and its fans, who are repeat winners of the Voyageurs Cup, thanks to a 1-1 draw between Montreal and Vancouver last night. Better match reports are to be found below, but here are some of the important details and numbers:

• A brief essay on time-wasting and I'm sorry, did you think we were good? -- two takes on the match from a Whitecaps perspective from The Maple Leaf Forever
• TFC wins the V-Cup. No, seriously: A treatise on anti-climax, from some canadian guys.
  

Just the facts:

Scoring Summary:
50' - VAN - Ansu Toure (Nelson Akwari)
62' - MON - Philippe Billy (Eduardo Sebrango)

Vancouver Whitecaps FC
1.Jay Nolly; 77.Zurab Tsiskaridze, 2.Nelson Akwari, 14.Greg Janicki, 8.Wes Knight (99.Ricardo Sanchez 76'); 16.Ansu Toure (22.Takashi Hirano 68'), 7.Martin Nash, 3.Luca Bellisomo, 19.Justin Moose (18.Doudou Toure 64'); 24.Marcus Haber, 39.Cornelius Stewart

Montreal Impact
22.Srdjan Djekanovic; 21.Philippe Billy, 2.Hicham Aaboubou, 16.Stefano Pesoli, 3.Adam Braz; 6.Tyler Hemming (28.Peter Byers 57'); 8.Filipe Soares (23.Stephen deRoux 45'), 14.Tony Donatelli (15.Patrick Leduc 75'); 11.Leonardo Di Lorenzo, 9.Rocco Placentino; 12.Eduardo Sebrango

Stupid headline: Another bitter Nutrilite pill for Caps (Vancouver Sun)
I know headline writers aren't ones to resist easy puns, but I've got much respect for a guy who makes a sly dietary supplement reference.


One sentence thoughts

• The Nutrilite matches were a tough sell in all three cities this year, but the Impact crowd was respectable.
• Thank goodness we've seen the last of those horrendous pink jerseys.
• Vancouver were the better team on the night and were lucky not to score one or two more, but still could have showed more.
• One wonders who Vancouver will bring with them to MLS.
• Quite the debut for 18-year old Doudou Toure, who looked the most dangerous player in his time on the pitch.
• Congrats to TFC, Canadian champions for the second year running. Let's hope they do better in the CONCACAF Champions League than last year's embarrassing first round exit against Puerto Rico.
  

Canadian content report
In the same way that this match was light on quality finishing, it was also light on Canadian content. Vancouver only fielded three Canadian players in total, and Montreal did little better.

Matchday 5
MONTREAL IMPACT
Srdjan Djekanovic	90
Adam Braz	90
Tyler Hemming	57
Rocco Placentino	90
Patrick Leduc	15
Total Mins	342
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS
Luca Bellisomo	90
Martin Nash	90
Marcus Haber	90
Total Mins	270

In terms of overall Canadian content, this year's edition of the NCC will be the scantiest.

The pool report
A fair number of entries had the correct 1-1 scoreline, but the overall race is where the real interest lies. The race for the top promises to be exciting, as does the lanterne rouge contest. Reminder: the last placed finisher will pick the team scarf to be awarded to the overall winner. Lank is the guy (I'm assuming) in the pole position right now:

MATCHDAY 5
Difference	Entries
3	Lank
4	jloome, Simon B, CanadianKid, dyslexic nam
5	Pompey Canuck, Crofty, M@
6	zooko26000, Headhunting Canuck, John, masster, Keato, Scott P, Chris
7	Duane Rollins, J, Jeremy, Tuscan, Filipe, Trevor Brooks, capsfan79, Spungi, icecoldbeer
8	soka, pejnam
9	rmac, Elvis, Casual Soccer Fan, Sagacious Chew, bbb, adriano, Lennie
10	Lord Bob, Daniel, Sam, Heavy Red Flow
11	ATN_LR
12	morbital, Sigma

Tables

STANDINGS
Team	W	D	L	Pts
Toronto FC	2	1	0	7
Vancouver Whitecaps	0	3	0	3
Montreal Impact	0	2	2	2

TOP SCORERS
Player	Team	Goals
Dwayne de Rosario	Toronto	1
Ty Harden	Toronto	1
Chad Barrett	Toronto	1
Marcus Haber	Vancouver	1
Peter Byers	Montreal	1
Ansu Toure	Vancouver	1
Philippe Billy	Montreal	1

Next match: 2 June 2010: Vancouver Whitecaps @ Toronto FC

Canada-Argentina live blog

The match gets underway at 3:30 pm et / 2:30 pm ct / 12:30 pm pt. Keep checking back between now and kickoff for updates.

Television coverage on Sportsnet, LIVE in all regions.

CAN-ARG: What do the bookies think?

In short, it's not pretty.

	Argentina	Draw	Canada
bet365	-700	+600	+2200
bwin.com	1.15	5.35	17.00
interwetten	1.15	6.20	14.00
bodog	-1000	+700	+1800
bet-at-home	1.10	7.00	19.00
victor chandler	1/9	5/1	28/1

Place your bets accordingly.

It's worth noting that the immortal Richard Hastings is expected to start. In other words, take the over on total goals.

Game starts at 2:30 CT.

Voyageurs Cup Matchday 4: Pool update

Here are the scores.

MATCHDAY 4
Difference	Entries
3	Crofty, Lank, jloome, Simon B, CanadianKid
4	Pompey Canuck, Scott P, Chris
5	Duane Rollins, J, M@, zooko26000, Headhunting Canuck, Trevor Brooks, Spungi, icecoldbeer
6	Tuscan, Filipe, John, masster, capsfan79, Keato
7	rmac, Elvis, Jeremy, bbb, soka, pejnam
8	Sagacious Chew, adriano, Daniel, Lennie, Heavy Red Flow
9	Lord Bob, Casual Soccer Fan
10	ATN LR, morbital, Sigma, Sam

Last year after the 4th match, the scores also ranged from 3-10. All the details here.

Canada rosters for Argentina, Venezuela

Remember when I could be counted on for prompt and reasonably cogent analysis of the goings on in Canadian soccer? Me neither. But I was occasionally prompt.

The biggest match on Canada's 2010 calendar, the Victoria Day (or as they call it in Argentina, the Bicentennial) match in Buenos Aires, and 5 days later the boys head north to face Hugo's boys in Venezuela.

Here are the rosters:

Pos	Name	Age	Club	League
GK	Josh Wagenaar	25	Falkirk FC	Scotland
GK	Pat Onstad	42	Houston Dynamo	MLS
GK	Haidar Al-Shaibani	26	Nimes Olympique	France
D	Adam Straith	19	Energie Cottbus	Germany
D	Mike Klukowski	28	Club Brugge	Belgium
D	Andre Hainault	23	Houston Dynamo	MLS
D	Paul Stalteri	32	Borussia Monchengladbach	Germany
D	Richard Hastings	33	Hamilton	Scotland
D	Nik Ledgerwood	25	FSV Frankfurt	Germany
D	Pedro Pacheco	25	Nacional	Portugal
M	Julian De Guzman	29	Toronto FC	MLS
M	Will Johnson	23	Real Salt Lake	MLS
M	Daniel Imhof	32	FC St Gallen	Switzerland
M	Jaime Peters	23	Ipswich Town	England
M	Dwayne De Rosario	32	Toronto FC	MLS
M	Josh Simpson	27	Manisaspor	Turkey
F	Rob Friend	29	Borussia Monchengladbach	Germany
F	Simeon Jackson	23	Gillingham	England
F	Stephen Ademolu	27	FK Ekranas	Lithuania
	Average age	27.53
Pos	Name	Age	Club	League
GK	Josh Wagenaar	25	Falkirk FC	Scotland
GK	Haidar Al-Shaibani	26	Nimes Olympique	France
D	Eddy Sidra	21	Energie Cottbus	Germany
D	Mike Klukowski	28	Club Brugge	Belgium
D	Adam Straith	19	Energie Cottbus	Germany
D	Paul Stalteri	32	Borussia Monchengladbach	Germany
D	Richard Hastings	33	Hamilton	Scotland
M	Gianluca Zavarise	23	VfL Bochum	Germany
M	Terry Dunfield	27	Shrewsbury Town	England
M	Nik Ledgerwood	25	FSV Frankfurt	Germany
M	Gavin McCallum	22	Hereford United	England
M	Issey Nakajima-Farran	26	AC Horsens	Denmark
M	Pedro Pacheco	25	Nacional	Portugal
F	Rob Friend	29	Borussia Monchengladbach	Germany
F	Simeon Jackson	23	Gillingham	England
F	Stephen Ademolu	27	FK Ekranas	Lithuania
	Average age	25.69

Some points of interest:

• Country/league of origin for Argentina match: MLS (5), Germany (4), England (2), Scotland (2), France, Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey, Lithuania (1)
• Country/league of origin for Venezuela match: Germany (6), England (3), Scotland (2), France, Belgium, Portugal, Denmark, Lithuania (1)
• The Argentina roster is older and more experienced, but the average is so heavily skewed by Pat Onstad's 42 years (the line that he is old enough to be Adam Straith's dad is sure to be thrown about by lazy sportswriters) that a different measure of central tendency is probably appropriate.
• Both games are on TV. I caution all viewers not to expect much from the Germany Reserve League/English Lower Division All-Stars that will take on Venezuela in the second friendly.
• Who the hell is Pedro Pacheco? The Maple Leaf Forever has got you covered.
• 5 players could potentially earn their first senior cap: Pacheco, Gavin McCallum, Haidar al-Shaibaini, Terry Dunfield, and Gianluca Zavarise.
  

Other analysis has already appeared on the other blogs I pay attention to. I'll try to watch the matches, but I'm likely to be camping on the 29th.

Predictions? Gambling lines? Post them in the comments.

Voyageurs Cup matchday 3: Just the numbers

Toronto FC won on Wednesday. It's hard now to imagine any other outcome than TFC winning the whole thing. Montreal needed to win to have any chance, and Vancouver surely would have been hoping for Toronto to drop points.

With that said, it's been a busy week and a busier weekend looms, so we'll serve up the numbers only this time around.

Canadian content

Matchday 3
MONTREAL IMPACT
Nevio Pizzolitto	90
Rocco Placentino	70
Simon Gatti	21
Total Mins	181
TORONTO FC
Nana Attakora	90
Adrian Cann	90
Julian de Guzman	90
Gabe Gala	90
Dwayne De Rosario	79
Total Mins	439

Montreal's Canadian content in the tournament, and the season overall, has been the lowest of any team in the last two years.

Pool
Several people nailed the 1-0 scoreline. But only CanadianKid can claim the distinction of having nailed each of the first three matches. The table is beginning to shake itself out.

Difference	Entries
0	CanadianKid
1	Crofty, jloome
2	Simon B, icecoldbeer, Chris, dsylexic nam
3	Duane Rollins, J, Pompey Canuck, Tuscan, M@, zooko26000, Headhunting Canuck, Lank, masster, Trevor Brooks, capsfan79, Scott P
4	bbb, Filipe, soka, Spungi,
5	Heavy Red Flow, pejnam, Keato, John, Sagacious Chew, rmac, Jeremy
6	Lord Bob, Elvis, adriano, Daniel, Sigma, Sam
7	Lennie, morbital
8	Casual Soccer Fan, ATN_LR

Bold prediction: the winner will come from someone currently in the 0-3 positions.

Voyageurs Cup Matchday 2 Report

Just the facts:

Scoring Summary:
31' - MON - Peter Byers (Tony Donatelli)
81' - VAN - Marcus Haber (PK)

Cautions:
21' - MON - Adam Braz
52' - MON - Hicham Aaboubou
75' - VAN - Luca Bellisomo
80' - MON - Adam Braz

Ejections:
80' - MON - Adam Braz
90' - MON - Reda Agourram

Montreal Impact
1.Matt Jordan; 23.Stephen deRoux, 2.Hicham Aaboubou, 5.Nevio Pizzolitto, 3.Adam Braz; 18.Leonardo Di Lorenzo 7.David Testo, 14.Tony Donatelli, 9.Rocco Placentino (19.Reda Agourram 69'); 8.Filipe Soares (21.Philippe Billy 78'), 28.Peter Byers (15.Patrick Leduc 85')


Vancouver Whitecaps FC
1.Jay Nolly; 77.Zurab Tsiskaridze, 2.Nelson Akwari, 14.Greg Janicki, 4.Chris Williams; 16.Ansu Toure (17.Randy Edwini-Bonsu 70'), 3.Luca Bellisomo, 7.Martin Nash, 8.Wes Knight (19.Justin Moose 75'); 12.Jonny Steele (9.Marlon James 45'), 24.Marcus Haber

Stupid headline? Un jaune de trop (Radio-Canada)
Actually, not a stupid headline at all. It tells the story of the match in a succinct way, which is kind of what headlines are supposed to do. Congrats to headline writers in both of our official languages for resisting any cheap 'impact' puns on any other forms of linguistic tomfoolery, as I couldn't find any cheesy headlines.


The story in picture(s)

Marcus Haber scored a penalty. The Impact wore gross pink jerseys. What else is there to say?

One paragraph analysis
I have to come clean: I saw only the first half of this match. My current occupation demands an early bed time, and I paid even today for the extra half hour I stayed up to see out the half. But what I did saw was somewhat surprising: a half in which Montreal carried the play, had the bulk of the chances, and looked overall the more well polished machine. In particular, the combination play of Filipe Pastel, Rocco Placentino and Peter Byers deserves mention. The Whitecaps, on the other hand, looked a step slow and didn't provide much for entertainment value in the half. The Impact goal was well set up and clinically finished. Ultimately, though, Montreal needed 3 points from this match and they will be disappointed with how the match ended.

One sentence thoughts

• The attendance for the match was reported as 4,325 which, depending how you look at it, is either a good or bad show of support by Vancouver fans.
  
• Is anyone else surprised that Marcus Haber was the one to take the penalty instead Martin Nash, who is often relied upon for set pieces and spot kicks?
• Last week I ragged on the "two Phils" (Pastel Soares and Billy) for their abject performance against TFC, but Pastel was one of Montreal's best players yesterday, and on the weekend against Puerto Rico. Can't say the same for Philippe "Belly" Billy.
  
• More discipline problems for the Impact, with two Canadian players (Adam Braz and Reda Agourram) to be suspended for the next match.
  
• This year's Nutrilite schedule is truly bizarre, with each team playing consecutive road matches. Montreal is done theirs, Toronto has two roadies next, and Vancouver finishes with two away.
  

Canadian content report
Vancouver fielded the more Canadian lineup of the two squads, and Montreal will have a hard time improving on this mark in the next match, with Braz and Agourram both out suspended.

Matchday 2
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS
Chris Williams	90
Luca Bellisomo	90
Martin Nash	90
Marcus Haber	90
Randy Edwini-Bonsu	20
Total Mins	380
MONTREAL IMPACT
Adam Braz	80
Nevio Pizzolitto	90
Rocco Placentino	69
Reda Agourram	21
Patrick Leduc	5
Total Mins	265

The pool report
Last week 8 entries nailed the correct score. This week there were only 4: Filipe, capsfan79, Simon B, and CanadianKid.

The CanadianKid, in fact, has been perfect two weeks in a row, and now sits alone at the top of the standings.

All of the scores:

MATCHDAY 2
Difference	Entries
0	CanadianKid
1	Chris, Simon B, jloome, Trevor Brooks, Filipe, Headhunting Canuck, zooko26000, Crofty, dyslexic nam
2	J, Pompey Canuck, Tucan, M@, Lank, bbb, masster, capsfan79, icecoldbeer, Scott P
3	Heavy Red Flow, Spungi, soka, Jeremy, Elvis, Duane Rollins
4	Lord Bob, rmac, Sagacious Chew, Lennie, morbital, Sigma, Sam, Keato, pejnam
5	ATN LR, Daniel
6	Casual Soccer Fan, adriano

Contenders for the front and back of the back are beginning to identify themselves.

Tables

STANDINGS
Team	W	D	L	Pts
Toronto FC	1	0	0	3
Vancouver Whitecaps	0	1	0	1
Montreal Impact	0	1	1	1

TOP SCORERS
Player	Team	Goals
Dwayne de Rosario	Toronto	1
Chad Barrett	Toronto	1
Marcus Haber	Vancouver	1
Peter Byers	Montreal	1

Next match: 12 May 2010: Toronto FC @ Montreal Impact

I win!

The Eredivisie has wrapped up. FC Twente are champions, Luis Suarez tied the record for most goals by a foreign player with 35, and Feyenoord (rat bastards) leapfrogged AZ for 4th.

And I won some little contest I've been running:

TEAM	PTS	PLAYER	GOALS
J
AZ	62	Mounir el Hamdaoui (AZ)	20
Ajax	85	Luis Suarez (Ajax)	35
		TOTAL (PTS + GOALS x 2)	257
Pompey Canuck
PSV	78	Luis Suarez (Ajax)	35
Ajax	85	Jon Dahl Tomasson (Feyenoord)	9
		TOTAL (PTS + GOALS x 2)	251
Headhunting Canuck
AZ	62	Luis Suarez (Ajax)	35
PSV	78	Balazs Dzsudzsak (PSV)	14
		TOTAL (PTS + GOALS x 2)	238
Lord Bob
Ajax	85	Keisuke Honda (VVV)	6
FC Utrecht	53	Mounir el Hamdaoui (AZ)	20
		TOTAL (PTS + GOALS x 2)	190

Pompey Canuck led much of the season, but my fortunes turned with AZ's, as the hiring of Dick Advocaat turned around the team's season, and gave a kick in the pants to striker Mounir el Hamdaoui.

If this blog survives the summer, I'll run this thing again in fall, hopefully with a few more entries. Thanks to all who participated.