Voyageurs Cup Week 1 report

Let me preface my remarks this week by saying that I did not watch either of the games in their entirety. A good friend, who leads an existence in a home sans television, imposed upon me to come and watch Habs-Bruins game 7. While the end result was disappointing, the epic action was not.

If the Canadian Championship matches become available for download, I'll have a look.

On to the reports

EDMONTON 0 : 3 TORONTO

Goals: Maicon Santos 35', Alan Gordon 47', Maicon Santos 61'
Sendings off: Shaun Saiko 23'
[CSA match stats]

Stupid headline: Santos double downs FC Edmonton (iNews880)
Not a stupid headline, exactly, but rather one where the pun insertion is somewhat more subtle than usual.

Story in pictures

Would it be a Canadian tournament without snow in the background?

One paragraph analysis

As I said, I didn't watch the match. To be more precise, I only caught a few minutes here and there during the course of intermissions and commercial breaks of the hockey. But the one moment I did see in the Edmonton-Toronto clash was the red card handed out to Shaun Saiko for his challenge on Oscar Cordon in the 23rd minute. At the time the match was 0-0, so clearly playing a man down must have affected play. But the card should not have been red. Both players went into the challenge recklessly and Saiko got the ball. Perhaps the fact that one of the players (Cordon) was a wispy teenager weighed heavily on the mind of referee Paul Ward.

Officiating decisions aside, a 3-0 win by a veteran MLS squad against an NASL expansion team fielding an all-local side is about what you'd expect.

Attendance check: 5,781 spectators for a 6 pm start in a cavernous stadium. Not too shabby

Canadian content report
As stated above, FC Edmonton was heavy on the (local) Canadian talent. Toronto FC was not, with the omissions of regulars Adrian Cann and Julian de Guzman leaving Oscar Cordon as the only Canadian rep.

TORONTO FC
Oscar Cordon	90
Total Mins	90
FC EDMONTON
Alex Surprenant	90
Paul Hamilton	90
Dominic Oppong	90
Chris Kooy	90
Kyle Porter	90
Antonio Rago	75
Kyle Yamada	45
Shaun Saiko	23
Chris Lemire	64
Eddy Sidra	45
Andre Duberry	15
Sam Lam	26
Total Mins	743

MONTREAL 0 : 1 VANCOUVER

Goal: Terry Dunfield 67'
[CSA match stats]

Stupid headline: Dunfield makes splash for Caps over Montreal (Vancouver Sun)
The usual hastily chosen headline for any match involving Montreal typically includes 'makes an Impact' or some variant. This headline writer chose a pun that is vaguely nautical in nature.

Story in pictures:

This photo is chosen for 3 reasons

1. The backdrop of a largely empty stand. The attendance wasn't actually that bad (see below) given the Habs game the same night. I made the same choice from 2000 miles away.
2. You will never again see Ali Gerba so far above terra firma.
3. To point out how terrible those pink Impact jerseys are.
   

One paragraph analysis
I saw even less of this match than the Toronto-Edmonton clash. But I did manage to check out the video of Terry Dunfield's diving header on an all-Canadian connection from a Russell Teibert cross. You should check it out too. Apparently Stephen Hart was at the match to scout Ali Gerba, among others, but Dunfield and Teibert should not be far from his mind when he ponders his squad for this summer's Gold Cup and this fall's World Cup qualifiers. Montreal's offensive woes, fully in evidence over the first 3 NASL matches, seem to have continued and it will be a big ask for them to win outright next Wednesday at Empire.

Attendance check: 8,412 on the night of a Habs game 7. Again, not bad under the circumstances.

Canadian content report
The 180 minutes combined between Russell Teibert and Terry Dunfield is the most Canadian content of any Whitecaps match this season. Montreal played the same Canadians in the same situations as their last NASL match.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS
Terry Dunfield	90
Russell Teibert	90
Total Mins	180
MONTREAL IMPACT
Nevio Pizzolitto	90
Ali Gerba	90
Pierre-Rudolph Mayard	15
Antonio Ribeiro	15
Total Mins	210

SCORING TABLE

TOP SCORERS
Player	Team	Goals
Maicon Santos	Toronto	2
Alan Gordon	Toronto	1
Terry Dunfield	Vancouver	1

All 3 of week 1's goal scorers were making their Canadian Championship debuts.

NEXT WEEK
2011.05.04: Edmonton (0) at Toronto (3) - 8 pm et / 6 pm mt
2011.05.04: Montreal (0) at Vancouver (1) - 8 pm pt / 11 pm et