State of the game currently in North America which includes the U.S. and Canada :-  form, what  role is played by owners, players' contracts etc.. devekloping interest and attendances, comparisbns with the English Premier league nad the Champio=nship, etc. Very interesting summary!

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/35012676

This reminds me of the true story of the teacher who was marking test papers where, in response to the question "In which state is Sulphur Dioxide at a temperature of minus 25C?", one pupil answered "Texas".

Aye! There's a lot of hot air around, Charles.

http://www.whitecapsfc.com/post/2016/06/09/highlights-vancouver-whitecaps-fc-vs-ottawa-fury?autoplay=true

The Canadian Cup I suppose you would call it? As far as I recall ,they were also defending their cup win last year. Here are  the Highlights of the 2nd leg in Vancouver  today after being soundly beaten by Ottawa at their home a few days ago.

The Ottawa performance was far below par for the 'Caps, mostly because they were not fielding many of their  first team players and could not even score one goal so inept were they. I was also surprised by the tactics, the effort and the determination displayed by Ottawa. Vancouver  also fielded a 15 year old young man  stated to be brilliant. but he was not really in the game. Today, however, appears to have been a different story and the Manager of the 'Caps knew very well that a loss today, or a failure to score enough goals to overcome the  deficit against them, would not sit well with the very supportive fans  etc.

Hope you enjoy these highlights. Note the massive crowd--very difficult to assess but I would put it at over twenty thousand fans who are really into North American soccer these days and having a great time as well. What a lovely day for a soccer game it was too. A couple of  days ago here in Maple Ridge (on the West coast) the indoor temperature was 89 degrees. Last year was the hottest year on record here in Canada and already this year the signs are ominous.

17,800 at the Caps game last night and the Ottawa coach is one mr Paul Dalglish. Was looking forward to seeing TFC playing Ottawa in the final after their 2-0 win in the first leg, but I guess the Caps will have to do. game scheduled for next week in Toronto then the 2nd leg in Vancouver a week later.

Our second team more or less shut down Drogba and co last night in the 0-0 draw although it should have been easier for TFC after leading 4-0 in the first leg before Drogba scored one and made the other in the last 5 minutes for a 4-2 final score. 

I saw some videos  a few nights ago of the "Caps playing against a couple of U S teams and wondered where all the spectators were .Then I noted that they were not playing in any kind of a park that might be classified as  a stadium so started to think they were simply playing a training match or a friendly and I was so puzzled that I was  wondering if I was hallucinating.

It was then I noted the number 2 after the names of the teams and the penny dropped. Then I had a good laugh at myself for being so naïve. Apparently the word "Reserve" doesn't feature over here in this context.

Onyhoo, I will be looking out for these games in the near future. That new, tall 15-year old lad placed on the roster by the Whitecaps does have considerable potential and is not afraid to take on more mature players and have a go. We can onlwish him well. His background has a  bit of a "Rags to riches" tone to it so we shall see what we shall see....

On ‎10‎/‎06‎/‎2016 at 4:25 AM, Scotty said:

17,800 at the Caps game last night and the Ottawa coach is one mr Paul Dalglish. Was looking forward to seeing TFC playing Ottawa in the final after their 2-0 win in the first leg, but I guess the Caps will have to do. game scheduled for next week in Toronto then the 2nd leg in Vancouver a week later.

Our second team more or less shut down Drogba and co last night in the 0-0 draw although it should have been easier for TFC after leading 4-0 in the first leg before Drogba scored one and made the other in the last 5 minutes for a 4-2 final score. 

I saw Paul play on a regular bases for Bury when they  played in the EFL championship a few years ago. He played very well. Star man of the team coached by Neil Warnock

this is a year old thread ... Dalglish left Ottawa in October I think. A Caley Thistle link to Ottawa was Ryan Williams who was their player of the year in 2016.