We all know how the Whitecaps have measured up in their first season of MLS; but how do their players measure up in the social media stakes? Here’s a brief look at how some of the squad fair when it comes to imparting knowledge through the medium of Twitter (marks out of 140). Eric Hassli - [...]

The 1-0 victory over the Houston Dynamo was certainly a welcome tonic for the Vancouver Whitecaps and their fans, but every game from now until the end of the season also has a sub-text; what nuggets of information has future coach Martin Rennie learned from the game? Here are five that he may have picked [...]

If it all seems to be doom and gloom for Whitecaps fans at the moment then don’t despair; there is light at the end of the tunnel (and no, it isn’t an oncoming train). Despite the troughs, lows and valleys of this first season there are at least a few players that new coach Martin Rennie will be able to [...]

If it all seems to be doom and gloom for Whitecaps fans at the moment then don’t despair; there is light at the end of the tunnel (and no, it isn’t an oncoming train). Despite the troughs, lows and valleys of this first season there are at least a few players that new coach Martin Rennie will be able to [...]

Of all the things that seem to frustrate Arsene Wenger at the moment perhaps the most acutely cutting must be the fact that, whilst he is being taken to task for fielding a team of youngsters, his former arch-rival (and now stout defender) Sir Alex Ferguson is basking in praise for doing the exact same thing. When [...]

By Russell Berrisford With the second round of fixtures now completed my “Five Things to Look For in the EPL” have all been well and truly seen. Here is what happened; 1) Can Manchester City win on the road?- Yes. Their 3-2 win at Bolton wasn’t just a good three points, it demonsted that with Dzeko, [...]

With the second round of fixtures now completed my “Five Things to Look For in the EPL” have all been well and truly seen. Here is what happened; 1) Can Manchester City win on the road?- Yes. Their 3-2 win at Bolton wasn’t just a good three points, it demonsted that with Dzeko, Aguero and Silva [...]

The differences between the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Portland Timbers are actually quite small. Add those differences together though and, as the Timbers 2-1 win on Saturday demonstrated, you get one expansion team that has been successful and one that has failed miserably. Take set pieces for example; when Portland have an attacking free-kick every player knows his role in the [...]

By Russell Berrisford The English Premier League narrative may still be unfolding but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t clues to be gained this early in the season. Here are five things that could tell us a little bit more about the campaign ahead; 1) Can Manchester City win on the road?- A 4-0 home [...]

The English Premier League narrative may still be unfolding but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t clues to be gained this early in the season. Here are five things that could tell us a little bit more about the campaign ahead; 1) Can Manchester City win on the road?- A 4-0 home win with Aguero [...]

With nothing left to play for but the Cascadia Cup (and pride) let’s look at five ways that the Whitecaps can improve as the season winds to a merciful release. 1) Try to take the game to the opponents- Too often the Whitecaps seem happy to sit back and hand the the momentum to the [...]

Writing about the Whitecaps 4-0 defeat to DC United feels a little bit like intruding on private grief for, in a season of poor performances, this was the worst by a considerable distance. This wasn’t a game of soccer; it was a cry for help. Conceding a late first half goal didn’t enhance the cause, but the real [...]

With the English premier League beginning anew on Saturday Soccer Shorts takes a break from the roller coaster ride that is the Vancouver Whitecaps season to predict how the EPL league table will look at the end of the season. Using the highly sophisticated  ”Prediction Index Numbers” (PIN) I have laid out the finishing position of each club below; Manchester United Manchester [...]

By Russell Berrisford There exists in the minds of many a soccer fan an accepted stereotype of the typical Scottish football manager; gritty and dour with a passion for the game that reveals itself in a fiery touchline and press room persona. Think of Bill Shankly, Sir Alex Ferguson or even the current Portland Timbers coach John [...]

As the famed soccer pundit Oscar Wilde almost once said; “To lose one manager in a season may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose two looks like carelessness.” Technically the new man in charge of the Whitecaps, Martin Rennie, won’t begin his tenure until 2012 but just as first impressions count in life so first seasons can [...]

The Whitecaps 4-2 win over the Chicago Fire was laced with irony. Ironic that a team that has been the victim of individual errors all season benefited from two of them on Sunday, and ironic that the starting eleven and formation was startlingly similar to one that could have been put out by former coach [...]

One of the upsides of signing a player with international experience is that you are adding proven quality and experience to your squad. One of the downsides is that you can often lose them to international calls ups when you least want to. The Whitecaps will be without Mustapha Jarju for the game against the Chicago Fire [...]

There is probably no better team for the Whitecaps to face right now than Chicago; the Fire haven’t won in seven MLS games and sit level on points with Toronto at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. They have an interim coach and, although they had much of the ball against Philadelphia on Wednesday, [...]

For most fans the big question preceding the game against the LA Galaxy was which of the teams attack minded players would be left on the bench but, in the end, the answer turned out to be “none of them”. Coach Tom Soehn played Davide Chiumiento behind a front two of Hassli and Jarju with [...]

For about an hour it wasn’t going too badly. The Whitecaps were trading chances with the best team in MLS in front of the biggest crowd of the season on a sunny day in Vancouver. Then Michael Boxall slipped, Landon Donovan scored, and the LA Galaxy went on to notch three more goals and the [...]

When the Vancouver Whitecaps face a weakened LA Galaxy team on Saturday manager Tom Soehn will be in the unusual position of having to make a team selection based on too many choices as opposed to too few . With Jay DeMerit and Atiba Harris the only probable starters who are not available it will be instructive to see the eleven [...]

For some people the big soccer story in Vancouver at the moment is the non-arrival of David Beckham (closely followed by the possible non-arrival of Landon Donovan) but for the Whitecaps players, management and regular supporters the big story will be how the team perform in their next two games at Empire Field. The absence of a [...]

From a purely neutral point of view there probably isn’t a whole lot of difference between the starts that the two newcomers to Major League Soccer have made this season; the Vancouver Whitecaps sit at the bottom of the Western Conference and the other expansion team, the Portland Timbers, are just one place above them. Yet the way [...]

Anything that David Beckham does, both on and off the field, is subject to more scrutiny than any other soccer player on the planet; so when he draws a yellow card that leads to him missing a game in Vancouver there can be little surprise that people begin to wonder if his actions carried an [...]

Perhaps no player hs been more emblematic of the Vancouver Whitecaps this season than Shea Salinas. The 25 year year old winger has frequently looked threatening without ever being able to carry through that threat in a manner that hurts the opponent but, for both Salinas and the Whitecaps, that changed a little bit in [...]