^ Thanks for the link. I should give the guy a call and see what the response has been like for the visiting supporters (not expecting a lot of response - as one guy who saw my NCFC shirt once said: " a Norwich fan? I have never seen that before!"). Being in a far corner of the stadium might be fun if there are a bunch of Canary fans, but I wouldn't mind getting into the thick of the Timbers fans being a bit closer to the pitch. Surely the atmosphere will be friendly wherever we sit.
There are even some fantastic rates on nearby hotels via the Timbers page - better than Expedia and other travel sites.
Ah what the hell. I'm just going to book this trip. I just have to renew my passport sooner than I had expected.
So I'm booked! Flights, match tickets (in the Norwich section), and hotel should all shake down to just shy of $650 for two of us - all in. It was more expensive when my wife and I went to Vancouver on Air Miles for a night last summer and took in a Whitecaps game.
I called the Timbers ticket guy and hey said that a few people are making their way over from the UK, plus there has been some interest from Norwich supporters from around the region. So I figured that we'd sacrifice location for camaraderie and sit with the other Norwich fans. That being said, my seats were in "Row B" of that section, so there aren't too many sold yet. That doesn't bother me - it'll be fun regardless. My Dad has always been good to me, so this will be a nice surprise for Fathers' Day.
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The TA always rolls out the red carpet for away supporters, especially for friendlies. You'll have a blast, and the weather should be great in July. Good food, good beer, great atmosphere. Have fun!
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White caps with another barn burner. 4-3 win scoring doesn't seem to be an issue now more defense.
Losing Demerit and O'Brien for long stretches of time, and then trading Rochat have crippled their backline. Carlyle Mitchell is not MLS quality, and Leveron is a hot pile of garbage.
Losing Demerit and O'Brien for long stretches of time, and then trading Rochat have crippled their backline. Carlyle Mitchell is not MLS quality, and Leveron is a hot pile of garbage.
Vancouver is in a lot of trouble this year.
They play Chivas and DC United in their next 2 and assuming they win, they will be in a playoff position which buys Rennie till the end of the year I think.
If they lose one or both, Yallop as interim sometime in July.
As for that match, WC very lucky to get that redcard in addition to the PK which changed the dynamics. Even the Team 1410 guys were saying it was a yellow.
Miller had an amazing game: leading MLS goal getter on a per minute basis now.
Losing Demerit and O'Brien for long stretches of time, and then trading Rochat have crippled their backline. Carlyle Mitchell is not MLS quality, and Leveron is a hot pile of garbage.
Vancouver is in a lot of trouble this year.
Rusin out as well. Leveron has had solid flashes, but yeah, he's not ready for 90 yet. Carlyle Mitchell is just not good enough, YP Lee is getting old. The back 4 is easily the weakness on the Caps.
I think that the red card was pretty clear cut, actually. He was the last man back and Miller was through on goal. That's enough for a red whether it happens 10 or 30 yards out. I don't think that there was any intent, however, but it was definitely a clip.
They definitely need to sort out the back - and fast. I have liked Leveron most of the time, but without Demerit OR O'Brien in there, they really lack organization. When both are back (not anytime soon, obviously), suddenly the defence doesn't look so bad. Quite good, in fact.
Despite hanging on for the win, the second half was pretty dismal considering that there were playing a man up for most of the game. The whitecaps seem to be unable to finish a match properly, and when they do, it is usually through a combination of luck and time running out on the other team.
And a side note - my Dad was obviously thrilled with the "Norwich City in Portland" adventure. It is a pretty cool excuse to do something with my Dad, and also to see Portland briefly. I have heard it is a cool place, and I admire what the club and fans have done there (along with Seattle) as relatively young MLS franchises.
^^^In real time, I thought it was obviously a red. I became more hesitant as Paul Dolan and Peter S mentioned either the red would be rescinded or it was a bad card at least a couple of times during the match.
As for Portland, pretty cool gift for dad. It is a great city---Seattle done right, imho. Stadium is near the trendy area if you're into that and it's just a fun town with lots to do for grownups. My fav to-do's are visiting the largest used book store in the world at Powell's and the best Reuben this side of Schwartz's a few blocks away from Jeld-Wen at Goose Hallow Inn.
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Timbers head down to L.A. and come out with a point in what was a rather ugly 0-0 match. I'll take a draw vs. the Galaxy in L.A. every time.
Portland is unbeaten in 14 straight, and 10 consecutive on the road dating back to last season. Not too shabby for a squad that is missing their top 3 center backs for the season. If they can start converting a few of these road draws into wins, who knows how far they'll go?
Teibert has been a lot of fun to watch progress over the last couple seasons and now he's a mainstay on the starting 11. Loved his play on the second goal, he could have easily gone down and he would have had the foul for sure, but he fought through it, and slipped a slick pass to Camilo who did the rest.
Fun game to be at outside of the opening 35 minutes where the Caps were very flat.
Good to move up the standings and into a playoff spot.
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Major League Soccer is going down the route of ESPN's 30 for 30 and NFL Films by investing big money in a new content and distribution group called MLS+, MLS chief marketing officer Howard Handler told SI.com on Tuesday. One of the first big initiatives, MLS Insider, is a weekly magazine show that will debut Friday on NBC Sports Network (and TSN in Canada) and feature in-depth storytelling on MLS by Emmy Award-winning director Jonathan Hock, whose work includes "The Best That Never Was" (on Marcus Dupree), "Unguarded" (on Chris Herren) and "Survive and Advance" (on Jim Valvano).
Hock's first show on Friday features pieces on New York's Tim Cahill, Los Angeles' Robbie Rogers and Philadelphia's Sons of Ben supporters group.
Handler, who has been the MLS CMO since January 2012, said MLS+ is part of the league's 10-year plan to improve the game on the field while also helping create a bigger fanbase off the field.
"There was a missing piece in my mind, and that was telling the stories behind the game and helping people see things they couldn't normally see if they were just attending a game," Handler said. "The difference between what we're doing and NBA Entertainment or NFL Films is we are working with heavyweight storytellers and producers and partners that in many cases live outside our building."
Handler, a big 30 for 30 junkie, met Hock when they were both doing work for the NFL, and he said Hock is a true student of Steve Sabol, the legendary NFL Films director whose work helped spur the enormous growth of that league. "I worked with Steve at NFL Films, and we saw what the power of storytelling in sports was together," Handler said. "When Jon and I hooked up it was immediate, because he has always kept an eye on soccer and was starting to tell us about things he was observing about the growth of soccer in North America and the maturing of MLS. We kicked around a lot of different ideas, and he wanted to settle in and do a weekly show."
MLS+ will also include mini-documentaries and digital series, which will appear on a number of platforms.
"We are creating hundreds of hours of premium programming, and it's programming that we have not created thus far," Handler said. "So it's a very substantial investment.
"Ultimately, MLS will have the most meaning and relevance when it transcends the highlights and statistics and means something much bigger. That's what we want to capture with MLS+. If we're able to be successful, this could be one of the more powerful things we do in terms of growing our fanbase."
Knighton made some outstanding saves, and it was certainly an entertaining match. It is nice to see them get that Cascadia monkey off of their back. Their form is quite good as of late, which is encouraging after a bit of a bleak spell.
It will be interesting to see what happens with the keeper situation. After signing David Ousted (who becomes eligible to play soon), and with Brad Knighton playing well lately, I have to think that the aging Joe Cannon might be on his way out. I do like Cannon and I honestly don't know much about Ousted, but there is a 10-year difference between the two.
Heading to my first Vancouver game later this month. It will be interesting to see what the atmosphere is like compared to the "golden" years in Toronto.
