Whitecaps FC to host first ever home playoff match

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BC 1988
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With their extra time win tonight, TFC (a higher seed than SEA) earns their first berth in the MLS Final to be held Dec 10 at BMO Field.
This story is important for the Argos, since soccer fans tried to make an objection that CFL play would rip up the turf. The ideal conditions for the GC made that a moot point.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/tfc/2016 ... ition.html

"It’s been three long days with little sleep for BMO Field head groundskeeper Robert Heggie and his crew.
The team has worked around the clock on converting the stadium’s playing surface from a football gridiron, for Sunday’s Grey Cup, to a soccer pitch, for the second leg of Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference between Toronto FC and Montreal Impact.
In the first 36 hours, Heggie said, crew members took one four-hour nap break. Some went home to bed; others crashed in less comfortable places, like the stadium’s suites or on tarps in its groundskeeping shop.
“It was just kind of wherever you can find a soft place,” he laughed.
Their hard work, which began almost as soon as the Ottawa Redblacks won the Grey Cup in overtime, seems to have paid off.
When the Star went pitch-side midday Wednesday, hours before the Reds were to kick off the most important game in club history, gone were the gridiron and the temporary ads.
With removable paint, top sand, green pigment and that hard work, Heggie’s team produced a near-purrfect pitch.
“Me and my guys, we give it a B+,” said Heggie , who recently told the Star he hoped the challenge of this conversion would quiet any remaining naysayers who believe BMO Field can’t house both a soccer and football team.
A B+ is a better grade than he and BMO Field General Manager Peter Church expected, and better than the “prepare for the worst” warning they gave Toronto FC’s players heading into the match, well aware of the short changeover time coupled with the difficulty of late November weather.
Heggie said a real nitpicker could find evidence of the Canadian Football League, but it would require a close look.
The crew could have scrubbed the paint a third time, he said, but after starting the process found it was pulling up blades of grass.
“What’s more important, aesthetic or playability?” Heggie said. “Playability should be more important. We don’t want to remove all of the grass just to get rid of the paint.”
Toronto FC general manager Tim Bezbatchenko walked the field Wednesday morning, and president Bill Manning preemptively deemed Heggie the match’s Most Valuable Player.
But he and Church don’t want the field garnering that kind of attention.
“The pitch should not be a news story tonight,” Church said. “It should be all about Toronto versus Montreal.”
The decisive areas of the field, the six and 18-yard boxes, are in particularly good shape, Heggie said.
And there’s no concern of a repeat of the debacle in Montreal last week ― when the too-narrow penalty boxes required repainting and delayed kickoff by 41 minutes ― though Heggie is leaving measuring tapes out for the referees to make sure.
Last week’s mishap is something the grounds crew has had its fun with on social media over the past eight days, and that didn’t stop Wednesday. It tweeted a picture of measuring tape across one of the field’s white lines with the caption, “44 yards... 132 feet... … measure twice, paint once.”
“That’s where the game really should be decided, in that box,” Heggie said. “I think it’s up to TFC now. I think we did our job.”
If the Reds do advance past Montreal, the groundskeeper says the field will be in even better shape for the Dec. 10 final at BMO Field.
“That 10 days is huge, when you can start putting grow covers out and grow lights back out and actually having an extended period of time to utilize all that, you can actually get some recovering.”
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Robbie
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I wonder who more people in Vancouver rooted for - Toronto FC or Seattle Sounders?

Your fellow countryman or your neighbour?

Vancouver has rooted for the Blue Jays, and have rooted for the Seahawks.

Now, if it's the same league - then who do you support?

Well.....congratulations Sounders for now. Last year it was Portland, this year Seattle, next year Vancouver.
祝加拿大加式足球聯賽不列颠哥伦比亚卑詩雄獅隊今年贏格雷杯冠軍。此外祝溫哥華加人隊贏總統獎座·卡雲斯·甘保杯·史丹利盃。還每年祝溫哥華白頭浪隊贏美國足球大联盟杯。不要忘記每年祝溫哥華巨人贏西部冰球聯盟冠軍。
改建後的卑詩體育館於二十十一年九月三十日重新對外開放,首場體育活動為同日舉行的加拿大足球聯賽賽事,由主場的卑詩雄獅隊以三十三比二十四擊敗愛民頓愛斯基摩人隊。
祝你龍年行大運。
恭喜西雅图海鹰直到第四十八屆超級盃最終四十三比八大勝曾拿下兩次超級盃冠軍的丹佛野馬拿下隊史第一個超級盃冠軍。
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KnowItAll
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Robbie wrote:I wonder who more people in Vancouver rooted for - Toronto FC or Seattle Sounders?

Your fellow countryman or your neighbour?

Vancouver has rooted for the Blue Jays, and have rooted for the Seahawks.

Now, if it's the same league - then who do you support?

Well.....congratulations Sounders for now. Last year it was Portland, this year Seattle, next year Vancouver.
never cheer for any team in Toronto except the argos.
Every day that passes is one you can't get back
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Giovinco is a world class footballer, but it's laughable to hear his sour grapes in blaming the CFL for the condition of the field (and it affecting his play.)
http://www.tsn.ca/soccer/video/giovinco ... me~1014017
TheLionKing
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Robbie
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It's going to be a rematch of the 2016 MLS Cup, again the Seattle Sounders at Toronto FC.

I posed this question before and I'll pose it again:

Who do you root for? Your fellow countryman or your neighbour?
Vancouver has rooted for the Blue Jays, and have rooted for the Seahawks.
Now, if it's the same league - then who do you support?


From a Whitecaps fan perspective, the Sounders are Cascadia Cup rivals while the Toronto FC are Canadian Championship rivals.

-------------------------
The superstitions for the conference championship trophies in the NHL certainly does not apply to the MLS. Despite being defending MLS Cup champions, the Sounders still hoisted and paraded around their Western Conference trophy and showed it around to the fans.
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祝加拿大加式足球聯賽不列颠哥伦比亚卑詩雄獅隊今年贏格雷杯冠軍。此外祝溫哥華加人隊贏總統獎座·卡雲斯·甘保杯·史丹利盃。還每年祝溫哥華白頭浪隊贏美國足球大联盟杯。不要忘記每年祝溫哥華巨人贏西部冰球聯盟冠軍。
改建後的卑詩體育館於二十十一年九月三十日重新對外開放,首場體育活動為同日舉行的加拿大足球聯賽賽事,由主場的卑詩雄獅隊以三十三比二十四擊敗愛民頓愛斯基摩人隊。
祝你龍年行大運。
恭喜西雅图海鹰直到第四十八屆超級盃最終四十三比八大勝曾拿下兩次超級盃冠軍的丹佛野馬拿下隊史第一個超級盃冠軍。
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KnowItAll
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Robbie wrote:
Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:58 am
It's going to be a rematch of the 2016 MLS Cup, again the Seattle Sounders at Toronto FC.

I posed this question before and I'll pose it again:

Who do you root for? Your fellow countryman or your neighbour?
Vancouver has rooted for the Blue Jays, and have rooted for the Seahawks.
Now, if it's the same league - then who do you support?


From a Whitecaps fan perspective, the Sounders are Cascadia Cup rivals while the Toronto FC are Canadian Championship rivals.

-------------------------
The superstitions for the conference championship trophies in the NHL certainly does not apply to the MLS. Despite being defending MLS Cup champions, the Sounders still hoisted and paraded around their Western Conference trophy and showed it around to the fans.
I always totally root against any team from Toronto except sometimes the argos.
Every day that passes is one you can't get back
Dusty
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KnowItAll wrote:
Fri Dec 01, 2017 3:30 pm
Robbie wrote:
Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:58 am
It's going to be a rematch of the 2016 MLS Cup, again the Seattle Sounders at Toronto FC.
I always totally root against any team from Toronto except sometimes the argos.
X2
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Robbie
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From second place to the west in 2015 to now trying to make the playoffs, it has costed head coach Carl Robinson his job as he was fired today. In addition, assistant coaches Martyn Pert and Gordon Forrest, and goalkeeper coach Stewart Kerr were also released.

Let's hope this huge change will inspire the players to a huge late surge for the team which occurs sometimes when there's a sudden change in coaching and/or management.
祝加拿大加式足球聯賽不列颠哥伦比亚卑詩雄獅隊今年贏格雷杯冠軍。此外祝溫哥華加人隊贏總統獎座·卡雲斯·甘保杯·史丹利盃。還每年祝溫哥華白頭浪隊贏美國足球大联盟杯。不要忘記每年祝溫哥華巨人贏西部冰球聯盟冠軍。
改建後的卑詩體育館於二十十一年九月三十日重新對外開放,首場體育活動為同日舉行的加拿大足球聯賽賽事,由主場的卑詩雄獅隊以三十三比二十四擊敗愛民頓愛斯基摩人隊。
祝你龍年行大運。
恭喜西雅图海鹰直到第四十八屆超級盃最終四十三比八大勝曾拿下兩次超級盃冠軍的丹佛野馬拿下隊史第一個超級盃冠軍。
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Robbie
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Coaching change hasn't made any immediate effect as Whitecaps lose big time in LA. :bang:

Terrible, triple loss for the city of Vancouver today as the Lions, Whitecaps, and Canucks all suffer big losses. :puke: :surrender: :sigh:
祝加拿大加式足球聯賽不列颠哥伦比亚卑詩雄獅隊今年贏格雷杯冠軍。此外祝溫哥華加人隊贏總統獎座·卡雲斯·甘保杯·史丹利盃。還每年祝溫哥華白頭浪隊贏美國足球大联盟杯。不要忘記每年祝溫哥華巨人贏西部冰球聯盟冠軍。
改建後的卑詩體育館於二十十一年九月三十日重新對外開放,首場體育活動為同日舉行的加拿大足球聯賽賽事,由主場的卑詩雄獅隊以三十三比二十四擊敗愛民頓愛斯基摩人隊。
祝你龍年行大運。
恭喜西雅图海鹰直到第四十八屆超級盃最終四十三比八大勝曾拿下兩次超級盃冠軍的丹佛野馬拿下隊史第一個超級盃冠軍。
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