Bob Lenarduzzi

The Vancouver Whitecaps have made a significant amount of changes to their soccer club over the past few years, and, with last month’s announcement that they would move into BC Place in 2011, it is obvious that many more changes are coming.  We spoke to Whitecaps’ boss Bob Lenarduzzi to get his take on the state of the club.

The Nutrilite Canadian Champions Cup may be one of the more exciting developments in recent Canadian soccer.  How are you feeling going into this competition?
Lenarduzzi: I think I would share that enthusiasm and excitement for the tournament itself, regardless of who ends up winning it.  I think that a tournament that will crown a champion that will go off to play in the CONCACAF Club Champions Cup will be a great evolution in our game.  In general, I’m excited about the tournament, and from a club perspective, I’m hopeful that we’re going to be competitive and ultimately we hope to win it.

How long has this tournament been coming?
It’s something that hadn’t really been on the radar screen.  A lot of it has to do with the actual CONCACAF Club Champions Cup.  Recently, when it took on more of significance.
With this new Canadian Champions Cup, we are looking to model ourselves on the European Club Champions League, which has provided so much more of awareness for the sport.

Having our own regional championship that mirrors the European Club Champions League gives people an idea of what we’re doing, as opposed to starting from scratch.

I’m not sure that had it happened much sooner it would have the impact that it’s having now; but three clubs across the country all have stable ownership and either have, or are looking at, building their own soccer-specific buildings, demonstrating that the pro game is as strong as it’s ever been.

CBC will be broadcasting the Canadian Championship.  How much does this mean to the event?
I think that it’s another indication that they see soccer as a valuable property.

The Canadian Champions Cup is in its infancy. With each year that goes by, the interest in the tournament is going to get greater. Perhaps someday the tournament may look more like an US Open Cup or a FA Cup.  If that happens, it’s going to be possible to get the Cinderella-type scenarios that you find in other cup competitions around the world.

If the tournament were to expand, would you rely on established cups to determine entry into the tournament, or would you create a whole new entry system for those smaller amateur clubs to get involved?
Anything that I say would be purely speculation, but I don’t think you need to reinvent the wheel.  I think we have easily transferable competitions. I think it’s as simple as looking at the Senior Amateur National Championships that take place every year.  Maybe you take the two finalists or the four semi-finalists and there are other leagues that exist.

But I think that one of the things that we need to do before we think about expanding the tournament is to make sure that we try to establish some hierarchy.  What are the standards that leagues need to meet in order to establish where they fit into the country’s Pyramid of Play?

We have a loose Pyramid but the problems we have are that we have different seasons and the leagues across the country are labelled differently. For example, in Ontario, the CPSL, or CSL, is branded as the level beneath [the USL].

I’m not disputing that, but we need to figure out what actually is the hierarchy of the game in this country and make sure that we understand that before we decide to expand [the tournament]. I’m all for including more teams, but only when we feel that we have a handle on what the Pyramid of Play is.

In the meantime, building the brand of the tournament is no doubt a priority.
No question.  The brand will be built simply because of the interest that there will be in the three games.  As the years go by, that interest is going to become greater and greater.

Your club has been quite involved in international play recently, to the extent that half of your women’s team seems to be missing this year.  What are some of the challenges facing the Women’s Whitecaps?
I don’t think they’re challenges, I think they’re opportunities.  Everything we’ve done is to provide the best possible vehicle to go and to do well on the international stage.  A lot of our players over the last two years have been involved with the National Team’s residency program that we have funded.

What we’ve needed to do is to figure out what is our priority when it comes to the Whitecaps’ teams. After bringing in American players last year, we decided that we might as well have a hand in our country’s destiny and we created an Under-20 type team that allows those players to play at a good level – more so than they would have done under other circumstances.  Results are important, but at this stage, developing the players is equally important, if not more so.

The Whitecaps have quite a developmental model for their soccer club, which is pretty unique in North America.  Can you talk about how the developmental model has progressed, and where you expect to take it over the next five years?
We have what we call “vision 2011,” that is, post-Olympics and post-2010.  By then we would be in our [new] venue, and in the best league in North America.

The BC Place announcement has provided another alternative to building our own soccer-specific stadium and it gets us back in the MLS game. We’re assuming that at the All-Star game the MLS league will speak to what their expansion plans are, and that will give us an understanding of where we fit into that whole process.

We can’t control whether we’re in or we’re out.  What we can do before then is to make sure that if we are in, we hit the ground running.

Our residency program is an example of that.  We’re investing significant time and money in trying to assemble the best players from across Canada.  In the case of one player in particular, a young guy from Jamaica who is an Under-17 Jamaican international, our objective is to have some of these kids play on our senior team this year.

Already we saw Randy Edwini[-Bonsu] come on against the Galaxy and not look out of place.  There are another four or five that could very well see some time next year, increasing their playing times as their experience grows. We continue to be a conveyor belt, bringing the younger players in, so that we’re having a hand in our own destiny.  That’s the technical side.

There are also measurables that we have in place: to determine how well we’re doing from a sponsorship point of view, from an event management perspective… the ability to host the Galaxy in Vancouver and in Edmonton in front of [large crowds].  Those are things that show we’re reaching for new heights and giving ourselves the best chance to succeed.

You have spoken quite a bit recently about making the jump to the MLS.  If you were to move there as a club, would the developmental model you have in place still allow for a team in the USL, where you currently play?
Oh I don’t think that there’s any reason for there not to be.  To be a true club, we need the vehicles for the elite players to perform in, and the USL would likely fit that bill.  On the USL front, there are some exciting moves in the works there with the fact that when you look at the quality of ownership in our league now, versus what it was two or three years ago, there are owners that have staying power and want to upgrade the quality of our league.  So, in general, the health of the sport is better than it has been for quite a while.

You were just in Montreal.  The commissioner of the MLS, Don Garber, was also there.  Did you get a chance to speak with him about your future in that league at all?
We spoke, however it wasn’t the time to be speaking formally.  It was very informal.  He’s aware of the fact that we now have a stadium option and they’re okay with that option, as long as we continue to pursue that soccer-specific stadium. There wasn’t really much discussed in the way of what our chances are other than they’ve acknowledged that Vancouver’s a great soccer market and Montreal is as well.

Describe Saputo Stadium, the new home of the Montreal Impact, to those of us who haven’t seen it yet.
It’s a 13,000 seater.  Beautiful lush green grass field.  Seats right up next to the field.  It has a very intimate feel to it with a great sound system.  The changing rooms are upscale.  I came away with a good impression about what the Saputos have done in Montreal with their facility.

Now that we have Saputo Stadium and BMO [in Toronto]… if someone had said to me even five years ago that we’d have two soccer-specific stadiums and a third on the way, once ours is approved, I would have said that they were crazy.  The game has improved as a result of that.

BC Place will be an open-air facility, but it still won’t be a soccer-specific stadium; do you worry that BC Place will lack an atmosphere for soccer?
Well, when you look at the plans that they unveiled at the announcement for the renovated BC Place, the things that were appealing to us were a willingness to provide an intimate atmosphere, with the draping of the seats in the upper bowl. Creating that intimate atmosphere is very important to us.  The willingness to reconfigure the seats to get them closer to the action is something that’s very important to us.
Also, they’re willing to address the issues that they’ve had over the years with the concessions and, of course, the open-air roof.  It’s a much different scenario to the one that currently exists.

The building was state-of-the-art when we played the first sporting event in BC Place, which I was fortunate to be a part of in front of 60,000 people, and it will be state-of-the-art again when it re-opens in 2011.  The whole area down around False Creek, where the new art gallery will go, will be an entertainment hub.  If you’re coming downtown and you want to make a day of it, or a night of it, you’ll have the opportunity to do that because you’ll have a plaza that will provide more than just the events you’re coming to.

We applaud the government for having the foresight to go ahead and refurbish the building.  It would have cost $1.2 billion to take it down and rebuild it.  It costs significantly less to refurbish it.

At the last Whitecaps game that I went to, I bumped into a bunch of visitors from Mexico who had decided to check out a game while they were here in Vancouver.  They found the commute by transit to Swangard confusing, since they were new to the city.  Do you think a stadium downtown would help to attract more tourists to see games, as well as more of an international flare?
Well, that’s one of the reasons that we believe we need to be downtown. We want to be downtown.  Whether it’s more of an international flavour or whether it’s simply people who feel it’s more accessible by transit – there’s no doubt in my mind that the fan-base will increase substantially.

It’s not a question of just opening the doors… it’s more a question of doing what we’ve been doing out of Swangard lately, and that’s making it more of an event.  I’ve spoken to people who are now coming to our games, who haven’t been for a while, and are surprised by the differences.  It’s night and day.  They couldn’t believe the branding and the lively concourse.  We’re trying to do everything we can to ensure that when we take that stuff up, we’re ready for it.

Are you a believer in “If you build it they will come?”  If you move to BC Place, how many seats can you fill on a regular basis?  You did have just about 50,000 people at a recent Galaxy game there.  If that’s the case and you move to Waterfront Stadium and only have 20,000 seats, will you have to expand the stadium?
That’s the million-dollar question.  I think that if we continue to grow as a club and we’re playing in the best league in North America… I look down the I-5 and see what they’ve done in Seattle.  They’ve taken Qwest field and they’ve scaled it down to a 24,000-seat capacity, much like is going on at BC Place, trying to create intimacy, and they already have deposits for 15,000 season tickets.  By the time of kick-off next season, they’ll probably have 20,000 season tickets and they’ll be selling out all of their 24,000 seats allotted.

The upside of moving into a bigger building is that if you happen to do everything right and you get yourself to a place where you’re the event that people want to come out and support, then you have the extra room to play with.

CSF looks to knock off the king

The Soccer Paper March edition is currently being distributed to several locations around the Lower Mainland.  For a list of pick-up locations, click here.  In the meantime, we are making some of our articles available on-line.

by Lucas Teodoro da Silva 

Dino Rossi is a passionate fan of the Canadian National Men’s Soccer Team. Rossi has habitually cheered for the Canadian Men’s Team at home games and is a regular on its Internet message boards.
But Rossi’s limit as a loyal fan of Canadian national soccer teams was reached when the Canadian U-20 Men’s Team, hosting the U-20 FIFA World Cup in Canada in the summer of 2007, failed to score a goal on their home turf, and were turfed from the their own tournament after round-robin play, the only team in tournament history to hold such a dubious distinction.
Rossi would not be so upset if the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA), the governing body responsible for soccer in Canada, had at least acknowledged Canada’s shortcomings and set about to fix the problem.  But the CSA didn’t – at least not in Rossi’s eyes.

Continue reading CSF looks to knock off the king…

Philadelphia and St. Louis rate Vancouver’s MLS hopes as good

The Soccer Paper March edition is currently being distributed to several locations around the Lower Mainland.  For a list of pick-up locations, click here.  In the meantime, we are making some of our articles available on-line.

by Lucas Teodoro da Silva

Vancouver soccer fans could hardly be faulted for feeling a pang of envy while watching the recent announcement awarding a Major League Soccer [MLS] expansion franchise to the city of Philadelphia.  The 2010 franchise marks the sixteenth team in the decade-old MLS soccer league.
Philadelphia’s team gives the MLS league some further geographical balance, following the fall announcement of a 2009 team, sprouting from the ashes of the United Soccer League’s Seattle Sounders, located just south of the Canada – U.S.  border, on the Northwest Coast.

Continue reading Philadelphia and St. Louis rate Vancouver’s MLS hopes as good…

VMSL Passionate Final

The Soccer Paper March edition is currently being distributed to several locations around the Lower Mainland.  For a list of pick-up locations, click here.  In the meantime, we are making some of our articles available on-line.

By Inácio Teodoro da Silva

Emotion, suspense, action, frustration and joy are fit to describe the encounter between Sporting FC “A” and West Van FC “A” on a warm late winter afternoon (March 9, 2008) at the Point Grey Turf Field in Vancouver. The two men’s soccer teams were fiercely disputing the top spot in the League Final of the Vancouver Metro Soccer League (VMSL) Premier Division. In the end, Sporting FC emerged as the 2007 – 2008 season victor, after scoring four times versus two scored by West Van FC.
Both sides carefully played the first half. Eleven minutes in, Sporting had two chances in the same play to make its mark and failed: Jay Gill (#4) sent a left footer right at the goalie, who also immediately managed to save Ryan Dormer’s (#16) rebound.
But Dormer managed to make his mark in the second half by scoring Sporting’s third goal, followed minutes later by a 4th goal, scored by Ryan’s brother, Steve Dormer (#14). Steve Dormer’s 4th goal came three minutes after West Van had scored its second goal.
Veteran Sporting player Steve Frasão (#10) had opened the game count nine minutes into the second half. Despite fierce combat, seven minutes before the whistle ended the back and forth match, the score was held at 3 - 2 for Sporting FC. West Van FC fought until the last second and even the 4th goal scored against them did not diminish their resolve.
There was a noticeable improvement in Sporting’s play compared to last year. Well organized, intelligent team play was executed and perfectly illustrated, such as when Ben Hunt (#21) held the soccer ball on the corner with the detemination of a mad mule and then gave a perfect pass to Dormer for the third goal.
West Van FC has had their share of attacking games in the recent past and possibly should have done more of what worked to bring them to the finals. In the 2007 –2008 Vancouver Metro Soccer League Premier Division, West Van FC proved to be an excellent team with a very active goalie; but they did not take the cup home.
Congratulations to Sporting FC “A” on their league Cup win. Congratulations to both teams for putting on such an entertaining finish, a great game that both sides should be proud of.

March issue now available

INTERVIEW: BOB LENARDUZZI

[Some of this issue’s articles are being made available online as a special sample issue to new readers. Subscribe to the Soccer Paper today to receive the print copy of our paper in the mail and get more articles like this one next month.]

By Lucas Teodoro da Silva

LENARDUZZI SPEAKS ABOUT THE GALAXY GAME, NEXT SEASON, MLS EXPANSION and THE CSA

We spoke to Bob Lenarduzzi, GM of the Vancouver Whitecaps, following their disappointing season in which the club fell from defending USL champions in both men’s and women’s categories to being knocked out in the first round of playoffs in men’s play and not qualifying for the post-season in women’s action. Continue reading INTERVIEW: BOB LENARDUZZI…

What’s Wrong with Canadian Soccer?

[Some of this issue’s articles are being made available online as a special sample issue to new readers. Subscribe to the Soccer Paper today to receive the print copy of our paper in the mail and get more articles like this one next month.]

We have too many youth teams and players in what we consider our premier leagues

By Colin Elmes

In light of the recent turmoil at the Canadian Soccer Association and as the owner of BC’s largest private soccer academy, I feel it’s important to cast light on the deficiencies of our present youth soccer structure. Like many Canadians, I feel strongly about the game and want nothing more than for Canada to emerge as a strong soccer nation – but under the current conditions, I don’t see this happening. Continue reading What’s Wrong with Canadian Soccer?…

Columbus Coach Praises Organization for Success

By Lucas Teodoro da Silva

Provincial Cup Champions. Imperial Cup Champions. Open Canada Cup Western Champions. Open Canada Cup Runners Up. National Club Championships Runners Up. It’s an impressive list of titles and accomplishments.

That this list was accomplished in one year of playing soccer says a lot about Columbus-Clan FC, a Vancouver-area soccer team that competes in the Vancouver Metro Soccer League’s Premier Division. Continue reading Columbus Coach Praises Organization for Success…

Columbus Clan FC take home the Silver Medal in 2007

Led by veteran striker Joey Scigliano, Columbus Clan F.C. have been on a surge as of late, fairing well in every local championship above the sun. The most recent challenge put forth for the 2007 Provincial Cup, Imperial Cup, and Open Canada Cup Western Champions were the Nationals, which took place over the Thanksgiving weekend from October 3th-8th, 2007.

Opening strong in front of 1000 spectators, Columbus carried the momentum of their winning ways into their first game, defeating the host team, Halifax City, by a 2-1 margin. Veteran Tiernan King opened the score midway through the first half as he raced in all alone before slotting the ball past the Nova Scotia goalkeeper. Columbus continued to apply pressure and could easily have added another goal or two during the rest of the first half but the numerous scoring chances went awry. Despite the fact that Halifax City was reduced to 10 men due to the expulsion of one of their players, the home team tied things up early in the second half on a questionable penalty kick. Columbus, however, fought back valiantly and eventually got the winner when Tiernan King became the provider and set up Joey Scigliano for an easy tap-in with a brilliant cross. Defensively, Columbus was very strong with playing-coach Carmine D’Onofrio, Tony Gaita, Craig Richards, and Frank Mollica limiting Halifax to very few chances. Continue reading Columbus Clan FC take home the Silver Medal in 2007…

PRE-SEASON TOURNAMENT: BURNABY METRO SELECTS

By Lucas Teodoro da Silva

The 2007 Burnaby Legends of Summer Soccer Tournament was held on the turf fields, at the Burnaby Lake Sports Complex, on the weekend of August 25th-26th. Hosted by the Burnaby Selects Metro Club, this year’s tournament saw boy’s select teams from four different age divisions (U14 through U18) battle it out for supremacy in a well-organized tournament. Continue reading PRE-SEASON TOURNAMENT: BURNABY METRO SELECTS…