VANCOUVER WHITECAPS & MLS NEWS
Whitecaps FC announce roster moves ahead of 2018, exercise seven contract options – Whitecaps FC
Vancouver Whitecaps FC confirmed on Monday that the club has exercised the 2018 contract options on seven players.
Episode 231 – The AFTN Soccer Show (NSFW) – AFTN
NSFW. Not suitable for work. Not suitable for Whitecaps. It’s exercise your option week on the players, so take your pick. Either way, this week’s episode contains adult language and content. There’s swearing. Gasp! If you’re really sensitive, you’ve been warned!
Whitecaps pick up options of captain Kendall Waston, 6 others – CBC
Talks continue with injured Matias Laba after club declines option for designated player.
Is a reunion with Chiumiento a possibility for 2018? – Red Nation Online
When it comes to who Vancouver might sign, Robinson is holding his cards close to his sweater-vest. One player of interest is former Whitecap, Davide Chiumiento. The Whitecaps FC fan favourite was in Vancouver for the Caps alumni match this fall, and one thing led to another.
Contract Deadline Day: Breaking down the biggest moves – MLS
We’ll be breaking down all the biggest moves and what they mean right here, and you can check out our deadline day tracker for a complete rundown of all the teams’ rosters.
Whitecaps FC set to visit USL side Las Vegas Lights FC in February preseason friendly – Whitecaps FC
Vancouver Whitecaps FC will be visiting USL expansion side Las Vegas Lights FC for a preseason friendly, the club announced on Monday.
LA Galaxy decline option on Jermaine Jones; Mike Grella, Red Bulls split – ESPN FC
The LA Galaxy declined their option on former United States midfielder Jermaine Jones on the final day for MLS non-playoff teams to make contract option decisions.
Toronto FC’s Greg Vanney named 2017 MLS Coach of the Year – MLS
Toronto FC head coach Greg Vanney was named MLS Coach of the Year on Monday, after leading TFC to a record-breaking 2017 regular season.
Toronto FC coach Greg Vanney credits team’s resiliency in record-setting season – Toronto Star
Recently named MLS coach of the year hails team’s American players for not letting emotional toll of missing out on the World Cup affect their seasons with the Reds.
Could Toronto FC become the first MLS team to win a domestic treble? – MLS
They’ve already set an MLS record for most points in a single regular season. Two more favorable results at home, and Toronto FC will grab an even bigger spot in the league’s history books as MLS’ first domestic treble winners.
Altidore eager to get back on the field for Toronto FC – SN
Jozy Altidore is ready to get back on the field, even if he hasn’t shown it publicly. “You don’t see me banging my head against the wall at home just sitting there waiting to play,” the Toronto FC striker told reporters on Monday. “There’s nothing you can do about it. Everybody’s got to deal with it.”
Sounders aiming for rare MLS feat with quest for back-to-back league titles – MLS
The Seattle Sounders have coined “Defend Our Cup” as their official motto for their 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs run as they aim to win their second consecutive league championship, and history shows it to be a difficult mission indeed.
Tim Leiweke: ‘I have my fears’ on if MLS Miami comes together – SBI
Tim Leiweke has been aiding David Beckham’s push for an MLS team in Miami, but the longtime executive admitted there is still some doubt surrounding the project.
10 years to now in MLS – US Soccer Players
Major League Soccer has had its ups and downs over the years. From national TV ratings that have struggled to grow to stadium attendance that has, MLS can point to many failures and successes. Expansion is another area where MLS can point to positives, but even that success story has run into one outstanding issue in Columbus.
BC SOCCER NEWS
Residency Report: Davies to join U-19s at the Winter Showcase – Whitecaps FC
This coming Thursday, Whitecaps FC begin play at the 2017 Development Academy Winter Showcase. The ‘Caps are regularly among the best academy sides in the 74-team academy league, and this annual event provides an opportunity for the U-19 and U-17 teams to test themselves against some of the top competition outside of their conference.
A most mighty Quinn tallies twice, helps Dr. Charles Best’s Blue Devils to B.C. AAA boys soccer spoils – Varsity Letters
B.C.’s most decorated boys high school soccer program of the century has taken its share of tough losses over the years and bounced back nicely.
Cowichan FC downs Comox Valley United 3-0 – BC Local News
The league leaders got their revenge over United, who beat Cowichan earlier this season.
The Vancouver Island Soccer League will surely miss Vince Greco – Victoria Sports News
Last Wednesday, I received an email message from Vince Greco, the indefatigable president of the Vancouver Island Soccer League – nothing new there. But this time his message addressed all Greater Victoria media. In a voice of finality, he thanked everyone for their support and to let all know that his time as president was coming to an end.
Sports briefs: Villa wins road game – Powell River Peak
Powell River Villa soccer club picked up three points from a 4-0 win over Cowichan Red Arrow on November 26, but did not move any higher in Vancouver Island Soccer League Division 3A standings.
Chuck Bennett named Nelson Soccer president – Nelson Star
A familiar face is returning to lead Nelson’s biggest sports organization. Chuck Bennett has been named president of the Nelson Soccer Association (NSA). Bennett previously served in the role from 2008 to 2015 before leaving to join the B.C. Soccer board of directors.
TSS FC Rovers Present: Open Age Charity FIFA 18 Tourney, Powered by Play Better – TSS Rovers
Play online against Rovers players and some of the best FIFA 18 gamers in the Country all vying for the grand prize.
Canadian legends Nick Dasovic & Andrea Neil team up for Individualized Coaching Program – Dasovic-Neil Coaching
Nick Dasovic & Andrea Neil have teamed up to provide training programs for players & coaches. The programs specialize in individual, positional, age, and gender specific training for players, with a combined technical and physical focus while providing education and mentorship opportunities for coaches to improve their skills and deepen their knowledge base.
BC Soccer Web’s 2017 Soccer & Sports Book Recommendations – BC Soccer Web
Over the years, there have been many books on soccer and sport that have given us joy, laughter, and much to think about. We’re happy to share these with you. We’ll be updating this list as new titles become available, so keep checking.
PCSL CHALLENGE CUP PHOTOS: Vancouver Utd. 3, Mid-Isle Mariners 1, July 30, 2017 – BC Soccer Web
Exclusive Photos for BC Soccer Web by Richard Howes.
2016-2017 BC Soccer Year in Review – BCSA
BC Soccer Assoc. is proud to release their 2016-2017 Year in Review after another successful year of soccer. The #respectall initiative, High Performance License, Club Charter Program activity, along with the delivery of hundreds of coaching courses and referee clinics this past year highlight some of the successes.
BC PROVINCIAL WOMEN’S A CUP PHOTOS: Surrey United 1 NSGSC Renegades 0, May 13, 2017 – BC Soccer Web
Exclusive photos for BC Soccer Web by Bill Currie.
2017 VISL JACKSON CUP PHOTOS: Nanaimo Utd. 2 Cowichan LMG 1 (XT), April 2, 2017 – BC Soccer Web
Exclusive Photos for BC Soccer Web by Bill Currie.
FVSL PHOTOS: Pakenham Cup Final, PMO Rangers 1 PMO Lordco Gunners 0, April 1, 2017 – BC Soccer Web
Exclusive Photos for BC Soccer Web by Richard Howes.
Becoming a BC Soccer Referee – BCSA
Whether you are an experienced referee new to British Columbia or if you are new to the discipline of refereeing BC Soccer Assoc. has a clinic and a pathway for you. The minimum age to become a referee is 12 years old (small sided) and 14 years old (11-a-side). Please enjoy the short video showcasing some Referee programs that BC Soccer offers and continue below for more on how to become a referee in BC!
Free Physiotherapy Clinical Trial for Achilles Pain at UBC – UBC Centre for Hip Health & Mobility
Do you have Achilles pain? Interested in free Physiotherapy? If yes, join our clinical trial to look at the effectiveness of intramuscular stimulation (IMS), a form of acupuncture therapy, in treating Achilles tendon pain.
The BC Soccer Web Guide to Empire Field – BC Soccer Web
Empire Fields and Plateau Sports Park is the lofty and formal name given to Vancouver’s newest addition to the soccer scene. Yet, anyone who’s ever kicked or carried both kinds of footballs around these parts knows the place by heart.
Introducing BC Soccer Web Syndication – BC Soccer Web
You can now add BC Soccer Web news to your website simply by adding our new RSS Feed! Find out more.
Send your Soccer News to BC Soccer Web! – BC Soccer Web
BC Soccer Web is the hub for soccer in British Columbia. We want to share your soccer news with the entire province, and you can help by letting us know! We want your match reports, club news, league standings, and info on upcoming tournaments and clinics. Whether you submit links to existing news on the web, or your own original writing, we want to share it with the soccer community in B.C.
CANADA SOCCER NEWS
Folding of FC Edmonton could scrub city from FIFA host list – CBC
The folding of FC Edmonton will likely kill Edmonton’s already slim chances of hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup, suggests the team’s colour commentator.
Canada Soccer Women’s National Team set to take on Norway in final international friendly match of 2017 – CSA
Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team will take on Norway in its final match of 2017 on Tuesday, 28 November at 13:00 ET/10:00 PT. Fans will be able to watch the match live on CanadaSoccer.com. Coming off an exciting series against the world’s No.1 team USA earlier this month, Canada’s squad for the international friendly match against Norway has been fine tuned to include players who were unavailable against the USA due to professional commitments.
New life in the Old World: The nomadic American aiming for World Cup 2019 … with Canada – Four Four Two
Ella Masar, once-capped by the U.S., has revived her career in Europe. Now, she’s thinking about the World Cup with her adopted country.
Bernier, Richard named Québec Soccer players of the year – CSA
Québec Soccer have honoured Patrice Bernier and Geneviève Richard as their 2017 professional players of the year. The two were honoured at the annual Gala in Laval on Saturday 25 November, with Bernier of Impact de Montréal FC now an eight-time winner of the award while Richard of Olympique Marseille is a first-time winner.
Alberta South Whitecaps Academy Boys impress – Alberta Soccer
Over the weekend, the Alberta South Whitecaps Academy Centre team headed home after a successful week at the Whitecaps HPP Combine. The week was filled with invaluable presentations and training sessions from multiple Vancouver Whitecaps staff members, games against other Academy Center’s from across the country, and much more.
Pretty and Noseworthy highlight Newfoundland Labrador winners – CSA
Centre back Alex Pretty and striker Jessie Noseworthy have been named Newfoundland Labrador soccer players of the year. The two Holy Cross FC players were recognised by the Newfoundland Labrador Soccer Association as part of the province’s 2017 award winners of outstanding players, coaches, and volunteers.
Local defender makes impression at UWO – Canstar News
Jenna White is a Winnipeg girl who is a standout at the University of Western Ontario both as an athlete and student.
Gruca gold for local soccer teams – Lethbridge Herald
The Lethbridge Football Club U11 Tier 2 girls team posted a perfect record at the 11th annual Stephanie Gruca Memorial Soccer Tournament and have a gold medal to show for it.
Canada Soccer seeks hosts for 2020 and 2021 Toyota National Championships – CSA
Canada Soccer has invited the soccer communities, municipalities, and interested parties from coast to coast to coast to host their biggest annual competition – the Toyota National Championships in 2020 and 2021. Canada Soccer has opened its request for proposals across three age groups in each year with a 6 January 2018 deadline for letters of interest. The bid process will extend into the New Year with the selected hosts for each event being announced at the Annual Meeting of the Membership in May 2018.
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USL, NASL & LOWER DIVISION NEWS
Las Vegas to Host Soccer Spring Training – USL
Las Vegas Lights FC will open its inaugural season with a bang, as the 2018 USL expansion club announced on Monday three preseason exhibitions against Major League Soccer opposition at Cashman Field this February for Soccer Spring Training.
Wehan Named USL Rookie of the Year – UNM Lobos
Former standout of The University of New Mexico men’s soccer team Chris Wehan has been named the United Soccer League Rookie of the Year following a season highlighted by a USL record-tying 12 assists with Reno 1868 FC.
NASL wants Steve Malik removed from USSF board of directors – ESPN FC
The North American Soccer League has asked the U.S. Soccer Federation to remove North Carolina FC owner Steve Malik from the USSF’s Board of Directors and replace him “with an individual who can fairly represent the NASL.”
What’s next for the Cosmos? – Twice a Cosmo
The NASL is slowly starting to crumble…Its the sad truth, whether fans want to admit or not.
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WOMEN’S SOCCER NEWS
Former Damallsvenskan player comes forward with her account of sexual abuse – Vavel
With the steam picked up by the #MeToo hashtag online, more and more accounts of sexual harassment and abuse have been coming to light with several notable instances in Swedish football over the last two months, including the account of an anonymous former player to Kvällsposten earlier today. (The following article contains references to sexual abuse and could be troubling for some readers.)
France 2019 WCQ: Bosnia-Herzegovina 0 Wales 1 – BBC Sport
Kayleigh Green scored Wales’ winner against Bosnia-Herzegovina but keeper Laura O’Sullivan’s late penalty save ensured victory for the visitors.
Dash hire Dutch legend Vera Pauw as head coach – Houston Chronicle
Vera Pauw, a Dutch woman with extensive experience coaching on the international level, will make her club coaching debut with the Dash. The club will announce her hire by Tuesday afternoon, a source confirmed.
Kerr in contention for AFC’s top individual honour – FFA
Sam Kerr is a strong favourite to be named Australia’s fourth AFC’s Women’s Footballer of the Year when the confederation’s awards ceremony is held in Bangkok on Wednesday.
Sydney FC Sign Talented NWSL Goalkeeper – Sydney FC
Sydney FC have signed Orlando Pride goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe for the remainder of the Westfield W-League 2017/18 season.
She’s not Marta (yet), but Catarina Macario is espnW’s soccer player of the year – ESPN W.
It is too soon and too unfair to make comparisons, but even Catarina Macario finds similarities. Like Marta, arguably the greatest women’s soccer player of all time and still going strong, Macario was born in Brazil. It was there that both learned to play the game with a particular Brazilian rhythm.
FC Kansas City ownership kept employees in the dark as club teetered on the brink – The Equalizer
Monday marked the beginning of life after FC Kansas City for those staff members who remained until the bitter end. The office was already scheduled to be closed for Thanksgiving week. Staffers were let go the previous Thursday via a Facetime correspondence from an office manager, were told to take their belongings and leave their keys. They were paid through the end of last week.
Michelle Akers, American soccer’s first superstar, rates the progress of the U.S. game, women’s and men’s – Soccer America
By the time she retired in 2000, Akers also helped the USA win the gold medal at the first women’s Olympic tournament, in 1996, and lift the 1999 World Cup title.
How to get more women into football (and football journalism)? Derby may have the answer – The Guardian
A pioneering scheme run in partnership with the local university is offering promising female players the chance to have a career in the game.
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WORLD SOCCER NEWS
What you can get for Messi’s 700 million euro buyout clause – AP
If a rival soccer team were to pay Lionel Messi’s 700 million euro ($834 million) buyout clause, Barcelona could potentially buy nine of the 20 most expensive teams in the world. Or it would have enough to buy every player in Major League Soccer at the same time. It could even pay for 5 million Barcelona jerseys.
Lanus and Gremio go for glory and a place at UAE 2017 – FIFA
The 2017 Copa Libertadores comes to an end on Wednesday evening, with Lanus gunning to win the competition for the first time, while Gremio seek a third title.
Roma captain De Rossi handed two-match ban for slap – Sportsnet
Roma captain Daniele De Rossi has been given a two-match ban for slapping Gianluca Lapadula in the Serie A draw with Genoa at the weekend.
VAR to be used in Africa for first time in African Nations Championship – SN
The biennial competition is scheduled to take place between January 13 to February 4, 2018 across four Moroccan cities of Casablanca, Marrakech, Tangiers and Agadir.
Pizzi takes charge of Saudi Arabia – FIFA
Juan Antonio Pizzi has been handed the reins at 2018 FIFA World cup Russia-bound Saudi Arabia, taking over from fellow Argentinian coach Edgardo Bauza, who was relieved of the role last week.
Key debate arrives in USSF presidential election campaign – NBC Sports
For those of you concerned about the future of U.S. Soccer (so, all of us) a key debate between candidates running for U.S. Soccer Federation President will take place later today in Chicago.
Witness: Exec said Qatar had up to $15M available for bribes – Medicine Hat News
The former president of Colombia’s soccer federation testified Monday that a sports marketing executive told him up to $15 million in bribe money was available for South American officials from Qatari interests ahead of the FIFA executive committee vote to decide the site of the 2022 World Cup.
FIFA: Doping not widespread in Russian football – Sportsnet
FIFA defended Russia’s right to host the World Cup amid a series of doping scandals, saying Tuesday that there is no sign of “widespread” drug use in Russian soccer.
Russia 2018: 9% of players born in a different country to whose flag they will be wearing – Inside World Football
The globalisation of football is illustrated by new research that shows that almost two thirds of footballers likely to play at the Russia 2018 World Cup are currently playing for clubs outside of the association they represent.
A Dream Worth Realizing For U.S. Soccer: A Not Quite World Cup – Forbes
Back in 2006, while the official World Cup was going on in Germany, a half-dozen outlier – arguably outlaw – soccer associations held a terrifically fun, non-sanctioned tournament in Hamburg. They called it the FIFI (Federation of International Football Independents) Wild Cup, featuring six teams from regions not recognized by FIFA.
Chapecoense plane crash: How the club is still defying the odds one year on – BBC Sport
On the night of Monday, 28 November last year I did a radio report on Chapecoense, a club from a small town in southern Brazil who had made remarkable progress. At that very moment, they were on their way to Medellin in Colombia for the first leg of the final of the Copa Sudamericana, a Europa League equivalent, against Atletico Nacional.
How 2 Kidney Transplants Yielded Real Madrid’s ‘Secret Weapon’ – NY Times
Terry Nelson, 55, is known to Real Madrid as the creator and designer of what its former manager José Mourinho used to call the club’s “secret weapon,” a buoyancy suit that is used primarily to help injured players train in water, enabling them to build their fitness when they are unable to run normally.
YouTube star’s brand could become Botafogo’s primary shirt sponsor – NBC Sports
First-division side Botafogo has signed an agreement with YouTube sensation, Felipe Neto, and the Brazilian’s food brand — Neto’s — to be featured on the front of the club’s kit on Monday.
Conor O’Keefe: ‘Last year I played in the FA Vase. Now I’m going to the Bernabéu’ – The Guardian
The English goalkeeper landed a contract with Fuenlabrada after sending letters in gold envelopes to 48 Spanish clubs. On Tuesday he will join his team-mates at the Copa del Rey tie against Real Madrid.
2017’s TOP SOCCER BOOKS