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Vancouver Whitecaps v Montreal Impact

7pm  25 July 2018

Canadian Championship, Semi-Final, Second Leg
Vancouver Whitecaps 2 Montreal Impact 0 (2-1 on aggregate) (att 19,267)

Whitecaps are apparently named after the snow-topped mountains and the foam-crested waves that surround the city. Vancouver is lovely, and the BC Place Stadium is close to the centre, like a flying saucer that’s landed in downtown. Its central location reminded me of Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.

The impressive modern arena is home to Canadian Football team BC Lions as well as Vancouver Whitecaps. The upper tier of the stadium is closed for soccer games, but cleverly screened so you’re not looking at acres of empty seats, and leaving a capacity of around 22,000.

I wasn’t sure what sort of crowd to expect for a Canadian Championship semi-final. I’d bought tickets in advance just in case of a sell out but as it turned out seats were available, albeit not that many.

The Canadian Championship might be seen as a hindrance to MLS clubs, but does provide a route into the CONCACAF Champions League as well as bragging rights in the north of the continent. MLS sides get byes to the final four, with a couple of earlier rounds to see off plucky underdogs who qualify by winning local leagues.

Montreal Impact had won last week’s first leg by the only goal, but goals in each half oveturned that and earned Whitecaps a deserved (on the evidence of this match) place in next month’s two-legged final against Toronto FC.

It was a good game, although many locals won’t have known that as lots arrived late, then spent much of the 90 minutes constantly leaving their seats in search of vast amounts of food and drink. A family of four sat directly in front of us can’t have actually watched more than 10 minutes of football, although between them they did manage to consume three huge buckets of popcorn.

That said, Whitecaps did have a vocal section of support behind the goal, and they did their best to create a decent atmosphere. I didn’t spot any Montreal fans, but if any had made the mammoth journey their team gave them very little to shout about.











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