Good Monday morning Caps fans, hope you all are well rested and having a good start to your week.
The Vancouver Rise set the tone for a big week of soccer in the city, capturing the inaugural Northern Super League title with a 2-1 win over AFC Toronto on Saturday.
Even before the win on Saturday, the inaugural season was a win for the Rise, who led the league in average attendance. They aren’t quite at NWSL level on that front, but are definitely not that far off (with a smaller capacity stadium and a less entrenched league — very impressive). On the pitch, the Rise might have had some highs and lows but there were more of the former, even before Saturday’s title.
The Rise had fewer chances on Saturday than Toronto, lost a key player to injury, and had to wait out a weather delay. But they showed tremendous grit with two goals in the second half, including Holly Ward’s winner. That sort of grit and mentality lifted them past Ottawa last week and ultimately helped them to become champions.
The bar is now set high for the Whitecaps, who will have a sell-out crowd at BC Place for their playoff showdown with LAFC. The atmosphere promises to be incredible, and while there might be a few Son fans there, seeking to catch a glimpse of LAFC’s star, this should be a lot more like the Caps/Inter Miami CCL match, where the home fans were squarely behind their side.
Between the Caps, the Rise, and the promise of World Cup matches next year, it is tempting to consider this a new golden age of soccer in Vancouver. This season should help cement the city as Canada’s premier soccer market. And while the Caps have been important in that, the Rise deserve enormous credit for their success on and off the pitch this season. So congratulations to the Rise on a job well done. Let’s hope we will have a second championship to celebrate in a few weeks.
Best of the Rest
More on the aftermath of the Rise claiming the title.
Top front office personnel across the league are in agreement on the sporting merits of a calendar shift — is that enough to warrant a change?
A follow-up to a Friday story: Apple and MLS’ streaming deal has evolved in terms of its financial structure and will be a bit shorter now after the death of Season Pass.
The Canadian Premier League’s snowy final helped the league go viral and garner an unprecedented amount of attention.
it was time for MLS to enter the BIG LEAGUES of world football- unlike the present schedule, the last 2 months of the new format will be in decent weather and there wont be any FIFA breaks- that alone makes the schedule change a positive – i still need more info on the single entity standings table and the 5 divisions
and keep in mind that 2026 might be the golden age of our own stadium announcement with a whole lot of other BIG news- if the Caps owners-new investors plan goes ahead with Vancouver and the Province blessings, Hastings Park will be rejuvenated as an entertainment hub with features beyond the stadium- this i will call Part 1 for Vancouver’s sporting scene (MLS President, Don Garber, was in Vancouver last week to meet with the important people behind this project which means its getting to the very serious stage)
lets hope for a great show vs LAFC and the crowd to be like the last home game vs Dallas
Salty