Curious as to what exactly the 'Caps are playing for on Wednesday when they face Montreal Impact at BC Place? Check out this creative video from Whitecaps FC fans Diana Luong (creativemesses.com) and Marie Cheung (mariecheung.ca) explaining the 'Caps path from the Amway Canadian Championship to the CONCACAF Champions League and eventually the FIFA Club World Cup!
Vancouver Whitecaps FC: The Voyage from Marie Cheung on Vimeo.
Chasing the dream
by Carl Valentine
Picture it now, the ‘Caps gathered joyously on the field lifting the cup as our PA announcer roars, “Your Vancouver Whitecaps FC are Amway Canadian Champions!”
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Would that not be music to our ears and an end to a frustrating eleven years?
This game on Wednesday is a cup final for us. Win the game and we will be crowned Canadian champs for the very first time.
We can put a lot of our heartache aside with a victory in front of our fans.
Our players have a chance to be heroes on the night. They can win a trophy and celebrate on home turf. The fact that we’re facing a very good Montreal team who we’ve held a lasting grudge would make it that much sweeter.
This is a massive game for both teams with the winner having bragging rights as the best team in Canada and the chance to play in the CONCACAF Champions League in a showdown against some of the best teams from the United States, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean region.
Our ‘Caps are coming off a season where we were the first Canadian team to reach the MLS Cup playoffs, but Montreal are riding high in the East this year. Both teams are looking to establish themselves as top clubs in our league and both clubs would like to have a shot at becoming the first team from MLS to win the CONCACAF Champions League and qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup.
This game can be a big step in helping the ‘Caps grow in confidence and become a top team in MLS. To be an elite club, you have to be challenging for the playoffs each year and then for the MLS Cup and playing in the CONCACAF Champions league.
Real Salt Lake have come the closest to qualifying for the FIFA Club World Cup and the chance to clash with the likes of Barcelona, Manchester United and now Bayern Munich. MLS would like one of its teams to be on that stage, and this year they made sure the likes of LA Galaxy and Seattle Sounders FC had every opportunity to qualify by scheduling bye weeks early on to keep them fresh. Unfortunately they too fell short once again.
Sooner or later it’s going to happen though, so why should it not be us?
But first we have to win a very important game on Wednesday that could take us into international competition for the first time.
The experience that we all can gain from this is immense. For the coaches and players it will be a different challenge to overcome, which will only make them better as we meet the top teams from other countries.
Winning the cup will not only give us our first Canadian Championship, but it will allow us to dream about other conquests, like facing the best from Mexico, and eventually European champions like Bayern Munich.
Now wouldn’t that be something.
