On Monday, May 30, Vancouver Canucks’ head coach Alain Vigneault was preparing for the Stanley Cup.
B.C. Lions head coach and general manager Wally Buono was packing his bags for Kamloops for the Canadian Football League club’s training camp and reminding the media that the black and orange still exist.
The Lions have been the forgotten child in Vancouver, what with the Canucks’ domination of the National Hockey League in 2010-2011 and the Whitecaps’ debut in Major League Soccer.
The Whitecaps are 1-5-6 with nine points of a possible 36 in league play after losing yet another lead and settling for a tie on May 28 against the Thierry Henry-less New York Red Bulls.
The Caps are worst in the West with just one win in a dozen games. That victory came opening day on March 19 at Empire Field, 4-2 over Toronto FC.
Since then, the club has been hampered by injuries and red card suspensions. It was less-than-fantastic for head coach Teitur Thordarson, one of the most popular coaches in Vancouver soccer history.
The other boot finally dropped May 30 when Thordarson was fired.
Vancouver reporters were invited to an 11 a.m. news conference at Empire Field for an important announcement with CEO Paul Barber and president Bob Lenarduzzi. Captain Jay DeMerit and assistant captain Jon Thorrington quietly walked into the room, both with stern faces, before Lenarduzzi, Barber and director of soccer operations Tommy Soehn entered via the side door.
Thordarson’s absence spoke volumes. It was obvious that the affable, accessible Icelander’s tenure was over.
Thordarson was introduced to Vancouver media at a Dec. 11, 2007 news conference on the Harbour Centre revolving observation deck as the United Soccer Leagues’ First Division Whitecaps’ coach. Back then, it was assumed the Whitecaps would someday end up playing soccer by the sea at the proposed Waterfront Stadium. Instead, the Whitecaps were granted an MLS franchise in March 2009 and are playing at Empire until B.C. Place Stadium is reopened this fall. Last summer, Thordarson was signed as the head coach and the Caps were applauded for the continuity measure.
Under Thordarson, the Caps became USL-1 champions in 2008 and lost in the final in 2009. But, as they say in sports, coaches are hired to be fired. There is no tougher position than being the bench boss of an expansion team.
“We felt that we needed to give the team a bit of fresh impetus, make a change of coaching staff at this time, to give ourselves the best possible chance of recovering the season, and giving the team a kickstart,” Barber said. “This was the right time to do it, we took the decision after the game on Saturday.”
Soehn, who coached nine years in MLS, including three as D.C. United’s head coach, said he would continue to look for additional talent, but indicated satisfaction with the roster.
“When you walk in the locker room you can usually tell if that team has got a chance to do special things, I've said this from the beginning as has Teitur this group is fantastic as far as the character of the group,” Soehn said. “I don't think it's going to take much to turn the tide.
“We're going to make sure we're organized, we're going to make sure we're compact and we're going to make sure we're tough to play against. We're going to look to be aggressive in the attack, especially at home. This place is like a fortress, teams should be petrified to come play here and that's something that we need to re-establish.”
The Whitecaps are out-of-town June 1 against Chivas USA, June 4 against Real Salt Lake and June 11 against the Seattle Sounders. The first two matches are expected to have record low TV ratings, because they clash with the Vancouver Canucks vs. Boston Bruins Stanley Cup series. The club returns home June 18 to host the Philadelphia Union.
The Whitecaps may have acted too early, but in the sometimes unkind world of sports entertainment, they achieved one thing May 30: relevance. While the Stanley Cup zeitgeist continues, the Whitecaps coaching shakeup assured the club of media and fan attention.
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