Vancouver Whitecaps celebrating 40th anniversary
Posted May 3, 2014 1:36 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It’s been almost 40 years to the day the Vancouver Whitecaps played their first game.
The club’s president Bob Lenarduzzi says there’s no way the team or he, when he was a former player, would have been able to get through any of that without the help of the owners, coaches and the fans.
He says the future of the game here looks bright. “It’s really just a matter of finding our place in the professional sports hierarchy, we don’t need to compete with the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, we just need to find our little spot. The game is here to stay, as far as I’m concerned, on a professional level.”
Monday will mark the team’s 40 year anniversary.
Lenarduzzi is also the first to be inducted into the club’s Ring of Honour.
As for the game itself, the Whitecaps did pick up a result on the road one week ago in dramatic fashion. Sebastian Fernandez ensured a draw with a late goal against Real Salt Lake.
Vancouver sits with two wins, two losses, and four draws on the season, while San Jose has just one win in six tries so far this season.
Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson appreciated the way his team played in that game against Salt Lake, but would like to see that mentality more often.
“They played with no fear in the 2nd half when we were 2-nil down, but I want to play that way when it’s the start of the game.” Robinson said.
San Jose comes into this game with a little bit of forward momentum. The Earthquakes’ first victory came a week ago against Chivas USA. Not coming up with a result in the first five matches secured the worst start in San Jose franchise history. It’ll be up to the ‘Caps to answer the call of their coach, and bring the energy a little earlier in front of a boisterous home crowd.
