It’s the opening day for our 2025 TSS Rovers season. Canada’s only supporter owned football club, playing in the newly rebranded BC Premier League take to the field tonight away to Burnaby FC. We are fielding a very new team of men’s players, moving on from the past four years where we were a destination for many players wanting to get in the shop window thanks to our record of participation in the Canadian Championship. We were pipped at the last minute for the league title last year when Langley scored the winner on a last kick penalty in the last game of the BCPL season to secure the championship. So we aren’t in that tournament this year. As a result we are a mix of seasoned hands like Ali Zohar, now in his fifth year with our team, and young talent that has a chance to step into the spotlight. A number of player’s from our club’s U21 side will make the jump to the first team this year, including Ronan Ward, a promising young striker that blew away the competition for Golden Boot in the Vancouver Metro Soccer League U21 division.
On the women’s side, our team of warriors who secured their first ever Metro Women’s Soccer League championship this season will start the season together and will be joined by a number of veterans returning from University play in Canada and the USA. We have always finished 4th in the past four years, but we’re all very optimistic that this group can better that. Not an easy task when they are playing against the Vancouver Rise academy, and Altitude FC, a team made up largely of the national champion UBC Thunderbirds. Chemistry counts, and a season of holding on to top spot right up to the final game in the MWSL gave them much needed experience of that pressure to win. Winning it was a vindication for our approach that emphasizes development and style of play. The points followed.
There is nothing like opening night of the season to get the blood pumping. It feel like Christmas Day.
When I look around at the other sports teams I am emotionally invested in, the scene is bleak. The Toronto Maple Leafs are well out of the playoff race despite a good win on Monday. Tottenham Hotspur are facing relegation and with seven games left in this season they have appointed Roberto de Zerbi to replace Ange Postacoglu, Thomas Frank, Igor Tudor. Spurs are on the verge of suffering the worst punishment a Premier League team can endure. My son pointed out to me last night that a little under a year ago, we were at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium watching them beat Southampton 3-1, relegating the Saints in the process. That was only four Premier-League-wins-at-home ago. Dreadful.
Meanwhile The Vancouver Goldeneyes fell victim to the Montreal Victoire who set a PWHL points streak record and secured a playoff spot with a 3-0 win over our local women. The talk of tanking has stopped, becasue the PWHL, in all their wisdom have implemented the solution to the problems of rewarding the worst team with the perverse incentive of selecting the best available player in the draft. I’m just new to the league, so it was only this week when I was told about the Gold Plan, which ranks teams eliminated from the playoffs by how many points they acquire at the end of the season. This is the answer to the bizarre feature of North American sports where the worst team gets the biggest prize in terms of new talents.
On the pitch the Vancouver Rise are getting ready to start their season with two former Rovers in the side. Kirstin Tynan is back at keeper and Mia Pante has come home on a loan spell from Italian giants AC Roma, where she wasn’t getting a lot of playing time. I’m looking forward to them making a serious run at repeating as playoff champions.
On the men’s side, the National team played its final two friendlies before the World Cup during this break, finishing with two draws. They played Iceland to a 2-2 result on Friday and on Tuesday drew Tunisia 0-0. Former Rover Joel Waterman started both games. Our centre back positions have some tough competition and Joel survived the test. But once Bambino and de Fougerolles are healthy, he’ll need everything in his talent locker to get a start in the World Cup.
Bosnia and Herzegovina awaits. (Mi dispiace per la vostra perdita, amici miei italiani)
No Comments