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LAFC 1, Whitecaps 0: Refs ruin the night for Caps and their record crowd
They booed Max Crepeau every time he touched the ball. They booed the officials for every questionable call. They booed lustily every time an Los Angeles FC player fell heavily to the B.C. Place turf, pantomiming some phantom injury — a display of theatrics that was both frequent and frustrating.
The black-clad visitors will move on in the MLS playoffs to face the winner of Seattle vs. Dallas, which will be decided next Friday.
L.A earned a 22nd-minute penalty when referee Tim Ford ruled that Caps centreback Tristan Blackmon had tripped Mario González in the box, pointing immediately to the spot. The jazzed-up stadium erupted in disbelief, but there was no call for Ford to check his decision on a sideline monitor, as the VAR check showed no error in judgment.
Denis Bouanga powered it home past a helpless Yohei Takaoka, and it stood up as the winner.
The loudest boos of the night came in the final moments of injury time, when Ford knocked over Alessandro Schöpf just as he was trying to hit a shot after an extended bout of Whitecaps pressure. L.A. turned it the other way, and scored into an empty net, and the crowd went bananas, with invectives of every description being thrown at him.
Incandescent with rage, Whitecaps coach Vanni Sartini practically went into orbit, getting ejected from the game with a red card.
He wasn’t there to see Ford called to the monitor for a VAR check, and the goal chalked off for offside — as Takaoka was still upfield, it meant Carlos Vela’s pass put Bounga in an offside position.
“Maybe he felt excited because he was in Canada and he wanted to do (something Canadian). … I think Tim is a good guy but … the referee was a disaster. We have to be completely honest; the referee was a disaster. … At the end, we didn’t have a fair chance, to be honest. Because today, unfortunately, the referee had a bad game.”
Sartini went on to describe the plays he had issues with, including the non-penalty on Richie Laryea in the second half. If that wasn’t called, the González call shouldn’t have either, he said.
The game was whistled moments after Bounga’s goal was waved off, and B.C. Place security was needed to keep the Whitecaps players — notably Sam Adekugbe — from the officials as they were led off the field. Bottles, streamers and profanity followed them off as they were quickly ushered down the tunnel and out.
They were probably passed by Sartini, who came back through the tunnel after the final whistle to cheers and applause as he saluted the crowd and gathered his team together.
Sartini knows there will be blowback for his comments about the officiating, and made the request to the journalists at the presser not to ask the players about the refereeing, so he could take all the fines. And he knows it will probably go beyond a financial hit.
There were a combined 32 fouls in the Decision Day meeting at B.C. Place between these two teams, and the physical play carried over on Sunday. Takaoka took a foot to the face from Gonzalez in the 40th minute, but it only earned the L.A. player a yellow card.
The visitors were lucky not to be down to 10 men, as Gonzalez had also gotten away with another bookable offence earlier in the half.
LAFC showed off their battle-hardened experience with the display, as the cheap fouls broke up the Whitecaps’ offence and kept them from building any momentum.
The Whitecaps had 13 shots to L.A.’s eight, but Crepeau was the man of the match, making several key saves against his old team, including a late White header in the 85th minute and a Gauld volley in the 98th.
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VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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