The 2011 Vancouver Whitecaps FC season was the Whitecaps' debut season in Major League Soccer. The MLS club has incorporated the history of its NASL and various lower division predecessors into its marketing campaigns, reflecting 36 years of professional soccer in Vancouver.
On March 19, 2011, Vancouver Whitecaps defeated Toronto FC at Empire Field in their league opening match by a score of 4–2. It was the first match between two Canadian clubs in league history. Vancouver Whitecaps gave up the 8,000th goal in league history in the game. The regular season ended at BC Place on October 22, 2011, with a 2–1 loss to Colorado Rapids leaving them in last place overall.
Players
Squad Updated September 15, 2011. No. Name Nationality Position Date of birth (age) Previous club Goalkeepers 1 Joe Cannon GK San Jose 18 Jay Nolly GK Vancouver (USSF-D2) 24 Brian Sylvestre GK Vancouver (Residency) Defenders 2 Michael Boxall CB UC Santa Barbara 3 Bilal Duckett CB Notre Dame 4 Alain Rochat LB Vancouver (USSF-D2) 6 Jay DeMerit CB Watford 14 Greg Janicki CB Vancouver (USSF-D2) 19 Carlyle Mitchell CB Joe Public 25 Jonathan Leathers RB Kansas City 26 Jordan Harvey LB Philadelphia Midfielders 11 John Thorrington MF Chicago 12 Jeb Brovsky CM Notre Dame 13 Michael Nanchoff MF Akron 15 Philippe Davies MF Vancouver (USSF-D2) 16 Nizar Khalfan MF Vancouver (USSF-D2) 20 Davide Chiumiento RW Vancouver (USSF-D2) 22 Shea Salinas LW Philadelphia 27 Alexandre Morfaw MF Vancouver (USSF-D2) 28 Gershon Koffie MF Vancouver (USSF-D2) 31 Russell Teibert LW Vancouver (USSF-D2) 33 Peter Vagenas CM Seattle Forwards 7 Mustapha Jarju ST R.A.E.C. Mons 9 Atiba Harris ST Dallas 17 Omar Salgado ST Guadalajara 23 Long Tan FW Tampa Bay 29 Eric Hassli ST Zürich 37 Camilo ST Gyeongnam
Transfers in
DatePlayerPositionPrevious clubFee/notesRef November 18, 2010 Jay DeMerit DF Watford Free transfer; rights acquired via allocation ranking November 24, 2010 Sanna Nyassi MF Seattle Sounders FC Expansion Draft, subsequently traded November 24, 2010 Atiba Harris FW FC Dallas Expansion Draft November 24, 2010 Nathan Sturgis MF Seattle Sounders FC Expansion Draft, subsequently traded November 24, 2010 Shea Salinas MF Philadelphia Union Expansion Draft November 24, 2010 Alan Gordon FW Chivas USA Expansion Draft, subsequently traded November 24, 2010 O'Brian White FW Toronto FC Expansion Draft, subsequently traded November 24, 2010 Alejandro Moreno FW Philadelphia Union Expansion Draft, subsequently traded November 24, 2010 Joe Cannon GK San Jose Earthquakes Expansion Draft November 24, 2010 Jonathan Leathers DF Sporting Kansas City Expansion Draft November 24, 2010 John Thorrington MF Chicago Fire Expansion Draft November 26, 2010 Jay Nolly GK Vancouver Whitecaps FC (USSF-D2) Free November 26, 2010 Wes Knight DF Vancouver Whitecaps FC (USSF-D2) Free November 26, 2010 Philippe Davies MF Vancouver Whitecaps FC (USSF-D2) Free December 10, 2010 Terry Dunfield MF Vancouver Whitecaps FC (USSF-D2) Free December 10, 2010 Greg Janicki DF Vancouver Whitecaps FC (USSF-D2) Free January 13, 2011 Omar Salgado FW United States U-20's SuperDraft, 1st round January 21, 2011 Alain Rochat DF Zürich Undisclosed February 9, 2011 Nizar Khalfan MF Vancouver Whitecaps FC (USSF-D2) Free February 9, 2011 Gershon Koffie MF Vancouver Whitecaps FC (USSF-D2) Free March 4, 2011 Eric Hassli FW FC Zürich Undisclosed March 8, 2011 Davide Chiumiento MF Vancouver Whitecaps FC (USSF-D2) Free March 11, 2011 Blake Wagner DF Vancouver Whitecaps FC (USSF-D2) Free March 11, 2011 Long Tan FW Vancouver Whitecaps FC (USSF-D2) Free March 15, 2011 Brian Sylvestre GK Vancouver Whitecaps Residency Free March 15, 2011 Jeb Brovsky DF University of Notre Dame SuperDraft, 2nd round March 15, 2011 Bilal Duckett DF University of Notre Dame SuperDraft, 3rd round March 17, 2011 Russell Teibert MF Vancouver Whitecaps FC (USSF-D2) Free; signed to Generation Adidas contract March 17, 2011 Alexandre Morfaw MF Vancouver Whitecaps FC (USSF-D2) Free March 17, 2011 Michael Boxall DF UC Santa Barbara Supplemental Draft, 1st round March 17, 2011 Camilo Sanvezzo FW Gyeongnam FC Undisclosed March 25, 2011 Kevin Harmse DF Unattached Free March 31, 2011 Mouloud Akloul DF Vancouver Whitecaps FC (USSF-D2) Free April 28, 2011 Peter Vagenas MF Unattached Free July 7, 2011 Jordan Harvey DF Philadelphia Union Allocation money July 12, 2011 Mustapha Jarju FW R.A.E.C. Mons Free September 15, 2011 Carlyle Mitchell CB Joe Public Free
Transfers out DatePlayerPositionDestination clubFee/notesRef November 24, 2010 Alan Gordon FW Chivas USA Traded for allocation money and use of an International Roster Spot for 2011 Alejandro Moreno FW Chivas USA November 24, 2010 Sanna Nyassi MF Colorado Rapids Traded for an International Roster Spot November 24, 2010 O'Brian White FW Seattle Sounders FC Traded for allocation money November 25, 2010 Nathan Sturgis MF Toronto FC Traded for a 2011 SuperDraft Round 1 pick June 10, 2011 Kevin Harmse DF Waived July 14, 2011 Terry Dunfield MF Toronto FC Traded for allocation money and rights to Keven Aleman July 28, 2011 Mouloud Akloul DF Waived July 28, 2011 Blake Wagner DF Real Salt Lake Waived, free transfer August 31, 2011 Wes Knight DF Waived
Stats Last updated for match on October 22, 2011.
* = Player is no longer with team
Starting XI MLS regular season matches only.
Club
Front office and staff
Competitions
Preseason Before a six-week winter break, the Whitecaps trained for a week in Oxnard, California. During that period, they played an inter-squad scrimmage, as well as two matches against local fourth-tier PDL club Ventura County Fusion. The Whitecaps defeated the Fusion 2–1 on December 2, with goals from Terry Dunfield and Nizar Khalfan, and 3–1 on December 8, with goals from Nizar Khalfan, Kyle Porter and Terry Dunfield.
Winter Camp
Arizona training
Cascadia Summit
Overall
Major League Soccer
Vancouver Whitecaps FC's first regular season in Major League Soccer begins March 19, 2011 and ends October 22, 2011.
League table
Results summary
Results by round
Match results Schedule
Nutrilite Canadian championship
The club participates in the Canadian Championship. The champion of the tournament qualifies for the preliminary round of the 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League.
For the first time in the tournament's history, a playoff format was used as opposed to a round robin format. The tournament seeding was based on the results of the 2010 edition of the tournament, with Vancouver being seeded second. In their semi-final playoff with the Montreal Impact, the Whitecaps won the opening leg in Montreal 1–0 on a goal by Terry Dunfield. The second leg was contested in Vancouver, where Montreal led 1–0 after full-time, for an aggregate score of 1–1. Because both teams had scored one away goal, extra time was needed to determine the aggregate winner. In extra time, Mouloud Akloul scored on a rebound following an Alain Rochat free kick to send the Whitecaps to the final versus Toronto FC.
Semi-finals
Finals
World Football Challenge On April 14 it was announced that the Whitecaps would host Manchester City as part of the 2011 World Football Challenge.
Cascadia Cup
The Whitecaps have had a long-standing rivalry with the Pacific Northwest clubs Seattle Sounders FC and Portland Timbers, dating back to the 1970s when ancestry clubs of the same name played in the original and now-defunct North American Soccer League. The tri-member tournament will continue with the expansion of the Whitecaps and the Timbers. The winner is determined through league matches between the sides, and the club with the best record against both sides wins the trophy.
The Cascadia Cup was awarded to the Seattle Sounders on September 24 when the Sounders defeated the Whitecaps 3–1 at Empire Field. Vancouver finished in third place after losing to Portland on October 2.
Recognition
MLS Player of the Week Week Player Week's StatlineWeek 3 Camilo 2G (90'+2', 90'+3')
MLS Goal of the Week Week Player Goal Report2 Eric Hassli85'GOTW
MLS Team of the Week Week Player/Manager Position Report1 Davide ChiumientoMFMLS Team of the Week: 1 Eric HassliFW2 Alain RochatDF MLS Team of the Week: 23 CamiloFW MLS Team of the Week: 34 Nizar KhalfanMF MLS Team of the Week: 413 Eric HassliFWMLS Team of the Week: 1314 Alain RochatDFMLS Team of the Week: 14 Davide ChiumientoMF Eric HassliFW19 Shea SalinasMFMLS Team of the Week: 1921 Eric HassliFWMLS Team of the Week: 2124 Alain RochatDFMLS Team of the Week: 24 Gershon KoffieMF Joe CannonGK26 Gershon KoffieMFMLS Team of the Week: 26
MLS All-Stars 2011 Position Player NoteFW Eric HassliInactive roster
Miscellany
Allocation ranking Vancouver is in the No. 13 position in the MLS Allocation Ranking. The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the league after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee. Vancouver started 2011 ranked No. 1 on the allocation list and used its ranking to acquire Jay DeMerit. A ranking can be traded, provided that part of the compensation received in return is another club's ranking.
International roster spots Vancouver has 10 international roster spots. Each club in Major League Soccer is allocated 8 international roster spots, which can be traded. Vancouver acquired its first additional spot from Chivas USA on November 24, 2010, for use in the 2011 season only. On the same day Vancouver acquired a second additional spot from Colorado Rapids. Press reports did not indicate when, or if, this spot returns to Colorado. There is no limit on the number of international slots on each club's roster. The remaining roster slots must belong to domestic players. For clubs based in Canada, a domestic player is either a player with the legal right to work in Canada (i.e., Canadian citizen, permanent resident, part of a protected class) or a U.S. citizen, a permanent U.S. resident (green card holder) or the holder of other special U.S. status (e.g., refugee or asylum status).
Future draft pick trades Future picks acquired: None, but Vancouver has acquired undisclosed future considerations from Toronto FC which may or may not include draft pick(s).
Future picks traded: None.
References