Whitecaps game

On Saturday, May 28th, Ben and I had tickets to a Whitecaps game, courtesy of Ben's boss! The Whitecaps are Vancouver's professional soccer team. This was the third professional sporting match we've been given tickets to by Ben's work - football and hockey in 2009, and now soccer!

The game started at 2:30pm at Empire Field in Vancouver's PNE grounds. The Whitecaps were playing the New York Red Bulls, and it was quite an exciting match! They ended up tying 1-1 though. (We read two days later that the Whitecaps fired their coach right after this game, as it hasn't been a good season for them.)

However, it was a great atmosphere and the fans were very enthusiastic. Most were dressed in the Whitecaps' colours of blue and white, held their scarves aloft when the Whitecaps did something good on the field, shouted slogans back and forth with the fans in the opposite stands, and rattled the aluminium stands with simultaneous foot-stomping in response to a drum-beating mascot! There were 21 000 people there, so it was a lot of fun to experience!

New York players...


Vancouver players...


Mascot...


The crowd (spot the ball!)...


New York's goalie...



A bit of rule-breaking...


A big dive...


Something about to happen...


Vancouver's goalie...


And the fans!