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 4âÂÂ2. 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 2âÂÂ1 loss to Colorado Rapids leaving them in last place overall.
Updated September 15, 2011.
<small>* = Player is no longer with team</small>
MLS regular season matches only.
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 2âÂÂ1 on December 2, with goals from Terry Dunfield and Nizar Khalfan, and 3âÂÂ1 on December 8, with goals from Nizar Khalfan, Kyle Porter and Terry Dunfield.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC's first regular season in Major League Soccer begins March 19, 2011 and ends October 22, 2011.
<small>Schedule</small>
The club participates in the Canadian Championship. The champion of the tournament qualifies for the preliminary round of the 2011âÂÂ12 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 1âÂÂ0 on a goal by Terry Dunfield. The second leg was contested in Vancouver, where Montreal led 1âÂÂ0 after full-time, for an aggregate score of 1âÂÂ1. 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.
On April 14 it was announced that the Whitecaps would host Manchester City as part of the 2011 World Football Challenge.
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 3âÂÂ1 at Empire Field. Vancouver finished in third place after losing to Portland on October 2.
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.
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 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.