Revolution versus Northwind – 2007 Edition

The sun shone down on the magnificent ThunderBird Stadium in Vancouver. The grass was as green and smooth as any seen in North America. The stands held the biggest crowd yet to see a USFooty match – with representatives from both countries women’s and junior teams waiting eagerly for the game to commence.

Both teams have coaches in their first year at the helm. I talked to both coaches leading up to the match. Canadian coach Mark “Flash” Block was looking to break the drought as the Canadian men have never beaten the US. The new Revolution coach Trevor Lovitt focused his tactics on moving the ball quickly through the center corridor. His strategy was prompted by the layout of Thunderbird Stadium which is a long but slightly narrow field. 

The USA won the toss and elected to kick, fittingly, towards the US border at the Southern End of the grounds. Within the first 20 seconds both teams had placed some strong tackles and hits on each other. It looked like it was going to be another scrambly first quarter which has become the hallmark of cross border matches, but the game opened up after the first five minutes of the match.

Canada scored first with a point. The USA responded with a point after moving the ball from one end of the field to the other. The USA scored the first major of the match to lead 9 points to 1.

At this stage of the match the US had the run of the play but they were breaking down across half forward and they were over pursuing the ball. The result was that the ball was moved between each team’s center-half forward lines. Finally, the USA scores.

Canada quickly gets the ball out of the middle and returns the favor with a goal kicked off the ground in the goal square. USA 15 to Canada 9 at the first break.

At the quarter break Coach Lovitt urged his forwards to create more contests in order to make better use of the ball. The USA had broached the Canadian 50 on 12 occasions (to the Canadians 4). Coach Lovitt knew that the missed opportunities could not continue.

The Canucks were the first to score in the second quarter after 5 minutes of play. They had jumped ahead by one point. Their first lead of the match. The USA then dominated the play but they still could not score as they continued to blaze away from the Center with the ball landing too many times in Canadian hands. The US finally scored with 10 seconds left in the half. This was a huge score for the US who now took the lead into the half 23 to 17. It was a balanced quarter on the scoreboard and neither team was able to create any meaningful advantage.

Canada scored first again in the third, after four minutes, to even up the score. Canada then scored again with 8 minutes elapsed. Canada was taking every opportunity they had and the US was squandering them. USA took a great overhead mark, but kicked a point, while at the other end a lucky bounce resulted in a Canadian goal. Canada up by 10 with 7 left in the quarter.

Two great smothers by the Canadians in the USA forward line kept the score the same. A goal line mark by the Canadians sweeping defender gives the same result to the USA – nothing! At the third quarter break the Canadians had created the largest break of the game leading 36 to 25.

It was Donnie Lucero who spoke first in the US huddle. Donnie is an experienced Revo campaigner and an undisputed leader of the team. He has seen the Revo’s down before and has been part of historic wins. Coach Lovitt reinforced the fact that 11 points is not a lot in footy. He urged his forwards to stay home and for the pockets to be front and center for each contest. As I walked back up to the stands I could not help but think that the first score of the last quarter would be critical.

And the US responded as directed. Valley hit the forward contest hard, Vestacka was front and center and gathered the ball then handpassed to a running Curry who scored. This was the way to break down the Canadian defense.

With 12 minutes left in the match Canada scored through an ugly soccer kick off the back post that Beckham would have been proud of. Canada once again takes every opportunity delivered to them – no matter how slim and the lead 42 to 31.

Canada just wanted the ball more. With 5 minutes left the USA still trails and you wonder if they have just run out of time. Two minutes left and Canada scores a point – a 2 goal lead. And then another point to make it a 3 score game and that put it away for the Canadians – 45 to 32.

And do the Canadians celebrate. It is the first time they have won the 49th Parallel Cup and beaten the USA.  As a former Canadian coach said “the dragon has been slayed”.

The Canadians won through their 1% efforts (especially their desperation smothering) and because they made the most out of every opportunity given. The Revolutions breakdown across half-forward also had a major impact on the game. In the end the Canadians wanted it more and they deserved the win.

I talked to a smiling but humble Mark Block after the game. He praised the effort of his team and was extremely proud with the desperation showed by his defense. Coach Lovitt was disappointed with the breakdown of the forward structure and stated that it would be the focus of the second game of the weekend – less than 24 hours away.

The weekend had been designed around two international matches. The Saturday game was the official 49th Parallel Cup and the Sunday game was to allow each coach to experiment and prepare his team and players for the 2008 International Cup, plus it allowed each team one more precious game in the lead up to 2008 – this is especially true for the American team whose players are spread across the Country and 30 plus clubs.

However, there is no doubt that each team wanted to win the second game – even if it was a “friendly”. The Canadians wanted to prove the first game was not a fluke and the Americans could not bear the thought of going 0 and 2 for the weekend. So we enter Sunday’s game with a mix of the short-term allure of a win and the long-term goal of winning the International Cup.

In many ways the game was a replay of the previous day. The Canadians more desperate for the ball and stoic in defense. The Revolution controlling the game with the most use of the ball, but not using the ball effectively and breaking down across the half-forward line. At the half it was a closely contested match with the USA leading 19 to 15 after the Canadians led at the first break.

In the third quarter the US continued to squander their opportunities with the ball and let the Canadians back in the game and only led by two points 29 to 27.

The final stanza was a close knit affair with the US not able to score a major, but chipping away with a handful of behinds. The one benefit to the Revo’s of having the majority of the ball control was that the Canadians never had enough of the ball to really make a charge on the scoreboard and only scored one point in the final quarter.

The final score was 34 to the Revolution and 28 to the Northwind. It was anther low scoring affair which was indicative of the half-forward to half-forward play of the match.

So the “dragon is not dead” after all. Throughout the weekend the Americans exhibited the greater skill with the football, but the Canadians the greater desperation. The Northwind have continued to improve over the last 3 to 4 years and each contest has become closer and closer. The benefit of the cross-border contest is that both countries know that the game can be won or lost on a few random bounces and lucky kicks for goal.

And now we turn our attention to 2008. Each player returning from Vancouver knows they each have work to do in specific areas and that the positions on the team will be highly contested and sought after. Plus, the Revolution will eagerly await the return of a number of high-caliber players currently honing their games in Australia. They will bring with them a great understanding of the game of footy which will be put to immediate use for the benefit of the whole team.

Vancouver 2007 will be remembered as a fantastic weekend of footy with the Canadian Juniors convincingly beating the embryonic USA Juniors team (the Uprising!), while the USA Women (the Freedom) convincingly beating the embryonic Canadian Womens team and holding them scoreless. While the difference between the Senior Men’s team is now negligable. Footy has come a long way in 10 years and it has been a privilege to be part of such a historic event.

- Paul O'Keeffe
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