Houston Dynamo Are Headed To MLS Cup 2012!

Our other footballers had a wonderful Sunday afternoon as well.  The Houston Dynamo walked into their second leg playoff game at RFK Stadium with a 3-1 aggregate score advantage and knowing all they needed was a win, draw or not lose by more than two goals to win the series

Oscar Boniek Garcia got the scoring party started for the Men In Orange with his goal in the 34th minute.   DC United's goal in the 83rd minute was courtesy of Branko Boskovic, but was not enough as their crowd of 20,015 got to watch the Dynamo hoist the Eastern Conference championship trophy .

The 1-1 draw with DC United gave the Dynamo a 4-2 aggregate score for the playoff series, the MLS Eastern Conference title for the second straight year and a return trip to Carson, CA on December 1 for MLS Cup 2012.

Winning the Eastern Conference championship also earned the Dynamo a spot in the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League when it commences play.

The Dynamo earned a rematch with the LA Galaxy, who beat them 1-0 in last year's title game.
Brad Davis missed that match in 2011, but will be there in full effect for this one.  Hopefully midfielder Ricardo Clark will be as well.  He reinjured his groin and left the match in the 66th minute.

The Men In Orange will be headed to California for their second consecutive  MLS Cup business trip.   This time we Dynamo fans are hoping for a different result and a chance to celebrate our first MLS title since the back to back ones in 2006-2007.

  

Dynamo 90 Minutes From Second Straight MLS Cup Final

The Men In Orange handled their playoff business last weekend at BBVA Compass Stadium and walked out of there with a 3-1 first leg MLS Eastern Conference Final win against DC United after trailing at the half 1-0.

The Dynamo head into this 3 PM CST second leg game at RFK Stadium in the enviable spot of needing only a win, draw or not losing by more than two goals in order to secure their second straight trip to the MLS Cup title game. 

If they do earn it, they will have to play in either Los Angeles or Seattle since MLS has changed the championship game format to where it is played at the home arena of the participating team with the highest seed.  And right now assuming things stay to form in the MLS Western Conference final it looks like the Dynamo will be getting a rematch against the LA Galaxy  

It's looking good for them right now, but they still have to play the and survive that match in front of DC United's rowdy fans before they can start making travel plans to either LA or Seattle and MLS Cup 2012.

 

Dynamo In MLS Eastern Conference Finals

While I'm waiting for the Texans to play Da Bears later tonight, I'll be rooting for our other football team that wears the orange jerseys, kicks a round ball around the soccer pitch and is trying to get to the MLS Cup final for the second consecutive year.

They knocked off Sporting Kansas City in their MLS Eastern Conference semifinal two leg playoff matchup by beating SKC 2-1 at BBVA Compass stadium last Sunday and then withstanding a furious SKC assault on their goal in the return leg match on Wednesday.  

SKC won the game in their park 1-0, but the Dynamo won the playoff series with a cumulative 2-1 score. 

That earned them a Eastern Conference finals matchup against one of the more storied teams in MLS in DC United, who have won four MLS cups but are in their playoffs for the first time in five seasons.   They are also on a little bit of a roll in terms of going 6-0-3 in their last nine matches and knocking off the New York Red Bulls in their semifinal series.  . 

But DC United faces a Dynamo squad that has been unbeatable at BBVA Compass Stadium (12-0-6) and has one of the best goalkeepers in MLS in Tally Hall.   DC United is also playing this game without goalkeeper Bill Hamid, who received a red card in the second leg against New York and the suspended for this series Andy Najar.

The Men In Orange also want a return trip to MLS Cup and if they win this series will face either the defending champion LA Galaxy or the Seattle Sounders.  

The league changed the format this year so that the team with the best record would host the MLS Cup game, and unfortunately should the Dynamo win, they would have to travel to either LA or Seattle in the attempt to win their third MLS title.

Either way, the Dynamo won't care where they have to go as long as they have the opportunity to win the MLS Cup       

Houston's Other Football Team Plays Tonight

My hometown has a second football team that is in the playoffs and going for a championship. 

Instead of wearing battle red, liberty white and deep steel blue, helmets and a lot of padding as they play their 60 minute games at Reliant Stadium to sold out crowds, they wear orange uniforms and kick a round ball around for 90 plus minutes over at a sold out soccer specific BBVA Compass Stadium in front of their passionate fan base.

I'm talking about the Houston Dynamo, our Major League Soccer franchise that has been quite successful ever since they started play here in 2005.  They not only won back to back MLS cup titles in 2006 and 2007, they are the defending Eastern Conference champions and played in the 2011 MLS Cup game last year.

They also became only the fourth MLS squad in the league's 17 year history to go through their home schedule undefeated and have a 27 match winning streak in games played in H-town dating back to last season.

The Dynamo struggled through most of the 2012 season and qualified as the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, but they have a tendency to turn up their level of play when it's playoff time as they demonstrated last year.

The Men In Orange have already gotten their 2012 MLS playoff run off to a successful start by taking down the Chicago Fire 2-1 in their knockout round match played on October 31.

They play Sporting Kansas City, the team they knocked off last year to get to the MLS Cup championship match they lost to the LA Galaxy in their two leg Eastern Conference semifinal later tonight at BBVA Compass Stadium.   If they are successful in knocking off SKC, they will move on to the Eastern Conference finals against either DC United or the New York Red Bulls.

Let's Go Dynamo! 

2012 Olympics Watch-USA Advances To Gold Medal Match In Controversial Semifinal

The USA has pretty much owned the international soccer border war with Canada throughout our time playing the beautiful game on the women's side.  

But the 500th match for Team USA is guaranteed to be a memorable one for many reasons on both sides of the border.

The USA entered today's semifinal match at Old Trafford with history and momentum on their side.  They had never failed to reach an Olympic final since women's soccer was added to Games sports calendar in 1996, and the Americans hadn't lost to Canada since 2001.   They were unbeaten in this 2012 Olympic tournament and Hope Solo had posted three shutouts since the opening 4-2 comeback win over France.  
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But the lure of Thursday's gold medal match at Wembley Stadium added additional fuel to the desire for the Canadians to end their 11 year losing streak to Team USA.

Christine Sinclair put the Canadian team on her back and carried them for the initial 90 minutes.  She had a hat trick in this one after failing to score in the last six contests against Team USA with goals in the 22nd, 67th and 78th minutes, but Team USA has a refuse to lose mentality.  

Every time she scored, the USA answered it with two from Megan Rapinoe in the 54th and 70th minute and a controversial penalty kick goal from Abby Wambach in the 80th minute..

Referee Christina Pedersen had warned McLeod for time wasting earlier in the match and finally penalized her with a whistle for unsportsmanlike conduct, giving the USA an indirect free-kick a couple yards inside the penalty area. Tobin Heath tapped the free kick to the right and Carli Lloyd took a right-footed shot that hit Nault’s arm. Pederson did not hesitate to point to the spot.  Wambach calmly placed the penalty kick to the left side of the net past the diving McLeod for her 143rd international goal and a 3-3 tie..

The stage was then set for Alex Morgan's sheroics, but not after some nervous moments for both teams in overtime. 

In the 123rd minute with the game looking like it was headed for the first ever penalty kick shootout Morgan with seconds left in the third and final minute of stoppage time rose over defender Chelsea Stewart to meet a cross from Heather O’Reilly and loop her header over Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod's desperate outstretched arm to seal a historic victory.

“For some reason we like to make things dramatic. I’m really happy that Alex Morgan is on my team. This team doesn’t give up" said Abby Wambach.  "This is what we’re about. This is what we’ve been working for since the day we lost to Japan in the World Cup final. We know that it’s not going to be easy. We didn’t anticipate a game like this, but we’re willing to deal with whatever is thrown at us. I’m so thankful that people kept believing in us, that we kept believing in ourselves. We stuck with it until the end.”

Nope, it wasn't but Team USA is about to get what they came to London for, a shot at redemption versus the FIFA world champions.   On Thursday the US gets a chance to avenge the 2011 Women's World Cup final against Japan while a bitterly disappointed Canadian team moves on to play France for the bronze medal.   

2012 Olympic Watch-USA vs Canada In Olympic Women's Soccer Knockout Semis

Back in January the USA and Canadian women's soccer teams met in the CONCACAF qualifying tournament that was held in Vancouver to determine who the two reps from our FIFA region would be for the London Olympics.   It was a match that had a disappointing ending for our northern neighbors as the USA beat Canada 4-0.

Fast forward to August and we are now deep into the Olympic women's soccer tournament knockout rounds.   Surprise surprise, Canada and the USA are facing each other on one side of the women's Olympic soccer semifinal bracket while FIFA world champ Japan takes on France in the other semifinal.

Canada knocked off the host nation Great Britain 2-0 in the quarters while Team USA was doing the same thing to New Zealand by the same 2-0 score.

The win over New Zealand kept their streak alive of playing in the semifinals of all the Olympic tournaments in which women's soccer has been contested.   Team USA women have also played in the semifinals of all six FIFA Women's World Cups.

The semifinal match will take place tomorrow at Old Trafford in Manchester, England starting at 1:45 PM CDT.   It will be the 500th international match that the USA women have played and just in case you're wondering, they have a 388-57-54 record.   

But back to tomorrow's game.   Since the opening 4-2 win against France, Hope Solo and Team USA have posted a 4-0 record and have posted three shutouts.   But we're facing our neighbors with a chance to go to the Olympic gold medal match on the line.     


And bragging rights between moi and a certain Canadian blogger are on the line as well.  

2012 Olympic Watch-USA Women's Teams Continue To Win

In this Olympic Games which is being contested during the 40th anniversary year of Title IX, it's been interesting to note how well the USA women's team sports are doing vis a vis their male counterparts.  

This is the first ever USA Olympic team that has more female than male competitors, and one of the reasons for it was there were American women's teams that qualified for field hockey and soccer and our men's teams fell short of doing so.

That's a nice segue into doing some updates on how the various women's team sports are doing.  

The USA women's soccer team clinched Group G with a 1-0 over North Korea at Manchester United's  iconic home park of Old Trafford thanks to Abby Wambach's 141st international goal in the 25th minute and her seventh in Olympic play.   It was the first women's soccer match played there in 23 years and going into the match Team USA already had their August 3 quarterfinal spot clinched due to their two wins over France and Colombia    It was just a matter of whether they would do so as group champs or the runner ups..

They will play New Zealand in Newcastle in that quarterfinal knockout round match Friday. 

At 'The Mattress', AKA the Basketball Arena the USA women rolled to a 90-38 win over Angola to go to 2-0 in Group A play and take their Olympic winning streak to 35 games. 

The Angolans stayed close to Team USA in the first quarter and were only trailing by 10 points until Team USA went on a 11-0 run that broke the game open along with holding Angola to only six points in the second quarter to take a 41-18 halftime lead.

Team USA outscored Angola 28-11 in the third quarter thanks to 8-0 and 12-0 runs and by the time they reached the 4:06 mark all eleven available players had scored.  Sylvia Fowles didn't play in this game and next up is Turkey at 4:15 PM CDT.

Over at Earl's Court, the USA women's volleyball team is still rolling along unbeaten in Pool B play as well.  They knocked off number 2 ranked Brazil in four sets 25-18, 25-17, 22-25, 25-21 to go 2-0 in pool play and now face number 3 ranked and unbeaten 2-0 China for the outright lead.   

2012 Olympics Watch-Great Day For USA Women's Olympic Sports Teams

Saturday was the first official day of competition of the 2012 London Games and to paraphrase an old Ice Cube rap song, today was a good day for the USA's women's Olympic sports teams. 

The USA women's basketball team started on the road to a fifth consecutive gold medal by getting Group A pool play started in the Basketball Arena with an 81-56 win over a scrappy Croatia team that has been zooming up the FIBA basketball rankings lately.

Croatia trailed 11-4 after the first quarter but sloppy USA play, early shooting woes and turnovers kept Croatia close.  Croatia started lighting it up from three point range in the second quarter after attempting and failing to score inside and were rewarded with a shockingly brief second quarter lead and visions of a ginormous upset dancing in their heads until Diana Taurasi launched back to back threes of her own that gave Team USA a narrow 31-28 halftime lead.

Team USA went to work expanding that narrow lead to a six point cushion by the end of the third quarter thanks to Angel McCoughtry coming off the bench to provide an offense and defensive spark.

A 16-0 fourth quarter run secured their 34th consecutive win in Olympic b-ball play since the 1996 Atlanta Games.   Next up is Angola, and you can bet Team USA will be ready for that game.

While the USA roundballers were getting their Olympic pool play wakeup call,  the Team USA soccer players were in Glasgow, Scotland's Hampden Park playing in a rough and tumble match with a scrappy Colombia that featured 30 fouls and goals from Megan Rapinoe, Abby Wambach and Carli Lloyd.

Wambach's goal in the 74th minute was her 140th career international one and her sixth in Olympic play to pass Mia Hamm and Tiffeny Milbrett on the USA all time Olympic goal scoring list.

The had fought 3-0 win guaranteed that Team USA would make it to the quarterfinals, and they can capture Group G with a win or draw against North Korea at Old Trafford in Manchester, England on July 31.

The world number one ranked USA women's indoor volleyball team is attempting to win our first ever Olympic gold medal.  

They got their Olympic tournament started at Earl's Court in a positive manner with a 3-1 Group B win over South Korea and a dominating performance by Destinee Hooker.  

Team USA took the first two sets by 25-19 and 25-17 scores before the South Koreans clawed their way back into the match by taking the third set 25-20.  Team USA regrouped and with the score at 15-14 in that fourth set went on a 7-1 run to take a 22-15 lead to put them on the way to clinching the set and eventually a hard fought 25-21 win  


Their next Group B match will be on July 30 against number two world ranked Brazil.  Like Team USA, Brazil is considered a gold medal favorite and have been traditionally strong in the sport.   Brazil held the FIVB number one world ranking for four years until the USA took it over at the end of 2011.

After the July 30th volleyball tussle with Brazil Team USA has matches remaining with China, Serbia and Turkey and must finish in the top four teams in their group to move on to the medal round.

But Saturday was a great step in the right direction for the USA women volleyballers and the other USA women's team sports that have gold medal dreams.
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2012 Olympics Watch-Team USA 4-2 Comeback Win!

The 2012 women's Olympic soccer tournament started play today with the defending Olympic champions facing off in a Group G match against France, the nation all our conservafools love to hate in Glasgow, Scotland.

They had more reasons to hate after the first 14 minutes.  A sluggish, nervous start led to scores from Gaetane Thiney in the 12th minute and Marie-Laure Delie two minutes later that put Team USA in an 0-2 hole.

This was not a good sign for those of us who have watched Team USA in Olympic play over the years because they had never come back to win from an 0-2 deficit.


After the French wake-up call was delivered, Team USA struck back in the 19th minute with an Abby Wambach goal off a Megan Rapinoe corner kick to begin the comeback and Alex Morgan sprinting to catch up to a long Hope Solo punt that led to the tying goal at the 32 minute mark.

It was broken open in the 58th minute by Carli Lloyd's blast that rocketed past French goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi and found the back of the net.   Alex Morgan scored again in the 66th minute on a open net tap-in to cap the comeback, get three valuable points and the 4-2 win against their toughest opponent in the group.

Team USA plays Colombia on Saturday before finishing Group G play against North Korea on July 31. 

2012 Olympics Watch-US Women's Soccer Team Starts Play

The opening ceremonies for the London Games aren't until Friday, but the FIFA world number one ranked US Women's national soccer team begins their quest for an Olympic threepeat at 12 noon EDT.

In case you're wondering TransGriot readers how the USA women's team has done in Olympic opening matches, they are 3-1-0 all time. 

The USA defeated Denmark 3-0 in their first Atlanta Olympic match in 1996 and eventually won gold in the inaugural women's Olympic soccer tournament.  Four years later they defeated Norway 2-0 in their first Sydney 2000 match but lost the rematch in the gold medal match in sudden death overtime 3-2.   In 2004 they defeated host Greece 3-0 in their first game in Athens to began another gold medal run.   In 2008 Team USA dropped their first Beijing match 2-0 to Norway, but still went on to win the group and eventually the gold medal over Brazil in the final..

They take the pitch at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland in their opening Group G match against FIFA number 6 ranked France in their first ever meeting in Olympic competition.  

It's also the first ever match France has played in Olympic women's competition and will probably have revenge on their minds.  Team USA beat France 3-1 in last year's FIFA Women's World Cup semifinal in Germany and have a 12-0-1 all time record against France.   

The match will be telecast on the NBC Sports Network and the NBC Olympic Soccer Channel and if you're not near a television right now you can follow the match via ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker and on Twitter @ussoccer_wnt

Following today's match against France, the US Women's national team continues Group G play against Colombia at 12 PM EDT on Saturday, July 28, at Hampden Park and will then travel to Old Trafford in Manchester, England to face North Korea at 12:15 PM EDT on Tuesday, July 31.

Some Euro 2012 Fans Can't Say No To Racism

The UEFA Euro 2012 tournament is being co-hosted by the nations of Poland and Ukraine June 8 through July 1.   The group play stage is winding down to its conclusion this weekend to determine the teams that will enter the knockout rounds and be in contention for the European championship.

Because it is an international game, talented players of African descent have long been integral parts of European club teams and several national clubs for years.

In the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament the national sides of England, the Netherlands and France have large visible contingents of African descended players.  Italy has 21 year old striker Mario Balotelli and the Czech Republic has Theodor Gebre Selassie as lone African descended starting players on their national teams. 

While soccer is called 'the beautiful game', one of the ugly stains it struggles with is racism in the sport, especially in European football venues.  There has been a long deplorable history of players and supporters of European based club and national teams uttering racial monkey chants, anti-Semitic epithets and throwing bananas on the pitch at African descended players. 

There were concerns expressed before the Euro 2012 tournament started by groups that monitor racist events at European football matches such as Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) about the wisdom of hosting the tournament in those two nations in light of reports that Ukrainian fans had been videotaped during matches doing Nazi salutes and aiming monkey chants at African descended players


FIFA has been engaged in a ongoing Say No To Racism campaign to clean up the bigoted behavior in the sport since 2001 which I believe also needs to be expanded to combat homophobia and transphobia as well. .  

Superstar players in the sport such as David Beckham have also been outspoken about eliminating racism in 'the beautiful game' as well.

UEFA (Union of European Football Associations, the governing body for soccer in Europe) has a zero tolerance policy and rules that make national football associations responsible for their fans' boorish behavior.   Punishments can range from warnings and a sliding scale of fines to points deductions and even expulsion from future Euro tournaments.

Reports out of the first week of Euro 2012 are justifying the concerns that FARE and other groups had when the tournament was initially awarded to Poland and Ukraine.  It seems that old bigoted habits are dying hard. 

Even before the tournament started, The Netherlands national squad was highly pissed off about their players being subjected to racist chants during an open training session in Krakow a day after they visited the nearby Auschwitz concentration camp.

Reports have surfaced that during the June 10 Spain-Italy and June 14 Croatia-Italy matches elements of the Spanish and Croatian fan bases started monkey chants aimed at Balotelli.  The Croatians took it a step further by not only doing the chants but throwing a banana onto the pitch.

Croatia has a particularly egregious history of racist abuse.  They were fined by UEFA for deploying neo-Nazi flags and shouting racist chants during a Euro 2008 quarterfinal loss to Turkey and fined by FIFA for an incident in a World Cup qualifying match in Zagreb in which England's Emile Heskey was subjected to racist taunts.

Croatia has been formally charged for the incidents in Thursday's Croatia-Italy match in Poznan and the Croatian Football Federation is rapidly distancing themselves from the bigoted elements of their supporter base.


During the June 8 Russia-Czech Republic match in Wroclaw reports are surfacing that some of Russia's nekulturny supporters aimed racist monkey chanting at Gebre Selassie, and UEFA is investigating those charges with Russia's sports minister vehemently denying them. 

If those reports are true, then it's karmic justice that the Czech Republic qualified for the knockout round despite being beaten 4-1 by Russia thanks to Greece beating the Russians.1-0 in group play.

Now that UEFA is starting to crack down, we'll see if this chills out the racist supporters of some of the national teams still left in the Euro 2012 tournament and if the threat of severe UEFA sanctions or banishment from Euro 2016 will be enough to get those fans to say no to racism at this tournament.

2012 Team USA Women's Olympic Soccer Watch- Clean Sheet To Title

The highly anticipated showdown between the USA and Canada for the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament championship last night had a disappointing result for much of the record pro-Canadian sellout crowd of 25,427 at BC Place Stadium.

It was another dominating day at the office for Team USA, another USA win on Canadian soil and their third straight CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament title with the 4-0 win.

It didn't take Team USA long to get on the scoreboard as Alex Morgan scored her first goal of the evening only four minutes into the first half.  Abby Wambach followed it up with a pair of goals in the 24th and 28th minutes to propel the FIFA number one ranked squad to a comfortable 3-0 halftime lead.  Morgan contributed another goal in the 56th minute as the USA kept up the pressure on their northern neighbors all night.    

The win allowed the USA to complete this CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament without giving up a goal while blistering opposing nets 38 times in five matches.  It also increased their record to 5-0-1 in matches played against Canada on their side of the border.

Shoot, save some of that firepower for London.  

Can't wait until the chase for the Olympic threepeat starts in July..

2012 Team USA Women's Olympic Soccer Watch- USA vs Canada Final

The only thing that was settled on Friday night were which two teams were going to represent CONCACAF in the upcoming Olympic women's soccer tournament.   There's still a little matter of determining who will win this 2012 Olympic Qualifying tournament

As the experts and fans predicted before it started, the final will be contested between the FIFA world number one ranked USA squad and the FIFA world number seven ranked homegirls from Canada.

They faced each other in the 2008 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying finals and it took a penalty kick shootout to decide it.   They also faced each other in the Beijing Olympic quarterfinals with the USDA emerging victorious in that instance and know that they will probably see each other again in London.

It's probably going to be just as tight in this one.   Team USA scored 34 goals in this tournament while Canada only gave up two while scoring 16.   Nine of them were courtesy of the tournament's leading scorer in Christine Sinclair.



Who said they didn't have anything to play for?  Team USA has never lost a match on Canadian soil, has played Canada five times north of the border and is 4-0-1.  

The fun will be televised on NBC Sports Network starting at 7 PM CST and looking forward to an exciting a closely contested game. 

2012 Team USA Women's Olympic Soccer Watch- We're Going To London

It was a London or bust game contested against with a team they had never lost to. 

In this critical semifinal CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying match with a scrappy Costa Rica the two time defending Olympic champions had to work for their 3-0 win.  

They were clinging to a 1-0 halftime lead courtesy of a Tobin Heath goal in the 16th minute and the Ticas had two solid scoring chances to tie the game in the 20th minute and the 27th minute.  One was saved by Hope Solo while the other clanged off the crossbar. 

Costa Rica kept up the pressure in the second half and American fans in BC Place didn't get a chance to exhale until Carli Lloyd scored in the 72nd minute and Alex Morgan did so in the 89th minute to clinch their spot in London.

They'll meet Canada in the tournament final who clinched their spot in the Olympics with a 3-1 victory over Mexico in the other semifinal. .

2012 Team USA Women's Olympic Soccer Watch- London Or Bust

It really doesn't matter that so far the FIFA world number ranked Team USA won its group in dominating fashion, outscored its opponents 31-0, have never lost a match in a domed stadium, on Canadian soil or is 7-0-0 against Costa Rica.

All that matters is that 7 PM CST semifinal match they are playing in a few hours against Group A runner up Costa Rica.  

It's simple.  Win the match and you're going to London.   Lose and like the FIFA number 2 ranked Germans you'll be watching the Olympic women's tournament go on without you in a few months. 

In Team USA's case their chance to threepeat as Olympic champions dies with an upset loss.   

No pressure.   But as ESPN's NFL analyst Herman Edwards famously said, that why you play the games.  And when you do, the unthinkable can happen like the Ticas catching the USA on a bad day, beating them and going to the Olympics at our expense.

They already had that nightmare scenario play out during FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying two years ago when Mexico upset them in the semifinals.  They still had a chance to qualify via the two leg playoff against Italy and did so.   

In this Olympic tournament scenario there is no last ditch chance to qualify.  It's either win tonight or you'll be sitting at home this July.


In the other pressure packed semifinal matchup host nation and FIFA seventh ranked Canada takes on Mexico for the other CONCACAF Olympic berth.

Team USA is determined to make sure the upset for the ages doesn't happen and they end that semifinal match in Vancouver with a win and one of the two CONCACAF Olympic berths in their possession.

We'll see what transpires on the BC Place Stadium turf in a few hours.


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