With the start of the second half of the men’s Lower Mainland soccer season, the focus turns to winning league titles, qualifying for cup competitions or, in some cases, avoiding relegation to a lower division.
Avoiding “the drop” is the focus of all four Vancouver soccer clubs in the Premier Division of the Vancouver Metro Soccer League (VMSL) before the regular season ends with the month of March.
It has been an injury-ravaged 2014-15 campaign for Vancouver Olympics (3-3-11), which sit in 12th and last place in the Premier standings with just 12 points in 17 games.
Knowing the bottom two clubs are relegated to VMSL Division One at season’s end, manager Dino Anastopulos and his side have five games to overcome a seven-point deficit and secure their place in the league’s top division next year.
“We started with better ambitions than where we are,” said Anastopulos. “Literally, we have 12 guys out with season-ending injuries, while one player has gone to Spain and signed for a second division professional team.
“The season has been a disappointment and it looks like we’re going to go back down — but we’re going to fight to the end.”
While few may be surprised by Olympics’ frustrations, the struggling form of traditional powerhouse Columbus FC (4-7-7) has been unexpected.
The East Side outfit sits just above the relegation zone in 10th place, having drawn more matches than any other Premier Division club with seven.
“For us, it’s been a frustrating season because this is new territory for us,” said Columbus FC director Carmen D’Onofrio. “In the 11 seasons I’ve been part of Columbus, this is the first time that we’ve ever been in the position that we’re in so far into the season.
“It’s been difficult because we’ve found it a hard time finding consistency in our game, as the line-up has changed from week to week.”
Columbus FC needs wins in their last four league games. Should they get those results, they may do more than maintain their Premier Division status.
“Everybody plays each other, so these remaining games are all six-point games that will decide the season,” D’Onofrio said. “If we win three or four games, then all of a sudden, we don’t think about how challenging of a season it has been. We then start preparing for the Provincial Cup.”
Seven BC Provincial Cup spots are available to VMSL clubs this season. Five of those seven spots will be awarded to the five best finishers in the Premier Division, while the other two spots will be awarded to the finalists of the end-of-season Imperial Cup — the VMSL’s single-knockout cup competition that involves clubs from Premier Division and Division One.
Should the two finalists be clubs that finish in the top five of the Premier Division standings, then the additional Provincial Cup spots will be awarded to the sixth and seventh-place finishers in the Premier Division.
Securing a Provincial Cup berth is the focus of current BC champions Croatia SC (6-4-7). After a disappointing sixth-place finish at last year’s National Club Championships, Croatia SC put together a good run of results before the winter break. They sit in eighth place, but have six league games left to play.
Croatia SC team manager Andy Sulentic pointed to the Premier Division’s parity and how a couple of positive results can move a club up the standings.
“The league is very interesting,” Sulentic said. “You can tell that three or four points are going to get you right back up to third or fourth place.”
The lone Vancouver club that looks settled and ready to make a Provincial Cup run is third-place Inter FC (8-5-6).
“We had one point after the first six games, so we were dead last,” said Inter FC head coach Joe Marrello in early February. “In the last 12 games, we had one loss, one tie, and seven wins, so we’ve picked up 25 points in the last 12 games.”
Before Inter FC can think about the Provincial Cup, they will try and retain the Imperial Cup after being surprise winners of the trophy last season.
“I feel we have as good of a chance, as any other team, to win it,” said Marrello.
Brighter days ahead
If you read the standings, it’s been another difficult season for Westside FC (0-2-10) in the Metro Women's Soccer League (MWSL) Premier Division.
Despite no wins and two draws so far this season, head coach Robin Bennett feels Vancouver’s only Premier team is moving in the right direction.
“We’ve conceded a lot of goals, so we’ve some challenges in that regard, and we haven’t got enough firepower and creativity at the top of the box to cause serious damage at the other end,” Bennett said.
“But I’m hopeful. And the last game showed we are on the right track. We feel we are turning the corner a little bit.”
Injuries, plus conflicts with work and school, have impacted Bennett’s side this season. However, Westside FC has been boosted by a partnership with the women’s soccer program at Quest University Canada in Squamish.
“We have six players that have joined the team from Quest and they certainly bring our level up in terms of quality,” Bennett said. “In turn, we have youth players in our team that are considering to going school and playing soccer for Quest.”
Bennett believes brighter days are ahead for Westside FC if they can avoid finishing in last place and facing relegation from the MWSL’s top flight.
“I don’t want to be relegated, especially because we are expecting up to five strong players that were associated with the team previously to re-join us,” he said. “We could have a strong roster from the beginning of September on, if that works the way we’ve been planning.
Simon Fudge has covered the beautiful game in Canada and the U.K. for print, web and radio. A gift of family inheritance, he supports Bristol City FC. Reach him at [email protected].
