FORT COLLINS AWAY PREVIEW

June 22, 2007 - Vancouver Whitecaps FC women begin their four-game road trip to the US state of Colorado with a return encounter with Fort Collins Force.

Bob Birarda’s side returned to winning ways last Sunday, as the Whitecaps dominated Fort Collins in a 4-0 victory at UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium. It was Vancouver’s second win of the season following last month’s victory over arch-rivals Seattle Crossfire Sounders.

Birarda was pleased with the way his side bounced back from the June 10 draw with San Diego Sunwaves to claim three important points against the Force. “It’s good to see the players get comfortable now,” he told whitecapsfc.com. “It is from that comfort level that the players need to achieve even better performances. There’s still a lot of work to do, but I think the win was a really big step from a team-building perspective.”

As with the Whitecaps men, the women play their next four W-League Western Conference games away from Swangard Stadium, as the club’s home is being prepared to host games in the Under-20 World Cup next month. Vancouver’s first stop is the Fort Collins Soccer Complex in Larimer County, where they take on a Force side still licking their wounds from two heavy defeats in the Pacific Northwest last weekend. Before meeting the Whitecaps on Sunday, Craig Deacon’s side suffered a similar 4-0 defeat to the Sounders women in Tukwila, Washington last Friday.

With the Force having won their last two home contests going into Friday’s game, Birarda thinks his side will face a different Fort Collins outfit to the one that struggled at UBC. “They cannot like it that they came on a road trip and lost 4-0 and 4-0,” Birarda said. “There always a tough team, as they have some skilful players and Fort Collins is a tough place to play. With their complex, it can be a nasty place to play in, so I expect it to be a challenging start to the road trip. Anytime you play a team twice-in-a-row, it’s never easy going there after a victory.”

Following their final regular-season game with the Force, the Whitecaps will have two away meetings with Real Colorado Cougars on Monday and June 30, as well as paying a visit to Mile High Edge next Wednesday. For Birarda, the upcoming road trip will test his players’ abilities to play at altitude. “It’s going to be quite a challenge,” he said of the trip. “You have to adapt the way you play and be smarter in possession of the ball, then choose your moments to go at teams. I’m pretty confident about going there and putting in some good performances, but it will be a tricky trip.”

Despite the challenges of being on the road, the trip will offer Birarda’s side a major opportunity to bond further. “We can use the time on the road to do some team-building things and look at individual roles as well,” he said.

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