Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Whitecaps WCF Matchup Is Set!

Episode Date: November 25, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason go to the text message inbox and answer listener questions about the possibility of a rebuild for the Canucks (3:00), plus they preview Saturday's Western Conference Final matchup which sees San Diego FC hosting the Whitecaps, as Apple TV MLS analyst Sacha Kljestan (25:58) joins the show. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

I'm sorry. That's something like it's logical, right? So, you know, I can't just fire something out there to change the facts. And, you know, we'll continue to teach and so these guys keep getting it. and then, you know, get the reps, and we'll get guys back on this. 7.03 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford-Bruff, SportsNet, 650.

I think, I think, yakety sacks, the, actually, not yakety socks. I don't know. Yes. What this is, kind of. Yockety socks. Yeah. Drowned out Adam Foote there, so we'll replay Adam Foote's audio coming up. Good yockety socks, though.

What a show. What a show we have here. Halford and Brub in the morning. You're listening to it. It is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Scory Debt Freedom Hattrick. One, no more interest. Two, much lower payments than three.

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Get some orthotics. My feet are wonky. Need some orthotics. Some foot health. Yeah. Okay. Before we get back into the Kinnock's conversation that we started at the beginning of the show, quick reset on our giveaways today.

We have a pair of giveaways for you, the listeners. The first working in reverse here. At 8 a.m. we are giving away a pair of tickets to see Guns and Roses. August 29th, 2026. Yeah, a year away almost at BC Place. Tickets go on sale Friday, December 5th. We're giving away a pair of tickets every day this week. Be caller number 5 at 8 a.m. The phone number here is 604-280-650. That number again, 604-280-0-650. Caller number five at 8 a.m. win a pair of tickets to see G&R. Coming up at 7.30, we're giving away a $250 gift card to Golf Town.

Mom, Dad, can we go to Golf Town? Sure you can with this $250 gift card. This, of course, is in conjunction with Golf Town's Black Friday sale. It's on now until December 3rd. Perfect time to beat the holiday rush and save on some gifts. Again, call is going to be at 730. Caller number 5, 604, 280, 0-650. That number again, 604, 280, 0.0.

6.50. You guys can get something for me at Golf Town. I would like a range finder. Thank you. Okay. I could do that. Perfect. Well, that... What's the rangefinder? It's to see how far you are away from... They look... They look like binoculars. Oh, okay. Cool. Binoes, if you will. Yeah.

But they're not. My shaky hands try and dial it in. It's like this shot is anywhere between 126 yards and 678 yards. You have selected power drive. So in case you missed it the top of the show. Big news out of the Canucks camp last night at around quarter to 10 Pacific Standard time.

Elliot Friedman broke the news, a Fridge bomb, if you will, that according to several of his sources, the Vancouver Canucks have let it be known that in an effort to get younger, they are willing to listen to trade offers on veteran players. Rebill time, baby. This morning, Thomas Drance from the Athletic Vancouver had a more detailed and nuanced piece reporting the same news. Now, all this led us to an opening segment when we talked at length about what direction the Canucks might go, what this means, who's available and who's not? Let's make it abundantly clear right off the hop. That at this time, it does not.

I repeat, does not sound as though Quinn Hughes or Philip Horonik will be two of the players dangled, two of the veteran players made available for trade. But a handful of other ones, Jason, a lot of names out there, especially in the Thomas Strand's piece this morning. Well, first of all, I want to address Adog immediately, jumping to rebuild because he is doing, he is doing what 80% of people are doing right now. I'd say 95%.

I put, I posted Drance's article on X. Yep. And everyone replied, it was like, so it's a rebuild? Rebuild, rebuild, blow it up, blow it up, rebuild. And I, I'm not saying that it won't get to that point, but. putting a van der kane out there and even giver sherwood and saying it like we're willing to listen on some veteran players but not hughes and heronic it's not a rebuild that's that's that's

that's right now i don't know but this isn't like this isn't necessarily going to happen everyone wants it to happen but i i think without you know me opining on whether or not it's going to happen or not God, does it speak volumes about what this fan base wants. Okay, so trading old players for picks and prospects, what would you call that then? What is that then? What's the name of it? I think what you two are doing right now is the exact wrong thing to do,

which is to get hung up on definitional labels of what's happening. Well, I just want him to hear the, I just want to hear him say the words. A rebuild is trading core players. Yeah, well, a lot of your core players are veterans. And they've all got no move clauses. And your mind then, like a rebuild is like peters. and Bessor, Hughes, like that's a rebuild. It starts with Hughes.

And him saying, I don't want to stay if he says that then you go down that path. I don't think this Canucks Management Group has fully given up on that idea. Of keeping him. Of keeping them. Oh, yeah. Of course they'd want to keep them. They would never give up. I would be shocked if they gave up on that idea.

They'll do everything in their power to keep him. Why would you trade Quinn Hughes, unless you had to? I think what's happening right now is, this is a the only clear and obvious thing that's going on right now at least to me is that this is a signal from alveen and rutherford that whatever they've got or whatever the current group is doing ain't getting it done it's not good enough and they are willing to readily and freely admit that to the rest of the NHL yeah there's no masking over it there's no glossing over it there's no coming up with excuses even though the head coach seems to do it on a fairly regular basis there's no blaming this on injuries or the amount of young players that they had to bring up I think those days are gone. I think that's the one clear definitive thing that they're saying here. Yeah, they're saying we need some changes. But it doesn't mean you need to immediately jump to, oh, they're thinking rebuild.

Right. They're thinking rebuild. To me, that's- Remember, these are the guys that just signed a lot of these guys to contract extensions. And to me, what I talked about, not just because I said it, but what I talked about, I think is more interesting. Because it's a sign that after watching what they built, and I'll use that term loosely but what they built

after watching it for 20 some odd games they're like we didn't do a very good job of this this isn't very good we took some really big gambles on guys that had health concerns and those failed we took a really big gamble on

Evander Kane and that hasn't worked out and we ran it back with a bunch of guys and maybe we're not 100% certain we should have done that and those guys I'm talking about Garland and Besser and we talked up our young players and our guys down in Abbott'sford and now our coach seems to be blaming them for everything.

Right. So this is what I think is going on right now. I always like to use the instructive pass to predict the future or at least give us an idea of where it's going to go. And I know comparing the Rangers of a year ago to the current Canucks, it's apples and oranges in a lot of way. But when you talk about a general manager that needs to shake things up, even a guy like Jim Rutherford,

who's a Hall of Fame builder and has done this a lot, he's only got so many things in his arsenal like every other general manager of president of hockey ops and you just got to know he's dying to do something like he wants to make a trade he wants to find a two C and so does Patrick Alvin they've been working the phones I don't know if you heard that but they can't find it so

imagine you're in that position just put yourself in the position of being management right now you want to make a trade but you can't find something that makes sense so what do you do right you want to try something something anything you go to the playbook and this is one of the plays yeah now here's

fire your coach because you just hired him right I mean that's the thing with Trots in Nashville like he's got that card to play can't you though you can't but it's not going to have the effect well wouldn't that be the first and most obvious and easiest move to this I don't think it would have the effect I think that would make management look like

well worse than they look right now and I want to read this text it's unsigned but it came into the Dunbar Limer text line I think the reason in Rutherford and Alveen would be in no hurry to trade Hughes, where I could see them dragging it out to the bitter end, is that they know that by having to trade this generational player would be grounds for firing. The noise coming from the media and fans would be too loud for ownership to ignore. I don't even know if I'm Jim Rutherford, I don't want to do that.

If Quinn Hughes comes to me and says, I'm not willing to commit to this team long term, I'm not going to sign I'm going to leave that with you to deal with. If I'm Jim Rutherford I'm like, is this how I want to go out? Do I want I don't even think like isn't it just grounds for like

okay well I haven't done a good enough job here someone else should do that I think if they have to trade Quinnieus someone else should do that right in management because look I'm going to read I'm going to read a tweet from Gary Mason at the Globe and Mail.

And for people that don't know, Gary Mason used to work at the Vancouver Sun. He was the sports writer that I read growing up. And he did that interview with Jim Rutherford last season. And now he just sails in every now and again. Yeah, and every once in a while. Yeah, I mean, he writes about politics generally. Gary Mason says, when the trading of Quinn Hughes happens,

and right now it seems inevitable, It will mark the lowest point in the franchise's history. Again, this is a guy that used to cover the Canucks for a living. Yeah. Giving up a generational talent in his prime cannot be viewed any other way. So let's say that happens. Is this the management group that's going to do it? The ones that you would look and say, okay, so you used to have Horvatt, he's gone now,

you used to have J.T. Miller, he's gone now. You did try to trade Elias Pedersen, but he's still here. And now you're trading Queen Hughes. It might be time to bring in a fresh set of eyes. Might be time. I mean, just someone who can chart a path. Yeah. Because the path that was charted by this management,

look, you can blame it on the players if you want. you can blame it on Pedersen and Miller for not being able to, I'm sure that's, if I was management, I'd be like so mad. You know, I'd be like, but then I would also be like, well, I was also the one that gave them those contracts and I knew there was a history there

and I wasn't able to figure it out. I think it's going to be very, if it gets to this point. And if it gets to the points, but I mean, I'm kind of with Gary right now. It seems inevitable to me. Things can change. And, but right now,

it does seem that way. You just look at, you know, Quinn Hughes, does Quinn Hughes look like a guy that wants to commit to this team right now? Probably not. No. Would you if you were him? I don't know if I'm. Here's the thing. I am a tad concerned that what's going on here is last chance saloon for Alvin and Rutherford

to reshape what the future looks like and make it more appealing to Hughes. That's kind of where I'm going on. I'll read another text then. Yeah. Just to play devil's advocate, also unsigned. I wonder if all the veteran players going up for sale might actually improve the odds of

Quinn staying. At least it resembles a plan of some sort and an acknowledgement that this team has way too much dead weight. And he isn't an idiot. He knows they aren't winning with the team as currently constructed. We pointed that out earlier in the show. We go maybe this is a way, this is some sort of signal even to Quinn like, hey, you know, like we're going to try and bring in some younger players and show.

And if you want to relate it to another team, Connor McDavid and Edmonton only signs it to your extension. And now it's going to be up to their management to restock a little bit there. Not rebuild, but restock and see how Matt Savoy or Isaac Howard or any other guys that they bring in. can chart a path for McDavid so that when he gets it to the end of that little mini extension that he signed

maybe he'll be convinced to stay. It just seems like there was no plan though. There was no plan. With the Canucks? Yeah. Well, yeah. But that's what I'm saying. No kidding.

Did you just get here? Summised the last decade. But look, let me finish. It just feels like if that's where they're at 20 games into a season, then you got to look back at everything they did this summer and say how committed were you to any of this, ever?

Did you really believe in the Besser extension? Did you really believe in the Garland extension? Did you really believe in acquiring Patrick Kane or Evander Kane? Yeah. Did you believe in any of it? Because 20 games into the season, you're willing to unpack it all in the hopes of trying to, and I'll use the word appease, appease your captain, that there's brighter days on the horizon with younger players.

We don't even know if that's what they're doing, though. If that's a possibility. Yeah. And it is a possibility, unfortunately. Because I think with this group, the plan has always been wait till something happens and then react to it. And if you go back to Rutherford's time, especially in Pittsburgh, he hit those out of the park with regularity. He did. Until he stopped.

Until he stopped hitting them out of the park. But he did it and he won two cups because he was always able to pull the chain on a deal, whether it was to shake up the room or to rebuild his defense and it worked. And I, you know, I'll give him a ton of credit for it. 100%. Getting a guy like Kessel, rebuilding the defense. He would do these weird moves. He would be like, I'm trading Carl Hagelin for Tanner Pearson and then trade them back for each other, just to do it.

Trading Brandon Sutter for Benino. He made moves, and they worked, and he was always able to do it. The landscape changed. I don't know. I can't pinpoint one particular reason why, but a bunch of things have changed. But he's always been a reactive general manager. Here's the thing. He's always been a very good reactive general manager in the past.

but things are different now and this here when they send out a memo that they're willing to move around some of their veteran players there's two things you've got to ask yourself one what do you hope to get in return

and two who are you dealing with right now who's clamoring to get some of these guys on board honestly I think Garland would be a good addition to any team and who's trading what are you doing are you going to a team that's got playoff aspirations

because if you are you're not getting any really good young roster players I would say because they need those in whatever quests they're going on so you're going for picks and for prospects now the picks are going to be low Well you're certainly not going to get

a second line center so your picks are going to be low first round picks because these teams conceivably are going to be playoff bound so you're not going to get anything that's like close to the lottery right you would assume with a lot of your veteran guys

is that it's going to be buyers and contenders that want them right that's a fair assessment I would say And secondly, how shallow is the pool of teams that you're dealing with in season, as opposed to off season? If this was the plan the entire time, this is something that they could have gone after in June and July, trying to make these kind of moves, trying to move things around so that you've got a different looking future. You know what's hard for me right now?

And maybe I need to go back to something that Rutherford has said a few times about being a team in transition because we talked about some of the things that Adam Foote said over the weekend and we're like that doesn't sound like you're coaching a team that thinks it should be in the playoffs it sounds like you're coaching a super young team that is just learning and I realize they've had some injuries

and I realize they probably don't want to have both Max Sassin and Atu Ratu playing center third and fourth line center picked up anyone that can play second line center I mean it's crazy that David Kumpf went from like I can't get a game in Toronto to second line center

between who's he with he's like between Besser and Garland he's there right now so I realize that there are issues there and even having DPD and VLander together as a pair probably is an ideal you'd prefer Derek Forward and then one of the other guys playing with him

but like I wish because like a team in transition isn't enough for me to know what they are and the question would be and it would be to Adam foot and it would be to management hopefully together because there might be a little bit of a disconnect right there yeah what are you guys right now what what what is this right because a team in transition that's a very broad term yeah what does that mean well I think they became a team in transition after he failed to get a 2C. If we want to go on the- No, they became a team in transition after they

traded J.T. Miller. That was something that he said. But the other thing that he said, the one that stands out for me and will stand out until he's probably gone here, is it was more expensive to not get a 2C than to get a 2C. That to me, and that was

probably going to end up being the death knell for the team because if you watch the chronology after that, it was, how do we pivot off not being able to get one? We'll convince everyone that Philip Hedal's our guy, and he was always our guy. And then when he got hurt, what was the party line? Oh, too many injuries. They had too many injuries, right?

Not discounting the fact that you failed to land a 2C, and then you manually inputted a guy with a history of concussion problems into a role that he had never been able to fill with regularity at the NHL level. Those messages are coming from two different places, right? The injury excuse, if you want to put it that way, is coming from foot. right well and the other stuff is coming from management yeah but i think it all adds up to a team that doesn't know what they are and what they want to do yeah me too yeah like i don't me too the reason that i'm running through all of these different messages is to give everyone

what are you guys what are you trying to be they don't know because they've signed all these veterans to contracts extensions think about all the the the money in term they've handed out in the last year they've they've given it to they've given them to garland They've given it to Bessor. They've given it to Marcus Pedersen. They've got all these guys so team in transition. Okay, to find a 2C. But otherwise, you look pretty locked in a lot of places.

The goaltending is, I mean, in theory, locked in. You've got Demko and Lankan and signed. You got a bunch of, you got Elias Pedersen signed long term. You've got Philopronic signed long term. Are they trying to convince us that, well, if they had a legit 2C, they'd be good to go? No, I don't think they're trying to convince us of. I don't think they're trying to convince anybody of anything other than the latest plan or the latest idea. I mean, you brought up the Besser contract, but I come back to that a lot.

I come back to that a lot, thinking about, I mean, on both sides, Brock Besser, you know, getting strung along, essentially. he was over in Europe getting strung along and not really knowing where he was going to go but remember at the end of the season it seemed like he was gone and I think he thought he was gone and then the Canucks couldn't really do anything they let Souter walk they were trying to target guys like Dushain

and even Dvorak who ended up going to Philly and then wasn't it like a minute into free agency they signed Besser and they just brought him back and they're like, it was almost like the players that they ended up signing were the only ones that were willing to come to Vancouver. I wouldn't have called it like a masterful gambit of negotiating or whatever.

I don't think that's how it went down. I think that they thought it was going to go one way. And then guess what? And fans were generally happy when they re-signed Besser because you know why people like Brock Besser. Yeah. They like them. They like them as a person.

I was happy for Brock. And he's a decent player. But I remember thinking like, okay, so we're running this thing back? Yeah, and I think that snapshot was indicative of kind of what we're talking about here. It's like you think you're going one way. You think you might have an idea, but then it goes the other way. And there's never really a plan.

I understand that you need to be flexible in management. You need to be able to react and need to be able to think on your toes, but you also need to have some idea of who you are and where you want to go and what you want to be. And I think far too often this organization exists where they want to exist at every world. They want to have their cake and eat it too, right? And also have that hot dog over there. Right. We've joked about it.

They want to be young and building and growing and keep their young players and assets. But they also want to be competitive and go for it and be in the playoffs. We've got tickets to sell, right? And those two things don't often exist in the same plane. It's a difficult time, but we'll work our way through it. Better times on the horizon for the bank. They say that you should try and be everything to everyone. Oh, wait a minute.

They say you shouldn't do that. Is that an ever clear song? I don't know. Okay. We got to reset here real quick. coming up on the other side of the break we're going to talk some white caps Sasha Kleston's going to join

us on the other side MLS Apple TV seasons pass analyst we now know who the Vancouver white caps are going to play it will be San Diego in San Diego on Saturday in the Western final so we'll talk to Sasha coming up on the other side about that

and preview what is going to be a pretty epic Western conference final also before we go to break I need to do tonight's one to watch brought to you by limit Limitless AV, Vancouver's most trusted audio-visual integration experts. There's only one game in the National Hockey League tonight. I'm going to turn our attention to Dallas and Edmonton. And with Miko Randen out of the lineup, I'm going to turn our attention to Jason Robertson,

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You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. It just seems like there was no plan, though. There was no plan. 734 on a 22. Today, happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brub of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Only a licensed and solvency trustee can cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees.

To learn how, visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are now in Hour 2 of the program with the midway point of the show. Sasha Kleston, MLS seasons past analyst on Apple TV is going to join us in just a moment here. A highlight of Hour 2. Hour 2 is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Only a licensed insolvency trustee can cut your debt by up to 80% when the up front fees to learn how. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. The MLS Western final is set.

Your Vancouver Whitecaps are going to head to San Diego this Saturday, November 29th, after San Diego beat Minnesota last night at a downtrodden snapdragon stadium. Awful pitch yesterday in that one. Didn't like seeing the football lines on it. San Diego. I was like, is this 1979 again? Do you see some of the Vancouver Whitecaps footage? of back in the day. They played at some places.

San Diego State University had a game two days ago. They played Saturday night. And the pitch was in rough shape there. By all accounts, it's going to be okay for Saturday, which is huge because the white caps will be down there. For more on what the white caps did this weekend, what lies ahead. As mentioned, our next guest, former MLS All-Star U.S. international studio analysts

for MLS seasons pass on Apple TV. Sasha Clestion joins us now on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Sasha. How are you? What's up? guys, how's it going? Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for coming on. We appreciate you taking the time. Before we get into what happened last night and what's ahead for the White Caps in San Diego, I want to go back to Saturday's match at B.C. place.

We're still buzzing from what transpired in a truly unforgettable match. Have you ever really seen anything like what you saw from the White Caps in L.A.F.C. on Saturday in that Western Conference semifinal. I mean, that was an all-time classic MLS playoff game. I think the only thing that I can remember. remember in recent history that compares would be MLS Cup in 2022, where LAFC beat Philadelphia on penalties. That was an absolutely crazy game, but this one had everything.

Sun delivered, you know, on the road. He was fantastic for LASC. Vancouver was so good in the first half. The crowd was so good. The penalties had drama. What a great match. Tactically speaking, as we look ahead to what the caps are going to have to deal with moving forward, what did you see in the season?

second half that allowed L.A.F.C. to get back in that match because it wasn't just the heroics from Sun. Like, yes, it was a great individual performance. But, you know, a couple of the White Cups, Mueller mentioned it, and Sorensen mentioned it as well. They found L.A. to be a trickier side in the second half because of some of the adjustments that they made. What did you see watching it on Saturday night? Well, I think the strength of Vancouver is the midfield. And I think they overran L.A.F.C. wasn't able to connect anything from back to front. So adding a third midfielder in the second half really helped LASC. And it's going to be good for them going forward because it's the same that they're

going to play against San Diego. They like to overload the midfield, even like to pinch another winger inside to create a 4v3 in the midfield. So they're going to have to be prepared for that. I think it's going to be two very good teams that both want to get on the ball, want to dictate the tempo, want to keep possession and try to create transition moment through possession. So I think the game could look more like the second half.

down in San Diego. Sorry, go ahead, Jason. I was actually going to ask Sasha about the atmosphere that he saw at B.C. Place. I mean, where does that rank in terms of MLS atmospheres that you've seen? Or even, I mean, in your career, you played both club-wise and internationally in some big games, and I imagine some great atmospheres. Just I'd like to hear your thoughts on it because, you know, I was in the stadium and Mike was in the stadium. and for me that was like a really special night.

It looks special on TV. I wish I would have been there in person as well. I've played in some really good ones in the Champions League. The two that stick out are playing away against Barusha Dortmund and Galatasarai in Istanbul, where it's just a loud stadium and when it's full of fans and the atmosphere is good, it's very intimidating. And so I think just the sheer capacity of people that were at B.C. place on Saturday. Saturday night just made it very, very special.

There's not much that compares to that in Major League Soccer because you don't usually get crowds that size that are that into the game. You know, if you get a big crowd that's going to watch Messy on the road, they're excited to see messy one player, but it seemed like the whole crowd was behind the white caps. That was very cool to see in a special moment for MLS and for Vancouver. As an aside, what was that trip to Galatasarai, like, terrifying? Oh, my gosh.

listen every time we had possession there was just this low humming whistle that went on and as soon as we lost possession or made a mistake it was like the crowd erupted like they had scored a goal it was so intimidating man what a fun atmosphere to play and when you start playing

well in front of fans like that it's so rewarding yeah it must have been intimidating but also like unbelievably fun and enjoyable and what a rush that must have been yeah I think also for the LAFC players to play in an atmosphere like that that you don't get every week in major league soccer it brings a little more out of you and i think that's what gave that game so much more meaning like i know what was on the line right a playoff spot it's winner go home but when you're playing in front of 53 000 crowded loud exciting good goals nothing better yeah because i mean guys like son i mean he's played in whatever you want to think of north london derbies or you know he's played in these atmosphere before

Thomas Mueller's played in every sort of atmosphere and big game you can think of. I wonder if those guys, when they come over, do they expect to play in an atmosphere like that again? Or do they just kind of accept, well, it's not going to quite be the same? I think they probably expect that it's going to not quite be the same, just because our stadiums aren't as big as the Premier League and as the Bundesliga. But then you play a game like that. And to them, it's normal. So they're not phased by the moment, right?

And we have younger players on the field, guys that haven't played in that experience before, then it's sink or swim. And I can say that most players on the field, they swam in that game. And it was fun to see the players rise to the level of the occasion. We're speaking to MLS, Apple TV, Anna, Sasha Kleshton here on the Halford & Brough Show

on Sportsnet 650. This Saturday, it is the Vancouver Whitecaps taking on San Diego in the Western Final at Snapdragon Stadium. I do want to ask you about San Diego specifically what we saw last night or maybe what we didn't see because the pitch really didn't allow either team, I think, to show what they wanted to. I know San Diego and a couple of their players mentioned it in the aftermath. Were you able to take away much from the match yesterday or did the pitch make it too difficult to really gauge like exactly where both teams were at? No, I think you can still see what San Diego is trying to do.

I know the pitch was not good. It didn't look good on TV. It didn't look like the ball was moving fast. It was kind of dry. I hope it's in better shape for Saturday for two good ball-playing teams so that it's a better game for us to watch. But you can tell what San Diego wants to do. They want to keep the field tight.

They want to make a lot of short passes, and they want to break you down and get you into transition moments. Now, we didn't see very many transition moments because Minnesota does not play a style that allows you to get into transition moments. They defend so deep. So I think there will be more back and forth in the game against. Vancouver. I think both teams have very good wingers who want a little bit more

space to operate in. And so if you see Savi getting on the run or whether it's Nelson or Ali Ahmed and on the other side, if you can see Anders Dreyer or Chucky Lozano with room to run into, it's going to be a dangerous game for both teams. Before I ask you, who's going to win the match on Saturday? I want to take a moment to talk

about the Eastern Conference because looming in all of this is Inter Miami and Leonel Messi, who look very, very formidable right. now. They dispatched of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, rather handily, in their Eastern Conference semifinal. Now they've got NYCFC. We saw Messi and enter Miami earlier in the year, both here and in Miami when the White Caps dispatched of them, the Conca Calf Cup. But this is a different team now, it feels like, with the additions that they've made and the way that they're playing.

Tell us about Miami as a competitor and how they've looked over the last few months, especially through this playoff run. I actually think in their last two games, the game where they, eliminated Nashville with a 4-0 win at home, and then now eliminated Cincinnati on the road with a 4-0 win. This is the best they've ever looked in the messy era. I think it's been a little bit of addition by subtraction, by taking out Suarez from the lineup that Mascherano was forced to do it through his suspension, and then he had the courage to keep the same team on the field,

which I know was not an easy decision for Maserano, but the team is more dynamic with Silvesti on the field. I think the addition of Balthazar Rodriguez has given this team real balance into like this 4-3-3 that they're trying to play now. They should be regarded as the favorites to win the title now and now they have home field advantage for the next two games if they can win.

They look very, very dangerous. The one thing is that if Vancouver can get to the final, they have confidence that they've already been able to beat this Miami team this season, which I think goes a long way because there is a lot to be said about stepping on the pitch against Messi and feel like you have no chance of winning.

And so Vancouver would have confidence going into that final. Is there a chance that New York could upset Miami? Like, what are the chances? Well, of course there's a chance. Listen, I didn't think New York would upset Philadelphia with the key pieces missing for New York City, but they just keep finding a way to win. And they're doing it through good play, right?

Like that goal they scored against Philadelphia was an unbelievable goal from back to front, good passing, great movement, clever, clever technique, a little nutmeg and a clever through pass. They just keep getting it done. So yeah, MLS is crazy. Chances are probably slim for them to do it, but they're definitely not nil. They've got a chance for sure.

Okay, before we let you go, let's handicap this match on Saturday between the White Caps and San Diego. It won't be a BC place, obviously. It'll be at Snapdragon Stadium, so there'll be a decided home pitch advantage for San Diego. These two teams met a couple times during the regular season. San Diego once scored five on the white caps in a match, so there's that to be considered as well.

Also, the white caps will be without Tristan Blackman, who's going to be out with a red card, having accumulated the two yellows against L.A.F.C. No Balal Halbuni as well. He's out with a knee injury, suffered. So that's a couple guys down at centerback. With all that said, Sasha,

set the table what you think might happen in the Western Conference Final on Saturday. Yeah, with all that said, I think it's an uphill battle for Vancouver because of the centerback situation, but I do still think they're going to pull it out. I think that if you look at the attack and the difference makers and the midfield that Vancouver has, they're in a good way. They're very confident.

I don't think Berhalter has been more confident in his entire career. I like his partnership with Kubas. Vancouver will win the midfield battle, which is not easy to do against San Diego. and I do think San Diego will have more possession, but I think Vancouver is much more dangerous in their transition moments, especially with Tomas Nehler directing the traffic. I think Vancouver goes down and wins this one, 2-1.

Sasha, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the matches this weekend. Let's do this again when we preview Vancouver in the MLS Cup final. Sounds good, guys. Let's chat next week.

Thanks, Sasha. Sounds good, thank. Sasha Kleston, MLS analysts here on the health And Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. So I know you want to talk about a little more on the footy in Vancouver, and it's history. I will say, I don't know if you said you watched like five minutes of the match last night. So it was boring and the pitch looked awful. It bothers me when I can still see the football lines on it.

Never mind. So as I understood it, they played a football game, American football. San Diego State. San Diego State University played a football game there on Saturday night. Also, there was an atmospheric river. Atmospheric river is so hot right now. One rolled through San Diego. So it left the field and tatters, apparently.

I guess to come. So they played in the mud, basically? They put down a ton of sand. That was the issue yesterday. So if you watch the match, there would be sort of routine passes played in defeat that would take this weird like hop every now and again. And it was because the playing surface was so uneven.

Now, Apple TV and the MLS coverage, they're obviously partners with MLS. So I don't want to like accuse them of carrying water, but they were definitely going out of their way on the broadcast yesterday to say San Diego FC acknowledges that the pitch is not okay right now. They have sworn like on a stack of bibles that they're going to make it okay for the conference final if they get there. This is a great growing atmosphere in San Diego. Right.

The pitch should be able to figure it out. Right. The pitch is just it was such an issue yesterday. Yeah. And so in the aftermath, One of the Apple TV, it was Andrew Weeb, who was doing the post-match walk-off interview. Speaking to one of the San Diego players, who I'll remind you, won the match 1-0 and had plenty of things to talk about, first thing the guy says is that the pitch was broken.

And then in a subsequent interview afterwards, goes on to say, like, it was terrible. So all this is a roundabout way of saying two things. One, pitch issues in MLS, not just reserved to Vancouver in BC Place. It is an issue league-wide. And honestly, if I know a lot of people think, well, if the white caps can build a new stadium, maybe they can share it with the lions. That's maybe why they wouldn't want to do that. That's a good point, buddy, because, you know, there's... TFC has that issue.

So they've got some weird, like, 95% real, 5% artificial hybrid turf, and it still gets chewed up. Yeah, you've got a transplanted turkey. Yeah, right. It got shiny new veneers, too. So someone texted it into the. show yesterday and said, have you seen the White Caps' 1979 documentary that Global put together with Squire Barnes? And, you know, I've met Squire before. I was one of the biggest honors of my life. And he was like, I'm a regular listener. I'm like, man. That's how you know you've

made it. It's crazy. Why are you listening? Now explain why. And they did this really, you can find it on YouTube. Just go 1979, White Caps. And if you want to learn a little bit about the history because Dolly well always comes on in the show and he talks about Trevor Wymark and the 1979 soccer bowl and I was three years old that is I always talk about the 82 final and I'm kind of like yeah I kind of remember that being a thing but I don't understand anything that was going on I remember seeing hey his name is Tiger Tiger Williams that his name is Tiger

that's cool it's a nickname whatever the 1979 soccer bowl was I didn't know anything about it. So I watched this documentary and the one thing that I took is man, they played in some stadiums. Yeah. Like I'm watching that. I'm like, is that Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta? Like the wall was still up from baseball. Oh yeah. They were just playing in these crazy places. Some had grass. Most were horrible turf with all the football lines and other lines. Like I think there might have been field hockey lines Hard Astro Turf. I mean, Empire Field had

it looked like the most just the worst pitch. Yep, ball bouncing 18th in the air. You know what I was laughing because remember they had in the in the in the NSL playoffs it wasn't a penalty kick

in the traditional sense that we saw on Saturday night it was a breakaway and the ball would be bouncing all over the place So if you chipped the goalie, there was a chance that the ball would bounce and actually bounce over the net. That was something that they probably had to keep in mind. I love the 35-yard shootout.

It was the best. It was not the best. It was hilarious. I mean, it looks ridiculous. It looked ridiculous. You know that right. MLS used to have it too. In the early days of MLS, they brought it back.

Yeah. And they would have the one where you, it's basically an uncontested break. way save for the keeper from 35 yards out. It's wild to watch because it's so bizarre. Yeah. And there was a time limit too. Yep. And you couldn't go backwards or sideways. You had to always have forward momentum like the NHL shootout. But it was very Americanized, right?

It was designed to make it new and different and unique to the American game. One of the takeaways from the documentary was that the White Cap's success in 1979 and the fact that the city got so behind them it wasn't directly leading to the construction of BC Place but it helped and people have texted in and said do you think if the white caps you know win MLS Cup does that give them a better chance of building a stadium probably because what the white caps need is investment they need they need money they want investors and they've said the team is for sale and then they've qualified that with

although we would probably just take an investment from someone. Now I don't know if they can get a minority investment that's big enough to help build a stadium or would that have to be a completely new ownership group? I don't know. But the reason, one of the reasons I've been going on and on about the atmosphere at BC Place on Saturday is if you are an investor and a there's a lot of people looking to place money in professional sports these days.

Would you not look at that crowd and go, man, Vancouver's a soccer city. You know, I'm not, it would be very, I've kept on saying, like, it'd be very complicated to build a stadium in Vancouver, much more complicated than in a lot of American cities where land isn't as expensive. Land isn't, you're not short of land. you can just be like, give me some land, like over there. Yep, yep. You know, like it's pretty easy. In Vancouver, it's a lot tougher

and there's a lot of red tape and, you know, sometimes we make it hard to do business in Canada. We really do. And we've got to figure that out. But if you are looking for an investor and the white caps are, I don't think that you could ask for a better pitch

than what we saw Saturday at BC Place. And if you watch that document, that Squire put together. They say that a lot of that led to B.C. Place getting built. It's the power of winning and capitalizing on those moments. I mean, you talked about this a ton when we came in Monday morning. Like the way that the white caps were able to deliver in front of 54,000 people with that particular match.

Yeah. You can't, it almost felt scripted, but you can't script it. They could have lost the match. I even mentioned, like, they could have gone up two nil at the half and so. salted it away and won 2-0. And it wouldn't have been as amazing a night as the way that it went. Definitely not. That's why you know, even with the red card

suspension and maybe some well, definitely some injuries, you're kind of like, I wouldn't trade that. I know it kind of feels like trite and like a little too formulaic to say like, oh, this is how you win fans and this is how you grow the game. But it's moments. It's moments together as a fan base. It's a singular moment,

right? When you're watching, you know, large grown adults jump around like, because like we were doing. like you just get lost in it for a moment because you understand that you're witnessing something special, unique you might never see again

and there is with that particular performance there was a sense there was a real David versus Goliath in the second half of extra time where it was the heavy heavy favorite hammering down on an underdog I mean the white kept said no business being in it

and it was easy to rally behind that and those moments come around what in the case of the white caps once in 15 years. So I just had a thought that the 1979 white caps helped lead them to the downtown

and maybe the 2025 would be like all right back to the P&E let's go East Van here we come because a lot of the reason they built the stadium downtown

was because they wanted to redevelop the downtown area you know and I think looking at the downtown area it's been it's good It's been redeveloped. There's a lot of building there.

Kudos to everyone involved. So now we go to the P&E and redevelop that. Yeah. So, I mean, I love the vision. I think it would be great if it happened. And what better way? Can you imagine an outdoor stadium overlooking? Stop telling me to break.

I'm daydreaming right now. Yeah. You quiet. We're talking about the heart of downtown. I'm in a daydream right now. And I'm dreaming about an outdoor stadium overlooking the mountains. And you know how they're, building the stadiums,

is it based on like Dortmund stadium with the wall of sound? Can you imagine if they did that and the wall of sound which is basically like an end zone like it's just one pitch. The clippers

have one. Right, yeah. Well Everton's new stadium has it. So it's just one large section and that would be the section that's kind of like looking out at the mountains. Just in time for the MLS to go to a winter season. We just need $2 billion.

That's it. That's all. Okay, we're up against it for time, at least according to Adag. We got to go to break. When we come back, Landon Ferraro is going to join the program. More Canucks talk to come. You're listening to The Halford Inbrewb show on Sportsnet, 650.