Whitecaps 1, FC Edmonton 1

Last night, I attended the Vancouver Whitecaps game at B.C. Place as the Caps started their journey towards qualifying for the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup competition. 

The Amway Canadian Championship is a five team tournament that will decided who represents Canada in the CONCACAF Champions League next year From there, the winner of the CONCACAF Championship goes to the FIFA Club World Cup. The draw placed the Whitecaps with a two legged affair with the NASL's FC Edmonton. In past years, the Whitecaps have got past Edmonton pretty easily with 5-1 and 5-2 aggregate wins respectively in 2012 and 2013. 

This year, it will be anything but easy for the Whitecaps. FC Edmonton took advantage of an early turnover by the the Whitecaps and Tomi Ameobi made it 1-0 for the visitors in the fourth minute. 

Throughout the game, the Whitecaps seemed quite sluggish. Edmonton, was getting to a lot of the loose balls and at times, it very easily could have been 2-0. 

Fortunately, the Whitecaps were able to muster up more scoring chances in the second half. After a handful of close chances, Gershon Koffie was able to put the Whitecaps on level terms with his highlight reel goal in the 87th minute. 

The first leg ended up 1-1, which means it will be a very interesting second leg next Wednesday in Edmonton. This is the first time Edmonton FC has secured a result on the road against a MLS club in this competition. 

According to Football database, the Whitecaps are ranked 758th in the world. In contrast, FC Edmonton is ranked a lonely 1,882nd. They're are 2,102 teams in the ranking system. 

Despite not getting the win, the Whitecaps still have to like their chances on advancing. They might start a stronger starting eleven next week as a couple of regulars were sitting out with the Whitecaps crucial game against the Seattle Sounders looming on Saturday. 

Personally, I enjoyed the game quite a bit last night. It was still a noisy crowd even with the game not being a capacity crowd. Because the game was not an MLS game, tickets were 30% off with a promo code. 

With more finish from the Whitecaps next week, I believe the Whitecaps will be able to advance to the Canadian Championship Final this August.