VANCOUVER - The Vancouver Whitecaps are taking a sense of optimism into their first Major League Soccer game against a Toronto FC team battling to redefine itself.
The Whitecaps are one of two expansion teams joining MLS this season. Vancouver brings a consistency and solid foundation into Saturday's match at Empire Field (6:30 p.m. ET, TSN) that Toronto is striving to match.
Coach Teitur Thordarson is heading into his fourth season with the Whitecaps. There are at least nine players on the roster who played for Vancouver last year in the United States Soccer Federation Division 2.
"We have a way of playing that we have been doing for three years," Thordarson said after the Whitecaps practised Friday. "Even if we have a lot of new players, they have quite easily got to know our way of playing and adapted to that in a very good way.
"We are confident, but we are not over confident. We feel we are ready. We have done everything we could to prepare for this. Now we are excited and looking forward to it."
Captain Jay DeMerit, a defender who started for the U.S. at the last World Cup, said the players understand the importance of Vancouver's first MLS game against a Canadian rival. The Whitecaps' roster includes players who have performed at the Olympics and played in major European championships.
"We're not intimidated," said DeMerit. "We're not very nervous. We have brought in a group of guys who have been in situations like this before.
"The MLS isn't this brand new thing where we need to take our time to work our way into what we're trying to do here. This is a group that has a confidence because they've been there before. Not necessarily with MLS, but situations like that. Those are the things we are trying to use to our advantage."
DeMerit has been hobbled by a groin injury all week but expects to play.
Toronto is entering its fifth MLS season, but comes to Vancouver resembling an expansion team. There is new management, a new coach, new players.
Coach Aron Winter wants to implement a playing style similar to the "Total Football" philosophy used by his former Dutch club Ajax. TFC has never made the MLS playoffs.
"We want to try to play soccer and change the mentality," said Winter. "That's not easy."
Toronto midfielder Dwayne De Rosario said the team is still on a learning curve.
"It's going to take some time to adjust to a new system, new philosophy, new everything," he said. "How we adjust to that style within this league will remain to be seen.
"Hopefully we can capitalize on opportunities and get a good groove early on to start the season and pull out some good results."
Toronto comes with some internal conflicts.
Midfielder Julian de Guzman, Toronto's designated player, will miss the opening game with an injury. De Rosario is playing despite being unhappy with his contract. Defender Adrian Cann recently returned to the team after a contract holdout.
Even with their trials, Toronto remains a formidable opponent, said Whitecaps goalkeeper Jay Nolly.
"We know they are a dangerous team," said Nolly. "They have guys that can change the game.
"They are an established franchise. We're supposed to be coming in as the underdogs, but we want to prove we belong here."
The Whitecaps have used an aggressive marketing campaign to promote the opening game. The soccer configuration at Empire Field is for around 21,500 seats. Ticket demand has been so great the Whitecaps have made an extra 1,500 seats available, meaning there could be a crowd of around 23,000 attending the game.
"We will do that for this match only," said Paul Barber, the Whitecaps chief executive officer.
NBA star Steve Nash, the Whitecaps co-owner who grew up in Victoria, will be part of the game's opening ceremonies. The Whitecaps plan to give out white ponchos to spectators and 5,000 fans will be given drums.
Toronto midfielder Jacob Peterson knows TFC is walking into a hostile environment.
"Their opening game, the first game for their franchise, the energy is going to be high," said Peterson. "If we can weather the storm early on, I think the second half we'll be good."
The move to MLS puts Vancouver back into the top level of North American soccer for the first time since the Whitecaps played in the old North American Soccer League. It's been a long journey for Bob Lenarduzzi, the Whitecaps president who was a member of the team that won the 1979 NASL championship.
"It's gratifying, only because I didn't think we'd ever get to this stage again," said Lenarduzzi.
The Whitecaps have a solid ownership group.
Besides Nash, there is Greg Kerfoot, a reclusive millionaire who saved the club in 2002 when the Whitecaps were teetering on bankruptcy. The other owners include Jeff Mallett, the former Yahoo! president who is a part owner of the San Francisco Giants; and businessman Steve Luczo, who is part of the NBA Boston Celtics ownership group.
Barber, a former executive director of Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League, said the Whitecaps sought advice from both Toronto and the Seattle Sounders on preparing for their inaugural season.
The Portland Timbers are the other MLS expansion team this year. Early predictions have the Whitecaps finishing near the bottom of the Western Conference and missing the playoffs.
"We're not going to make any big boosts or claims or predictions about how well we are going to do," said Barber. "We will go out there and compete.
"I've been in the game long enough to know that even good performance don't always get good results."
Nolly said the goal is to make the playoffs.
"We don't like seeing the things that say we are bottom dwellers and we are going to be in last place," he said. "We don't look at ourselves as an expansion team. WE want to compete right away."
