Episode 629 – The AFTN Soccer Show (Rise and Shine - Stephanie Labbe and Sinead King talk NSL, Whitecaps reach Can Champ final, Ryan Gauld earns Scotland call-up)

We’re back with another AFTN Soccer Show packed full of Vancouver Whitecaps, Pacific FC, Vancouver Rise, Vancouver FC, Canadian Championship, Major League Soccer, Canadian Premier League, and MLS Next Pro chat. Phew, that's a lot of bases to cover, but we do it and we're joined by Harjeet Johal to help us along!

We kick things off looking at the Whitecaps Canadian Championship semi-final. The threepeat awaits when they play TFC next month, in a tournament that already needs another revamping. We delve into the win over Pacific and get the thoughts of both head coaches, Vanni Sartini and James Merriman.

Keeping the Whitecaps chat going we look ahead to the return to MLS action, as Vanni shares his thoughts about the season run-in, and we chat with Ryan Gauld about his Scotland call-up. Plus we look at what the injury to Brian White might mean to the Whitecaps and ponder if there will be any cuss words dropped against Austin.

The big news story this week on the women's side was the launch of new Northern Super League side Vancouver FC. We chat with Chief Business Officer Sinead King and Sporting Director Stephanie Labbe and discuss the new name and branding, where the team might play, what kind of crowds they're expecting, when with a head coach and players start to be announced, what quality we can expect from the new league, and more.

All of this, plus we look at WFC2's playoff push and chat with head coach Ricardo Clark, look at Vancouver FC's hugely important and dramatic late win against Valour in the CPL, and chat with VFC's birthday boy match winner Ayman Sellouf and head coach Afshin Ghotbi.

Here’s the rundown for the main segments from the episode:

01.25: Intro
04.23: The Whitecaps Canadian Championship threepeat is on
20.15: The Canadian Championship format needs to change
31.08: Aussie's swearing upsets MLS!
36.15: The Whitecaps playoff hopes very much in own hands
46.27: Ryan Gauld finally earns Scotland call-up
57.05: Vancouver Rise FC are born - what we know so far
103.20: WFC2's playoff push continues
113.30: 10-man Vancouver FC win at the death
127.37: Wavelength - The LaFontaines - Scotland, Bonnie Scotland