体坛英语新闻：Vancouver beats Toronto in MLS debut

VANCOUVER, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The Vancouver Whitecaps made a successful Major League Soccer debut Saturday afternoon as the home side treated their fans to a goal fest at Empire Field in a 4-2 victory over the visiting Toronto FC.

Playing under sunny but cool conditions, the Whitecaps looked shaky early against the third-year Toronto side, giving up two shots on goal on giveaways within the first two minutes.

David Chiumiento later gave the Caps their first scoring chance when he got the ball in the box in the eighth minute, only to see his shot go wide off a Toronto defender.

Chiumiento's hustle resulted in the Caps historic first goal in the 15th minute. The Swiss midfielder crossed the ball over from the right side of the penalty box as a diving Atiba Harris got a piece of the shot, deflecting to Eric Hassli. The French forward easily banged it into the top left side of the net past Toronto goalkeeper Stefen Frei.

Toronto equalized in the 20th minute when an easy chip by Brazilian Maicon Santos sent midfielder Dwayne De Rosario free up the right side. He then beat keeper Jay Nolly to the far left side of the net to silence the crowd.

The Caps kept up their attack when Chiumiento sent Terry Dunfield past the Toronto defense and the Vancouver native made no mistake, putting the home team up 2-1 in the 26th minute, a lead they would take into half-time.

Following a rather chippy first half that saw five minutes of additional time added to the clock and each team assessed two yellow cards, Harris put the Caps up 3-1 in the 65th minute when he got the ball in a scramble on a corner kick and found the net. A minute later, keeper Frei stopped the Ghana native on a breakaway.

In the 72nd minute, Harris put Wes Knight clear up the left side as the American defender crossed to a wide-open Hassli who put it in the open net for his second goal of the game.

Toronto, however, answered immediately two minutes later when Santos drilled a shot high into the left side of the Whitecaps net to make it 4-2.

Dalian native Tan Long, the first Chinese-born player to be signed to a MLS contract, spent the game on the Whitecaps' bench.

The Whitecaps were returning to North America's top professional league after a 27-year absence. The team competed in the old North American Soccer League from 1974 to 1984 until the league folded that year.

The Whitecaps, a team which won the NASL Soccer Bowl in 1979, continued in the Canadian Soccer League and various minor leagues in the United States until being awarded a MLS expansion franchise in 2009.

The expansion team comes into the league with the Portland Timbers, resurrecting a strong Pacific Northwest rivalry that includes the Seattle Sounders.

NBA star Steve Nash, a part-owner of the Whitecaps, was in attendance for the game. The Phoenix Sun point guard drew a bigger round of applause from the 23,000-strong crowd than Christy Clark, the new British Columbia premier who was sworn in earlier this week.