Episode 557 - The AFTN Soccer Show (Birds Sing, But Crows Cry Out with Ali Ahmed, Antoine Coupland, and Giorgio Chiellini)

We’re back with another packed show of Vancouver Whitecaps, Major League Soccer, and Canadian football chat.

It's been a week of highs and lows for the Whitecaps. The latter came midweek with a heavy 3-0 loss to LAFC in CONCACAF Champions League action, but they got back in the saddle to beat Portland Timbers 1-0 on Saturday night to make it back-to-back home league wins and extend their unbeaten run in MLS to five matches.

We pick over the bones of both matches and ponder how the 'Caps should approach Tuesday's CCL second leg. We also chat with LAFC's Giorgio Chiellini about his CCL experience and nearly coming to Vancouver as a player. Can we ever attract players of that quality here? Plus we round up the action in an interesting and controversial weekend of action in the MLS West.

We've also got two feature interviews with Whitecaps young guns for you this week as we chat with Ali Ahmed about his transition to the first team, his excellent performance against Montreal, taking the next step, and fasting for Ramadan, plus we catch up with WFC2 standout Antoine Coupland about coming to Vancouver, his career so far, the pressure of breaking through as a 15-year-old and more.

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

01.34: Intro
03.50: Whitecaps crash and burn in Champions League - any hope left?
22.35: Giorgio Chiellini audio
27.35: Can Vancouver ever attract older, experienced players here?
37.43: Whitecaps beat Timbers
63.30: Ali Ahmed interview
73.33: MLS weekly round-up
102.00: Antoine Coupland interview and WFC2 chat
124.35: Wavelength - Ellie Dixon - Jota On The Wings