The Netherlands Police Force can finally rest at ease. No longer will they be cited as the biggest touring scalps of the Vancouver Whitecaps.
 When Sunderland became the first major overseas opponents to lose an exhibition match to the Canadian club in the post-NASL era on Saturday evening, it sparked serious celebrations among the British Columbia soccer fraternity. It also left Mick McCarthy with some major thinking to do. Exactly four weeks before the start of the Premiership season, the Wearsiders were outplayed and out-thought by the United Soccer League campaigners, for whom 3-0 was not a flattering scoreline. This is pre-season, nothing is at stake and nothing except a little pride has been lost. But should they perform in this manner on August 13, the club's return to top-flight football could prove a painful experience. It was not just the result which was so hard to comprehend, it was also the manner of the performance. Deficient in defence and anonymous in attack, the woeful Wearsiders were found wanting in all facets of their play. The scores of red-and-white shirted supporters had not travelled halfway around the world to witness this. That Sunderland were playing for the second time in 48 hours, are still a long way short of peak fitness and are missing several senior players should all be taken into account. Yet despite those mitigating factors, this was still a poor showing. Last summer's pre-season results did little to suggest a successful campaign was on the horizon and McCarthy must now ensure that his players respond in a positive fashion as they did 12 months ago having lost to Charleston Battery. Stephen Elliott joined Danny Collins on the Swangard sidelines having been taken ill, the Irishman's absence affording Chris Brown the chance to form a new strikeforce with Jonathan Stead. It was the club's £1.8m summer acquisition who produced the first shot on goal but Stead couldn't beat Mike Franks, a goalkeeper who recently returned from Gold Cup duty with the Canadian national side. The Wearside frontmen barely threatened again during a toothless showing. Stead has been McCarthy's most-expensive signing of the close-season, but it is Kelvin Davis who could prove to be his best. His qualities have marked him out as one of the finest goalkeepers outside the Premiership. The one-handed save which Davis produced to keep out Joey Gjertsen's firm low drive in the 18th minute was a top-flight effort. With Mart Poom still unable to overcome a knee problem which is now nine months old, he will begin the 2005-06 campaign as Wearside's number one. It seems McCarthy's men will be in safe hands with the dependable Davis between their posts, the collapse coinciding with his substitution. It was fortunate that the 28-year-old was in such form as the men in black spent much of the first half on the back foot with Neill Collins in particular finding it difficult to settle. Such is the paucity of McCarthy's defensive options there was little he could do to engineer an improvement. By half-time the Black Cats boss had other things to worry about, with Andy Welsh having limped off in the 43rd minute as the result of an earlier challenge from Chris Franks which, although firm, appeared fair. McCarthy does not possess a large squad as he prepares for the Premiership and the sight of another injury made the Wearsiders wince. Five substitutions at the interval included Ben Alnwick's introduction in place of Davis, and Collins' withdrawal in favour of Stephen Wright, with Nyron Nosworthy switching to the centre of defence. Yet still the Whitecaps posed a threat, and almost profited when Steve Klein fired just wide on 49 minutes. It was a reprieve for McCarthy's side yet it lasted just 60 seconds as former Cambridge and Plymouth striker Carlo Corrazin powered a Franks corner past an unprotected Alnwick to give Vancouver a deserved lead. Bad? It soon got worse. With 58 minutes on the clock, a long ball from the back was flicked on by Corrazin and, as an obliging Nosworthy froze, the path was clear for Gjertsen to stride through and stroke his shot past Alnwick. Exposed again, the teenager must have wished he had stayed on the bench. Nosworthy was promptly dispatched back to the right-back position. The Black Cats did manage to stand firm for the next 25 minutes but did little to regain a foothold in this game. When Corrazin expertly sent Jason Jordan through to fire a third goal for the Whitecaps which left McCarthy scratching his head, it was sadly inevitable. | 
