Timbers vs. Whitecaps — with two Nashes on board in Vancouver, the battle resumes Friday and continues on MLS expansion front

Midfielder Martin Nash, brother of NBA star, says big-league team would be 'huge' in B.C.

By Victoria Nguyen

The Portland Tribune, Aug 21, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Whitecaps midfielder Martin Nash says both Portland and Vancouver, British Columbia, would make good Major League Soccer cities.

COURTESY OF VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

With the Portland Timbers fighting to hang on to seventh place — and the last USL-1 playoff berth — Friday’s 8 p.m. road match against the Vancouver Whitecaps is crucial. And, as a backdrop, the two franchises are battling for a Major League Soccer expansion team.

Both organizations have put in bids for one of two franchises to be awarded for 2011. Some think the Whitecaps, 2-0 against the Timbers this season, could have an edge in the MLS chase: Two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash will become a Whitecaps partner and has thrown his support behind the British Columbia club’s bid.

Steve Nash’s younger brother, Martin Nash, plays midfield for the Whitecaps.

“He’s a big fan of the MLS, loves soccer and wants to be part of it,” Martin Nash says of his Phoenix Suns guard/brother. “I think he’s been around the MLS because he likes it, and maybe it will help, maybe it won’t, but it won’t hurt. Anything to help the sport of soccer is a great thing.”

Vancouver's MLS stadium plans remain fuzzy, lacking a consensus among government officials and the public.

But, according to Martin Nash, support for an expansion team isn’t just coming from Vancouver-area soccer fans.

“All our friends want it, and even people who aren’t coming out to our games want it,” he says. “I think that’s a big thing. I think with the market power of the (MLS) and how big the league’s turned out to be, everyone wants to be in that league.”

The Whitecaps’ veteran sees Vancouver as a perfect fit.

“It’d be huge,” he says. “Especially Vancouver, it’s such a diverse city. I think with some players from European countries, there’d be huge crowds. The soccer community in the city is huge.”

Nash says attendance at Swangard Stadium — a 5,822-seat facility that has been sold out only three times this season — shouldn’t be a deterrent to a possible MLS franchise.

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