VMSL Premier Coach of the Year Honour Shared by Coaches Blaise Nkufo and Randy Samuel

Posted on 2020-10-22 by derrick

The Vancouver Metro Soccer League (VMSL) recently hosted their 2020 Annual General Meeting, during which they made award presentations for the 2019-20 season. We would like to extend our congratulations to coaches Blaise Nkufo and Randy Samuel who were jointly awarded Coach of The Year for their efforts leading Rino’s to the 2019-20 VMSL Premier Division Title! Over the course of 22 matches split between the two coaches, the team recorded 16 wins, and finished with both the highest goals scored (63), and least conceded (21) in the division.

Coach Blaise started the team off on the right track, posting a dominant 8W-0D-2L record over the first 10 games of the season, while finding opportunities for some of the club’s talented young players to earn meaningful minutes and contribute to the team’s success as they continued their development. Blaise’s aspirations around player development then lead to his hiatus as he travelled to Europe and Africa to both strengthen his pro club connections and scout additional talent. At the time of his departure the Rino’s Premier team was entrenched at the top of the VMSL Premier division table, and well on their way to being crowned champions.

After a short transition period, Coach Randy took the helm and under his watch the team rattled off an equally impressive 8W-1D-2L record, including victories over two teams they had previously lost to. Randy had to navigate some significant turbulence during this period as several players departed the team to chase their dreams of playing soccer professionally. With a steady hand he guided the team forward, and if it weren’t for cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re confident they would have had another terrific Provincial Cup run.

Congratulations to both coaches, and the entire team on a memorable 2019-20 VMSL Premier Division season!

Premier and Division 1 Trials

Posted on 2020-09-01 by derrick

Rino’s Vancouver SC will be running pre-season trials for players interested in earning roster spots in Premier and Division 1 for the upcoming 2020/21 Vancouver Metro Soccer League (VMSL) season.

Serious and committed players with high-level experience (semi-pro, top-level senior amateur, university/college varsity, premier youth league, etc) are invited to contact us via the player recruitment form below.

Rino’s Tigers are RASA Summer League Division 1 Double Champions

Posted on 2016-08-23 by derrick

After edging out the competition in the RASA Summer League 1st Division by a single point, Rino’s Tigers completed the championship double by also winning the Danny Burns Memorial Trophy as Playoff Champions. The Playoff Final was played on Thursday August 11th against rivals Binger’s Army. A first half brace by Milan Gandesha had the team firmly in the lead, and Jovan Blagojevic scored not long into the second half. Binger’s responded with a goal of their own, but further goals by Omid Ahmadi and Alexander Escobar allowed for a comfortable finish as the final score read 5-1 in Rino’s Tigers favour. Congratulations to everyone who participated this summer on a fantastic season!

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Rino’s Fury Finish As Runners Up in BC Soccer Keith Millar Provincial B Cup

Posted on 2016-05-16 by derrick

Rino’s Fury had a great run in the 2016 BC Soccer Keith Millar Provincial B Cup. The team cruised through the opening rounds with victories over Norvan Viking Storm and Snipers FC, but were met in the semifinals by a resilient Mundiavocat FC of the BMSL who held them to extra time. In extra time though, the Fury boys proved to be too much for the older Mundiavocat side, as a goal by Kyle Reed opened up the floodgates, and two more goals in short succession powered the team to victory.

The team then traveled to Vancouver Island to face runners of up of VMSL Div 2A, Campo Atletico, in the Provincial Final. It’s unknown whether the travel or unusually early start time wreaked havoc with the Fury lads, but they were simply caught napping as they conceded an early first minute goal when caught out by a long ball to a speedy opposition striker. A second goal conceded on a cross-cum-shot that miraculously found the far top corner put the boys behind 2-0 with only a third of the match completed. A nervy remainder of the first half played out, but no further damage was done. At half time the boys regrouped, and came out with a renewed energy, controlling position and working hard to find inroads to the opposition goal. The Campo keeper pulled off a stunning save on a free kick destined for the bottom corner, and later when Cameron Gibson’s powerful header crashed off the crossbar and the follow up shot was blocked it was clear it wasn’t going to be Rino’s day. As luck would have it, a sharp counter attack by the opposition increased the deficit to 3-0, and it was only late in the game where ageless wonder Ben Cougny managed to setup Alessandro Pace for a consolation goal which he headed into the Campo net with aplomb.

Despite the defeat, the boys were still upbeat after a fantastic promotion season and lengthy Provincial Cup run. After collecting their silver medals, most of the lads spent the night out enjoying pints in downtown Victoria before heading home to Vancouver to recharge over the summer and mount their assault on VMSL Division 1 in the fall.

Fury Provincials

For match reports and highlights of the entire Provincial Cup visit AFTN Canada. Below you can find our posts focusing on the Rino’s Fury matches:
Apr 23: Rino’s Fury 2-0 Norvan Viking Storm
May 1: Rino’s Fury 3-1 Snipers FC
May 8: Mundiavocat FC 0-3 Rino’s Fury
May 14: Campo Atletico 3-1 Rino’s Fury

Rino’s Fury crowned VMSL Division 2 Champions!

Posted on 2016-03-07 by derrick

Kicking off the season with a 14 game undefeated streak, including 9 wins on the trot in October and November put Rino’s Fury in pole position to win VMSL Division 2 and gain promotion to Division 1. A late year loss in the final round before the winter break to nearest rivals Vancouver Strikers meant the pressure was on for the boys to maintain their lead in the New Year. The boys rattled off another 5 wins in 6 matches including an epic 5-3 come from behind victory over America FC, and travelling to Squamish to grind out a 1-0 win before heading to Whistler to celebrate. So on March 6, when Vancouver United FC rolled up to the Fury’s home ground, Point Grey Secondary, the Rino’s lads were feeling full of confidence, and treated their spectators to a 5-star performance as they secured the championship with a brilliant 5-1 victory. A pair of goalazos by Brooks Van Stavel and Cameron Gibson really put the gloss on the day as the champagne bottles were popped, and the celebrations began with other teams in the division unable to catch the Fury’s 54 point total despite some having as many as 3 games remaining to play.

Rino's Fury Celebration

The management duo of Andy Norton and Derrick Freedman thanked the lads for their commitment over the course of the season, and look set to guide the team to a strong run in the BC Soccer Provincial Cup starting in mid-April.

Last Call for 2015-16 Vancouver Metro Soccer League Winter Season Tryouts

Posted on 2015-08-21 by derrick

Looking to play competitive soccer in the Vancouver Metro Soccer League this winter? Look no further than Rino’s Vancouver SC!

There are limited open positions available on our teams which will participate in the following divisions of the VMSL:

Premier
Division 1
Division 2
CAT
Masters (Over-35)

Final tryouts will occur on August 25 & 27. Player selections will follow shortly after and the season starts September 12, 2015.

For more information on tryout locations please contact us at: info@rinosvancouver.com and provide the following details:

Name
Age
Position
Highest level played
Contact information (phone number, email address)

New VMSL Premier Team to be Coached by Blaise Nkufo

Posted on 2015-07-26 by derrick

Over the summer months, the club’s management has been hard at work behind the scenes, and we now have two exciting announcements to make regarding the upcoming Vancouver Metro Soccer League season:

Rino’s Vancouver SC and FC Tigers Vancouver have merged operations to field a team in the VMSL Premier Division

For the past several years, Rino’s Vancouver SC has fielded a Division 1 side in the VMSL which has been a perennial contender for promotion, but has never quite been able to achieve that goal. In the last two years, a new challenger has emerged, FC Tigers Vancouver, and in the 2014-15 season the Tigers successfully earned promotion to Premier by virtue of a 2nd place finish. Since the end of the winter season Tigers management came to realise the difficulty of the task at hand, and an idea sparked that if they combined forces with another well-established club they would be better suited to challenge the VMSL Premier division. A number of clubs were considered, with Rino’s being one of them.

While the two clubs have competed across multiple fronts in VMSL Div 1 League and Imperial Cup play in winters, as well as Division 1 of the RRSL in the summers, they have also shared a lot in common. The two clubs have shared the same training facilities, numerous players have pulled on both the blue jersey of Rino’s and the red of Tigers, and of course they have a shared passion for football. Finally, an approach was made, and after weeks of hard negotiations an agreement was reached, resulting in the combined club being the only one in the city set to field teams in the top three divisions of the VMSL (Premier, Div 1, and Div 2), the pinnacle of which will be the premier team playing as FC Tigers Vancouver Rino.

Former Swiss International Footballer, Blaise Nkufo, has been appointed Head Coach of the FC Tigers Vancouver Rino Premier Team

Once the ink dried on the Tigers/Rino’s agreement, the next task at hand was to find a suitable coach to lead the team in its first year of VMSL Premier play. Having a third party was preferred so as to not bring any biases into the equation with regards to player selection, and the leading candidate emerged as Blaise Nkfuo. Blaise should need no introduction, but for the uninitiated here is a rundown on his playing career highlights: IMG_0542-e1352147384991[1]

US Open Cup Champion in 2010 (Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USA)
Honored with a bronze statue in 2010 (FC Twente, Eredivisie, Holland)
FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa (Swiss National Team)
Eredivisie Champion in 2009-2010 (FC Twente, Eredivisie, Holland)
All time top scorer (FC Twente, Eredivisie, Holland)
UEFA Champions League and Europa League Games (FC Twente, Eredivisie, Holland)
Swiss Cup Champion in 1998 (FC Lausanne-Sport, Super League, Switzerland)

Since retiring as a professional player, Blaise earned a UEFA coaching license and founded two centres for the development of young footballers, N.K.U.F.O. Academy Sports in Yaoundé (Cameroon), and BlaiseSoccer Elite Training in Vancouver (Canada). Blaise is passionate about developing players into professionals, and with his expertise has already shown great results in a short period of time. In Yaoundé, N.K.U.F.O. Academy pupil Olivier Simo Kingue was selected earlier this year for the Cameroon U-23 National Team! Meanwhile in Vancouver, BlaiseSoccer Elite trainee David Genet attended open tryouts with 130 top local players, and was 1 of just 5 who earned an invitation to join the Whitecaps FC 2 in their inaugural pre-season preparations.

More recently, Blaise coached the Saudia Arabia team at the Nations Cup tournament in Richmond, BC. The team finished 2nd in their group, with their only loss coming to an eventual tournament finalist. What stood out most to the hundreds of spectators in attendance was the impressive style the team played, as well as the young age of many of the players, the youngest of which was just 15. For more information on BlaiseSoccer Elite Training visit www.blaisesoccer.com

We are extremely fortunate to have the privilege to work with Blaise this season, and we hope that our current and prospective players are ready to rise to the challenge and have a great Premier season under his direction. If you are interested in opportunities to tryout, email us at info@rinosvancouver.com

Soccer Resort Vancouver Cup Champions 2015

Posted on 2015-07-23 by derrick

Rino’s have once again proven their championship mettle, as they have been crowned champions of the Soccer Resort Vancouver Cup Men’s Open Division. The 7-a-side tournament has become something of a biennial event for the club, as Rino’s teams were previously winners in 2011 and 2013. Congratulations to this year’s team on keeping the winning tradition alive!

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Team Members: Tyson Atleo, Derrick Freedman, Brandon Hauk, Tyson Dodich, Boris Nikic, Jeff Thom, Yuda Shih, Benoit Baesel, Shaun Pejic, Kantcho Doskov, and Yuya.

New Primary Kits for Winter 2014/15 Season Sponsored by Yule Homes

Posted on 2014-09-05 by derrick

Rino’s Vancouver SC are proud to announce that via a sponsorship agreement with Michael Yule of Yule Homes, all three of our teams will be wearing new jerseys for the 2014/15 Winter Season. The jerseys made a few introductory appearances with our Div 1 squad last winter and got some rotation throughout the summer, but we are looking forward to having all three teams play the majority of their matches in the beautiful white Adidas kit. Thanks to Michael for his generous sponsorship! You can find his listings and more info about him at his website www.yulehomes.com

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Rino’s Fury to Host Opening Round Provincial Cup Match

Posted on 2014-04-03 by derrick

Rino’s Fury have qualified for a second consecutive appearance in the Keith Millar Provincial B Cup, and once again have drawn opposition from the Vancouver Metro Soccer League. After bowing out in a penalty shootout to Sarajevo FC last season, the boys will be hoping for better luck as they host Vancouver-based rivals Bombastic SC. The match will take place 2pm, Sunday April 6 at Point Grey Secondary with the winners advancing to face Europa FC of the Burnaby Metro Soccer League. Come on out and support the team!