Cascadia Republic Play Their First Ever Match

It was about five years ago that I first wrote about the possibility of a Cascadia representative football team. Things went a little quiet after the initial frenzy of excitement but then came the news that there would indeed be a ‘national’ side representing the Pacific Northwest region in the 2018 Conifa World Football Cup held in London.

CONIFA is the organisation for football associations outside FIFA. They give an international stage for football squads representing ‘nations, de-facto nations, regions, minority peoples and sports isolated territories’.

For a while I wasn’t sure whether Cascadia would actually make it over to the tournament but a squad consisting of college players, some from a host of lower league US and UK clubs and former Seattle Sounder James Riley got together just a few days ago and have just played their first ever match.

It was a little surreal to see the Cascadia side finally take the field – and although preparation has been just about non-existent, the team performed well on Sutton United’s 3G pitch before tiring towards the end of their inaugural match against Ellan Vannin.

Against one of the favourites for the trophy, Cascadia played well defensively and produced some nice attacking moves without threatening the opposing goal too much before going 1-0 down around 10 minutes into the match. It didn’t take long for Cascadia to level the score though – some industrious play down the left wing ended with Josh Doughty turning the ball into the net for the side’s first ever goal.

An injury to James Riley upset the back line as the game went on and although Cascadia had a large part of the play they just couldn’t translate that into attacking opportunities. The vastly more experienced Ellan Vannin side went on to score three more goals before the end – but a 4-1 score line doesn’t really reflect the balance of play.

An injury to James Riley upset the back line as the game went on and although Cascadia had a large part of the play they just couldn’t translate that into attacking opportunities. The vastly more experienced Ellan Vannin side went on to score three more goals before the end – but a 4-1 score line doesn’t really reflect the balance of play.
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Cascadia play the hosts Barawa on Saturday (Cascadia Republic won 2-1) before finishing off the group stage against Tamil Eelam on Sunday (A 6-0 win). With some squad rotation it is not inconceivable that Cascadia might qualify for the quarter finals but it will depend on whether they can transition from defense to attack with more purpose and give themselves a chance of scoring.
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On a personal note I’m just pleased that something that first piqued my interest all those years ago has now come to fruition. From conversations about a representative side over drinks all those years ago there is now a Cascadia team in an international tournament – and I was there to see them score their first goal. Hopefully they can go on to bigger and better things in the near future.