With Olympic boasting power in the city's back pocket and global excitement growing for the upcoming World Cup in South Africa, momentum is rolling for Vancouver to debut a new Major League Soccer team.

Officials kicked off the one-year countdown to the Vancouver Whitecaps' ascension to the MLS on Thursday, hours before its 15th season was to be launched.

Expansion teams in Vancouver and Portland will be the 17th and 18th franchises to join the league in March 2011.

"I think the entire community here has shown the world in the past month just what a fantastic community it is for organizing world-class sport and for actually delivering it," Whitecaps CEO Paul Barber told reporters, referring to the 2010 Winter Games.

"This is a really a good time indeed to be getting involved at the highest level in North America with Major League Soccer."

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, who was on hand along with B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell and MLS President Mark Abbott, said the city demonstrated how much it believes and cares for major sports.

"I think we blew away everyone's expectations, including our own, with how we embraced the opportunity," he said, "and it'll be fantastic to see that passion for sport channelled into Vancouver's Major League Soccer team."

The Whitecaps will play the first few home games of their inaugural season at a 27,500-seat temporary stadium at the Pacific National Exhibition's Empire Fields. Then they'll move to a newly-renovated BC Place, which is being refurbished and getting a new electronic scoreboard and retractable roof for $458 million.

The team, which will play in the USSF D-2 Pro League this season, is currently based at the 5,000-seat Swangard Stadium, in nearby Burnaby.

"We needed that extra space and I think to be able to (play) in a world renowned stadium in your first season in MLS is really quite special," Barber said of BC Place, which hosted 60,000 people for the Olympics' opening ceremonies.

Some 5,000 deposits for Vancouver MLS season tickets sold out in less than 48 hours when they went on sale in March 2009.

There's still much work to do in the coming year, Barber said.

More tickets will soon go on sale, a shirt sponsor must be selected, the team roster must be chosen, a new jersey will be launched and players must train to be in top shape.

The MLS is hoping Vancouver and Portland will follow in the footsteps of Toronto and Seattle, two recent expansion clubs that have proven hugely successful.

Credit needs to be given to those teams, Barber said.

"We're not big enough and arrogant enough to not want to learn and have to learn from other people, so we'll certainly be taking all the learnings we can," he said.

"But I think also we've got a unique city here . . . and I think they will help us make it what it was, just as they did for the Olympic Games."

A Vancouver team was first created in 1974, playing in the now-defunct North American Soccer League. It won that league's championship in 1979.

A new MLS team in Philadelphia makes its debut this season, with its inaugural game against Seattle, only hours south of Vancouver, to be played Thursday night.

Papers raised fears Tuesday David Beckham's ruptured Achilles tendon meant the final whistle had blown not just on his World Cup hopes, but also on the star's top-flight career.

But they sought to downplay the effect of his absence from his country's squad at the South Africa tournament, which kicks off in June, saying his on-pitch contribution was no longer vital.

"Not even the brand he has built around himself could protect David Beckham from the rupture in his heel that spells the end of his career as an elite footballer," said the Guardian.

"David Beckham's international career may be at an end," lamented the Independent.

The Sun added that "this time there seems no way back for David Beckham."

The footballer's World Cup dreams were dashed when he twisted his ankle during the final minutes of an AC Milan Serie A game against Chievo at the San Siro on Sunday and limped off the field before being stretchered away.

The 34-year-old midfielder flew to the western Finnish city of Turku on Monday, where he was operated on.

The surgeon said the procedure went well but ruled out Beckham playing for England at the South Africa showpiece, which would have been an English record fourth World Cup finals appearance.

Despite the fears the injury had finished his career, other commentators said it did not have to mean a definite end to Beckham's playing future.

"His career is not over," insisted the Daily Mail, adding: "His World Cup dream is finished but Beckham is not."

Some tried to keep morale up in football-mad England ahead of the tournament, focusing on an offer from England manager Fabio Capello for the injured ex-captain to join the squad in South Africa.

"So take him anyway," urged the Daily Mail.

"If the greatest worth David Beckham had to England was as mentor, ambassador, old head, voice of experience and arm round the shoulder of the younger players, then put him on the plane as just that."

And the paper stressed that Beckham -- who has racked up 115 caps for his national side -- was no longer so important on the pitch, it was his impact off the field that mattered.

"When was the last time his presence significantly told on a competitive game for England?" asked the Daily Mail.

"His true attribute was what he came to represent, as a figure of significance in the English game and to English players."

Goalkeeper Peter Shilton, who holds the record as England's most capped player, said Beckham's absence at the World Cup could open the door for a younger star.

"If David had made the squad, any playing appearances would have been just cameo roles," he said, in comments published in the Sun newspaper.

"Now it opens the door for a young player who might have missed out."

The African Cup of Nations will start as planned this weekend in Angola despite gunmen attacking the Togo team bus on Friday, causing the team to consider withdrawing from the 16-nation event.

Soon after the bus carrying Togo crossed the border into Angola, it was fired on by unknown assailants, wounding at least six people, including defender Serge Akakpo and goalkeeper Obilale Kossi.

An official from the local organizing committee immediately brushed off any security concerns in the restive region, saying the tournament was going ahead as scheduled from Sunday, when host Angola will play Mali.

"It's safe," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. "Cabinda is completely safe. The national team of Burkina Faso has been there since 2 January."

Cabinda is scheduled to host Togo and other Group B teams Burkina Faso, Ghana and Ivory Coast plus a quarter-final through Jan. 24.

Ivory Coast, which has stars including Chelsea's Didier Drogba and Manchester City's Kolo Toure, arrived in Cabinda early Friday, the official said.

But Togo, due to play its tournament opener against Ghana on Monday, was talking about going home.

"If we can boycott it, let's do it," midfielder Alaixys Romao told French TV channel Infosport. "It's just not on for us to be shot at because of a (soccer) match. All I can think about is stopping this competition and going home."

Friday's attack was a major blow for oil and petroleum-producing Angola, which had hoped to show how stable it had become eight years after the end of a decades-long civil war.

Angola was the first Portuguese-speaking African nation to host the biennial tournament, which began in 1957.

The attack on Togo forced English Premier League clubs to seek security assurances for their players.

Portsmouth, which has four players in Angola, said it was considering withdrawing its players from the three-week continental championship.

"We have asked the (English) Football Association to ask FIFA how safe it is and to guarantee the safety of our players," Portsmouth spokesman Gary Double told The Associated Press. "Our players safety is paramount and if that can't be guaranteed the players should be sent home."

AP Sports Writers Rob Harris in London and Samuel Petrequin in Luanda, Angola contributed to this report.

David Beckham is trying hard to prepare himself for this Sunday’s Major League Soccer final.

The 34-year-old admitted last night that he hasn’t trained since suffering from a bruised ankle during the team’s last playoff victory.

Beckham is still confident that he will start in the final against Real Salt Lake, which will be his first chance to win a title since joining the LA Galaxy.

“I haven't trained since the game the other day so it's been a bit of a worry,” explained Beckham in an interview. “'I had bad bone bruising. I have done a little running now, which is important. It was the first time I'd actually been able to wear trainers.”

He continued, “It's a lot easier now. At my age you go into games and nothing is perfect. You always have a niggling injury of some sort.”

Source: MailOnline