Like the flowers and blossoms suddenly appearing on a sunny spring day in Vancouver, the Whitecaps young guns are themselves starting to bloom. On Tuesday afternoon, a group of (dont call them reserve) players who didnt feature in the 2-1 win over Houston, took care of business against an FC Edmonton team preparing for its NASL campaign. Throughout the afternoon, the Whitecap squad averaged a tender 20.8 years of age. That number was brought up by 26-year-old Carlyle Mitchell, and 25-year-old goalkeeper Paulo Tornaghi. Had 17-year-old Marco Carducci started in goal, the average age might have dropped into the teens. But as they say in the game, "if youre good enough, youre old enough", and the young Caps proved it with a sterling performance going forward, scoring three goals in the first 17 minutes. They also held their nerve defensively against a big, physical Colin Miller-coached team that will be trying to join the NASL elite in 2014. The culture of competition that Carl Robinson has built is starting to permeate through the residency program, which Gordon Forrest helps oversee in addition to his first team assistant coaching duties. That common thread, and the managers desire to connect the entire club, is starting to bear fruit in the form of players like Marco Bustos, Kianz Froeze, Mitch Peraux, and a more recent revelation, Nicholas Prasad. The 18-year-old Surrey native stepped into an unfamiliar right back spot over his more natural centre back role, and didnt put a foot wrong in his 45 minutes of work. It was a side that wouldnt look out of place against MLS competition, when you consider that Mitchell, Johnny Leveron, Kekuta Manneh and Eric Hurtado have all seen first team spells in their young careers. The Whitecaps depth will come in handy during next months Amway Canadian Championship for the Voyageurs Cup, a competition the Whitecaps have yet to win in their MLS era. Despite a small sample size, youd have to think Vancouver would be considered favourites to finally win it at this stage. If they do represent Canada in CONCACAF, the club could easily send a young squad to play the group qualifying games. This would not leave their first teams regular season endeavours severely hamstrung, as weve seen from so many CCL campaigns in the past. For now, the youngsters will have to keeping pushing and competing until the opportunity presents itself. But as in springtime, when the fruit starts to ripen, its only a matter of time until it gets picked. Cheap Domingo Santana Jersey . -- Darrelle Revis says at least 26 teams called after he was released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Cheap Lorenzo Cain Jersey . Unlike last year when nobody got in, there have been estimates of as many as five getting voted in this time around and as few as one, Greg Maddux. http://www.cheapbrewersjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-junior-guerra-jersey . The Tinkoff-Saxo rider was still dealing with the right shin he broke in a crash which ended his Tour de France on Stage 10. He hoped to defy his doctors and race in the home Grand Tour he won in 2008 and 2012, but he says there have been complications in his recovery. Cheap Ryan Braun Jersey . Murray, the defending champion and No. 3 seed, claimed his first match win at Queens in 2005 and went on to win the Wimbledon warmup three times. But he failed to take advantage of eight set points after leading the first-set tiebreaker 6-2, and Stepanek survived to convert with his second set point. Cheap Marcos Diplan Jersey . Bradley is one of eight players selected to the team who also played in this years World Cup in Brazil. The MLS all-stars will compete against German giants Bayern Munich in Portland on Aug.Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Pau Gasol faced his former team for the first time, but a showdown with Kobe Bryant will have to wait. Gasol had 23 points and 13 rebounds as the Chicago Bulls routed the Los Angeles Lakers 113-93 on Christmas Day. Gasol signed with the Bulls during thhe offseason after spending his previous 6 1/2 seasons with the Lakers, winning a pair of NBA titles.dddddddddddd The 36-year-old Bryant cited old age and sore knees as his reasons for sitting out Thursday nights game against Chicago during a pregame session with reporters. ' ' '