Tag: Major League Soccer Dictionary

Vancouver Whitecaps: Slow and Steady

Whether you think the Whitecaps 0-0 tie with San Jose on Friday evening was a good result or not depends on your perspective.

If you think the rest of the season is an attempt to get into the playoffs then it’s almost certainly not enough.

If you think the rest of the season is an attempt at keeping Marc Dos Santos in his role for next season then it might just about be fine.

Let’s deal with the playoffs first.

There seems to be an assumption in some quarters that, once the Whitecaps return to BC Place, there will be a change in both their form and their fortunes.

Any maybe there will be some kind of uptick in the results at first, but they will still be who they are no matter where they are located (and isn’t that true of all of us to some extent?) And the game against San Jose was a classic example of who they are.

A limited team led by a coach who plays to the limitations.

The tactic was clear.

Keep the game tight for sixty minutes and then introduce Gauld and Dajome to try to steal it at the end.

And it worked.

Apart from the “stealing it at the end” aspect of the plan, which kind of was the whole plan really.

Not that the players can be blamed. A midfield of Bikel, Owusu and Teibert is never going to unlock a defence. And watching Teibert and Nerwinski attempting to make attacking progress down the left was like watching two Englishman trying to order Sheperd’s Pie in an Oaxacan Cantina.

Commendable effort but no discernable results.

It’s frustrating to think that just a tad more tactical bravery could have turned all these interminable ties into a combination of wins and losses that could have put more points on the board (unbeaten run be damned).

So if the team isn’t set up to make the playoffs for this season, is it set up to keep Dos Santos in the role for next?

Maybe.

He’s a coach who is happier to just fail and justify that failure with excuses (some reasonable, some not) and examples of “what ifs” and “could have beens” than he is to aim for success and and risk his team being fully exposed.

So, if the Whitecaps improve somewhat toward the end of the campaign and fall short of the post-season by a maybe win or two, then no doubt Dos Santos will point to the time spent away in Utah and injuries and the late arrival of Gauld to justify another run at making this team a success.

There’s every reason to think he might be given that chance, but there’s very little reason to think he would succeed.

He is what he is and neither a different time nor a different place will change that.

His essence precedes his existence.

Time for the Soccer Shorts player ratings!

Crepeau-5.5, Nerwinski-5, Brown-5.5, Veselinovic-5.5, Rose-4.5, Teibert-5, Bikel-6*, Owusu-5, Raposo-5, Caicedo-5, White-4.5 (Gauld-5, Dajome-4.5)

The Times They Are The Same

One thing we can all agree on in this Time of Covid is that the days begin to blend together after a while creating a blur of endless, yet somehow fleeting, time.

But maybe this despair is a somewhat modern side effect of the pandemic? Perhaps the modern obsession with Time has made us uniquely susceptible to this particular malaise?

Did the Victorian child clamber up a yet another chimney one day and think to himself, “Cor Blimey Guv’nor! I can’t believe it’s a Tuesday today and make no mistake”?

Did the Hunter Gatherer stare listlessly at a handful of berries and sigh deeply at the thought of yet another evening around the fire arguing with the same four people about whether the Ice Age was real?

Did Mrs. Neanderthal explain her failings to Mr. Neanderthal by lamenting, “The thing is Ogg, I’ve lost track of the days and thought it was Thursday and not Friday. That’s why I forgot to pick up a Tetradactyl egg for brunch tomorrow”?

It’s hard to be definitive about any of these examples, but such highly educated suppositions provide incredibly valuable insights into the lives of our ancestors.

Thankfully, as supporters of the Vancouver Whitecaps, we were already well prepared for the heady mix of despair and deja vu that permeates through society at the moment.

A home game where the Whitecaps face a a weakened opposition and fail to launch a serious attack until the seventy-fifth minute? Been there, done that.

A listless road performance explained away by a graphic showing air corridors to and from the Pacific North West? Pencil that one in for June or July.

A five goal hammering excused by an early red card? Bound to happen.

That exciting new signing scoring in the first two games before falling to the turf and clutching his knee sixty minutes into the third and thus embarking on a season of fitful yet futile recovery attempts? Feels oddly familiar.

Despite miraculously finding themselves still in the playoff hunt with three games remaining, the Whitecaps fall to two successive home defeats and a last day tie with Portland that is described as “Something to build on for next year”? As comforting and as reassuring as a Downton Abbey Christmas special.

Somebody writing about the Whitecaps who can’t think of a way to end the post? (Memo to self: Insert something here before publishing).

Vancouver Whitecaps win the battle in Portland

Anyone who has seen the Bard on the Beach production of Macbeth this summer will no doubt have left the performance with the eternal question about the play circling through their mind.

Is the unfolding tragedy the unstoppable result of the will of malevolent supernatural spirits or is it the result of all too natural human beings latching on to the supernatural to justify their lust for power and glory?

Whatever answer you choose to that conundrum the inevitably of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth destroying themselves and others with every attempt to undo their own destruction makes for compulsive viewing.

And you know what else made for compulsive viewing?

The Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 victory over the Portland Timbers at Providence Park on Saturday evening.

For weeks now the Whitecaps have seemed to be slowly drifting out of playoff contention and prior to this game it felt as though it may well be the one to make the demise be done quickly but, for the first half at least, Vancouver produced some of their best football of the season.

They were a constant threat on the break against a Timbers team who lacked any real coherence going forward and goals from Kei Kamara and Cristian Techera either side of a Diego Valeri penalty miss gave the Whitecaps a surprisingly deserved two goal cushion to defend in the second half.

There were a number of standout performances in that first forty-five but Aly Ghazal stood out in particular. The Egyptian can be far too erratic with his passing at times but when he is on his game he is exactly the kind of defensive midfielder the team needs; breaking up play and providing the cover the back four has been lacking so often this year.

Praise too for Aaron Maund and Brett Levis who used their appearances as understudies to impress.

The second half though was less impressive.

Carl Robinson pulled his team back further toward their own goal with every substitution, eventually switching to five at the back in a move which only served to upset the solidity of the back four and invite more pressure and when the Timbers were awarded another penalty (“Out damn spot” indeed) which Valeri converted the remainder of the game was the kind of “backs to the wall”, “kick it anywhere”, “what is fair and what is foul?” defending that isn’t sustainable over the long term.

And while there’s something Shakespearean about Robinson finding short term success with the very tactic that is constantly his long term downfall nobody can deny that he is capable of sending out a team that is both bold and resolute when given something to hang on to although they still required something of a charmed life to come away with the three points that keep their regular season still relevant.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of this win however was that it was achieved without their two most potent attacking threats.

Neither Alphonso Davies nor Yordy Reyna featured which only serves to emphasise just how deep the squad really can be and the late season renaissance of Brek Shea has offered Robinson an option that wasn’t really there before.

Shea is capable of turning a renaissance into a new Dark Age faster than he can buy a new hat of course and he will no doubt once again become a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the field

The same can be said about the Whitecaps as a whole and it’s impossible to say just who they will be when they play Toronto in the second leg of the Voyageur’s Cup on Wednesday and at home to the New York Red Bulls next Saturday.

Before the Portland game it was clear that Robinson was targeting the cup as the main focus but that Cascadia derby victory may skew his thinking once more.

A win at BC Place followed by two games against the fairly terrible San Jose could make those post-season hopes more corporeal than they have been since it last rained in Vancouver.

For now though what’s done is done and only time will tell if that win in Oregon signifies anything at all.

Time for the Soccer Shorts Player Ratings.

Marinovic-6, Franklin-5, Waston-6, Maund-6, Levis-6, Ghazal-7*, Felipe-5.5, Shea-6, Techera-5.5, Mezquida-6, Kamara-6.5 (Nerwisnki-6, de Jong-5.5)

Whitecaps box clever in Orlando

Many visitors to an English country garden can get somewhat confused between which buildings are gazebos and which are follies.

And that’s not just because they are idiots.

It’s also because it can often be a fine line between the two. One small change in the parameters and they blend and shape before our eyes becoming both each other and each other’s opposite.

It’s like a really crap version of “Dr Strange”.

But, for the sake of clarity, a gazebo is a pavilion or summerhouse designed for a specific purpose; either to entertain guests, to provide shade or even just offer a well positioned viewing area to take in the majesty of the blooms upon display.

A folly on the other hand is a structure designed to appear to be something it isn’t.

The facade of a castle turret perhaps, the front of a Greek temple.

But when a folly resembles a gazebo and is subsequently used in the manner of a gazebo then all bets are off.

Then you can call it what you want and nobody will really care.

Time then for the Soccer Shorts player ratings.

Just kidding, because we still have the Vancouver Whitecaps incredibly useful 2-1 win in Orlando to consider.

These are the main facts.

The Whitecaps were out possessed, out shot and out passed and, on another day, could have lost by two or three goals.

Yet on another day again they could have finished a couple of their break away chances and won by two or three goals themselves.

There’s just no logic in it.

Kudos though to Carl Robinson for making a number of changes almost all of which paid off in one way or another.

Aaron Maund was solid in place of the injured Tim Parker, Marcel de Jong was excellent in a central midfield role, Jake Nerwinski was a significant upgrade on Sheannon Williams at right back and Stefan Marinovic was a more than adequate David Ousted replacement.

And while Hurtado, Shea and Ibini mostly offered little of substance going forward the former pair linked up well for Shea’s decisive goal in the second half.

And this was just the kind of game that Nicolas Mezquida is in the squad for; sixty minutes of harrying and closing down the opposition with the bonus of a quality free-kick that earned the first goal from an Orlando head.

The subsequent arrival of Davies, Montero and Reyna seemed set to guarantee Vancouver the comfort of a third goal given how open the hosts were at the back as they pressed for the equalizer but time and time again the wrong final option was chosen.

A shot that needed a pass, a blast that needed a calmer head.

But they hung on and suddenly Wednesday’s near debacle against Seattle seems a far more distant memory.

Carl Robinson now has two weeks to figure out how to get the best out of his players when they play at BC Place.

The lessons from the season so far seem to indicate that rewarding players for the previous game isn’t really working. Not sure why that is but that’s what the evidence points to.

But neither do we want to see change purely for the sake of change.

So maybe the coach needs to approach the selection for every game based on which eleven starters will line up best against the opponent that week?

There’s a danger in constantly shaping a side to fit the opposition but this Whitecaps team seems to function better when reacting to events rather than instigating them.

Or maybe Robinson should just draw all the names out of a hat and see what happens?

That could work too.

Safe to say though that while the three points in Florida are huge (and makes the playoffs a far, far more likely scenario than it was this time yesterday) we still don’t really know if what we’ve got with this team is a fully functioning gazebo or an empty and functionless folly that, from certain angles, can look very convincing indeed.

Now it really is time for the Soccer Shorts player ratings.

Marinovic-6.5, Nerwinski-6.5, Harvey-6.5, Waston-7*, Maund-6.5, Teibert-6, de Jong-6.5, Ibini-6, Shea-6, Mezquida-6.5, Hurtado-6 (Davies-6.5, Montero-6, Reyna-6)