As the month of June draws to a close, the Vancouver Whitecaps are already –somewhat sadly, in a way– sitting on their best month of the MLS era in terms of point production. The Caps’ previous best, eight points in each of March and July last season, was eclipsed when they beat bottom-of-the-West Chivas USA a week ago. Now, Vancouver looks to beat bottom-of-the-East DC United on Saturday. If they do, they’ll take 12 out of a possible 15 June points before heading in to a tough July schedule.
More after the break.
In July, Vancouver gets to play Sporting Kansas City away, Seattle and Chicago at home, Los Angeles away, and Philadelphia at home. In 22 MLS meetings with these teams, Vancouver has managed a measly three wins. That doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence. While getting points out of July won’t be easy, the Whitecaps have shown this year that they’re on a more level footing with most of those teams. There are many positives going into July: wins against Los Angeles and New York, top-5 offensive output, an undefeated record at BC Place, Camilo and Kenny Miller in back-to-back MLS Player of the Week form, and the expected return of Gershon Koffie, Andy O’Brien and Brad Rusin from injury. All of these should be enough to see Vancouver to another 9- or 10-point month.
Their task will be made more difficult, however, by the concurrent CONCACAF Gold Cup. Reports surfaced today indicating that an agreement had been reached with Honduras not to call up CB Johnny Leveron for the biennial tournament. That will have many fans breathing easier, but the Caps’ back line will remain thin as Carlyle Mitchell received a call-up from Trinidad & Tobago.
As mentioned, O’Brien and Rusin appear to be near to returning from injury, but a setback for either of them could leave many fans once again gnawing their fingernails to the quick every time a centreback challenges for the ball.
More challenging for Vancouver will be the departure of MLS assist leader Russell Teibert. The crafty Canadian, who’s emerged this year as a solid MLS player, has found a niche for himself out wide in Martin Rennie’s 4-3-3 formation. Now, just as the team’s offence has gelled, Teibert and third-string goalkeeper Simon Thomas are being snatched away to play for Canada. An honour, certainly –and sorely needed offensive talent for the True North Strong and Free squad– but ill-timed for the Caps given how well he’s been playing.
In his absence, Rennie will have a couple of options. Earlier this year, Daigo Kobayashi was sometimes seen playing out wide, and Rennie could go back to that now that Koffie will be able to step back into the midfield. Rennie could then choose to play Matt Watson or Jun Marques Davidson in the midfield, even though neither has particularly impressed.
Alternatively, and this is what I would prefer, Kobayashi could stay in the attacking midfield role where he’s been reasonably capable, while one of the young speedsters, Eric Hurtado or Kekuta Manneh, gets a spot out wide. If this is how Rennie plays it, I really hope that Manneh gets the minutes. Hurtado, with over 400 minutes played this year, has had a decent look already. Certainly there’s a possibility that he could get better, but in his time so far he’s shown a propensity for turning the ball over in unfortunate locations, an inability to consistently beat defenders 1-on-1 while retaining possession, and a team-worst Relative Shot Differential of -9. (For a more comprehensive explanation of this stat, which measures shot attempts while a player is on the pitch vs. when he’s off, see here.)
Manneh, on the other hand, is several years younger, meaning he still has some development years ahead of him, and has looked by far the better player in his brief stints on the pitch, even turning one game around, salvaging a draw against Dallas with a goal and an assist.
Now, how long are the Caps likely to be shorthanded? The Gold Cup group stage will be finished by July 16th, meaning Vancouver could have their roster intact again in time for Los Angeles away on the 20th. Only three games missed. If Canada and T&T make it through the group stage, however, a return against Philadelphia at home is much more realistic. Only four out of twelve teams are knocked out in the Gold Cup group stage, and with Martinique, Cuba, El Salvador and Belize all in the tournament –and all ranked lower than Canada and Trinidad– advancement to the quarter-finals is very realistic for both countries.