Whitecaps pre-season ends with a ‘meh’
Final exhibition match wasn’t worth talking about, but here are five things that are
The Whitecaps opened the Simple Invitational tournament a week ago with a Portland game that felt more like playoffs than pre-season.
They closed it out Saturday with what seemed like a sloppy intraquad scrimmage.
“I said to the guys at halftime, ‘It must be tough to play in because it was tough to watch,’” said Caps’ coach Carl Robinson, whose team went 4-2-2 in February tune-ups and were clearly out of gas after nine days here.
At least no one was hurt in a 1-1 tie with the Chicago Fire, which seemed to be the point from both sides. It was all very lazy-Saturday-in-thesun-ish. Still, there was plenty to chew on from the Caps’ final game before their Saturday season opener against Toronto at B.C. Place. Here are five talking points:
1) WILL THE SEASON START ON TIME?
It’s bound to be an odd week ahead as CBA negotiations loom over final preparations. League and union officials are set to meet in D.C. with federal mediators involved, and MLS commissioner told Sports Illustrated he’s “hopeful” a deal can be reached in time.
Caps’ majority owner Greg Kerfoot has been among the owners involved in negotiations, Garber also told SI.
Steven Beitashour, the Caps’ veteran right-back, was headed to D.C. after the Portland game. He and Jordan Harvey are the Caps’ player reps. The players have dug in their heels on winning some form of free agency, which is an issue the owners seem unlikely to move on.
Salt Lake owner Dell Loy Hansen was fined this week — $150,000, according to ESPN — for saying free agency was a “go-nowhere conversation” in their single-entity setup.
“We’re going to approach it like any other week going into a game,” said Harvey, “but, yeah, obviously everybody’s going to have that in the back of their heads. Hopefully we
can come to an agreement.”
2) WHERE ARE THE BEST BATTLES FOR SPOTS?
Robinson said he’s got “some great decisions to make,” ahead of the Caps’ season opener. His starting lineup against Chicago was the same as last weekend against Portland, except Nicolas Mezquida started in place of Mauro Rosales, who had a minor injury.
Rosales will be fine for March 7. Mezquida’s been bright all pre-season, but if he’s going to start it’s more likely to be in place of a defensive midfielder, which would be bold.
The other tasty battles are in central midfield (Russell Teibert or Gershon Koffie) and at left-back (Harvey or 20-year-old Canadian Sam Adekugbe).
Robinson had praise for all three of his subs on Saturday: Koffie, Adekugbe and Darren Mattocks, who came on as a left-winger. They were among the highlights in an otherwise ugly game. “(They) were fantastic in their attitude and in their play, and they’re knocking right on the door to start,” Robinson said.
3) KAH STRIKES AGAIN
Move over Jordan Harvey, it’s now Pa-Modou Kah Goal Machine. The former Timbers centre-back struck again on a header Saturday, giving him two goals in two games this week.
A few Portland fans were heard muttering how “he never did that for us.” Kah had two goals in 40 games as a Timber.
Attacking set pieces were a wasteland for the Caps until Kendall Waston arrived late last summer. Now they’ve got Kah, who looks like he’ll be a constant threat as well.
“Him and Kendall will be a wrecking ball in there,” said Harvey, who gained the tongue-in-cheek Goal Machine nickname during his fourgoal spree in 2013.
There’s rarely a dull moment with Kah, who was good for a terrible turnover in the first half and — like Waston — is never far from a yellow card.
4) GOALKEEPERS LOOK SHARP
At least one coach could be happy on Saturday. Marius Rovde, the Caps’ goalkeeping coach watched David Ousted turn in a strong performance. Ousted’s first-half save off Fire forward Kennedy Igboananike — at full stretch to his right — was the best stop of the tournament.
Ousted’s been sharp all week, as has No. 2 Paolo Tornaghi, who made the most of a rare start Wednesday against Stabaek.
There was rage from Ousted on Saturday, too. The Caps’ set piece marking left plenty of room for improvement.
5) IS RIVERO READY?
It’s been a quiet week for Octavio Rivero, the Caps big off-season signing from Uruguay. He’s not the type of forward you’ll notice a ton in games — until he scores — but Caps fans were surely hoping for more signs that they’ve got a bonafide striker on their hands.
He was better in the second half Saturday and had a breakaway saved. But it looks like he’ll need a few games to really find his feet and adjust to his teammates.
Of course, there’s the other possibility: that he’s not a pre-season type and he’s just waiting to turn it on.
“It’s not the real thing,” Robinson said of pre-season.
“We’ll see the real thing hopefully next week(end). I’m not worried whatsoever.”
Don’t expect Robinson to ease Rivero in. He needs him more match-fit, and Mattocks against tired defenders is always a fun option.