WELCOME BACK, WASTON
Whitecaps hope centre back’s return from international duty can help the team out of a mini-funk
The Vancouver Whitecaps welcomed the return of centre back Kendall Waston with open arms this week, hoping he can help the team out of a mini-funk at both ends of the field against the struggling New England Revolution Saturday in Foxborough, Mass.
The 6-foot-5 Costa Rican international, who hasn’t played in three of the Caps’ last four games due to international team commitments and what the club has called an immigration issue, has been missed not only in his customary spot helping keeper David Ousted protect the goal, but also in the offensive end of the field, where he regularly throws himself into the air with abandon off set pieces designed for him to get a head on the ball.
“Obviously it’s good to have him back,” manager Carl Robinson said Wednesday after Waston’s second practice back with the club. “He’s an important part of the team, he’s a leader. Being away … has not been ideal for us — we’ve managed without him in a couple of games but we know we’re a better team when he’s in.”
The team hasn’t suffered — well, not much — in the standings without Waston, but they certainly could have done better. They scored a 1-0 away win over the lowly Los Angeles Galaxy — ninth in the west with only six wins in 22 games — on July 19, then came home four days later to drop a 2-1 decision to the Portland Timbers, a game about as close to a gimme as the Caps will get this season with Portland’s lineup decimated by injuries, suspensions and Gold Cup commitments.
Waston returned to the lineup July 29 to help the team score a big 4—0 win over FC Dallas, who are tied for second in the west with Houston and Seattle but have two games in hand on both. But, in what could have been the biggest disappointment of Waston’s absence, the Caps tied 2-2 in Colorado on Aug. 5, giving up a pair of goals to the west’s weakest team, both scored from right in Waston’s wheelhouse.
With the Caps up 1-0, Colorado’s Axel Sjoberg was left alone in the six-yard box to pop a left-footed shot past Ousted, then Kevin Doyle tapped in an easy one from the penalty dot on a back pass that usually would have been broken up by the big man.
And even worse, the team’s offence fizzled in the driving Denver rain. They delivered corner kicks into the box but there was nobody there to convert.
“Kendall’s got a presence not just in our defending box but in the attacking box as well,” Robinson said Wednesday.
“I believe he would have stopped maybe one or two of the goals in Colorado but he also would have helped us maybe score a goal or two at the other end because we had great deliveries but had no one on the end of it.”
Tim Parker, the team’s other centre back, praised midfielder Andrew Jacobson for stepping in during Waston’s trip home, but was happy to see his captain back at practice.
“AJ does a great job of filling in when he has to and … does a great job of the little things that he has to do but AJ’s technically a midfielder playing centre back so you kind of miss that natural centre back feel.
“And, obviously, you know how threatening Kendall can be on set pieces — he’s a big boy and he loves to get his head on things so I think in that aspect we lose a little bit of a threat when Waston’s away.”