‘Growing pains’ part of the game
Caps’ Teibert sympathetic to LAFC’s cause after going through similar struggles
The Whitecaps had a dream start to their MLS era.
Eric Hassli scored a brace in their inaugural match, a 4-2 win over Toronto FC, a showcase win in front of the 22,500 fans packed into Empire Stadium. What followed was the nightmare. It took another 15 games before the Caps won again. They finished the season last in MLS (6-18-10) with the fewest goals scored (35) and second-most goals against.
It was a mental grind and playing through it gave Russell Teibert some perspective on what expansion side Los Angeles FC is currently going through.
“I remember being the new team in the league and we definitely didn’t have the best first season our first year,” he said. “It’s growing pains. And I’m sure LAFC will go through some.”
They are — and they’re painful. The newcomers burst out of the gate with a 1-0 road win over the Seattle Sounders, then thumped Real Salt Lake 5-1 the next week at Rio Tinto Stadium. But after galloping to a 3-0 lead against the L.A. Galaxy, the wheels fell off, Zlatan Ibrahimovic did Zlatan Ibrahimovic-type things and LAFC lost the crazy El Tráfico derby 4-3. The pain continued the next week in Atlanta, where they suffered a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of the Five Stripes, meaning they’ve been outscored 8-0 in their last 143 minutes played.
And now it’s a visit to B.C. Place Stadium, where the Whitecaps are unbeaten in a team-record 11 games.
“We’re building a team. We have to be together,” said LAFC striker Carlos Vela. “We have to be strong, to be a man. To talk face to face and say what happened. We have to change, we have to change the situation. We have to come back like in the first two games; to enjoy the game, to play together.”
Teibert can relate. The Caps are once again drawing criticism themselves after a 2-1 road loss to a depleted Real Salt Lake squad over the weekend, a game in which the visitors had most of the chances and possession. Vancouver (3-2-1) is now second in the Western Conference behind Sporting Kansas City.
“I don’t think you can look at results too much right now,” said Teibert, who’s played three games this season, all Caps wins. “If you look at our last result, it’s not our best … but then again, you look at LAFC’s last performance and you say, ‘Are they a (team that loses 5-0)?’ Probably not. It’s too early to look at the standings. You’re trying to build something with the team, build some chemistry. This league, it’s definitely not a sprint, it’s a marathon.”
The Whitecaps stretched their legs running all over RSL, but tripped over their own feet by conceding two goals on counterattacks at the
end of each half. They outshot, outchanced, outpossessed and outran Real, but ended up left out in the cold after the loss.
“Between both boxes, we dominated the game,” said coach Carl Robinson. “We had the ball, we had more possession — and I don’t read too much into that — but we weren’t clinical enough in both boxes. We switched off twice, both at the end of each half, and when that happens, it comes back to bite you.
“I thought we were in control, we were never in any danger … but we let ourselves down.”
While they’ve been the best road team in the league the last four seasons, the Caps have been doing historically well of late. Their team-record streak without a home defeat — the current longest run in MLS — stretches to Aug. 19, 2017, against the Houston Dynamo.
Their well-documented travel schedule, all 22,000 kilometres of it, will see another 6,500-km round trip on April 20 when Vancouver heads to Kansas City, Mo., to take on Sporting KC. But for now, the Wet Coast is a welcome respite.
“I’m so happy to be back home. I’m tired of travelling,” said Teibert. “It’s only the beginning of the year, but we understood going into the year we have a lot of travelling to do. We’re lucky to be a good away team.”
LAFC will have played six games on the road to start the season — the loss to the Galaxy was technically an away game — before they host the Sounders on April 29. It’s been a gruelling beginning, even for players like Steven Beitashour, who’s been through the West Coast travel schedule before as a member of the Whitecaps.
“To start the season off with all these road games, it’s going to be a grind,” said Beitashour. “You’re going to have to dig in deep. It’s not about playing for yourself, it’s about playing for the badge and the guys next to you. It is tough.”