Back-to-back losses for the Whitecaps have been frustrating for fans and coach Carl Robinson
Whitecaps’ coach keeps his perspective while shouldering the blame for Vancouver’s second straight loss
Fans of the Vancouver Whitecaps learned two big things Friday.
The first is that Kei Kamara is going to spend some extended time in rehab.
The second is that Carl Robinson has no time for bloggers bloviating on his job security.
“I don’t listen to podcasts. I’m the manager of this football club,” he said after his Major Soccer League team’s 2-0 home loss to LAFC at B.C. Place.
“I’ll continue to come to work every day and work as hard as I can, and try to get the best out of my players. Today wasn’t our day, it was a disappointing result, and I’ll take responsibility for that. (The fans’) frustration is mine as well.”
He couldn’t have done much about Thursday, after the Caps were dealt a stunning blow in training when Kamara went down with a groin injury. This kept him out of Friday’s game and likely next week’s showdown with Sporting Kansas City.
It’s not just the fact their prized off-season acquisition has scored or been directly involved in six of the Caps’ eight goals this season, but his presence forces defences to react to him. His ability to hold the ball up as a lone striker is key to his team’s offence.
Without him, the Whitecaps only mustered two half-chances through the first 60 minutes before Carlos Vela turned the game on its head with a clinical, curling shot to put the visitors in front. It sent the Caps to their second straight loss — the first back-to-back defeat since March of last year — but was enough to have media wags speculating about Robinson’s job future.
Vancouver scored twice in their season-opening win over Montreal, but in the two home games since then, they’ve been held scoreless by the league’s two Los Angeles teams. The last time the Whitecaps went scoreless in two straight at home was in the fall of 2015, when they lost 3-0 to Seattle followed by a scoreless draw with FC Dallas.
Caps midfielder Felipe is preaching patience, pointing out that it’s early in the season, and it will take time for a team that saw massive turnover in the off-season to jell.
“It’s two games we’ve lost. We played well in Salt Lake, and we lost. We played bad tonight, and we lost,” said the Brazilian, who led the Caps in touches (76) playing in a more forward distributing role on Friday.
“We can’t let it become three or four losses. I’m 100-per-cent confident that we’re going to go to Kansas City and turn this around. Don’t create what’s not there, it’s just the beginning of the season. It’s only a month-and-a-half in.”
With Kamara and Anthony Blondell out, Robinson gave Erik Hurtado his first start since Sept. 13, 2017 when he scored in a 3-0 win over Minnesota. Robinson elected to stick with the 4-1-4-1 formation they’d practised all week, instead of trying to make a last-minute change to the game plan, and admitted he may have got the lineup wrong.
“We weren’t good enough on the day, and that’s my fault, that’s my responsibility. I maybe got the team wrong,” said Robinson, adding that several of his players, including Yordy Reyna, who came on as a 64th-minute substitute, weren’t fully fit.
“I toyed with the idea of playing Yordy (Reyna) up top as a false nine — false nines are always talked about — and playing three at the back, and five in midfield with two up top. But we didn’t. Yordy probably couldn’t have lasted 90 minutes.”
Also absent were the usual questing crosses from the wingers, as the Whitecaps tried to attack more centrally along the ground. LAFC had the balance of possession, at 51 per cent of the ball, a number that would have been much higher had they not ceded possession and gone into a defensive shell after going up 2-0.
“We wanted to play more possession and soccer today, and we tried. But they had more quality than we did today. And that’s all you can say.
“Sometimes you’ve got to put your hand up and say they were better, and really today they were better than us,” said midfielder Russell Teibert, who played a strong game distributing the ball from the rear, leading the Caps in passing accuracy.
“They scored more goals than us, they had more quality than us. They had more possession than us. They were better than us.
“It’s disappointing. The locker-room is disappointed, we’re all disappointed. I think that word sums it up. This is a game that you really want to completely forget about. I think the only thing you want to take forward is that it’s a 2-0 loss, and that just gives you more motivation to go to KC and get points.”
Vancouver travels to Kansas City this week for a date with first-place Sporting. The Whitecaps are 1-4-1 at Children’s Mercy Park, with seven goals for and 11 against, but their most recent visit at the end of September resulted in a 1-0 win and ended Sporting’s 24-game home unbeaten streak.
Despite holding just 24 per cent of the ball, the Caps escaped with a victory after Stefan Marinovic made a couple of huge saves and Hurtado scored against the run of play to clinch a playoff berth for the Caps.
“We all have to play better, everyone. It’s everyone, the 30 guys on the roster. We are together, and we’re going to stick together,” said Felipe. “We’re going to get back to training on Monday, and we’re going to get to Kansas City and get the three points.”