Coach shares recipe for success
Dos Santos says the best plan is to build an MLS champion, not buy one
Can you smell what the Caps are cooking?
That’s the metaphor Vancouver Whitecaps coach Marc Dos Santos used to explain the team’s current status. The smell of something tasty coming out of the kitchen, but we don’t know what it is.
“We know exactly where we’re going. But you guys are not seeing it … you’re in the living room, and it smells of something, but you don’t know what’s baking,” he said earlier this month on the Extra Time podcast with Bobby Warshaw and Matthew Doyle.
“But we know, because we’re cooking it. We know exactly what type of players we want for different positions.”
Whatever concoction the incoming head coach is whipping up, Whitecaps fans are starved for some big news — and the dinner bell is still a long ways off.
There have been some, such as appetizers, such as Derek Cornelius, who’s a member of the Canadian national team.
Andy Rose and Victor “PC” Giro are proven players who provide depth on the back line and midfield.
Goalkeepers Zac MacMath and Maxime Crepeau have solid resumés.
MacMath has 134 MLS games to his credit and Crepeau was named the 2018 USL goalkeeper-of-the-year.
But there’s been no signings of high-priced, high-profile and coveted difference makers known as Designated Players.
“It’s such a process to bring players in. It’s not like going to Zara to buy jeans. ‘How much is it? 50 bucks? I’m out.’ It’s not like that. It’s a big process,” said Dos Santos, recently returned from a global scouting/recruitment trip with his assistant coaches.
“I’m not surprised by (fans’ skepticism), but I hope I can change it. That’s what I want to do. This is a big club with a great opportunity … with people who really care. I feel a lot of responsibility to bring the (players) here who are going to make the people of this city proud.”
While they aren’t household names, two more additions are close to being made official this week: Lucas Venuto of Wien in the Austrian Bundesliga, and Lass Bangoura of Spanish La Liga side Rayo Vallecano.
Both are small, fast, aggressive wingers who would fit in well with the dynamic and energetic playing style Dos Santos is known for.
Dos Santos brought up Aly Ghazal as an example of the changes he’d like to make to the team’s playing style. Ghazal was a defensive midfielder who excelled at disrupting other teams’ possessions, but didn’t have the passing game that suits Dos Santos. He wants a ‘No. 6’ who can spring an attack with a key first pass.
Montreal native Dos Santos is also trying to establish a locker-room culture that’s homogeneous, cohesive and absent of ego, which could explain the departure of fan favourite Kei Kamara and his 14 regular-season goals.
The 6-foot-3 striker wasn’t exactly short on self-confidence, though there was little sign of the mercurial reputation that had followed him around MLS before his season with the Whitecaps.
“I think I was ready (to come) when the ownership group spoke with me about the new vision, the new era, the change they wanted to bring in. It was exciting. It was one of the reasons why I came … for the opportunity to build a club more with my ideas, the way I see the game,” said Dos Santos, who said the team is in the final stages of negotiations with some marquee players.
Eighteen players from last year’s team have left, but the few returnees and newcomers who make up the current skeleton squad were all positive and upbeat in the first media availability of the season Monday at the University of B.C.
The words ‘rebuild’ or ‘retool’ were never uttered, but there were plenty of comments on fresh starts and excitement.
Eight players spoke to reporters on Monday.
Fullback Jake Nerwinski: “I lost some more friends, but I’m going to make some more friends. That’s how it is. A fresh start. That’s what it is. We’re just excited to get going.”
Midfielder Felipe: “Are you guys not excited? I’m very excited too, with a new coach, a new staff, a lot of new players, a lot of energy. We’re ready to go.”
Midfielder Russell Teibert: “It’s exciting. That’s what we all have to be optimistic about. As a fan, as a player, as a member of this club, I’m just excited to get started.”
Centre back Doneil Henry, who spent the off-season in Vancouver training with the U23 development team, was asked if he had been part of a, er, restructuring this large before.
“Yeah, I played for Toronto
FC,” he said to laughs. “It’s not a shot — it’s the reality of it.
“Seeing some of my teammates, it’s like the first day of school,” he said.
“But I’m over it. I just want to get on the pitch.”
The MLS transfer window doesn’t open until Feb. 7, but it’s conceivable that some of the big-ticket signings may get pushed back as late as July’s mid-season window, when bigger leagues around the world have finished for the season and may be more willing to part with players, or there are players who are out of contract.
However the roster shapes up, Dos Santos is adamant that he’s not going to mortgage the future on a few players — he plans to build a champion, not buy one.
“The message (to the fans) is, ‘We want to win,’ ” he said.
“We’re trying to build a team that’s going to win on a consistent basis, and compete for a playoff spot on a consistent basis, not only one year and then miss it for three years. We want to be there all the time.
“Trust the process. Trust that we all want to succeed. We all want to have a team that we can be proud of.”