CAPS NEED UPGRADE
Harvey named fan favourite
Vancouver Whitecaps fans picked Jordan Harvey as their player of the year. That tells you everything you need to know about Harvey, and about the Caps this season.
It’s a deserving honour for the veteran left-back — an unflashy, honest, committed and consistent player. A fighter.
The Caps, who play out this painful season at home to the Portland Timbers on Sunday (1 p.m., TSN1, TSN 1040), could use a little more of everything Harvey brings.
But Harvey winning player of the year is a bit like leaving a concert impressed by the percussionist.
The Caps (9-15-9) have not put on a great show this season, and their frontmen have underwhelmed.
Their short list for player of the year was supposed to look something like this: Pedro Morales, Matias Laba, Kendall Waston, David Ousted, Christian Bolaños, Cristian Techera, Kekuta Manneh.
Instead, it looked like this: Harvey, Andrew Jacobson, Nicolas Mezquida and Bolańos.
So, a two-time World Cup player (Bolańos) plus three heart-andsoul guys whose combined salary ($340,500) would rank seventh highest on the team.
Harvey, who accepted the award while holding his one-year-old daughter, Harlow, at a downtown function this week, won in a landslide fan vote with 48 per cent.
Mezquida, who only started 16 MLS games, was second in voting.
“I think this shows that fans see that I leave everything out on the field, day in and day out, whether it’s training or a game,” said Harvey, who has played 153 league games for the Caps since coming over in a 2011 trade with the Philadelphia Union.
“That’s what, I guess, got me this award. I’m the type of player, I don’t win a game on my own. I need a lot of help from players and the organization around me, and I chip in every once in a while.”
Last season, Harvey claimed the club’s unsung hero award. He needs to be in that mix again next year, along with the likes of Jacobson and Mezquida, because that will mean the top-end talent on this team has delivered.
For the Caps to contend in 2017, they’ll need bounce-back seasons from the likes of Laba, Waston and Ousted, plus they’ll need a healthy Manneh — who broke his foot in July — to take another step forward.
It will be a surprise to see the out-of-contract Morales return, while Techera is a big question mark (two goals and two assists in 29 games), as are Giles Barnes (no goals and one assist in nine games) and Masato Kudo (two goals, one assist in 17 games).
And whomever the Caps use their designated player spots on this off-season will have to produce, too.
The club must get those signings right.
There’s a lot of “ifs” there, but Harvey doesn’t think the Caps are as far off the pace as they seem right now.
“At the beginning of the season, I thought we had all the pieces to the puzzle,” he said. “A few things don’t go your way — they might have done the previous year — and then it tumbles and tumbles and you’re playing catch-up and it’s difficult to recover.
“At this point, it’s about ending on a good note, trying to correct those things this off-season, and coming in with a great attitude next season knowing that we aren’t far off and trying not to make the same mistakes twice.”