HOLDING OFF THE IMPACT
Caps take first leg in Canadian clash
In the push and pull of the neverending Major League Soccer season, the Vancouver Whitecaps faced something of a dilemma on Tuesday night.
The Whitecaps, who’ve struggled to find traction this MLS season, have finally battled their way back to the .500 mark and now have a chance to generate serious momentum with backto-back home games on consecutive weekends.
Complicating matters, however, is a home-and-home series with the Montreal Impact in the semifinals of the Canadian Championship, an in-season tournament that determines a place in the CONCACAF Champions League.
In theory, the Canadian Championship is an important competition. It’s also one of the central planks in a developmental program that is supposed to showcase Canadian soccer talent.
So how much emphasis do you put on this two-game set with the Impact if you’re coach Carl Robinson? How far do you stretch your limited resources in pursuit of the Canadian title? Turns out, not too far at all. “You have to find the right balance,” Robinson said before Tuesday’s meeting at B.C. Place. “We know points are at a premium in MLS.
“If you play your strongest team (against the Impact) and don’t get the result on Saturday, it’s the wrong thing to do. But I’m a believer in giving the squad opportunities to play. They deserve it, the guys have trained hard. Now they get the opportunity on the big stage.”
And say this for his guys: they didn’t squander that opportunity. Starting a team of mostly second-stringers and subs, along with the incandescent Alphonso Davies, the Caps scored twice in the first 33 minutes en route to a 2-1 win before a sparse crowd of 16,381.
The second leg is set for Montreal next Tuesday. Canadian
Championship fever, catch it.
“I’m really proud of them,” Robinson said after the match. “You make 11 changes to a squad and it’s always going to be difficult but I thought they were really, really focused.
“The first half there was some wonderful football. Two halves are never the same. You know that in football. But they dealt with it really well after conceding (the second-half goal to the Impact). Some of these guys stepped up today.”
Principal among those guys was Davies, the 16-year-old golden child from Edmonton by way of Liberia, who scored in the 13th minute off a marvellous dummy from Nicolas Mezquida, set up Mezquida for the Caps’ second goal with a powerful run to the box and generally terrified the Impact back line until he was pulled in the 71st minute.
The Whitecaps have tried to manage both Davies’ minutes and the hype around the teenager but it’s getting harder and harder to downplay his development, particularly when Manchester United is sniffing around him.
But he wasn’t the only Canadian prodigy on display Tuesday. Ballou Tabla — and there’s something wrong with our world if he doesn’t earn the nickname Cat — was quiet in the first half but, like his team, picked things up in the second half, earning a penalty in the 73rd minute after a spirited solo attack.
Whitecaps goalie Spencer Richey turned aside Patrice Bernier from the spot to account for the final score.
Still, it’s difficult to miss the connection between Davies and Tabla, the 18-year-old Montrealer by way of the Ivory Coast who’s moved into a starting role with the Impact. Together, they will go a long ways toward forming the core of the men’s team in 2022 and, more importantly, 2026 when it figures Canada will receive an automatic entry into the World Cup through hostnation status.
Again, that’s not exactly a mortal lock and Tabla has yet to declare for Canada internationally. But for the sake of this column let’s assume Canada’s in for 2026 and Davies and Tabla are leading the team.
It’s a tantalizing prospect, yes? “They’re two exciting young players with a lot of talent,” said Impact coach Mauro Biello. “Ballous’s been exceptional for us all year. Again today he was able to unbalance on the dribble, on the pass. He created a lot of problems for Vancouver. For Canada to have two players like that it looks good for the future.”
It’s also instructive to note that the Impact’s all-important away goal was scored by David Choiniere, a 20-year-old from just outside Montreal and the kind of player for which the Canadian Championship was created.
The three Canadian-based MLS teams haven’t exactly developed an army of homegrown players for their teams but, little by little, they are making inroads according to Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi.
“It takes time,” said Lenarduzzi.
“You’re not going to snap your fingers and have a player come in and make our team.
“If we can develop one player for our MLS team, that would be a success.”
Well, they have one on the way now and he might change a lot of things for this team and this country.