Coach full of praise for ‘little rascal’ Reyna

It appears the normally loquacious Carl Robinson has exhausted his vocabulary in an attempt to describe Yordy Reyna.

Six weeks ago, following a performance in which Reyna drew a penalty and then scored the game-winning goal against Houston with a clinical 20-yard strike, the Caps’ head coach said his attacking midfielder was “like a rash, he’s all over the place.”

This week, Robinson was asked about Reyna again. “He’s a little rascal,” said the Whitecaps head coach. At still other times, Reyna has gone by the relatively simple “magic.”

So the man is in urgent need of a nickname and there are some beauties to chose from: The Rash. Magic. The Wascally Wabbit. But whatever moniker is settled on, Robinson delivered the definitive word on the 24-year-old Peruvian this week when, just 16 games into his Whitecaps career, he suggested he might be the best player in the club’s MLS history.

“Now he’s fully fit and we see what he can do,” Robinson said. “He’s so enjoyable to watch. He creates, He scores. He works hard. He’s a little rascal. That’s what he is. But he’s some player.

“Arguably, he’s the best player the club’s had. If he keeps going like this I won’t disagree.”

And if that’s not as much fun as The Rash, you have to admit The Best is catchy in its own way.

Reyna, who’s been called up to Peru’s national team for a pair of critical World Cup qualifiers, will be lost to the Caps this weekend when they travel to New York, but his promotion only highlights the remarkable season he’s had in Vancouver. After missing the first four months of the MLS campaign, The Little Rascal has scored five goals — all gamewinners,

all of the highlight-reel variety — and set up three others while forming a lethal partnership with veteran Fredy Montero.

The real measure of Reyna’s impact on the team, however, can be found in its win-loss record. Before he stepped into the lineup, the Caps were plodding along at a pedestrian 6-6-3 clip and were out of the playoffs. They’ve since gone 9-4-3 — including 5-1-3 in games Reyna starts — and moved into first place in the Western Conference.

“It took me four months to recover (from a broken foot at the start of the year) and I used that time to see how the Whitecaps developed their team,” Reyna said through an interpreter.

“I think that helped.” Evidently.

Robinson, a sturdy midfielder in his playing days, was asked how he would have dealt with Reyna.

“I would have kicked the

---- out of him,” he said before pausing. “No, I would have never got near him. That’s the funniest thing about it.”

The call-up to his country’s national team, meanwhile, might be the most articulate expression of Reyna’s season. Peru faces Argentina in Buenos Aires today before meeting Colombia at home Tuesday. Los Incas currently hold down the fourth and final World Cup qualifying spot in their group, one spot ahead of Argentina.

“I’m delighted for him, but disappointed because I don’t get to use him (this weekend),” said Robinson.

That’s OK. He’ll be back and maybe by then the coach will know what to call him.