HAVING A MAJOR IMPACT
Davies huge in win over Montreal
CAPS 2, IMPACT 1
Before the Whitecaps’ opening game of this MLS season, Carl Robinson sat down with Alphonso Davies for a talk.
Actually, from Davies’ point of view, the more accurate term for the exchange was a listen as Robinson, the Whitecaps’ head coach, told the precocious youngster he envisioned a bigger role for Davies if he could get something back from the player.
Goals were one thing. Assists were another. Davies, everyone could see, has talent to burn, but if he wanted to be regarded as a top offensive player, there’s a bottom line and it’s usually more than one assist in 29 games.
“It just wasn’t good enough for a player of his ability,” Robinson said in the run-up to Sunday’s Whitecaps opener.
“I told him what he needs to do and challenged him to be involved in every game.”
Davies then went out and in one game produced more offence than he did all of last season. Don’t know if he can keep this pace up for all 34 games of the MLS schedule. Do know if you have an underachieving teen in your house, send him to Robinson.
“He’s a good player, a very, very, good young player,” Robinson said of his prized, if not mercurial, student after the Caps’ 2-1 win over the Montreal Impact. “But there are good young players all over.
“He did his work today. He put in a shift. We know he’s got quality, but young players go up and down. Senior players go up and down as well, but he’s got himself off to a very good start.”
Davies, in fact, played a lead role in rescuing a Whitecaps opener that teetered on the edge of sadness a couple of times. After a so-so start before a sellout crowd of 27,837, Davies brought down a 35-yard pass from Russell Teibert in the 63rd minute, then whipped in a cross to Kei Kamara that the Caps’ new striker headed home.
That, at least, was the appetizer. The main course came seven minutes later when Davies took a Cristian Techera pass and squeezed the ball through Impact keeper Evan Bush for his first MLS goal.
Last season, he appeared in 29 games for the Whitecaps and produced one puny assist. After one game this season, he’s already doubled that output.
“It was exciting, a big weight off my shoulders,” said the taciturn Davies. “It took a while, yeah.”
Robinson was asked about the developing chemistry between Davies and the 33-year-old Kamara.
“They spend a lot of time off the field,” the coach said.
“I think Fonzie (Davies) has a dance partner now. Kei is a character and a good character for Fonzie. It’s important he teaches him as well.”
The Davies-Kamara partnership, in fact, shapes up as one of the key storylines to this Whitecaps season. They are a study in contrasts — Kamara an engaging veteran with an outsized personality, Davies a reserved 17-yearold who’s just starting to find his way — but there’s also a connection on and off the pitch.
As Kamara’s wing man, literally, Davies will be one of the main supply lines for the angular striker this season. Kamara, in turn, is expected to teach Davies something about the day in, day out demands of being a pro.
And maybe he can help him with the quote thing.
“If I have to be a mentor for him, they have to pay me for that,” Kamara said with a laugh.
“No, I want to be an example for him, someone he can learn from. I do talk to him on and off the field, but I don’t want to put too much pressure on him.”
That’s a common theme with the Whitecaps, but as much as they try to protect Davies and minimize his exposure to outside pressure, the kid’s talent invites attention. The larger soccer world has already taken note of the Caps forward who will be eligible for international transfer at the conclusion of this season.
Enjoy him while you can Vancouver. He’s likely bound for something bigger.
As for the rest of the game, the Whitecaps managed to make the final 10 minutes more dramatic than they needed when they surrendered a goal to the Impact’s Matteo Mancosu in the 81st minute. Mancosu caused further heart palpitations when he missed a chance in the dying minutes, but, according to Robinson, even the Impact’s late rally served a purpose on this day.
“When you concede with 10 minutes to go at home in front of 28,000 on opening day, that’s when you find out what kind of team you’ve got,” he said. “We’re a good team. It was a great opening day for the football club.”
And one very good young player.