Mezquida’s tenure well-earned
Given the choice, Nico Mezquida says he’d be a striker.
But the little Uruguayan also knows what has kept him a Whitecap since 2013 is his willingness to do anything, anywhere, at any time for his squad.
“Everyone knows what kind of player I am,” he said Wednesday after training.
The 26-year-old Uruguayan arrived in Vancouver at the beginning of 2014, Carl Robinson’s first season in charge. He was initially used as a winger, then saw time as an attacking midfielder.
Striker, though, is his preferred spot.
Most of his career to that point had been spent playing in his homeland, though there was a pair of brief loan stints in Norway and a short trial with Celtic in Scotland.
Still, nothing at the time suggested he would still be with the Whitecaps four years later, making him the third-longest tenured player in Vancouver, after Russell Teibert and Erik Hurtado. There’s a common thread to the trio: all have proven to be players more than willing to play depth roles for Robinson, ready to step in and play at a moment’s notice.
Most players come and go quickly in MLS. Just look at this past offseason, which has seen 17 Whitecaps players head out the door.
“In the first year, I thought I’d come for one year,” he said. “But I saw I really liked it.”
He played 14 times that first season, starting just four times and scoring twice. But his role has increased since. In his second season he made 18 league appearances. His career high in MLS is the 28 games he played in 2016. Last year, he got on the field 24 times.
In all, he’s made 81 appearances in his five Major League Soccer seasons, scoring nine goals. Needless to say, he knows the opportunities will come.
“I’m here because I’ve got the support (from coaches),” he said. “Of course it means a lot for me.”
That support is why he can stomach not always being a first-choice starter.
But he looks around and sees how competitive his position is. “Always, I’m ready.”
Last Saturday he got his first start of the year, as a second striker alongside Anthony Blondell.
Kendall Waston’s controversial red card early in the match turned the Caps’ plan on its head and Mezquida was subbed off at halftime.
“I knew it was for the good of the team ... the red card changed all our plans.”
It was a disappointment for him to see his team’s approach forcibly thrown out the window. Playing up top is where he likes to be, after all.
“To be a striker. To be high (up the pitch) with the ball,” he said, when asked to pick his favoured position. I like moving, getting the ball ... if you check my stats, all my best games are when I get a lot of the ball.”
And, of course, like every player, his goal each year is simple.
“The goal is always to be better than last year. Last year we made the semifinal in the west. I would like to play in a conference final, or obviously in a Cup final. This is my goal.”
But first, there’s the regular season and getting used to a new group of faces.
“We changed many players (from 2017),” he said.
“But the goal stays the same. It’s a good group.”