Future depends on youth
WHITECAPS: Developing their own players not just a matter for the team, but entire Major League Soccer
CARSON, Calif. —Finding more games for their promising young players remains the greatest challenge facing the Vancouver Whitecaps this off-season.
Martin Rennie has three residency graduates on his current roster, Russell Teibert, Bryce Alderson and Caleb Clarke, and he could well add one or two more heading into 2013.
But Teibert, a 19-year-old winger from Niagara Falls, Ont., started one game this regular season and played a total of 117 minutes.
Clarke, a 19-year-old forward from Richmond, played 15 minutes, and Alderson, an 18-yearold midfielder from Kitchener, Ont., didn’t see the field for the first team.
It’s hard to see more than an incremental increase in minutes for each next season. Teibert appears closest in Rennie’s mind. He was on the roster Thursday night as the Whitecaps faced the L.A. Galaxy in their first MLS playoff game.
So the question is, how do the Whitecaps get these players more consistent, competitive game experience?
“This is a good league-wide question,” Whitecaps co-owner Jeff Mallett said before kickoff at the Home Depot Center.
“The [MLS] reserve league is really not big enough, not strong enough, there’s not enough matches in there [10 games].
“There continues to be discussions on creating a second tier, a second league, what associations we want to have with that. The USL, the NASL, expanding the reserve league. Is it something MLS wants to be directly involved with, indirectly. Is there a Triple A baseball model? All that’s being looked at by smart people.
“Nothing is off the table right now. All we know is it has to happen.”
MLS and the second-tier NASL are making headway on a formal working relationship, according an article on the MLS website.
The Whitecaps are believed to have had a deal in place to loan their 2011 top pick, Omar Salgado, out to the Carolina RailHawks early this season. But that was scuttled by Darren Mattocks’ burn injury, which opened the door for more firstteam minutes for Salgado.
Rennie used to coach in Carolina, so there’s familiarity there. Mallett said that knowledge and trust is key to considering any loan. The Whitecaps have previously been in discussion with Edmonton of the NASL.
Loans to Europe are more complicated because clubs will want the first right to sign those players and the Whitecaps remain determined to primarily produce players for their own team first.
“Most important is finding clubs you really understand the training facilities, the coaching staff, etc.,” said Mallett, “and we haven’t really vetted enough clubs at this point that we feel comfortable letting our talent go out. We’re open to it.”