Caps need magician to perform
Vancouver needs midfielder Morales, the team’s best player, to be its best player
Eduardo Galeano, who died a month ago, was regarded as soccer’s poet laureate and if you doubted his credentials, consider Galeano’s description of Garrincha, the great Brazilian star of half a century ago.
“When he was playing, the field became a circus ring, the ball a tame beast, the game an invitation to a party. Like a child defending his pet, Garrincha would not let go of the ball and, together, the ball and he would perform devilish tricks that had people in stitches.”
Yes, very similar to the copy I file from a Canucks-Predators game in November.
More soccer, Page 52-53
Still, there’s something about the beautiful game which inspires beautiful words because, in soccer, the line between art and sport is as fine as silk thread. This brings us around to the Vancouver Whitecaps and their artist in residence, Pedro Morales who, at his best, inspires poetry and song. It’s just that 12 games into the team’s MLS schedule, Caps’ supporters have seldom seen the midfield magician who dazzled last year en route to being named the league’s newcomer of the year.
The good news, one supposes, is the Caps are still near the top of the Western Conference standings with only sporadic contributions from their star. As for the more unsettling news, you just wonder how far this team can go when their best player isn’t their best player.
Saturday afternoon, a sellout crowd at B.C. Place came expecting to see a first-place performance from their first-place club. Instead, they were treated to a 90-minute road-game clinic from the Seattle Sounders who were efficient, disciplined and opportunistic en route to a 2-0 win.
This match was widely billed as a statement game for the Caps, who’d created some excitement with their 6-3-2 start. But if that’s the case, the statement they made wasn’t particularly flattering, either in the collective or the individual sense.
“We’re a very young group and we know that,” said head coach Carl Robinson.
“But you look for a spark whether it’s a spark off the bench or a spark in the team and you need a bit of luck. I don’t think we got any luck today.”
Maybe, but when you’re relying on luck to turn your team around, you’ve got problems.
On this day, the Whitecaps’ woes started in the fifth minute when Chad Barrett opened the scoring and continued uninterrupted until the final whistle. That man Barrett would score again before the end of the first half and the Caps spent the rest of the afternoon beating their heads, literally and figuratively, against a brick wall.
Yes, the Sounders hunkered down in the trenches after Barrett’s first goal and, yes, their defensive structure was formidable.
But those are also the circumstances in which quality is supposed to show itself and leaders lead. And the Whitecaps didn’t have many leaders on Saturday afternoon.
Morales’ best moment came shortly after Barrett’s first goal when he knifed through the Sounders’ defence, then forced keeper Stefan Frei into a difficult save with a clever toe poke. That moment was also noteworthy because that was about it from the Morales’ account.
His passes were largely meaningless. His shots were errant. And there wasn’t the faintest whiff of danger about him.
Late in the match, in fact, whistles could be heard when the Chilean’s cross almost landed in the fourth row. There was no party, no circus ring for Morales and this might have been the ultimate commentary on his day. Late in the first half, he retired to the sidelines to change his boots from a lime-green number to an electric magenta. While he was off, Barrett scored his second goal.
It was suggested to Robinson that Morales started to hang his head in the second half.
“I don’t that’s a fair assessment,” he answered.
“We were able to play through him in the first half. In the second half, when the dynamic of the game changes, they have the ball.
“They have some very good, experienced players who know how to manage the game and slow it down. When you’re chasing, it becomes hard so naturally your body language changes.”
Robinson, as you may have surmised, wasn’t interested in donning the hair shirt after this loss.
His spin was the game was determined by Barrett’s first goal and the Sounders’ edge in experience and that’s true to a point.
But the overall impact of this loss shouldn’t be written off that easily. The ‘Caps are now 3-3-1 at home and while no one’s complaining about their overall record, that’s a little troubling. So too, is the contribution of Morales.
When he’s on, he and the ball can perform devilish tricks. When he’s not, it’s reflected in the entire team. The Whitecaps need the tricks, need the poetry.
Anything less won’t do.