Vancouver season ends with locker-room divide, trade demand
Tears and trade demands expose deep divide in Whitecaps’ unhappy locker-room
The Alphonso Davies era ended in thunderous applause and confetti. Two days later, the Vancouver Whitecaps’ season officially concluded in an equally spectacular conflagration of finger pointing, accusations, tears, revelations and trade demands.
The day at the team’s University of B.C. training centre kicked off with Russell Teibert and Doneil Henry saying there was a massive divide in the locker-room, a schism that cost them points late in the year — and, ultimately, the season.
Kei Kamara was his usual charming, ebullient self, and professed his love for the city and desire to return.
Kendall Waston doubled down on his comments on leaving the Caps, making some damning — though nebulously targeted — statements about two-faced people.
Felipe, who started 24 of the Caps’ 34 games this season, gave an emotional and impassioned summary of his first season in Vancouver, his raw feelings laid bare in a rare moment of insight into a pro athlete’s life.
And then there was the team president, Bob Lenarduzzi, admitting there was a culture problem in the room — one that had existed for the latter two-thirds of the season — but laying the responsibility at the feet of departed coach Carl Robinson.
The Caps missed the post-season for the fourth time in their eight-year MLS history, the difference between making it or not this year coming down to just three points, an especially agonizing finish considering they won just twice in their final seven games.
When Robinson was fired with five games left on the schedule, a fractured room pulled further apart instead of binding together.
“I wouldn’t say this season we had a great locker-room,” said Teibert. “We all need to be pulling in the same direction. Different players have different motivations.” Henry took it a step further. “At a certain point, it kind of felt like guys were there for themselves. When you play for a team … you have to have something that drives you to want to win, instead of your personal desires,” said the Canadian international.
“When we lost our coach that late in the season, that desire shifted in some people. We’re professionals. We need to go about our business professionally, and I don’t think that everybody did that. Certain things escalated, and took from the team. We don’t want any situations bigger than the team.
“We have a lot of talent on this team. But individual professionalism within the group needs to change.
“The club’s going to get it right. They know what direction they want to go in. To be fair, the last few months have been a test. And you’re going to see the guys who passed the test will be here, and the ones that didn’t won’t be. That’s the reality.”
One player who won’t be here, voluntarily, is Waston, who once again confirmed his desire to be sold or traded, as he’s under contract for one more year.
“I’m not a liar. I’m honest, transparent. If I say today I want to leave, I want to leave. I’m not going to change my mind,” he said.
The team captain and twotime Whitecaps player of the year stated that his wish to play for another club wasn’t a result of Robinson’s sacking nor a rift with the front office. It was purely about pro development.
Sort of. Maybe.
“It’s more the personal side where the decision is. I want to win. I want to get better in different areas in my life,” said Waston.
“I wasn’t happy (about Robinson’s firing), obviously. But at the end … coaches go, players go. At the end, this is a business. It didn’t make me happy, but what I don’t like is two-faced people.
“I was really angry at some things, different things, and if I don’t trust, I’d better walk away. If you’re in the house, and you don’t feel safe in your house, what are you going to do? I’m not going to talk specific, put any names … but that’s it.
“I don’t like to be ungrateful. I don’t want to bite the hand (that feeds me). But as a man, I have to see what’s best for my wife and son. Because in the end, when I finish my career, who’s going to give me the rice and the beans? No one.”
Lenarduzzi confirmed that he was working with Waston’s team to move the Towering Tico to a new club.
“What we emphatically said to Kendall … was that, in spite of the fact he wants to leave, he won’t be leaving for anything less than what the market value is,” he said.
“It’s not going to be a fire sale. I don’t think there will be a shortage of clubs interested, but if they think they’re going to get someone for less than market value, they probably shouldn’t call.
“The Kendall situation, which has evolved over the past week, that’s not a product of our club or what we’re all about ... That’s the product of a locker-room gone awry, and we’ll fix that. We have a new coach coming in. We’ll take the opportunity to reset the culture at this club.”