The Whitecaps are built to outrun their opponents this season
Coach has moulded a tireless group of marathoners who cover ground with speed and endurance
While the Vancouver Whitecaps' home is situated on the traditional unceded home of the Musqueam people, their playing style is more like one of the bands' ancestral First Nations neighbours — the Kwantlen. Literally translated, it means “tireless runner.”
That's the model around which Whitecaps coach Marc Dos Santos has moulded his team — a high-intensity group of marathoners who cover ground, and covers it with speed and duration.
The team's performance metrics show that in terms of total distance, distance of high-intensity runs, distance of sprints and number of sprints — the Whitecaps have out-run every single opponent they've faced this year and are in the Top 3 teams in Major League Soccer.
The distance covered by the central midfielders, wingers and overlapping fullbacks is an impressive total of around a cumulative seven-plus kilometres over their foes.
Vancouver's heat map from Wednesday's mid-week game shows the kind of box-totouch-line coverage they were getting, apart from that pesky fiord of blue in the middle of the field that is crying out for a No. 10-type player.
Newcomer Caio Alexandre went the distance in the game for the first time as a Whitecap. He had a 15-minute debut, followed by two 80-plus-minute games against Colorado and Montreal, before going the distance against Minnesota.
“I feel good and I'm very happy. In the first game, I had to play a bit farther ahead, but since then I've been playing in my natural position as a central midfielder,” he said Friday. “It is a very different game, MLS to Brazil. There's more athletic aspect to it, more running. But both of them share that there is a high level of quality across all teams, not only teams that we have played but looking across the league.
“We have to be in our top shape and top form for us to get results. Coming from Brazil, the biggest difference is the physical side of the game. Last game was my first 90 (minutes) and I feel it was really important for me to get my first 90, and we'll keep working on the physical side of my game because if I get my top physical shape, I will get my best on the field.
“Marc and his way of playing is a good system for me, as it helps my personal game and it also helps me improve those around me. It fits my skill set. We want to possess the ball and play quickly down the sides. Coming to MLS was a big challenge for me and it was one that I was really up for.”
His introduction to MLS was a smack to the face in his debut against Orlando, and he's also been introduced to the quirks and pain caused by North American scheduling. Wednesday's game was the first in mid-week, and Sunday in Sporting Kansas City will be the third game in a week.
Dos Santos at least is blessed with a deep enough squad that his uptempo style won't burn out his team. Alexandre and Bruno Gaspar, who both had cramping issues against Minnesota, likely will get some rest, opening the door for a Michael Baldisimo-Leo Owusu tandem in midfield.
“I think that we have a lot of good options (in midfield),” Dos Santos said. “The best teams in the league and the best teams in the world have continuity continually in their lineup. That creates habits between players, understanding between players, guys knowing what the team likes to do.
“And I think that slowly we're starting to see this, but it's a league where you need depth. When Baldi comes back into the lineup, when Leo comes back into the lineup, the team cannot feel it as much. So that's important when you have another game coming in on Sunday.”
Centre-back Andy Rose, who suffered an adductor strain against Minny, will give way to Derek Cornelius to partner with Ranko Veselinovic, as No. 1 CB Erik Godoy still isn't 100 per cent.
Dos Santos pointed to the
compressed schedule, and the MLS policy of flying in and out on game days as the likely culprit for Rose's injury, and acknowledged he was being very careful with taxing his players too much.
“You know you're talking about guys that never did this in their life and now they have to do it, especially Caio and Bruno, but it is what it is ...
Let's not talk about it more so it doesn't get in anybody's head here,” he said. “We're pushing a little bit these guys, and we don't want to risk them having a longer-term type of muscle injury. When you play three games in nine days and you don't have the right preparation on some guys, you pay a little bit the price.
“And again, I go back to our month of March pre-season … some of the guys took really a lot of time to be with the team and now we're trying to accelerate the process, but at the same time, we have to be aware that that can cause injuries and we have to be careful with that.”