WHITECAPS VIE FOR NATIONAL SOCCER TITLE
Whitecaps must score at least one goal against ‘ worst team in the world’ to net title
What does Toronto FC head coach Aron Winter do with Danny Koevermans? The talented Dutch striker threw TFC into disarray Tuesday when he stood by his recent comment that the club — with no wins and nine losses in Major League Soccer play — is “the worst team in the world” right now.
Teammates were quick to dismiss the remark but the entire situation created a borderline freak show as the Reds prepare to host the Vancouver Whitecaps at BMO Field tonight in the second leg of the Amway Canadian Championship.
The two teams tied 1- 1 at BC Place last week in the first leg of the twogame, total- goal series.
Koevermans made his original remark about TFC’S global incompetence following a 3- 1 loss to D. C. United last weekend and refused to back down on Tuesday.
“Name me one team in the world that is O and nine,” he told reporters after a TFC training session. “There’s not one team in the whole world [ that] has lost nine times in a row.”
Winter had no explanation
for Koevermans’s emotional outburst.
“I think he’s very frustrated but he’s wrong,” he said in a telephone interview. “I think he’s the only player who feels like that. He has been injured lately and I think that has added to his frustration.”
Winter insists he doesn’t worry about his own immediate future in light of his club’s winless, pointless start to the MLS season.
“I’m not concerned and I don’t think about it at this moment,” he said. “Nine games and zero points is not a good result but we have to keep going and working hard so we start getting the points.”
Whitecaps head coach Martin Rennie pays little attention to the TFC sideshow.
“We’re just focused on the key things we have to do in this game to get a result,” he said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “Those [ Koevermans] comments don’t change anything that we’ve got to do. We know we have to be at our best to get a win.”
Because Toronto scored an away goal in Vancouver, they could win a fourth straight Canadian championship with a scoreless draw at BMO Field.
Rennie said the Whitecaps — vying for their first Canadian title and a berth in CONCACAF Champions League play — won’t drastically alter their strategy because they have to score at least one goal in Toronto to capture the championship.
“We have to defend well but we also want to be on the front foot and keep the ball and create chances,” he said. “Obviously the key thing is taking those chances when they come along.”
The game looms as the biggest in recent Whitecaps franchise history — certainly the biggest since the club joined MLS — and Rennie has stressed to his players to keep their minds on the task at hand.
“In big games, you have to make sure you don’t get so caught up in the outcome — just thinking ‘ we must win, we must win, we must win,’ ” he said. “Then you end up losing focus on what you have to do to perform well.
“It’s important to focus on the process and focus on your job and if you do all those things right, most likely the outcome will be favourable.”
Rennie doesn’t pay much attention to comments from opposing players but was intrigued by a remark from TFC defender Adrian Cann, who feels Caps striker Eric Hassli is more effective as a substitute because he tends to tire late in a game if he starts.
“It’s hard to read into other people’s comments but we’ll see how tired he is if he’s playing,” Rennie said of his big French striker, who has four goals in his last six games. “Whether he starts or comes on, we know he can make a major impact and he’s a topquality player. He’s fit and sharp in all the games he has played and in better form than he has ever been.”
SIDE KICKS: Manchester City released injury- plagued Canadianborn midfielder Owen Hargreaves on Tuesday, marking the official start of the next round of Hargreaves- to- Vancouver rumours. The Whitecaps held brief discussions with the 31- yearold former Bayern Munich and Manchester United star last year but club president Bob Lenarduzzi was noncommittal Tuesday when asked if the team is still interested in him.