Mezquida sets the tone
Uruguayan dynamo could be Whitecaps’ king of intangibles
Carl Robinson, the Whitecaps’ coach, described Nicolas Mezquida this week as “effervescent” and “infectious.”
Consistently, no Whitecap elicits more praise with less to show for it on a traditional stat sheet.
Mezquida has three goals and one assist in 34 games over twoand-a-bit seasons in Vancouver. The hope is he’ll improve considerably on those numbers this season.
But despite that return, there’s a strong sense among those who follow this team that Mezquida is vital to the Caps’ success; the king of intangibles.
Against L.A. at home last weekend — Mezquida’s first start of the season — he was buzzing early and then tireless for the hour-plus the Caps had to play down to 10 men.
He’d started up front alongside fellow Uruguayan Octavio Rivero, and then he dropped into central midfield once Matias Laba was sent off for a dubious red card.
Unsurprisingly, Mezquida said he was still a bit tired on Wednesday, before the Caps (2-2-1) left for Saturday’s road game at D.C. United.
He’d missed a good chunk of the pre-season to a hip-strain injury, so the Galaxy game was his first 90 minutes of the year.
“He set the tone from the first whistle and gave us the edge we needed,” said Robinson, who’ll be without Matias Laba (suspended) and Pedro Morales (hip) in D.C. (0-2-3).
“Whoever you are, at any level, you have to play the game as if it’s your last game, because it is people’s last game at some stage.”
It’s a perfect description for Mezquida, 24, who always seems to play like he has a point to prove.
What quantifiable effect does that have on this Caps team? Well, read what you want into it, but the Whitecaps were 8-2-2 last season when Mezquida started and 8-113 when he didn’t. His injury down the stretch last season, as much as one to Morales, was a big blow.
They scored more goals with Mezquida in the lineup, and allowed fewer. The Caps’ best attacking stretch last year was in late July and early August when they scored 13 goals in four games.
Mezquida started all four of those matches.
It’s his hustle plays that prove immensely valuable — unmeasured stuff like pressuring defenders into poor passes and turnovers.
His possession game has also come miles from when he first arrived in 2014 and gave the ball away cheaply too often.
Rivero also loves playing with Mezquida; and if anything can get Rivero going again, perhaps it’s Mezquida’s inclusion in the starting eleven.
Rivero hasn’t scored in 11 games, has one goal in his last 15, and five goals in 33 games since starting his MLS career with five in six games.
“I was happy for the start because I was waiting to play for a long time,” said Mezquida, who’d tweeted out after the season opener that he was healthy and ready to play, which probably didn’t go down too well with the boss. “I don’t know if I was happy for the result (a scoreless tie), but it was good because we played with 10 players for almost the whole game and we played well.
“It was a good test for me because I showed I could play 90 minutes. I had to run a lot but I enjoyed.”
He also showed Robinson he can play in central midfield in a pinch, and it’s possible that will be his role in D.C. given that Laba and Morales are out and Kianz Froese (concussion) and Russell Teibert (ankle) are just back to full training.
But Mezquida’s defending from the front — his willingness to chase down balls and opposing defenders all game long — is perhaps his most valuable asset.
Robinson will be reluctant to sacrifice that.