BEEN THERE, DONE THAT
Harvey relates to expansion team
Jordan Harvey can appreciate what Minnesota United FC is going through.
The Vancouver Whitecaps defender knows expansion seasons. He was traded to the Whitecaps midway through their inaugural MLS campaign in 2011 from the Philadelphia Union. He was with the Union for their first year in the loop the season before, too.
There are the obvious things, like we’re seeing with Minnesota, one of two new teams in the league this season and Vancouver’s host on Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium. Those Union and Whitecap teams had troubles defensively, and Minnesota has shown some of the same, although they have certainly rallied after dropping their March 3 debut 5-1 in Portland and their March 12 home opener 6-1 to fellow newcomer Atlanta.
There’s the promise of growth, like media reports in May that the team’s soccer-specific stadium in St. Paul will begin construction this summer, with hopes that the privately funded, US$150-million venue will be ready for the 2019 season.
Then there are the things that aren’t so readily apparent, the stories that don’t come out until some time after. Like in Philadelphia in the first year, when the Union didn’t have their own training facility and were practising on, as Harvey puts it, “decent fields in a residential area.”
They showed up one time for a training session and there was a
camp for five- and six-year-olds booked on the field instead. The Union players knew the ages of the players due to the fact that one of the children taking part was the son of Philadelphia forward Alejandro Moreno.
“They kindly stepped aside after 15 or 20 minutes and watched training and that was part of their camp,” said Harvey, 33, a Mission Viejo, Calif., native. “That was nice of the five-, six-year-olds to let us use the field.
“That was the expansion year in Philly. Yeah. Interesting, right? You don’t even know where to go from there, do you?”
No. Not all. We’ll move along to the present.
Minnesota (5-9-2) had given up a league-high 36 goals going into action across the circuit Friday, but they come into today’s match off a 3-2 win at home on Wednesday over the Portland Timbers.
The Timber tallies were on a penalty kick and an own goal; the spin out of the Minnesota camp is that their defence wasn’t broken down by Portland.
Vancouver (6-6-2) last played Saturday at home, getting a Cristian Techera marker on free kick in the 74th minute to secure a 1-1 draw with FC Dallas.
“I thought we had good moments, but we also had some sloppy ones. We need to clean those up,” Harvey said.
Minnesota forward Abu Danladi scored the winner against Portland in the 64th minute. He and Portland midfielder Sebastian Blanco both earned red cards in the 70th minute for a skirmish after a challenge, so he’ll sit out Saturday. FREE KICKS: Vancouver Whitecaps defender Kendall Waston had surgery on Friday to repair a fracture of his right hand.
Waston suffered the hand injury, as well as a left hip strain, while playing for Costa Rica in its FIFA World Cup qualifying match versus Trinidad and Tobago on June 13.
“We’re happy to hear the surgery went well,” said Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson.
“Kendall will continue rehabbing his hip and we anticipate he will be back training with the group in two to three weeks.”
Waston, 29, has logged two goals and one assist in 12 MLS matches this season, and was among the league leaders with 12 blocks and 79 clearances at the time of his injury.
Waston also started all four of the CONCACAF Champions League matches this year.