re: yordi reyna- after reading the article, you might surmise reyna will be the player who can take the Caps to a better land in MLS http://theprovince.com/sports/socce...-chicago-wasnt-all-negative-for-the-whitecaps there is no history in his career in being a soccer savior or anywhere near that- basically he has been an underperforming player who has been loaned out to 4 clubs and has scored 28 goals in 121 games over 6 seasons in 2nd tier leagues in europe dont expect too much- sometimes its just media hype trying to create a story yordi is a player who hasnt really panned out in europe and is trying to find his niche in MLS- he will just be another average player who has come cheaply to the whitecaps- same goes for ibini, the australian player- he gave no indication yesterday that he will bring much to the club in the attack
cashing in on monteros' scoring abilities for his DP status and salary remains the #1 concern for the head coach heading into the last half of the season- he hasnt scored in 9 games- its a repeat of the beleagured and frustrated octavio rivero years- fredy has the same look in his eyes as octavio did
HOLY SHIT!!! just watched the canada Gold Cup game (canada won 4-2- cant remember CMNT scoring 4 goals for a long time) davies scored 2 cool as a cucumber goals - he slipped both between the goalies legs, played well defensively, ran exquisitely at defenders and battled hard for the ball against much older players... and he went the distance- talk about a FIELD OF DREAMS with this player enjoy him while you can
article about the season-ending injury to mattias laba: http://theprovince.com/sports/socce...st-play-even-better-without-their-best-player while i do question that laba is the Caps best player (i would suggest that both techera and waston have been their best players this year, followed by bolanos who is underused IMO), the writer is correct that the Whitecaps are a mediocre team and he outlines very well why that is yes- matias is a bit-bull in MF, but he rarely adds anything else, such as ball possession and some offensive punch- he is slow-footed to say the least; personally, i think that jacobson, de jong or teibert can do laba's job adequately and actually all 3 are better at passing the ball i have said this for several years- vancouver has good owners with mediocre ambitions that will struggle to keep up with the quality of players being added by other teams- MLS is improving and all we acquire are mediocre-depth players- at best!!- that come on a free transfer, often with a spotty playing record, or on loan- the new players are adequate, but will never take us to the next level as a serious contender in MLS- we will always be in the mix for a playoff position (#6-9 position is our range) to me, vancouver is just as good a market as TO, portland and seattle- i have seen what can happen to the province's interest in soccer and the Whitecaps from the heady days of the NASL... but it will take more ambitious owners to do that- unfortunately, i dont see that happening- we have seen what ambitious owners can do like with TFC, atlanta and seattle PS the lack of not signing the exquisite DMF and canadian international, atiba hutchinson- even with MLS willing to pick up the $5 mill transfer fee- was just too much salary for the ownership group- atiba had the ability to add some serious talent to a medicore team- his ball possession and passing skills are sublime serious contending teams need to have 2 supreme players who can raise the bar over the last 2 months heading to the playoffs- sadly, we dont have those supreme players- we have 7 games at home, and 5 road games- we will need to pick up 14/21 points in our remaining home games IMO, then hopefully add another 6/15 points on the road- its a tall order for a mediocre team (its a 55 % clip and we have never come close to that- presently, we have a clip of almost 47% total points available; our best season- 2015- we had a 52% clip)- getting 20/36 points (ending the season with a 50% clip- 51/102 points from 34 games) would take us to the playoffs in a league with parity its a TALL order
Not signing atiba is embarassing to me. When MLS offers to kick in 5 million and they walk? Hey, we will have a team that sometimes makes the playoffs and says "we reached our goal" , and sometimes misses the playoffs and says "we are building for the future". This will be the mantra as long as Greg Kerfoot is owner. The fans and supporters seem to be cool with that, so why change?
while not a pablum team in MLS- aka colorado- we will be an average to slightly above average team- maybe the major owner, greg kerfoot, doesnt want a lot of publicity if the team has a profile like TFC whats sad and frustrating to me is that vancouver is a great soccer market and should demand more ambition from the ownership group of 4- filling the lower bowl should be their 1st goal
RE: jordy reyna- his play last game was scintillating, the game before was the opposite- and maybe that sums up why he has been a player loaned out numerous times- he lacks consistency and drive- and for that reason, he probably cant be the missing #10 player we have desperately needed since the franchise came into MLS lets see what he does over the next 3-4 games- 2 world class goals doesnt mean he is our soccer messiah
Venezuelan Primera División forward Anthony Blondell has signed with the Caps. 23 goals in 2017 and only 23 years old. DP for certain. https://www.whitecapsfc.com/post/20...kly-scoop-venezuelan-striker-anthony-blondell
Russ resigns for another 3 years. I'm glad he did. As the last of the originals from 2011 I would miss him. https://www.whitecapsfc.com/post/20...idfielder-russell-teibert-three-year-contract
I agree that this is a good signing. He didn't get much time last year but all that can change with an injury or two.
i think that teibert should have pulled his wagon out of vancouver 3 years ago when it became apparent he would never be given more than sub time with the odd start- yet weaker imports like flores and smith got a front row seat until they imploded- russell must have a long fuse and has now accepted his role with the Caps every player should want to be a 1st string starter- i say the same for bustos and adekugbe (and he who knew intuitively that a canadian would never, ever be a starter) in vancouver- if i were de jong- a quality LB- i would be wondering the same in 2018 teibert's placing on the Caps is behind laba, tchani, jacobson, ghazal, ibini and igeibor- russell should have wanted more in his professional career IMO
Maybe but a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. Maybe he looked at that 124k minimum he is paid (US dollars!) and figured he couldn't get anywhere near that anywhere else. I really don't know what role he is to play. He was third behind Laba and Koffie for a long time then they traded Koffie. Most of those you mention have not had their options picked up so the list could be a lot shorter. We'll see if he can take a starting spot this year (finally) or if he continues to be a sub and cover for 3 positions. By the way Flores got less than 500 minutes in 2015 while Russ got 1300 so that isn't the reason he didn't get played more. Smith played RB (Russ doesn't),
flores got only 500 minutes when it became embarrassing-clear that robo made a bad 5 year signing and he had to clear him out of town within a month- i only saw debyi play 30 minutes to know he would never fill the bill of being a quality MLS player- its why debyi was shipped back to his former club- same report for jordan smith if russell is staying because of the money, then that is a sad commentary on a player's ambitions- every player- professional or amateur- should have a deep desire, a passion to be a starter to me, its just a sad note that teibert hasnt moved on to prove to himself that he can be a 1st stringer in MLS- if its all about the money, then he doesnt deserve to be a professional footballer- personally, i dont think it is, but i believe russell should be more ambitious as he is in the crux of his career- 24- and still being a spot player- he will never find out in vancouver- he will be a filler and i guess he is happy with that as he just signed a 3 year deal i do remember robo saying 2-3 years ago that teibert would be a future whitecap captain- what a load of hogwash! he's no closer than he was in 2008 when he was a residency player and 2011 when the Caps joined MLS
Hard to judge why he stayed but there are not only financial considerations. Where would he go to start? FC Edmonton is toast and Ottawa is in USL. What MLS team would he sign for? He's made it this far and is averaging 1000+ minutes a year over 7 years at the MLS level so maybe he doesn't want to try lower divisions. Maybe he'd rather have MLS quality of competition rather than quantity at lower levels. I'd hate to see him go down a level.
USL2 player movements. Off to First team: David Norman Jr. Off to Fresno: Goalkeeper Sean Melvin (22), midfielder Mathew Baldisomo(19), and striker Terran Campbell (19). Looking at university: Gloire Amanda, Thomas Gardner, Patrick Metcalfe Going for trials somewhere: Kadin Chung, Whitecaps FC will maintain MLS Homegrown player rights on Amanda, Chung, Gardner, Metcalfe, and Serban.
you can say the same for davies - the last 2 1/2 months of the season, alphonso was a shell of a player that we saw in the Gold Cup- robo has no pedigree of developing promising youth- carl seems best suited to bringing in cast-offs. like tchani, de jong, reyna, montero and jacobson and having them become solid mid-level players... but they will never be the type of players who can take the team to the next level, especially true when the playoff hunt ramps up- its what we saw unfold in september and october in 2015 to 2017, and will probably be the same in 2018, especially when other more ambitious owners add the newly available TAM of + $4 mill on their own dime- our owners wont do that, but instead will endorse the signing of cheaper, reclamation players like a reyna, ibini, maud, igeibor and ghazal there is no way the Caps bring back montero- that would take a large transfer fee plus salary- the club's MO is free transfers or loans-- no fees to be paid
Too funny. The Oakland Raiders won a superbowl in the NFL with a bunch of castoffs once long long ago. Me? I'd rather have Tom Brady, Tony Dorsett & Jerry Rice I agree it might work once in a while but it isn't the way to bet.
CONGRATS TO TFC- PLAYERS, OWNERS, FANS vancouver could embrace the whitecaps in the same fashion- we saw it to some degree in the playoff crowd of 28 000 in november- the best crowd for soccer since 1979 and the opening of BC Place in 1983 and it starts at the top- with the owners, but alas, the Caps' owners show no courage and belief that it can happen here as well- what we saw from TFC is that the big guns- the guys with the big salaries- show the way and we dont have any of those players- it will become even more apparent next year with an increased TAM of + $4 mill at the owners's expense- its the beginning of MLS 3.0- the ambitious owners will wear the pants, and the rest will wear the knickers happy for toronto, sad for me and the whitecaps
rumor has it that yordy reyna is in bigger shit than reported- havent heard anything for the last 3 weeks,,, which means BIG SHIT!! word also is that nosa doesnt like his salary offer and wont sign- what a shit load of trouble for our beloved whitecaps- all because we have cheap, non-ambitious owners and a head coach who hasnt got a good idea for spotting creative talent
Caps sign kei kamara- cheaper signing than montero and - if motivated- brings more to the team with his size and ability to score- he can make goals out of nothing- trouble is his temperment can cause a problem- piss him off and he tanks a decent signing for a lot less money that fredy (transfer fee and salary would have been in the millions); kei comes in at $800 000- Caps send 2 Superdraft picks- 2019, 2020 this is a good signing and saves a lot of money now they need a #10 player as reyna is gone IMO
Risky signing. Kamara is going to be 34 at start of season and has good and bad to him. Hopefully they get a season of good and doesn't create problems in locker room.
Like the one year wonder el-toro signing. I know Kamara is old but I think we will get more out of him. He could have a good year or two left. The bigger question is what formation Robbo will use now that we have 2 forwards? His love of the 4-5-1 (aka 4-2-3-1) will have to change. Both these big guys on the field at once will be a handful for defences. Here's hoping he doesn't just play one and leave them stranded up top alone (again). So I guess this is definitely no Freddy back. Too bad as I always liked to watch Montero play even when he was with Seattle. Not the biggest or fastest but does everything better than most forwards.
Hopefully Blondell is mobile as a 34 yr old Kamara isn't going to be running the channels very much. This will be a very different looking team on attack.
how is it a bad signing?? fredy- 31- 12 goals, $1.8 mill-would cost $ 2-3 mill to transfer from china kei-- 34- 12 goals, $800 000- cost 2 super draft picks, 2019, 2020