First game of the 2013 season. Use this thread for roster speculation, injury updates, questions, comments, pre- and post-game analysis, etc.
I think it's going to be a physical game, filled with drama. I predict TFC will turtle, and try to counterattack if they can. And by physical, I mean TFC try their best to goon the Caps in an attempt to drag them to their level. I base this on past experience with TFC, and on their two new (and new-ish) centre-backs, Danny Califf and Darren O'Dea. Califf I found to be a goon full-stop when he played in Philly. I doubt he'll be different in TO. O'Dea seems to be of a similar mold, although I admittedly know less about him. But he was shown a straight red, I believe, in one of his last preseason friendlies this year. Finally, Gareth Wheeler's prediction for TFC this year is maybe telling: "If Nelsen’s no-nonsense, direct approach to the game pans out with a stronger defensive side, competitive football can follow." Read into that what you will, but desperation (surely they must be desperate in Toronto by now) and a lack of talent, sprinkled with a couple of bona-fide thugs, generally leads to goonery in most team sports. I hope the officiating is steady. For once, I actually have some hope that it will be. Yes, I'm showing hope in MLS officiating, and will now go on to complement the league and head referee for same. After this, I'm off for a quick skate in hell. I refer you to this article by Luke Wileman to back up my reasoning: http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/luke_wileman/?id=416017 Between more full-time refs, and discarding some chaff (total # of refs down from 37 to 21), I hope they've used some of their added meeting time to review film of the various players I've mentioned above. I'm also hoping that added professionalism means the calls that need to be made will be. So I say WC win by at least two, and there's one, possibly two ejections (one definitely from TFC, and possibly two; or one from each team, if the ref is more concerned about keeping things even).
I'm thinking Cannon. Looked a bit sharper in pre-season. Knighton had a long-range softy against the Dynamo in Charleston.
Good sounding crowd you guys have out there. Good luck in this match. I'd say may the best team win, but I'd rather we did.
My thoughts... Overall - C+ We looked like a team that isn't that comfortable with each other yet, with flashes of great ball movement. Some really lousy first touch from a number of our players. Miller - B- He looked quicker and more dangerous than last year, showing good hops when the ball is in the air, but I don't feel he held the ball up particularly well, and his service from width into the box was not dangerous. At his salary, he should be dangerous all the time. DeMerit - D We all love the guy but when he got hurt last year, my gut feeling was that he would never be a consistent contributor again. That injury he took with the U.S. Nats in 2011 screwed him up and has made him - in my opinion - a fragile player who will never be able to stick a season out. It's sad, but I don't see this changing. Building our marketing around him was a mistake that should have been anticipated last year. Mattocks - B He certainly had a lot of little flashes but nothing earth shattering and his speed was fairly well accounted for by TFC. Nice hops again though. Rusin & O'Brien - B+ I'm going to call these guys the Titans. Just wow. O'Brien doesn't have jets, but he plays smart and his size is a problem for attackers. And Rusin's great tackle to clear the attack in the first half was epic and potentially game changing. Again - size - just wow. Lee & Hurtado - B+/B- If these two figure each other out on the right side, I'm excited. Some missed opportunities Less could have sent Hurtado on, but Lee looked good defensively and on the ball; Hurtado was waaaay too excited to be out there and his first touch was steel feet, but talk about having luck o' the Mexicans. Somehow he keeps the ball in situations it seems like he shouldn't. I have yet to see these tricky feet mentioned in The Province article, but he is exciting. Koffie/Kobayashi/Rochat - ? I'm tired and can't remember clearly how well they played. I recall Rochat being solid with a couple keys defendings, Koffie's goal, and Kobayashi's general danger.
The atmosphere was pretty good. More people in their seats and Southsiders already chanting for the teams walking out, too, which is an improvement from last year. As for the game, I thought they looked a bit flat in the first half. Reo-Coker seemed to have an effect when he came on. But the injury to Demerit, because the game was tied, and with Reo-Coker still new and not fully match-fit, I'm thinking Rennie probably felt he didn't want to take off Davidson, which should have been the sub for NRC. With three defensive mids, it was a pretty unbalanced squad, I thought, in the second. And my pet peeve--with both Thordarsen and Rennie: Playing the creative playmaker on the wing. W...T...F ?!! I've been raised to understand that the #10 (creative MF) plays in the middle of the park, so he has 360 degree access to all the players on his team. Why? Because he's supposed to be the linking/driving force that moves everyone else--certainly in MF and up front. Put him on the wing, and he has to drift to the middle to do his job, which leaves a hole on the wing, or has to be covered by the player you started in the middle (Miller) because he doesn't have wing-speed (this time WHY...T...F !?!). Or, worst of all, he may get isolated on the wing, and waste his creativity on the fringes. When Kobayashi WAS moved to the middle, guess what? HE SET UP THE GOAL. Great set-up from NRC and Kobayashi showed a veteran's nerve inside the box to put it on a tee for Koffie, who struck it perfectly. Can someone explain to me the reasoning behind putting the #10 on the wing, because I saw it also on a lot of blogs with pre-game line-up predictions, so there must be a reason behind that thinking, but it eludes me. I was also pleasantly surprised by Rusin. I thought his positioning in the pre-season at times was suspect, but he was solid today. Played Earnshaw out of the game, I thought, including a beatifully timed slide tackle in the first half on him that probably saved a goal.
I have a Student ST this year, in 202, up from the Cruva - and I have to say I thought they did a good job of the opening tifo. All the students I'm seated with would be awesome for chanting, but we are just far enough away from Cruva and SS that it never really gets going. Honestly, the thought that occurred to me most of the game was something along the lines of : I'm so glad we don't have to play Thorrington anymore. Whatever our problems with midfield tactics, I trust they will sort themselves out eventually, and I'm so thankful for the skill we have at mid. Now if only Omar can come back and take up the LW position.
i applaud MR for getting our 2 top rookies into the line-up- sure they made mistakes, but the bigger picture is that both will add spice and life to the offense-- the potential for exciting, attacking soccer looks very bright IMO how the hell MR let de merit play with his inflamed achilles is beyond me!!! some injuries take a long time to heal and if the player comes back too soon, he is bound to set the healing process back weeks... which is what happened yesterday with de merit rusin played solid, much better than i expected and hats off to miller who worked his arse off and i liked his push inside the box - he should score a few goals this season as he drives for the net to slot the ball home NRC could be huge for us this season--he is a dominant player and Koba played with flair and technical skill- we could have a dynamic mf when koffie is added into the mix-- should work well with mattocks so where does this leave camilo?? even the rookies got game-time!!
Where does that leave Camilo? And for the follow up question, I'm sure that sulking isn't helping him gain points with the coach,
Not sure what the deal is with Camilo. TSN showed a quick snippet of Rennie giving his pre-game pep talk, and Camilo looked very similar to the photo posted by dewhitcapfan: sitting slouched in his chair, arms crossed, glaring at Rennie. There must be something going on there that we outside the team are not privy to. That said, I'd be very surprised if Camilo didn't start against Columbus next week. Imo, they'd be better off starting Kobayashi in the middle, with Camilo on the wing, and maybe Hurtado the other side. I thought Hurtado was a great energy sub off the bench against TFC. He seems stronger than Manneh and maybe a little more ready for regular minutes as a result. Miller, imo, should come in as an energy sub for Kobayashi if he's getting manhandled, or is tiring. I thought Miller ran around a lot, yes, but his finish on through balls and crosses was no better than with goals last year. I'm not sure he's a starter, especially in the #10 position. Maybe start him as a target man if Mattocks hits a dry spell.
playing both rookies- manneh and hurtado in the opening game-- and having camilo sit on the bench says a whole lot about MR's view of camilo's status with the caps-- MR is sending a not too subtle message-- shape up or ship out- play for the team concept or u will find yourself sitting, either on the bench or in the stands couldn't agree more with MR on this one!
A few things: While his preseason was spotty, Camilo did seem willing to play a new role (withdrawn striker) and looked decent in it at times in preseason. What I noticed most in the games and highlights I watched was that he was laying the ball off way more, and had less of that irritating tunnel vision he often had last year. And he did score three goals in the last game against Carolina, with a B group of team-mates around him. Only Mattocks equaled that feat in preseason. Manneh, who did score two goals one game and also looked good many times in preseason, started against TFC. So all those should give Rennie lots of reason to believe Camilo can still produce, and that he's making an effort--at least-- to integrate into the club's system of play this year. Even if there is a rift developing between Camilo and the coaching staff/rest of the team based on attitude, and the club wants to shop him around and move him out, they'd be smart to try showcasing his talent to up his trade value. Manneh looked good at times and so did Hurtado against TFC. But it's also obvious, imo, from the misses and mistakes they made that they aren't yet ready to be starting XI stalwarts for the WC. Even though I said earlier that I'd start Hurtado next week, I don't really expect Rennie to do that, especially against an improved Columbus team who've brought in veteran experience for this season. Columbus is not TFC, and they may make the WC pay for some of the rookies' mistakes. On the winger depth chart for the WC, Camilo, imo, has to be considered at or near the top, ahead of Manneh and Hurtado due to his experience and previous production, and ahead of Paulo Jr. based on skill and past production. So I'd be really disappointed if Rennie didn't start Camilo next week. My fear is that Rennie is placing Miller ahead of Camilo on the overall depth chart. This would be a mistake, imo.
miller suits the team concept and works a lot harder than camilo- miller also tries- sometimes not too well- to lay the ball off to speedier players and he pushes for goals inside the box IMO miller is more valuable than camilo and should be a starter-- kenny is earning some of my respect back after the first game and benching him for camilo just wont happen
I would give both Manneh and Hurtado a pass on last game, being their first MLS game their nerves had to get the best of them. Rennie would be smart to show confidence in both players by playing them similarly next game, I think we would see even better results from them. I agree with Miller, while he wasn't fantastic, he had some bright moments defensively as well as offensively - a couple crosses and passes were simply off target. Unless one of the strikers up front have a very poor outing, I can't see Camilo starting until we start playing 2 games a week with his attitude. Salgado has been lost in this mix - any timeline on his return? I would like to see Reo-Coker get into the game this week earlier, although having the defensive mid pairing of Davidson and Koffie to support O'Brien and Rusin isn't a bad idea. Rochat looked like he had taken a knock late in the game, hoping he is fine as well.
Last I heard he'd reinjured the foot a while back, and I think they were looking at another month at least before serious talk of a return.
After DeMerit's frequent attempts to return too early, and the result being (likely) the end of his career as a starter, let's PLEASE take our time with Omar. He's already been too injury prone to risk anything like an early return. Keep him out for two months if we have to. We need him to come back when he can stay back.
Agreed! I'm surprised that these are even issues for the team, though. There was so much press about the WC having the best medical staff around, but here's Demerit's injury, which flared up after the wrong treatment, and Salgado, who was brought back in to train only to re-injure the foot. Just bad luck, or is someone in the medical staff dropping the ball?
i totally agree with the last 2 comments about the medical staff-- its obvious that MR talked with the medical staff about playing de merit and got the thumbs up; some of us commented b4 the game that in no way should de merit be risked this early in the season, especially with an inflammed achilles, one of the most delicate injuries to fully recover from- and now its ruptured how did lay 'doctors' like myself and a few others get it right, and the medical staff get it soooooooo wrong??? we might see de merit back for 2014, but i would not be surprised that its game over for jay-- its one of those injuries that never gives 100% recovery, regardless of operations and healing time i am seriously hoping i am wrong, but trying to have him back for 2013 should be a non-starter
In regards to Demerit's injury, I'm pretty sure everyone had a gut feeling that he's gona get hurt sometime during the opener. Solely due to his lack of minutes during preseason and yet he confirmed to the media that he will be starting on March 2nd just didn't sound right for me. Just felt that Demerit's pride cost him his season. Now the CB position is up for grab. But I do think that opens up a future for our younger centre backs though (Mitchell, Rusin, and Leveron). I do see Mitchell will stick around for another year or so since the Caps have spent so much time and resources on him, think Rennie does see some value in him. Would love to see a matured (MLS experienced) Rusin/Leveron or Rusin/Mitchell or Leveron/Mitchell CB pairs in the future.
I don't think it was just pride (thought that was definitely a huge part of it), but also heart (Jay has a lot of it, and it kills him to sit on the sideline). And I think it was one more thing - and this is what makes me frustrated: Jay is the face of the team and has been for three years, and the pressure of being the face of the team means pressure to be starting and leading your team. I'm opposed to this for three reasons that come immediately to mind: 1. Why would they keep putting pressure on Jay to be the face of the team when he has missed so many games in the first two seasons? 2. Why would would they make one player the main face of the team? This seems counterproductive to both the player (too much pressure) and to the economics (more faces of the team means more sold jerseys, demographic appeal, etc.)? 3. Why is it a blond-haired Caucasian that is the face of the team? This is Vancouver, not Omaha, Nebraska. Having a diversity of "faces" represent the team just makes good business sense to me and - more importantly - good human sense to me. We have communities in Vancouver that can more readily identify with Lee, Kobayashi, Hurtado... What I've always loved about Vancouver is the diversity. I'd love to see more marketing reflect this.