On Saturday afternoon a rainstorm of epic proportions hit downtown Vancouver and the Whitecaps were forced to cancel the pre-game celebrations that take place outside BC Place. A sell-out crowd of 21,000 fans streamed into the stadium to watch the home team lose 1-0 to Real Salt Lake. The loss was made even more embarrassing by the fact that Real Salt Lake’s starting XI was essentially their reserve team. Meanwhile, Martin Rennie started the strongest starting XI he could with the exception of Kenny Miller. Miller wasn’t included in the game-day roster because he suffered an injury in Montreal.
Unlike the weather outside the stadium the Whitecaps attack was dry as could be. Whitecaps lead goal scorer Camilo was invisible and seemed lost without the help and ingenuity of his strike partner Kenny Miller. Even Reo-Coker failed to make his usual driving runs deep into the RSL half. 73% of Vancouver’s goals this season have come from their strikers and only 17% have come from the midfield. This massive difference between the scoring output of Vancouver’s striker s and mid-field spells disaster for Vancouver’s playoff hopes.
I like Martin Rennie, I really do. But sometimes I can’t help but scratch my head at his tactics. Yes, he is young but young coaches have to be able to adapt when their strategy isn’t working. Rennie continues to start Russell Teibert on the right side of the field. Teibert has a dominant left foot so naturally his go to trick is to cut in on his left foot. For several months now, every team in the league has managed to catch on to this and has successfully defended against Teibert. Effectively shutting down any attack Vancouver can muster on the right wing. So why hasn’t Rennie changed how he uses Teibert? Your guess is as good as mine.
BC Place’s resident sniper was busy on Saturday as he picked off many RSL players who all went down like a sack of bricks only to bounce back up a few minutes later as if nothing had ever happened. The fans did not have much to cheer about, so we resulted to booing the time wasting antics and referee Baldomero Toledo. The bright spot for Vancouver was clearly GK David Ousted, who stood on his head to keep his team in the game. Ousted even ran all the way up the pitch twice in injury time to try to score a header. After the final whistle blew Ousted clasped to the ground with his hands on his head. He was awarded Man of the Match, and was the only Whitecap to show passion and a desire to win. Other than Ousted, the Whitecaps lacked passion. It was as if they had forgotten about pushing for the 5th and final playoff spot. Is this lack of passion stemming from Rennie or have the players simply stopped listening to their coach? In a post-game interview Reo-Coker had some scathing comments. Some of which seemed to be aimed at his coach. Dissention in the Whitecaps dressing room? It certainly wouldn’t be the first time.
This season the Whitecaps have shown that they are truly a bipolar team. Each week you just can’t be sure whether the Whitecaps team that won on the road in Montreal, or the team that tied Chivas USA at home, will take to the field. The Whitecaps can still mathematically make this year’s playoffs but that will depend on which team decides to show up for their remaining games.
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