Carl Robinson publicly tipped his hand earlier in the week when he named a few of the Vancouver Whitecaps youngsters as starters days before the line-up was due. When the starting eleven was put out on Wednesday, even the biggest youth supporters had to rub their eyes.
Robinson rolled the dice by starting a line-up that included five young Canadians, two of whom aren’t even on the Whitecaps MLS roster.
Many have been asking to give the Residency kids their shot, and to see them all at once against such a strong team, in a very meaningful game, may have felt like a dream (or maybe a nightmare for some).
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Well, 90 minutes later, and the youth experiment resulted in a 2-1 loss after a very late, very important away goal by another youngster Kekuta Manneh.
Of course, TFC probably could have, or should have won by more. And yes, TFC was the better team, but what did you expect? Even if it was the Whitecaps first team squad we’d be pretty satisfied with a one goal deficit and an away goal to take home for the second leg.
Besides the decent result, there are two things that really impressed and should give all Whitecaps fans (and Canada fans) real hope.
The first is that the kids, including a few that aren’t old enough to buy beer in Vancouver, didn’t at all look out of place. Sure, mentally there were some jitters, and there was the odd hesitation while they come to terms with the speed of the game, but no one on the pitch looked like they were outclassed technically or physically.
Bryce Alderson seemed fairly settled and only once was overrun (leading to a goal by Michael Bradley, and that could have been due to some tired legs and an even more tired brain). Marco Bustos and Kianz Froese both looked to get involved, and the latter had a couple storming runs and didn’t look at all intimidated or out of place against men.
They both made poor decisions or passes from time to time, but they also both made some good plays and should be encouraged to continue what they were doing.
Russell Teibert, who has been a bit of a mixed bag so far this year, had a man of the match performance and was all over the pitch. He was effective both in a possession role as well as a distributing and creating role.
Omar Salgado and Kekuta Manneh both had an impact off the bench, including Manneh scoring another of his now signature clinical goals.
Even better than the result, and even better than the individual performances, was not just that the Whitecaps hung in there but actually how they did it.
Maybe it’s a result of the Residency influence, but despite being hemmed in at times, the Whitecaps kept playing out of the back. They built through the middle. They held on to the ball and passed it around. They tried one-twos, they switched play, and when nothing was doing, they would move it around and try a different angle.
A bunch of kids, some of whom played their first professional minutes. Away from home. Against Defoe and Bradley and the rest of TFC’s big money first team.
Even when they went down, even by two, they didn’t wilt and lump the ball away. And they never looked like they wanted to settle on leaving Toronto 2-0 down to fight another day. They wanted to play football and they wanted to win. And that’s damn exciting for the future.
It was unfortunate that at the end of what was an otherwise entertaining and exciting game, the ugly part of football reared its head.
After Kekuta Manneh does as he usually does, and scored an important goal late in the game, Joe Bendik grabbed at Kekuta to stop him from grabbing the ball to restart the match. He then barked at Kekuta and tried to impede him again. Kekuta snapped back, they both flailed their arms around in a huff, and a crowd formed.
Dwayne DeRosario, who has never been known for being the classiest fellow, then flew into the melee and gave Kekuta a palm or forearm shove to the face.
Manneh would receive a yellow. Bendik, apparently nothing, and although some people on social media indicated DeRosario received a yellow, the match report on MLSSoccer.com states he did not receive any discipline.
Now, here’s where football authorities need to figure it out. The matchday officials need to take control of the games and the players. They also need support from their respective leagues and disciplinary committees to enforce the rules that are already in place.
For far too long, officials have been giving an inch and players have taken a mile and it’s one of the biggest reasons football players get snickered at every game.
While Bendik didn’t do much of any real harm, just a little tug and a bit of a "pick," he was clearly trying to delay the restart and delay Manneh. That’s a yellow card offense. Show it.
DeRosario quite obviously flew in with his hand into the face of Manneh. That’s a red card offense. Show it.
If you didn’t see it, the league, or in this case the CSA needs to suspend DeRosario.
Earlier in the game, Issey Nakajima-Farran and Nicolas Mezquida were both guilty of clear embellishment. That’s a yellow card offense. Book them.
After the games, the league should fine them, or in the case of repeat offenders, suspend them.
When players crowd the official as he’s trying to deal with another player, or has issued a foul or some other even, he should tell them to back off. And if they don’t, and they keep yapping, that’s a yellow card for dissent. Book them.
This is really an easy fix if you just do it. The leagues and officials should send out memos, both written in advance, and then speak to the players before the match.
"Hey, fellas, no embellishment and if I tell you to back off when I’m talking to someone else, you do it, okay? Cards will come out quick for that stuff today."
Players and teams will get the message real quick when they start getting in game discipline and retroactive suspensions. And then maybe garbage like Bendik and DeRosario won’t mar what was otherwise a wonderful show.
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