It’s been a pretty successful Disney Pro Soccer Classic for Vancouver Whitecaps so far, at the ESPN Wide World Of Sports complex in Orlando.
Following Montreal’s 1-1 draw with Kansas City yesterday, the Caps have an unassailable lead at the top of their group and are guaranteed a place in Saturday’s final, with a game to spare.
One weekend win away from lifting the Interpluto Cup – Martin Rennie’s first silverware at the Club.
But as Rennie <a href="http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?2844-Whitecaps-Bloom-In-Orlando" target="_blank">told us on Friday</a>, winning the tournament would be nice, but is nowhere near the top of the aims here in Orlando. Having a look at the players, especially the fringe ones, against MLS opposition and trying to implement training ground work into actual matches are what it is all about for Vancouver’s near two week stay in Florida.
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And so far, we have a very happy Whitecaps management team, after two wins and two clean sheets. Martin Rennie was certainly in a buoyant mood post-game:
<i>”We defended well over the weekend. It was a huge squad effort. Everybody’s worked and a lot of guys have played ninety minutes.
It’s a good step for us and a very tough game at the end there, when we were tired and they made a lot of changes and we obviously had guys playing over 60-65 minutes, so there was a bit or tiredness there.
We stayed organised and worked hard, so it was a good performance.”</i>
The defence has to be the most pleasing part of the two performances to date, although not too far behind we can put the batting in midfield, the pace and variety of the attack, vocal presence from veterans and rookies alike, and the work-rate of every player that has put in a shift or two so far.
It’s looking great, but we still shouldn’t get too carried away.
Both Vancouver and Houston started yesterday’s game with primarily second XI’s out there. As Houston brought on first teamers to try and change the game, Vancouver went for third string options, and they coped admirably, a sure sign of just how deep the squad is this year.
Houston certainly huffed and puffed in the closing stages, but they couldn’t blow Vancouver’s defensive wall down.
Reaching the final with a game in hand will most likely see more of the third stringers start Wednesday night’s game against Kansas City. It could be a rare chance for some of these guys to get substantial minutes and try to add to the selection headache that Rennie will be facing the way things are going. It’s certainly better this than the alternative option.
Hopefully we will see Residency keeper Callum Irving get a start against KC, allowing Joe Cannon to rest and play in Saturday’s final and Brad Knighton to learn the passback rules and play against his former Carolina Railhawks side on Sunday.
Rennie’s starting eleven is probably fairly set at the back and up front. I still think that the midfield places could be up for grabs if players stand out enough in these last few games and depending on the injuries to Davide Chiumiento and John Thorrington.
Rennie advised that there are no further updates to report on Thorrington.
One player that may have put himself into the mix is second year midfielder Michael Nanchoff.
Nanchoff had an excellent game Sunday and played a little longer than Rennie had planned due to how well he was playing.
I liked what I saw of Nanchoff last season in both MLS and the PDL games that he played. At first I wasn’t sure about him (maybe put that down to my anti-draftees sentiments at the time), but the more I saw him play, the more I liked it. He was just coming on to his game when an injury and Tommy Soehn’s team selections soon put paid to that.
Rennie has known Nanchoff for a long time and has been a fan, having first seen him play in high school games in Cleveland as a 16 year old:
<i>”I think he’s got tons of talent. He’s got the capabilities to play anywhere across the midfield.”</i>
Bryce Alderson came on in the middle at half time and didn’t look out of place in the slightest. Very composed in fact. It was also nice to see a Canadian on the park for the Caps in the second half, along with Russell Teibert.
Matt Watson also had another strong game. He kind of flies under the radar a little, but has been a workhorse in the games I’ve seen so far and is a real danger going forward. He moves the ball well and certainly adds a presence in the midfield.
Another player that impressed again was Greg Klazura. We’ve been big on him from early on, as our earlier interviews will have shown, and he is continuing to learn and grow. We’ll have another interview coming up with him shortly.
I still liked him more on the left, than the right, and he seems to have a slight tendency to try and cut inside to the left, which could be really punished at this level, but he’s certainly developing with every game in the right back slot.
He was pretty solid yesterday, playing the full ninety and handling all the talent that the Dynamo threw at him.
Rennie also likes what he sees of the former Notre Dame captain:
<i>”I’m really pleased with how he’s doing. I really like him. I think he’s a project but he’s got everything in terms of enthusiasm and physical qualities. He’s going to be a good player in my opinion.”</i>
The other stand out performance from the Houston game was Long Tan, for a number of reasons.
His pace certainly caused Houston problems, so much so that he started to get banged around a little in the second half and he doesn’t have the bulk just yet to handle that all too well.
He is certainly a talent, but may be picking up a trait I don’t want to see of hitting the deck a bit too easily. He’s drawn three penalties so far in this tournament. I think two probably were, the first one Sunday didn’t look it to me.
After wanting to take the penalty on Friday night, he got the opportunity to take one against Houston and wasted it big time. When finally given that chance, you don’t showboat. I love cockyness (see Darren Mattocks) but you have to be able to back it up.
Rennie wasn’t overly pleased with the miss, but knows it’s part of Tan’s learning experience:
<i>”I don’t think he’ll do that again. It was disappointing but he’ll get over it….If you’re going to miss a penalty don’t miss it like that. He knows that now, but the enthusiasm and confidence he brings to the game, we just want to encourage that and build that up and keep getting the best out of him.”</i>
I took in a bit of the game at field level and one of the very noticeable things was just how vocal so many of the team were. It wasn’t just the captain for the day, Sebastien Le Toux, or the veterans like Jordan Harvey, but even the young guys like Klazura and Michael Boxall were shouting out instructions to their team-mates.
It was certainly good to see and hear, after a lack of leadership at times last season.
So all in all, a lot to be happy about.
The Caps are the only team to have recorded any victories in the tournament so far.
Wednesday’s game is basically going to be a glorified training match for Vancouver, but with the battle for places really heating up, it should still be a very interesting run out.
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