Last night’s game in Colorado saw Vancouver Whitecaps reach the midway point of their 2012 MLS season.
And they started it as they begun in March, with a win.
Seventeen games down, seventeen to go, with still so much to play for. The Western Conference has the makings of getting real close down the road and it will only take a few wins or a few losses to dramatically change the standing of most sides.
Thankfully, the Whitecaps are right in the mix for post-season action. Keeping there will be a continued challenge, but one which this team is certainly more than capable of achieving.
They are helped by now having a nine point cushion over the 6th placed LA Galaxy. Three games breathing space at this point of the season is a big advantage, especially during a tough spell of away matches.
The first 17 games have seen the kind of start we hoped for, but after last season, were a little wary of getting too excited about.
Eight wins, five draws and four defeats, sees the Caps sitting on 29 points, and already surpassing last season’s overall points total.
Third in the West, and sixth overall if you were to look at the League as a single table, it’s the perfect starting spot for a second half push.
That’s our take, what about the boss?
We asked Martin Rennie how he felt the season had been up to now just before he headed down to Colorado:
<i>”I think that so far it's been a good first half of the season. The next game can it make it an even better first half of the season, then after that we need to kick on and push forward, but so far it's been a positive start."</i>
And what of the second half? What are the main changes he’s looking to see in the team moving forward?
<i>”I think just being consistently winning games and making sure that we're continuing to do the things we've been doing, but maybe be a little bit more clinical going forward and make sure that we manage games well when we're in the lead. Just keep making progress.”</i>
And therein lies the keys. Progress needs to continue and ultimately, we have to keep our leads and start scoring more for this to happen.
For a team sitting third in the West, with a joint league best four losses, a goal difference of zero is terrible.
The fact that when we lose, we lose big, has had a huge part to play in this, but who knows how crucial this could be down the line?
Eight clean sheets is a tremendous feat. Only five clubs have conceded fewer goals, and Joe Cannon really has been one of the stars of the season, but equally only six clubs have scored less than us and they're all the bottom of their conferences.
We have to get our strikers working as a unit instead of a set of individuals. It seems rare that we actually have more than one of them clicking on any particular night.
This is probably Martin Rennie's biggest challenge just now, but if training is anything to go by, then the addition of Barry Robson could be one of the missing pieces. He seems to have already built up an understanding with Eric Hassli and the Frenchman was burying goals all over the place last week from Robson through balls.
The Caps cannot rest on their laurels. They may be a completely different side, in all aspects, from last year’s unmentionables, but that will all count for nothing if they lapse in the second half of the season.
Only two of the remaining games are against Eastern Conference opposition, with the final fourteen all-Western clashes where every point will count.
Vancouver have turned BC Place into a fortress. One home defeat is the joint second best in MLS.
With eight home games remaining, this has to continue if we are to make the playoffs and then make a run for the Cup.
We’re averaging two points per home game, if that were to continue, we would have an extra sixteen points, taking us up to 45. This is still shy of what we would need to comfortably make the playoffs, so we need to take points on the road.
Three wins from eight is a vast improvement on last year, although we must all really stop looking back to last year as we simply can’t compare.
If it means going to places like Colorado and grinding out a point or three in unspectacular matches, then I will take that any day of the week.
It gets the job done and that’s the Whitecaps in a nutshell this season.
They play how they need to in each game and they get the results.
It may not always be pretty to watch, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
This squad has self belief.
As Michael Nanchoff <a href="http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?3425-Nightcap-With-A-Whitecap-Michael-Nanchoff" target="_blank">told us earlier this week</a>, <i>" Personally, and I think it’s collectively felt as well, I think that we can win the MLS Cup this year."</i>.
We agree. This team is more than capable of doing just that, but I guess we should see what the second half of the regular season brings before we allow ourselves to get too carried away.
In Rennie We Trust.
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