Yet his fledgling strikeforce failed to ever really take flight. Sure, there have been a few exceptional moments, but the Whitecaps talent up top, or lack thereof, has been the target of much handwringing by fans, media, and even the club itself. Bob Lenarduzzi and Carl Robinson have both spoken about the clubs ambition to sign an impact striker, likely a Designated Player.
It’s hard to blame their restlessness. Darren Mattocks, despite having every opportunity to run with the starting striker role has looked uninspired and disinterested. Omar Salgado has been shipped out as he couldn’t even make it through training without clattering teammates and arguing with coaches. And while Erik Hurtado has shown moments of quality, he’s shown equal amounts of cluelessness.
Robinson has tried pretty much everything. Riding the hot hand, flipping between the strikers, even trying Fernandez as a partner in a two striker set up. No-one has been able to take a firm grasp of their opportunities and lay claim to the starting spot.
But as the season winds down, Hurtado has put together a couple of decent performances in a row and the Whitecaps have found their winning ways. Hurtado has scored just one goal in his last 17 appearances, and while his cement feet and poor decision making have been on display at times, Erik has actually done well holding the ball, defending from the top, and making some simple passes that lead to quality chances.
The recent scoring has come from Sebastian Fernandez and Pedro Morales. While they are being played as midfielders, it should be no surprise to fans that both have a scoring touch. Both end up in very good attacking positions on a regular basis, and both have the ability to finish.
The biggest emergence of late has been the quality play of Mauro Rosales. While he’s yet to open his account in 2014, he has shown he can score on occasion, and he certainly has the skill set required to pot a goal every now and again. More importantly, Mauro’s inclusion in the attack means that opposing defences can’t just clog up the area around Pedro Morales to suffocate the Whitecaps.
So maybe the magic recipe for Vancouver doesn’t include a finisher at the tip of the spear. It’s likely at this point that Carl Robinson has clued in that the best answer isn’t having your three clever midfielders feed chances in to the feet of a bumbling ox, but rather, have the ox clear a bit of the path ahead for your best players.
It’s not a very smart long term plan, but the defending has been pretty good, and the midfield has been strong, so maybe Hurtado going up top, running about for 75 minutes, challenging for every header, bumping into the centre backs, and deferring the attack to the real game changers is just the recipe for success for Erik and the Whitecaps.
And that’s what made Hurtado earn plaudits after the Dallas game. He pressured from the front, he showed for his team mates, and he even made a few smart passes. He didn’t really ever challenge FC Dallas’ goal, but he did just enough to get the rest of the team around him able to make a play.
We’ve seen goals for Jordan Harvey, Gershon Koffie, and even Russell Teibert. Fernandez, Morales, and even Rosales look like they’re good bets when they get the ball in the box.
So maybe, just maybe, Erik Hurtado just doing the spade work will be enough for the Whitecaps to surprise.