Now, we’ve previously extolled the virtues of the Caps’ having their own side for betterment of both the MLS team and the Whitecaps’ young players. Players get development close at hand, under the same Whitecaps’ structure, and vital competitive minutes to not only help learn but to keep fit and recover from injuries. You all know the script by now.
But what do the actual players themselves think of the plan? We spoke to two of the Whitecaps’ Residency’s finest, at different stages of their careers, to get their thoughts.
Goalkeeper Marco Carducci signed his first pro contract in March of this year and has already made his first team debut in the Canadian Championship games against Toronto.
With current Caps keeper David Ousted in good from and keen to play every game he can this year, the two time Canadian U17 Player of the Year knows that competitive developmental minutes at this stage of his career are vital and the new USL Pro team would give him just those opportunities.
"It's definitely very exciting for me and it's a huge positive step for the club," Carducci told AFTN. "It's a little bit of a bridge of the gap from coming up through the Residency and the first team. I think it's going to be very important.
"For someone like me, I'm really looking forward to that opportunity and I'm hoping to be a big part of that because having those games in that kind of atmosphere and that environment is just going to be instrumental in terms of development and helping me just make the step into the MLS squad."
Carducci is currently away with Canada’s U20 team at the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland, alongside many of his current and former Residency teammates.
One of those players is striker Brody Huitema.
The Residency alumni will shortly enter his sophomore season with the Duke Blue Devils, having chosen to go down the NCAA route for now, bit Huitema feels that this new team will give young players more options.
"For the Residency, I think it's a good option for the kids, especially the ones that aren't considering college," Huitema told AFTN at a recent training session with the MLS team.
"Now it's not a vast step up from Residency straight up to first team. They have Residency to this USL program and I think it's great for the club and I think it's great for the league in general and all the young players moving up."
And for those that have gone or are planning to go the college route, the new USL team will give those players something to think about and aim towards when they do come out of school.
"For myself as a college player, I also think it's a good thing because you come out of college, however many years it is, wherever you're at, you can go to the USL team and get games in if you're not quite at that first team level,” Huitema told us. “I think it's just a great option for someone who's not quite at that level and they can get games in.
"I think it's great for the league and it's a better option than the Reserve League as well."
Many, AFTN amongst them, are hoping that the talented striker will be suiting up in a Whitecaps’ jersey again sooner rather than later, but with three years of his college eligibility remaining, Brody has really thought just yet as to what the new USL Pro team might mean to him personally.
"I wouldn't say necessarily it changes any plans,” he told us. “Just because the USL team is going to be involved with the Whitecaps program, I'd still have to be signed back here as a Whitecaps player so either way I'm still looking at it the same way as that I'm signing on with the Whitecaps and wherever they would put me when I would sign on, if that day does come."
For more details of the Whitecaps’ plans for the USL Pro team and how you can help be involved in making the plan become a reality, check out http://www.whitecapsfc.com/newwest