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Vancouver Whitecaps - 2023 Season Thread


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13 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Funny how no one, not one poster, has mentioned the Whitecaps have had a very strong pre-season and look ready to compete.

The last two years we had very bad starts, iirc. Playing away. Then got on runs. If we don't get too far behind, and can compete away from home, it could be a strong season.

Hard to judge when they're not streamed. 

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1 minute ago, narduch said:

Crypto companies probably can't afford it anymore 

Probably not.  I'm mostly just saying that there's companies I'd find much more objectionable than another telecom company (even while I dislike the oligarchy of them in this country).

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2 hours ago, El Hombre said:

Not a single Canadian in the starting 11 for VWFC's final tuneup.  I get the feeling we're going to see a lot of this this year.

And yet, I'm actually more interested in the Canadians on the team this year.  Ahmed has by all accounts been really good in preseason, I'm sure we'll be seeing Yao throughout the season, and Raposo is destined to be a frequent sub at worst this year (though people are higher on him than I am).  Plus, I think we can guarantee the backup goalie is going to be Canadian (be it Hasal or someone else) and I think they're likely to get minutes.

Compare that to last year.  Teibert was a regular starter, but being relegated to the bench is a benefit to everyone.  Cavallini's issues are well documented.  I'm glad we gave Hasal a chance but he couldn't stay healthy and his numbers were below par, and I'm more than happy to have him go off on loan to continue his development with hopefully a return in the future.

They might be regularly starting fewer, but there's also less recycled veterans on the team that counted towards the "Canadian minutes played" but weren't really helping the national team program.

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whitecaps are playing in four competitions this year...theres no need for hasal to go anywhere...stay and fight...when you bring a foreign goalkeeper there could be a language barrier(already speaks english in this case), adjustment needed to the style of play etc...so who knows how it will go

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On 2/18/2023 at 9:32 AM, El Hombre said:

Not a single Canadian in the starting 11 for VWFC's final tuneup.  I get the feeling we're going to see a lot of this this year.

That’s an indictment of the Canadian quality on the team more than anything. We have Canadian depth pieces, but only Raposo/Guti (Martins) and Teibert (Schöpf) are likely to challenge for a starting spot this year.

  • Hasal was statistically one of the very worst goalkeepers in the league last season.
  • Boehmer isn’t ready yet, but may have jumped Hasal on the depth chart
  • Yao is probably 4th/5th on the CB depth chart
  • Ahmed looks promising, but he’s got a lot of competitors at LB
  • Habibullah and Campagna are probably destined for WFC2

It’s not as though there is a crop of Canadian MLS starter quality players out of work right now. Wouldn’t be sad to see Sam Adekugbe return at some point though.

 

On 2/18/2023 at 1:42 PM, Big_M said:

whitecaps are playing in four competitions this year...theres no need for hasal to go anywhere...stay and fight...when you bring a foreign goalkeeper there could be a language barrier(already speaks english in this case), adjustment needed to the style of play etc...so who knows how it will go

Hard disagree. Hasal never looked close to MLS quality last year. His shot stopping was bottom decile iirc. He needs game time badly at whatever level he can get it. Takaoka was in the J-League best 11. He’s exceptionally unlikely to lose that spot unless he gets hurt. There’s also a pretty compelling argument to be made that Boehmer was better than Hasal last year, and should be the number two moving forward. Hasal has missed a lot of development time to injuries. He needs game time that he simply will not get in the first team.

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comment was in reply to anybody who wanted him to get elsewhere in mls and get time...as a move elsewhere in mls would not guarantee a starter spot and maybe push him even further away...now if he was that bad and its about going to a lower level then fine...but they have a next pro team right there and again with the first team in four competitions a lot of things can happen...injuries suspensions...uslc and usl1 starting up soon so unlikely anyone is still looking for a #1...cpl almost everyone has their #1 except maybe a question mark at pacific

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10 hours ago, footballfreak said:

It’s not as though there is a crop of Canadian MLS starter quality players out of work right now. Wouldn’t be sad to see Sam Adekugbe return at some point though.

I've been hearing this or something like it for the last ten years every time a Canadian team gets chastised for their lack of Canadians.  And here we are, coming off our first World Cup in 36 years, Canadians on the rise all around the world and we set a record last season for the amount of minutes played by Canadians in MLS and that has been increasing every year for the last five.  But yet the VWFC party line is "buT, tHerE's nO goOOd caNAdiaNs aVAilAblE!!". 

If that helps you cheer for this team then fill yer boots.  It's a crock of shit in my mind.

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11 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

I'm not getting the anger at VWC.  Hasal, Ahmed, Rapaso, Tiebert, Yao should all be in the mix for lots of minutes this year.  Last year they had 2-3 CDN starters most games??  Sure there is turn over, Cavs is gone, but I am still excited to see what the CDN content will do.  

just trying to balance the hate  so that @RS  doesn't feel we are picking on TFC

 

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5 hours ago, El Hombre said:

I've been hearing this or something like it for the last ten years every time a Canadian team gets chastised for their lack of Canadians.  And here we are, coming off our first World Cup in 36 years, Canadians on the rise all around the world and we set a record last season for the amount of minutes played by Canadians in MLS and that has been increasing every year for the last five.  But yet the VWFC party line is "buT, tHerE's nO goOOd caNAdiaNs aVAilAblE!!". 

If that helps you cheer for this team then fill yer boots.  It's a crock of shit in my mind.

Your argument would hold a lot more water if you had named even one of these mystery Canadians sitting on the sidelines somewhere that deserve to be MLS starters but aren’t. The Whitecaps main starter needs in the offseason were: GK, ST, LCB. Who were the Canadians available in those positions? 

Not sure where the Whitecaps hate is coming from. They signed multiple Canadian homegrowns to senior contracts in the offseason, drafted two Canadians, brought CanPL players into WFC2, gave a home to Montreal castoff Karifa Yao. What more do you want exactly? Be specific. Who are the players that the Whitecaps have let slip through the cracks?

Edited by footballfreak
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6 hours ago, El Hombre said:I've been hearing this or something like it for the last ten years every time a Canadian team gets chastised for their lack of Canadians.  And here we are, coming off our first World Cup in 36 years, Canadians on the rise all around the world and we set a record last season for the amount of minutes played by Canadians in MLS and that has been increasing every year for the last five.  But yet the VWFC party line is "buT, tHerE's nO goOOd caNAdiaNs aVAilAblE!!". 

If that helps you cheer for this team then fill yer boots.  It's a crock of shit in my mind.

Speaking of that World Cup run, here are the players from that list that spent time with the Whitecaps over those ten years you speak of: Davies, Adekugbe, Crépeau, Henry, Cavallini, Cornelius, Gutierrez. By my reckoning, that’s 1.5 starters, 4.5 second string guys, and 1 fringe player.

If you want to add fringe guys who didn’t make any appearances but were reasonably high in the player pool, you can throw in another four in - Teibert, Raposo, Baldisimo, and Ricketts. All could have seen WCQ call-ups under the right injury conditions. Given Canada’s positional needs, there is an outside case that a Simon Colyn or Theo Bair were also in that pool, though I concede both would be considered an outside stretch.  

So by my estimation that’s 11 current or former Whitecaps players who were in the 50-60 man WCQ pool. Is that number really so much lower than the other MLS sides when you consider:

  • A substantial portion of our pool, perhaps 30-40%, have never played in MLS. The names that immediately spring to mind from qualifying are David, Ugbo, Corbeanu, Hoilett, Millar, Brym, Wotherspoon, and Kennedy; but without checking I’m sure there are plenty more in the extended pool.
  • Another cohort spent time in MLS, but have never played for a Canadian team (Tajon, Tesho, St. Clair, etc)

You’re left with something like 30-40 players in the 60 man pool that spent time with a Canadian MLS side at all. Without counting, I’m guessing it’s closer to 30 than to 40.

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