Whitecaps put the league ‘on notice’ with second half season increase

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Respect is earned, always earned.

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Time to gift your flowers to the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Three and a half months ago, the MLS team was buried at the bottom of the rankings, under a torrent of statistics and negative perceptions. A 4-0 dismantling by Real Salt Lake was the latest shovel of feculence to hit their heads, extending the club’s worst winless streak to eight games.

A single player meeting was held. Tempers flared. The air cleared. Progress was made.

They followed a team-record 10-game unbeaten streak and an unprecedented streak that has seen them lose just twice in the last 19 games, leaving them poised to reach the postseason for the first time since 2017.

“I think now everyone in the league is aware,” defender Jake Nerwinski said. “Since I’ve been here in Vancouver, I don’t think we get the respect we deserve.

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“I don’t think we have anything this season, especially on the streak we’ve been on. I don’t think MLS gives us that respect. I think other teams are starting to do it, but I don’t believe as much as we deserve. We are a very good team, and I think that if we make the playoffs, we can have a good streak. “

NEXT GAME

Wednesday

Minnesota United FC vs. Vancouver Whitecaps

7 pm, BC Place Stadium. TV: TSN1. Radio: AM730

Nerwinski traced it back to the players meeting: Call it a Festivus-like reconciliation where grievances were aired – and an atmosphere of unity was reborn.

“This dressing room is probably the best dressing room I’ve been a part of in the five years I’ve been here. They all want to fight for each other, ”said Nerwinski, who, along with Russell Teibert, is the only player left from the pre-2018 senior team roster.

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“Since that meeting, we have accomplished a lot. We have a lot of what we needed to get out… When you get on a losing streak like that, it’s easy to lose the plot. And I think as a team, we weren’t fighting for each other, we weren’t as close as I personally knew we could be. And it all came down to … just talking about it. Guys hanging out with each other, and it ended up being the best it could be for us, because we all earned a lot of respect for each other. And honestly, since then, this dressing room has been as tight as possible. “

Acting coach Vanni Sartini was absent for the start of the team’s rebound, watching the games from the stands in front of the press box and attending the occasional training session. But before he assumed the primary role of the under-23 coach and director of academy methodology After the 2019 season, he spent many hours in the dressing room and on the practice field as an assistant on Marc Dos Santos’ squad.

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“It’s not about comparison, it’s about evolution,” he said when asked about the differences between the two iterations of the team.

“We started the work under Marc’s leadership two years ago. The quality that I would like to steal, or that I learned a lot from Marc, is his leadership and how he was able to bring the team together. And that’s why I think the guys know each other much better now, and it’s easy to have a unity of intentions. “

And Minnesota United (12-10-9, West sixth), Wednesday’s rivals at BC Place Stadium, played a big role in the Caps’ season resurgence. The Loons hit a May date with Vancouver 0-4, the worst start in team history, and defeated the fifth-place Caps, kicking off Vancouver’s five-game losing streak and streak. no wins mentioned above, and launched his own redemption tour.

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Only four teams in history have made the postseason after losing the first three games of the season. (discounting the 2020 campaign shortened by COVID, where NYCFC (0-4) and Inter Miami (0-5) made the cut on an expanded support .).

Since then, MUFC has lost just six times in 27 games and ranks one point ahead of Vancouver (11-9-11) in the West.

Minny doesn’t score much, he’s scored three goals just twice this year with a 1.16 average, but Adrian Heath’s team has transformed on defense. They allowed 10 goals in their first four games but now concede just over one goal per game and are two behind league leading Nashville (13) in shutouts.

They push hard from the front, but the Caps hope to break that front line and exploit the spaces behind, being patient and practical in their transition. Unlike their two previous encounters this season, the other was a 2-2 draw, with the PK in the 94th minute from Cristian Dajome stealing a point for Vancouver, they have a player capable of pulling those strings in Ryan Gauld.

They’re also brimming with confidence, sporting a 2-0-1 record in their last three games, with two of the last three regular-season dates at BC Place, where the Caps are 6-1 this season.

“It’s not easy to qualify for the playoffs,” Sartini said. “You need to be in the first half of qualifying. The other teams are pushing and pushing and pushing and we know we have done very well so far, but the work is not done. There are three games we have to do to get the job done. “

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