1. It certainly appears as though Erik Hurtado has found his niche in Vancouver. The 26-year-old striker has three goals and two assists in just six starts this season, including his spectacular volley last weekend against Sporting Kansas City. He made that look easy. It is not easy. The ‘Caps are 4W-1L-1D when Hurtado starts in 2017. He’s been productive offensively and he works his tail off for the team. What more can you ask? “He’s a model professional for me,” said Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson. “He doesn’t complain when he’s not in the team. He’s disappointed, which I wanted my players to be disappointed, but he doesn’t come ask me why he isn’t playing. He asks what he can do to get into the team. He’s been behind Fredy this year because of the way we play and Fredy has been excellent. I decided to leave Fredy out. Erik came in and took his chance.” He’s been doing a lot of that lately.
2. Late in the first half on Saturday, after an early onslaught from Sporting KC, you may have noticed that Robinson switched to a five-man backline with Marcel de Jong playing as a third centre back next to Tim Parker and Kendall Waston and Jordan Harvey and Jake Nerwinski occupying the wings. There are a couple things I want to point out about this. First and foremost, the tactical adjustment seemed to slow Sporting’s attack and give Vancouver some time to breathe. Second, De Jong is a natural left back/left winger who started the match in central midfield and ended at centre back. That’s what you call versatility. And finally, let’s not forget who put the ball into Hurtado. It was Harvey. With de Jong next to him, Harvey was afforded a little more freedom to get forward. And it resulted in the decisive goal.
3. The ‘Caps are coming close to a number of different club records in MLS. Here’s a rundown:
- Points: 51 (club record: 53)
- Wins: 15 (club record: 16)
- Away wins: 6 (club record: 7)
- Home wins: 9 (club record: 9)
- Goals: 48 (club record: 53)
They have three matches remaining, starting this Saturday against New York Red Bulls (2 p.m. PT on TSN1 and TSN 1410 radio). Will it be a record-breaking campaign? Watch this space.
4. This weekend’s match will be a little extra special for Jake Nerwinski, seeing as though it’s being played in his home state of New Jersey. You might recall that Nerwinski actually made his professional debut at Red Bull Arena earlier this year in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals. What a ride it’s been since then. Nerwinski said he’s going to have about 150 friends and family members in attendance. “I’m not going to let that distract me at all,” Nerwinski said. “It’ll be nice to see the family, but I know it’s a business trip as well. And we have to get those three points. Because if we get those three points we get a home game and a bye as well so that’s what I’m looking forward to right now.”
5. As Robinson confirmed this week, the ‘Caps had at least one offer for the seventh overall pick in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft. It was for $100,000 in allocation money, which is a decent chunk of change. But they didn’t want to miss out on Nerwinski. Good thing they didn’t.
6. The key Red Bulls player to watch on Saturday is no doubt attacking midfielder Sacha Kljestan. Not only does Kljestan have 15 assists on the season, which is second to only Victor Vazquez, he also leads MLS with 100 chances created. That’s also more than any other player had in all of 2016 … aside from Sacha Kljestan.
7. Really curious to see how the results shape out for the 2017 Whitecaps FC BMO Player of the Year voting, which was launched earlier this week. This year’s nominees, as determined by members of the media and the club’s technical staff, are Fredy Montero, Tim Parker, Yordy Reyna, Cristian Techera, and Kendall Waston. Definitely some strong cases to be made. Vancouver’s top players have been their top players in 2017. And that’s a big reason why they’re sitting atop the Western Conference and headed back to the MLS Cup Playoffs.
8. It was announced on Tuesday that Reyna has been called up by Peru for their crucial World Cup qualifying matches against Argentina and Colombia. While the news may come as a disappointment to some, considering Reyna will now miss Saturday’s match against New York, it’s a massive achievement for the 24-year-old and it speaks volumes to the impact he’s made in Major League Soccer. These aren’t just a pair of meaningless matches for Peru. They’re the biggest matches they’ve played in years. The last time Peru qualified for the FIFA World Cup was 1982. If they can maintain their standing in CONMEBOL over these final two matches (they currently sit in fourth, level on points with Argentina), then they’ll be headed to Russia for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
9. Speaking of Reyna, it’s such a treat to watch him train on a daily basis. He seems like such a pain in the backside to play against – even in training. On Tuesday, for example, he sent Alphonso Davies flying with a hard shoulder-to-shoulder challenge, before picking the youngster up. He was also one of the last players on the field working on his finishing, long before the session ended, even though he was flying out to Argentina later that evening.
10. For more on Reyna, here’s a good read from Postmedia’s Ed Willes: http://ow.ly/PfnE30fEiZv.
