VANCOUVER, BC – All season long, Carl Robinson has made it clear that his goal is to make this club successful not just in the short term – but in the medium and long term as well.
It’s a work in progress, he has said, but the building blocks are in place.
MLSsoccer.com unveiled the 2014 version of its annual 24 under 24 list on Thursday and four Whitecaps FC players made the cut, which is the most of any team.
Kekuta Manneh was the top-ranked Whitecaps FC player at 12th overall, followed by Matias Laba at 15th, Gershon Koffie at 22nd, and Russell Teibert at 24th.
“They each have different attributes and different qualities but they’re all an integral part of this club moving forward,” Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson told whitecapsfc.com. “These guys have had a big impact on our season this year and I still believe there’s a lot more to come from them.”
The 24 under 24 series, which is now in its fifth year, ranks the best young players under 24 in the league with the goal of identifying “the potential of the rising generation of MLS players.”
And for Whitecaps FC, the future sure looks bright.
“It’s consistent with what we’ve been saying all along,” Whitecaps FC president Bob Lenarduzzi told whitecapsfc.com. “We feel like we’ve got a good core of players. We’re definitely light in certain positions and we’re disappointed with our recent form, but this validates our enthusiasm about the young players that we’ve got on our squad.”
Both Robinson and Lenarduzzi said the task in the offseason will be to bring in a few pieces that can complement the existing core with the hope of taking this team to the next level.
But as Lenarduzzi put it, “there’s no need for wholesale changes.”
That sentiment was echoed by Robinson, who has spoken at length about his belief in the club’s young talent. Results in the short term are always important and the ‘Caps “need to be better” down the stretch, he stressed.
At the same time, Robinson is focused on building a group that can be successful for years to come.
That’s where the likes of Manneh, Laba, Koffie, and Teibert come into play.
As in years past, the 24 under 24 rankings were determined by a panel of soccer media members around North America who regularly cover MLS. They rated the players based on five different criteria: technical, soccer IQ, physical attributes, personality, and potential.
Laba, Koffie, and Teibert, who was also named to MLSsoccer.com's all-Homegrown team, each made the list last season as well, while Manneh – the youngest of the bunch at 19 years old – is a newcomer.
In addition to the foursome, the ‘Caps have several players under 24 on their current MLS roster who have shown signs of potential – not to mention all those coming through the ranks in the club’s Residency program.
“It’s an important factor in any club that you build from the bottom up,” Robinson said. “We just recently signed two more Residency players in Marco Bustos and Kianz Froese, joining guys like Marco Carducci and Sam Adekugbe. We’ve got endless talent coming through. It’s important that we don’t create ceilings for these young players. If we create ceilings and block pathways, then there’s no development. And that’s certainly not what I’m going to do when I’m here.”
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