VANCOUVER, BC – Just one month ago, Vancouver Whitecaps FC found themselves two points out of a playoff spot with five games remaining.
They were coming off a potentially soul-crushing 3-0 loss to expansion cousins and Cascadia rivals Portland Timbers, the team they were fighting with for the final playoff spot. It was the second such result against Portland in the last month.
From the outside, things looked bleak. A lot of people were counting them out.
Since that point, the 'Caps posted a 4W-0L-1D record to close out the regular season, claiming 13 out of a possible 15 points and outscoring their opponents by a 6-1 margin.
So how did the Blue and White turn things around to the point where they qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the league?
For starters, a group of senior players got together after the Portland loss to talk things over.
“We all knew that something had to change,” goalkeeper David Ousted told whitecapsfc.com.
So they discussed a few things and then decided to open up the dialogue with the entire group in a players-only meeting.
“It was just something we needed to do as players and as a team,” Ousted said. “Carl [Robinson] and the other coaches have done so much the entire year helping us with not just the tactical stuff but also the motivation. We needed to take responsibility for ourselves.”
“One of things that Carl Robinson has made a point of doing all season is defending his players and taking it on his shoulders any time there’s a bad team performance or a bad individual performance," added Whitecaps FC president Bob Lenarduzzi in an interview with TSN 1040 earlier this month. "I think the players actually realized that there wasn’t much more he could do."
The meeting was held at the team’s UBC locker room before a morning training session. Ousted and defender Jordan Harvey got things going, before the likes of Pedro Morales, Andy O’Brien, Steven Beitashour, Mauro Rosales, and Russell Teibert added their two cents.
Recently retired captain Jay DeMerit also chimed in.
“I said in the meeting I could accept not winning but I can’t accept not giving a best effort and giving everything,” Ousted recalled. “If you lose to a better team, I’m okay with that, but we needed to do everything we can to get in the playoffs and I think you’ve seen that.”
Though the senior players got things rolling, eventually everybody said their piece. The younger players were encouraged to speak up. And they did
“It’s not just about how the senior guys see it, it’s about how you see it as a squad,” Ousted said. “Everybody is respected in this team, everybody has an opinion and that’s the way it should be.”
Goalkeeper Marco Carducci, 18, said the mood in the meeting was great and he left it feeling “pumped.” It was a frank discussion that left everybody on the same page.
“It was mentioned that not everybody is going to be here next year,” O’Brien said. “And we’ve got a real opportunity to make a statement and do something together. I think we’re determined to continue what we’ve got for as long as possible. I think it is a special dressing room – certainly one that I’ve enjoyed being a part of this year – and long may it continue.”
O’Brien isn’t the first person to mention Vancouver’s “special” locker room. It’s been coming up all season. Robinson and his coaching staff made it a priority to foster a real sense of spirit and camaraderie amongst the group and clearly it worked.
Earlier in the year, a water fight broke out after a training session, for example. And after every training session, the ‘Caps locker room looks and sounds like a nightclub or karaoke bar.
According to Teibert, the players and staff truly enjoy each other’s company.
“Whether it’s at training or off the field, guys get on well here,” he told reporters earlier this month. “When I say we have something special in this locker room, I really mean it.”
Teibert pointed to the bus ride to Seattle earlier this month as a prime example. Instead of sleeping or watching movies, the players were too busy taking part in a sing-along – not something you’d typically see from a professional sports team.
It was a similar story on the bus ride to the stadium itself ahead of what was the team’s biggest game of the season and quite possibly the club’s biggest game since they joined MLS in 2011.
The ‘Caps were running late due to traffic – they wouldn’t arrive at CenturyLink Field until just over an hour before kickoff. It should have been a tense situation, but it felt like anything but.
“It’s something I’ll never forget,” Teibert said. “Everybody was singing all the way to the stadium.”
Unsurprisingly, they were singing a Spanish song.
“I couldn’t even tell you the words,” Teibert joked.
The influx of Spanish-speaking players on the team has played a massive part in the spirit and camaraderie within the locker room this season.
“They’re the life and soul of the party,” said O’Brien, who played over 300 games in the English Premier League before coming over to Vancouver in 2012. “They keep chanting my name for some reason, I don’t know why it is … I’m really enjoying coming into work every day and that’s a testament to what the club has done in terms of the players they’ve brought in.”
One of those players is Matias Laba, who is always cracking jokes and poking fun at his teammates – even if they don’t always understand him. Another is Kendall Waston, whose cheerful and upbeat personality immediately made him a popular figure in the room.
Uruguayans Sebastian Fernandez and Nicolas Mezquida are the big dancers, while Morales and Rosales have emerged into real leaders for this team.
Rosales, one of the most experienced players on the team, said this is one of the best locker rooms he’s ever been a part of.
It’s not all about singing and dancing though.
Even when they’re not playing, O’Brien said the Latin Americans have all been extremely supportive of each and every player on the team, which has rubbed off on the rest of the group.
“If you look at Sam [Adekugbe], when we scored recently, the smile on his face epitomizes what this team’s about,” O’Brien said. “He would have liked to play more that he has done, but he’s a happy as anybody when we score and when we win. I think to have that in such a young boy and to have it in huge amounts with the South American boys, it’s infectious. Even somebody that’s stuck in their mud a little bit and set in their ways has to acknowledge what we have here.”
That sense of togetherness and unity within the group didn’t just suddenly materialize in the last month. It’s been building for a while, so what has changed since that loss to Portland?
“Not just wanting to win, needing to win,” Teibert said. “That’s the pressure we’ve been under. We’ve had people doubting us and questioning us, and that’s fine, but no one’s questioning each other in this locker room. We believe in each other. When you have every single guy on the same page, every single guy giving everything they have, playing with heart, playing with desire, nobody wants to play with you.”
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