Whitecaps FC sporting director Axel Schuster and head coach Marc Dos Santos addressed the media on Wednesday via video conference, following the first day of voluntary individual workouts at the club's training facility.
'Most important thing'
“The most important thing is that we are in phase one and without phase one, we will never be able to reach phase two and three,” said Schuster.
Schuster said that the emphasis of these individual workouts was based on improving the mentality of the team through on-field natural grass workouts.
To help curtail any misinformation about the opening of soccer and other recreational activities province-wide, Schuster expressed the steps that have been taken by the ‘Caps to ensure a safe transition back to on-field workouts.
“We are not playing soccer. We are only in phase one. It is only a step onto the pitch, doing individual workouts on the pitch instead of doing them in local parks or at home and we did that approved by the local health authorities and a lot of other parties,” said Schuster.
Schuster stressed the team’s respect for stipulated health guidelines during the pandemic.
“We have a lot of measures in place like measuring of temperature, using face masks, using hand gloves, and having a whole procedure of how players can arrive and leave safely without disrespecting the physical distancing rule.”
“What we are doing as a club is that we are taking all the right measures to try to make sure that we are ready and taking the right steps. We are being careful with training. We have the right distances and everybody is wearing a mask and washing their hands. Everybody is doing what they have to do before going on the field. Everybody is staying away from each other. We are taking the right steps,” said Dos Santos.
'It was special'
Dos Santos spoke on the feeling of having the players together and the group back to sharing workouts even with the physical distancing measures in place.
"It was special,” said Dos Santos.
He also touched on the eagerness of the players to return to action, with 16 total players present for the first day across two shifts, and nine more scheduled to come in on Wednesday.
Dos Santos said that this first two weeks will be focused on physical load to get players' body back to the demands of the game.
“Right now, the only thing we can do is physical work. We cannot really work on lines or tactical elements because you need at least two or three players to do that," said Dos Santos. "Right now, the players are using a quarter of the field, what they can do now that they couldn’t do at home is that they can open more of their strides so their runs could look much more like how they would run in a game.”
Dos Santos described the mood and atmosphere at the workout as one of optimism and joy among coaches and players alike.
Return to action
The return to Major League Soccer is something Schuster described as a step-by-step process considering the league’s setup with markets spread across the United States and Canada.
“We are not in an ideal scenario, far from that. It is a time to be creative and react fast to anything that comes up,” said Schuster.
Schuster expressed a reserved optimism for the potential of a quick return to full league action or the possibility for hub cities to facilitate the recommencement of league action.
“We have to be open to every solution that brings us back onto the pitch and right now it doesn’t look like we would be able to go back to our home market stadium for some time. It is good that the league looks at numerous solutions. Right now, none of them have been approved. We are in a different market. We have two countries, we have a lot of states and three provinces in Canada and every market is different. We will be ready at any time and we would love to go back to pitch and play our game,” said Schuster.
