Road reflections

And that’s a wrap.

After a 10-day stay in Tucson, Arizona, the ‘Caps are back in Vancouver.

It was an eventful trip that included three preseason friendlies: a 2-0 win over New England Revolution, a 1-1 draw with San Jose Earthquakes, and a 1-0 loss to Houston Dynamo.

I’ve already spoken (or written) a lot about some of the things that stood out to me on the pitch over the last 10 days. Here’s an example – and here’s another.

But there are also a few things that stood out to me off the pitch. After all, you can learn a lot about someone after spending 10 days with them on the road.

So here are some of my observations:

AVID READER

The ‘Caps didn’t have much free time in Arizona. Days were quite busy,
as you can see
. But whenever the players did have some time to themselves, it’s no secret what
David Ousted
was up to.

Turns out the Dane is an avid reader (he’s also a really good golfer, but that’s a story for another day).

On this trip, his book of choice was Edge of Eternity (the Danish version, that is), which is the third book in Ken Follett’s Century Trilogy. Follett was born in Wales, like Carl Robinson. There’s a random, unimportant connection.

Anyways, Ousted literally had the book by his side the whole trip. I saw him reading it at the airport, on the team bus, at the training facility, and at the resort. It’s a massive book (over 1,000 pages) and by the end of the trip, Ousted told me he had about 50 pages to go.

“I’ve always loved to read,” he said. “I think I got it from my mother early on. She just loved books and got me interested as well. A lot of the stuff that she read, she recommended to me and I read afterwards. I’ve always been interested. It’s a nice way to keep yourself, well occupied, but also sharp up there. We have some free time as soccer players so that’s a way for me to both entertain myself and keep my brain working as well."

LINGUA FRANCA

Saw a few people wondering about the communication amongst the team considering all the Spanish-speaking players. Here’s how it usually goes down.

When the coaches are delivering instructions at training or team meetings, it’s always in English. And it’s not as if someone is standing there translating their every word. Aside from Octavio Rivero, every one of the Latin Americans can actually understand English pretty well. And it seems Rivero is starting to pick it up a little better as well.

That said, there are times when translation is needed. I can think of a few instances during the Tucson trip: at the team’s media training session and when they were receiving safety instructions at the go-kart track. Of course, it depends on who’s around, but I found that the three players most often translating are Mauro Rosales, Kendall Waston, and Paolo Tornaghi.

Assistant coach Martyn Pert is also fluent in Spanish – as is strength and conditioning coach Jon Poli. If need be, they’ll repeat a few instructions in Spanish at training if any of the players don’t understand. But for the most part, it’s all English.

Unless you get the Latinos together.

Then all bets are off,

FEAR OF FLYING

On the flight back to Vancouver, I was seated in the row in front of Carl Robinson and Martyn Pert. That’s when I learned that Robbo has a fear of flying. Well, mostly just the takeoff and landing part of it.

Robert Earnshaw, who was in the same row as me, turned over to Robinson as we were taking off and said: “Still don’t like flying?” Those two, of course, played together with the Welsh national team for several years.

I decided to ask Robbo about it – once we had landed safely at YVR, of course. He said it dates back to when he was a kid. His family would avoid flying anywhere for family vacations because of it.

“I’ve had it forever,” he said. “It’s not something that I advertise because I sweat, I get nervous and things like that. But it is what it is. People have fears.”

For Robinson, flying comes with the territory now – whether it’s to Arizona for preseason or to South America for scouting purposes.

He’s accepted it, but it doesn’t mean he has to like it!

NEW TOY

Picture this.

It’s Sunday morning and most of the players/team staff are eating breakfast at the hotel. All of a sudden, we see a drone camera flying near the window.

We look outside to see who’s operating it. Guess who?

That would be Kendall Waston – or the “big man,” as they call him.

Suffice to say, the team had a good chuckle.

Waston brought the drone to go-karting later that morning and got some great footage. He was having more fun with the drone than he was on the track. That might have something to do with the fact that he didn’t exactly fit in the go-kart, as you can see here, but still.

Boys and their toys, right?

GETTING TO KNOW RIVERO

On the field, it’s easy to see what Octavio Rivero is about.

It’s still early days, but Rivero’s two-goal debut certainly gave fans a glimpse of his qualities. In a nutshell: he’s strong, smart with his runs, and can finish.

Off the field, the 23-year-old Uruguayan is a little harder to read. He’s not your Pa-Modou Kah, Kendall Waston, or Matias Laba – players who came into the locker room and quickly became known for their cheerful personalities.

From what I saw, and again it’s still very early, Rivero is a little more reserved. He just seems like a mature, respectful young man who’s focused on playing soccer.

That’s not to say he keeps to himself by any means. He’s very close with Nicolas Mezquida and is always hanging around with the Latin American crew. It’s also important to remember there’s a language barrier here as Rivero’s English is limited. This is first experience playing outside South America.

Hoping to understand him a little better, I asked Carl Robinson about Rivero’s personality. Robbo knows Rivero more than most. He went to Chile to get to know him this past offseason, where he saw him in his natural environment. And they’ve had several conservations since that point.

“Once you get to know Octavio, he’s very … happy,” Robinson said. “You can see he’s got a smile on his face. Obviously, he’s coming out of his comfort zone a little bit here. But he’s a bit of a joker. So don’t be fooled by his quietness and shyness. I think you see him mixing with the Latin boys at the moment especially. And I saw him at O’Higgins. He was one of the leaders in the group over there and he trains properly. You’ll see him come out of his shell a little bit and his English will get better every day, I can guarantee you that.”

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