TUCSON, ARIZONA – Vancouver Whitecaps FC opened their 2015 preseason campaign with a 2-0 win over New England Revolution Wednesday in Tucson, Arizona.
While it’s still way too early to jump to any conclusions (this is a preseason game in February we’re talking about), here are three things that stood out to me about Vancouver’s performance.
URUGUYAN CONNECTION
<script height="175px" width="310px" src="http://player.ooyala.com/iframe.js#pbid=b99cba03dd0b42759a1f9c880ca6cb96&ec=dsczI2czrHHbwVV3B_544mtioT0Ogz1w"></script> |
<b>Hear what Mezquida had to say after Wednesday's match</b> |
It’s as if Nicolas Mezquida and Octavio Rivero have been playing together for years.
Well, they did play together with Uruguay at the 2009 South American U-17 Football Championship and it appears they’ve rekindled that connection. The Uruguayan duo combined very well and created a pretty goal on Wednesday, which wasn’t a surprise to Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson.
“That was the reason I played them together today, because they have played together before,” Robinson said. “They know each other and I think Nico’s performance in 45 minutes was outstanding. He’s an attacking player but his work rate was second to none. It’s infectious … you look at the way he’s come back this season. He’s one of the fittest players, he’s lost a few pounds, and he’s looking in great shape.”
As for Rivero, here’s what Robinson had to say:
“He’s still not up to the levels we want. We’re working with him on that, so he’s a little bit behind. But I think you see what he’s about. He puts himself into positions where he’s able to score goals and he is able to score goals, but he’s strong, he holds the ball up and he brings others into play so a really positive 45 minutes.”
DROPPING DEEP
<img alt="" src="https://vancouver-mp7static.mlsdigital.net/mp6/morales_chances.png" style="width: 310px; height: 158px;"> |
<b>Where Pedro Morales created his chances from in 2014 </b> |
Robinson opted to play Pedro Morales in a deeper midfield role on Wednesday – the ‘Caps skipper slotted in alongside Gershon Koffie in front of the back line.
Although Morales tends to drop pretty deep regardless (as illustrated by the adjacent graphic courtesy of Squawka, which shows where he created his chances from last season), he was predominantly used further up the field in an attacking midfield position last season. Perhaps this was just an experiment, or perhaps we’ll see more of Morales in a deeper midfield role in 2015.
“I think we’ll look at it,” Robinson said. “Playing him a little deeper allows us to get another attacking option on the field. We didn’t get enough goals from midfield areas last year and that was a concern of mine. Will he play there every game? No. Will he play there in certain games? Yes he will.”
Morales was his usual self on Wednesday, spraying balls all over the pitch. I overheard someone say “Oh, great pass” on the Revolution bench after one of his cross-field passes.
As Robinson alluded to, maybe dropping Morales deeper will be a way to get Mezquida some more time on the field. The way he played on Wednesday, it’s going to be tough to keep him out of the lineup.
BACK IN THE GROOVE
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<b>Watch as Laba sets up Rivero's first goal of the game</b> |
Another player who stood out to me on Wednesday was Matias Laba.
The 23-year-old Argentine appears to have picked off where he left off in 2014, when he led the league in tackles and led all midfielders in interceptions. He was all over the pitch against the Revs and he even set up the game’s opening goal.
Laba’s strength is his defensive game – that won’t change. But if he can chip in a bit more offensively here and there, that would only add another dimension to Vancouver’s midfield.
When asked about Laba’s performance on Wednesday, here’s what Robinson had to say:
“I did talk to him about his fitness levels … I wanted a little bit more from him. But when you see him play like that, his fitness levels are fine. He’s fine. He’s back in the groove.”
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