VANCOUVER, BC – There were no excuses from Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Tuesday as the group returned to training after a disappointing weekend draw with Chivas USA.
Credit should be given to Chivas for an inspired 10-men performance, said captain Jay DeMerit, but the energy from the visiting ‘Caps simply “wasn’t where it needed to be.”
“The first week we saw 11 guys flying and we didn’t get that [on Sunday],” DeMerit told reporters at the University of British Columbia. “That’s something we’ve looked at … and we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again in another hard away game on Saturday.”
Tuesday was a recovery day the players who started against Chivas, but DeMerit said one of the focuses this week in training will be to “get back to the basics” in terms of energy and commitment.
The fact that there’s a sense of disappointment around the group, despite picking up a point in their first road outing of the season, is actually an encouraging step in the process of developing a winning mentality away from home, DeMerit added.
The ‘Caps will train at UBC again on Wednesday before flying out to Boston on Thursday morning in advance of Saturday’s early morning encounter with New England Revolution.
“They’re coming off two losses so they’re going to want to put points on the board,” DeMerit said. “They have all the inspiration needed to put in a good home performance and we’re going to have to combat that and make sure we go in ready from minute one.”
Listen to the full audio from DeMerit's media scrum on Tuesday:
News and notes
- Midfielder Russell Teibert, who missed Sunday’s match with a hamstring strain, participated in Tuesday’s training session with the non-starters. Assistant coach Martyn Pert told reporters that the young Canadian looked injury-free, but they will wait for word from the medical staff before making any decisions about his status for the weekend.
- Centre back Johnny Leveron also participated in full on Tuesday – his first session since suffering a knock in training early last week. “I think he’s been fine for the last three or four days, but because it was a concussion he had to go through the protocol,” Pert said.
- Pert said that Kekuta Manneh still isn’t fully fit as of yet after a back injury limited his minutes during preseason, but getting 30 minutes on Sunday was a positive step.
- Like Brody Huitema last week, former Whitecaps FC Residency midfielder Ben McKendry trained with the ‘Caps on Tuesday. McKendry, whose MLS rights are held by Whitecaps FC, is coming off his sophomore season with the University of New Mexico Lobos. The Vancouver native helped lead the Lobos to the NCAA Final Four, scoring five goals in 22 appearances.
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