TUCSON, ARIZONA – After a recovery day on Thursday, Vancouver Whitecaps FC returned to the training pitch today in Tucson ahead of Saturday’s preseason tilt vs. New England Revolution (3:30 p.m. PT kickoff at the Kino Sports Complex Grandstand Field).
Here are some news and notes from the day:
BACK AT IT
The ‘Caps opened the 2016 preseason with a 2-1 win over Seattle Sounders FC on Wednesday. Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson said the team’s “attitude and application was spot on.”
Now, it’s just a matter of building on that.
“We’ve had a very physical session today, so they’ll go into the game tired,” Robinson said. “And that’s on purpose. We’ve got to see how they react in these circumstances. They won’t be 100 per cent fresh.”
Robinson said he’ll once again field a different lineup for each half on Saturday.
TIME TO TINKER?
Robinson has said he plans to experiment with a few different formations at some point during the preseason – and that’s what he did on Friday. The ‘Caps ended the session with an 11 v. 11 scrimmage. One of the teams lined up in a 4-2-3-1. The other appeared to be a 4-1-3-2, featuring a striker partnership of camp invitee Blas Perez and Octavio Rivero.
There are still a number of players missing due to international duty and injury, so we shouldn’t read into things too much. But it will be interesting to keep an eye on this nonetheless.
“Obviously, the plan is to try one or two things out,” Robinson said. “And we will do that in this game and on Tuesday. We’ll look at certain things. When we get all our personnel back, we’ll zone in on what we’re going to play and how we’re going to play.”
COSTA RICAN REUNION
Kendall Waston and Jordan Smith have joined the team in Tucson after their stint with the Costa Rican national team. The defenders did some light work during Friday’s training session – as did their countrymate Christian Bolanos.
“He’s still got a little bit of work to do,” Robinson said of Bolanos. “We won’t put anyone at risk.”
MAKING AN IMPRESSION
One name that keeps coming up this week is Brett Levis.
The WFC2 midfielder missed a good chunk of last season with an ankle injury, but Robinson says he’s come back with “a bit between his teeth” and a desire to crack the first team.
“He played left back the other night and I thought he was excellent,” Robinson said. “I’ll speak to Alan [Koch], who flies in later today, I think that’s going to be the position we should look at him in. He seems to be made for it … we’ve been very, very impressed with him.”
INJURY UPDATES
Kekuta Manneh (ankle) participated in his first full session this week in Tucson and Pedro Morales (calf) did some individual physio work with the club’s medical staff.
For all the latest news on the team's 10-day training camp in Tucson, visit whitecapsfc.com/2016-preseason-tucson. And click here to find out how you can cheer on the ‘Caps, in person, at the 2016 Major League Soccer Preseason in Tucson.
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