With opportunity knocking, Dos Santos feels Whitecaps homegrowns “not ready” for first team football

[AFTN]

With opportunity knocking, Dos Santos feels Whitecaps homegrowns “not ready” for first team football

There were a lot of statements made by Vancouver Whitecaps after the season ended and upon Marc Dos Santos’ appointment as head coach last November, let’s call them that rather than promises. Nobody trusts anyone after broken promise after broken promise after all.

Jeff Mallett, Bobby Lenarduzzi, and Dos Santos himself talked about a new approach, a new identity. The desire to play attractive football at home, helped by the spending of the Davies transfer on the playing side of the business to bring in difference makers. A desire to integrate young, homegrown talent into the first team mix, far better than it had been done previously.

Ten months on and those statements have not really borne fruit.

The club has three Designated Players, but they’ve not exactly been difference makers and we’re seeing more indifference from some of them at this point. They’re also not the kind of DPs you see elsewhere around the league, both in terms of performance and stature.

I don’t think attractive football could really be used to describe the Whitecaps in any sense this season, unless you just love watching the goals fly in for either side, and the desired and much vaunted high press game was apparently either thrown out of the window very early or the instructions were simply ignored by the players.

Dos Santos talked after the Cavalry loss about the need for something “drastic” to take place to try and get the Whitecaps out of this rut and turn their fortunes around. What that may be looks like being the injection of some new blood into the squad this transfer window, possibly removing some tainted stuff in the process.

And a transfusion is badly needed. Players MDS has signed expecting to be A positive or at least B positive have sadly proved to be very much on the negative, leading to an overall generally negative vibe surrounding the club right now in every aspect of its operations it feels.

Dos Santos has used 22 of the 28 players at his disposal this season. Of the remaining six, one is the injured Jasser Khmiri, who may finally be able to take to the pitch in the coming month, and the other five are Whitecaps homegrown players – Michael Baldisimo, Simon Colyn, Thomas Hasal, Sean Melvin, and David Norman.

Baldisimo, Hasal, and Norman have all had injuries at various points of the season. Colyn has been away with various Canadian national teams and with the ‘Caps development squad, and Melvin is not going to get time when he has Crepeau and MacMath ahead of him.

Right now they’re all fit. So, with the Whitecaps in complete turmoil and realistically with no hopes of any success this season, many, ourselves included, expected to see all of these homegrown talents get some minutes and first team experience over the remaining 11 MLS matches. They would, after all, be some of this fresh blood that the ‘Caps are badly needing and surely couldn’t do much worse than what we’ve had to endure over the past month.

But not so fast. The likelihood of seeing these players in MLS action this season remains slim and for Dos Santos, there’s very good reasons for that – they simply have not shown that they are ready for the next level.

“Simon Colyn, today, is not ready to get in,” Dos Santos told AFTN at training this week. “And Baldi has to show us more in training to get in. I just want to be fair. I want to make sure that the message is not because they’re Academy they have to play. No, it’s not true.

“Now if they deserve, they could go and talk with Theo [about] what did you do? How was your mentality to get a chance? Maybe Theo could explain a little bit to them. If they show some signs that I feel they deserve it, there’s big chances that we’ll see another young player playing.”

This will disappoint many, for whom this felt like one of the few plus points for watching the rest of the season, but the ball seems to firmly lie in the players’ court to show Dos Santos in training and in the Development squad games that they are ready for some first team action. The fact that they haven’t raises question of not only the players themselves, but of the whole Whitecaps development system right now, especially just what the current U23 side is doing to get these players ready for the next level.

Theo Bair has been the only recent homegrown signing to make the breakthrough, and even then, Dos Santos revealed it’s been a challenging season for the 19-year-old striker. One that seemed to be going awry, before Bair turned it around for himself through an attitude adjustment and hard work.

“He deserves it,” Dos Santos said again of Bair getting his opportunity now in the first team. “His personality, his work. I was so hard on him before. When he came back, he had a meeting with me at the beginning of the season saying ‘I want to play, I want to be an important part of this club’ and he wasn’t showing it in training.

“He wanted to be that in a way that was entitled. I got really upset with him that day, and I sent him to work with the Development Squad so he didn’t even train with us for I think a month. He was walking through this, going over there every day, and he didn’t say a word, but when we brought him back after the Korea trip his mentality was totally different. Hard working, listened to everything and every little minute you got from him was gold. So he put himself in that position to deserve it.”

Of the rest, Colyn got a couple of minutes run out in the final match of last season, almost scoring on his debut and impressing. But that was a small sample size. Has he regressed since? Does the travelling roadshow that is the Whitecaps U23 development squad aid him or hamper him and the others?

Playing time is all well and good, but if you’re playing, and losing, to the VMSL All-Star side one week, how much does that really prepare you for playing a MLS side? It surely can’t. These players need far more testing environments. Whether that is in the USL League One set up or in the newly proposed BC League One that is set to launch in 2020 or 2021, with BC Soccer coveting the ‘Caps to be a part of, remains to be seen.

Next month the team has matches against UBC, SFU, and Khalsa Sporting Club. Can the likes of Colyn and Baldisimo really expect to impress Dos Santos in those? Probably not, so they need to be at their best at training. If they can be, they will have a shot, because as we said earlier, can it actually be any worse than what we’ve been watching play out?

Norman would appear to have the best shot of seeing some first team action any time soon. He impressed in his loan spell in Scotland with Queen of the South. They wanted to keep him longer but he wanted to come back and fight for his spot here, only to get injured on the development squads trip to the UK.

The fact that these homegrown signings are deemed to be a step off the mark in terms of being first team ready is alarming, especially when you see other young talent across MLS not only getting minutes and starts, but making huge contributions to their teams success.

If the Whitecaps development environment is not setting these players up for similar success then that sadly appears to be yet another part of the organization this is needing blown up and rebuilt.

We’ll add it to the ever increasing list.

Read Further on AFTN.ca

 

[Dude]

Apparently DNJ was in contention at the start of the season to claim one of the two holding roles. They gotta get him in now.

This is so disappointing. They should be blooded now, more than ever. WTF, this stupid travelling team is fcuking useless. They will get owned by SFU and UBC, who will have strong squads with far more experience, and guys fighting for the last roster spots. If Baldi is ready now, surely he can relieve Hwang, who looks tired and beat-up...and unmotivated. Maybe sending a message to him that the better option is a 19 year old nobody Canadian kid will make him up.

I was a big MDS booster to start the year. Said all the right things. Was hopeful he could cobble together a squad after most of last year's was nuked in that toxic dressing room. But he let go of guys like Mesquida and Kamara, great team guys with experience and pedigree (Kamara...enough to go around). Nico was just a good guy that seemed to get caught in the bandito mess.

Creapeau is the real deal, but MacMath? I assume MDS has eyes, too? I know I do. He's not an MLS keeper. May as well try Melvin if Creapeau gets hurt or needs rest. Don't see either happening, the guy is a machine.

 

[Dude]

...anyhow, you said it. They need a real squad, real competition. The Caps, however, close down their USL squad instead, and leave their guys to die on the vine. Said it before and will keep saying it till proven otherwise: any HG singing with the Caps is career suicide.

 

[GoF]

I think a lot of it with MDS is that he has high standards in terms of attitude and general behaviour. He has no time for entitlement and wants players to earn their spot. That's in part why he's dropped Erice and Montero. I love that but with sensitive modern day footballers and entitled homegrowns, a lot of them can't handle it and he loses them.

Why were these homegrowns offered deals now if they aren't ready? For PR? As a reward for their efforts? Or because they were worried they'd lose them for nothing and wanted to handcuff them to the Caps? Probably a mix of all three. They have to show players coming through or no one will want to come to the academy.

He must have come in here and thought 'what the fcuk have I come in to, it's far worse than I even imagined'. From the MLS team to the academy it's a mess on the pitch and an absolute shambles on an operating business off it.

The U17s and U19s were bounced fairly easily out of the USSDA playoffs at the first stage. Feedback from those facing the U23 team is never encouraging (got a tweet that watched them take on the SK Selects team last night, that team's second ever match, and they were more than a match for the Caps in a 1-1 draw).

Alan Errington was asking on Twitter who was the last BC player to come through development in the province and go on and do something decent in the game, make the national team regularly etc?

How does Alberta produce all this talent and BC has fallen behind?

 

[Regs]

Alan Errington was asking on Twitter who was the last BC player to come through development in the province and go on and do something decent in the game, make the national team regularly etc?

I'm gonna say same generation that included the likes of:

Clarkey, Watty, Kushy and Carlo? Friend, Imhoff, Simpson in there too?

Daso I think I would consider as a generation before them (Dom, Aunger & Onstad in here too)

And no one else I can think of if "National team" is the criteria... CSA was/is so badly managed though that there are/were just as good players I would think that never got a MNT sniff.

@Jigsaw - who were you thinking of?

 

[dezza]

The U17s and U19s were bounced fairly easily out of the USSDA playoffs at the first stage. Feedback from those facing the U23 team is never encouraging (got a tweet that watched them take on the SK Selects team last night, that team's second ever match, and they were more than a match for the Caps in a 1-1 draw).

To give an idea of the level of the SK team, 5 players on their team are current/recent players from Thompson Rivers University.

The Caps may as well have just entered that U23 squad in VMSL Premier. It's the right level of play for them, they'd save $ on travel costs, and they'd have regularly scheduled matches that are actually competitive in the sense that opposition care about the result.

 

[Jigsaw]

I'm gonna say same generation that included the likes of:

Clarkey, Watty, Kushy and Carlo? Friend, Imhoff, Simpson in there too?

Daso I think I would consider as a generation before them (Dom, Aunger & Onstad in here too)

And no one else I can think of if "National team" is the criteria... CSA was/is so badly managed though that there are/were just as good players I would think that never got a MNT sniff.

@Jigsaw - who were you thinking of?

Yallop, Miller, Forrest, Easton,
They went on to play at the top level.
There are many more who played at what I call pro.
Whitecaps USL, NASL etc.
If you look at the squad that played in Mexico World Cup Finals in 1988, I believe 16 of the 22 were from BC.
Now, on any National Team, we are lucky to get 1 player selected.
We have far better facilities now, more "Professional Coaches", getting well paid for not developing any players.
Better technology to assess players, with stats & video analysis.
Yet we can't develop any players?
There must be about 25 players released each year from Whitecaps Academy, where do the go?
After all those years training & chasing the dream, many disappear into oblivion?
Why is there no accountability for this?
Many of the coaches at the Academy are young "Qualified" coaches with their brand new certificate, but no experience playing, or coaching.
What are they teaching the kids?
Are they training the same way as the 1st team?
Or, are they just putting on "Fluffy Drills" to make them look like they know what they're doing?
BCSA have "Passed the buck" & washed their hands of any accountability, by handing over "Lock stock & Barrel" the job of developing players.
Nobody seems to want to address the situation regarding the fall of quality in developing players.
What should be done about it?
Who should take "the bull by the horns" to sort out this mess?

 

[Jigsaw]

I think a lot of it with MDS is that he has high standards in terms of attitude and general behaviour. He has no time for entitlement and wants players to earn their spot. That's in part why he's dropped Erice and Montero. I love that but with sensitive modern day footballers and entitled homegrowns, a lot of them can't handle it and he loses them.

Why were these homegrowns offered deals now if they aren't ready? For PR? As a reward for their efforts? Or because they were worried they'd lose them for nothing and wanted to handcuff them to the Caps? Probably a mix of all three. They have to show players coming through or no one will want to come to the academy.

He must have come in here and thought 'what the fcuk have I come in to, it's far worse than I even imagined'. From the MLS team to the academy it's a mess on the pitch and an absolute shambles on an operating business off it.

The U17s and U19s were bounced fairly easily out of the USSDA playoffs at the first stage. Feedback from those facing the U23 team is never encouraging (got a tweet that watched them take on the SK Selects team last night, that team's second ever match, and they were more than a match for the Caps in a 1-1 draw).

Alan Errington was asking on Twitter who was the last BC player to come through development in the province and go on and do something decent in the game, make the national team regularly etc?

How does Alberta produce all this talent and BC has fallen behind?

MDS might have came in with high standards, as any new coach would.
The question that needs to be asked, is "Does he still, if he ever has had, the players respect"?
If he's tell in them how to play, they're certainly not following his instructions.
It appears that they just go out & play as individuals?
Dropping Montero might be his way to send a message to the rest of the players that nobody is immune from criticism, however, how did that work out?
These are his players, that he brought in & the players he got rid of were better than the ones he's brought in.
That's down to him. The front office are a shambles, as is the whole club, in every department, but the on field performances is directly down to him.
He talks a good game, but if the players don't believe in his ways and are "tuning him out", he's got no chance of getting improvement from the team.
It will be interesting how it goes today, if I was a gambling man, I would put money on a Minnesota win.
Thoughts?

 

[mtkb]

They sign with Cavalry FC and come back and beat the Caps in a Cup game in their own barn...

I think the coaches overall have more experience with the game than you're giving credit, but I take your point generally.

There's a massive blindspot in how we do things on the youth side that no one wants to acknowledge. We lose a ton of our best athletes to hockey as it is. Not ever changing that. So, the soccer community can't afford to further shrink the pool in any way.

Yet, BSCPL fees are such that, by definition, they're going to knock out some families of low income. Everyone thinks that because of hardship programs - and most clubs do have robust ones - that will ensure anyone who wants to play can play. Bollocks. People vote with their feet and may never sign up with a feeder club in the first place knowing what the cost is down the road. Burnaby is a good example - there are pockets of that suburb with a ton of low-income, immigrant families from all over the world. Are they going to play hockey? No way. But what's the universal game? We don't remotely capture that talent source as much as we should.

You end up with parents trying to put all the best 5 and 6 year olds together on "select" teams because that's what they need, don't you know... eventually they'll find someone with an accent and a coaching certificate to confirm that concept, and off they go... problem is, those kids are the early developers who have been given an early leg up by their parents, and nothing more. If I had a dollar for every time I saw a kid at a u-14 or u-15 tryout with a tragic first touch but incredible athleticism, I'd be a rich man.

Ultimately, we need to expand the dragnet, and make sure that all the kids at the "golden age" of development - if not before - have access to quality coaching - not just the very few the Whitecaps decide to brand with their (rather tarnished) stamp...

 

[Dude]

They sign with Cavalry FC and come back and beat the Caps in a Cup game in their own barn...

I think the coaches overall have more experience with the game than you're giving credit, but I take your point generally.

There's a massive blindspot in how we do things on the youth side that no one wants to acknowledge. We lose a ton of our best athletes to hockey as it is. Not ever changing that. So, the soccer community can't afford to further shrink the pool in any way.

Yet, BSCPL fees are such that, by definition, they're going to knock out some families of low income. Everyone thinks that because of hardship programs - and most clubs do have robust ones - that will ensure anyone who wants to play can play. Bollocks. People vote with their feet and may never sign up with a feeder club in the first place knowing what the cost is down the road. Burnaby is a good example - there are pockets of that suburb with a ton of low-income, immigrant families from all over the world. Are they going to play hockey? No way. But what's the universal game? We don't remotely capture that talent source as much as we should.

You end up with parents trying to put all the best 5 and 6 year olds together on "select" teams because that's what they need, don't you know... eventually they'll find someone with an accent and a coaching certificate to confirm that concept, and off they go... problem is, those kids are the early developers who have been given an early leg up by their parents, and nothing more. If I had a dollar for every time I saw a kid at a u-14 or u-15 tryout with a tragic first touch but incredible athleticism, I'd be a rich man.

Ultimately, we need to expand the dragnet, and make sure that all the kids at the "golden age" of development - if not before - have access to quality coaching - not just the very few the Whitecaps decide to brand with their (rather tarnished) stamp...

Yup. Been screaming this from the rooftops ever since the BCPL came in.

 

[Dude]

....and nothing winds me up more than the hockey model argument. Can’t compare. There are about 10 countries that take hockey seriously. Of those, we have more players than the rest combined and maybe 4 times more elite players at the youth level.

Meanwhile, football is global and actually competitive.

Flip the model. The best elite players should not have to pay a dime to play.

 

[Dude]

Back on topic....Teibert and Filipe in the same midfield is painfully bad. Also, Theo Bair our wide is like playing with 10. That one seems pretty obvious to me, he needs to be central.

 

[bulljive]

I hear Baldisimo will be in the CPL next season. Soccer is comical, there is no perfect model but I really find it bizarre that soccer has rep at 7 years old. At 5/6 outside of the few kids that just play soccer non stop, it’s just athletic kids who dominate. We are making rep teams based on a coaches opinion of a 6 year old in February for the following September. How can’t you have a laugh at this. Don’t get me started on the BCPL.

 

[mtkb]

I hear Baldisimo will be in the CPL next season. Soccer is comical, there is no perfect model but I really find it bizarre that soccer has rep at 7 years old. At 5/6 outside of the few kids that just play soccer non stop, it’s just athletic kids who dominate. We are making rep teams based on a coaches opinion of a 6 year old in February for the following September. How can’t you have a laugh at this. Don’t get me started on the BCPL.

In fairness to the BCSPL, results at club nationals have improved, and a lot of the next wave of talent on the women's side started in the league...