Photo rosietulips/flickr
It could be one to clear the sour taste out of the mouths of Whitecaps fans.
Last weekend was weird, wasn’t it? A bloodless, awful loss in a game everyone agreed the Whitecaps needed to win, followed by good news: despite the fact that Vancouver’s listlessness meant the Cascadia Cup slipped out of Seattle’s hands, they did the Whitecaps the favour of knocking rivals Dallas out of the playoffs.
Playoffs. The Whitecaps had become the first Canadian team to make the playoffs, which is really the best fans can ask of a team that placed last the season before. But there wasn’t elation, there was frustration at how little the team seemed to want to earn it down the stretch.
It created a feedback loop of moods: You wanted to feel incredible pessimism. 1-6-2 in the last nine games. Seemingly no ability to get away results. Lost 3-0 to playoff opponents LA Galaxy last time they played there away. But still, playoffs! Games were won! Fun was had, and there will be games after the end of the season for the Whitecaps! Maybe they can even sneak a result and ensure a home playoff game! It was impossible to be purely pessimistic or optimistic.
The big complaint was the decline from the midpoint of the season, when players were moved and the team started a dip in form. The main worry of mine in that time was this: Martin Rennie seems, at times, to be calmly seated on a boat heading towards a waterfall.
As the team saw a guaranteed home game slip away, as they lost to Dallas (twice!) in situations that would have put space between the two of them, Rennie’s mantra seemed to continue: Dallas needed this game more than us. At least we’re in a playoff position. Everything is okay. Being underdogs (because we played so badly) could be a benefit in the playoffs. You had the picture of Rennie with his arms crossed, perched on a boat heading backwards but content that he hadn’t gone over the cliff already. Davidson stays benched. Miller stays on the pitch. Everything is fine.
Surely nobody is taking this lightly behind the scenes. But the team needs to at least be seen to paddle.
That’s where tonight’s game away to Real Salt Lake (6:00, Sportsnet One) comes in. The reason why last weekend was seen as a must-win was because nobody wanted to rely on getting a win from RSL on the road. There’s basically no trust right now that the Whitecaps can perform on the road when it counts, and the Whitecaps’ next “biggest game in franchise history” in LA depends on that.
It will be a tough challenge, but all they need to do is try. Show the desire. Whitecaps fans want to believe.
Give them a reason to.