Whitecaps FC 2 have a new look about them this year, as can be expected with a reserve team with many new faces.

Axel Schuster and the rest of the Whitecaps front office have made it clear that they want more academy players coming through to the first team, so this team will take an added importance in the development process.

This guide will look at what we can expect from the side this year, including who might be the next to follow Jeevan Badwal and Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau into the first team.

Last Season

Last season ended in a disappointing fashion for the Next Pro side. They finished 7^th in the Western Conference after only one regular time win in the final two months of the season, before they suffered a first-round playoff exit against eventual champions North Texans FC.

As a result, Jay Herdman, Myles Morgan, Eliot Goldthorp, Malek Mehri, Joshué Ndakala, Malcolm Simmons, Darko Ilic, and Buster Sjöberg moved on from the team. Although a couple of these guys went in search of more game time, most of them weren’t going to realistically make the first team, and so have been moved on to make room for guys who might.

Jeevan Badwal and Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau have been promoted to the first team, after impressive individual performances, and they will be keen to show their progress to new manager Jesper Sørensen. I expect that they will still play some minutes with the 2^nd team over the course of the season, just to maintain development and match sharpness.

Those who remain with the team are Cyprian Kachwele, Antoine Coupeland, Mihail Gherasimencov (not anymore, as he’s just gone on loan to Cavalry), Finn Linder, Dembo Saidykhan, and Liam Mackenzie.

Kachwele has earned his first cap for Tanzania, and the 19-year-old will be hoping to have a breakout year following 4 goals last season. Linder and Mackenzie have both had multiple call ups to the first team, as has Kachwele, whilst Dembo Saidykhan has had a call up for the Gambian National team.

All of these players are 21 or younger, and we can expect to see some of them incorporated into the first team squad at some point in the future. Despite being registered to the senior team, Max Anchor will likely remain the no.1 goalie for this side to ensure he gets regular minutes and continues his development.

New Signings

Firstly, the Whitecaps added 2 new players to their roster via the Superdraft in Tate Johnson and Nikola Djordjevic. Although left back Johnson is primarily expected to feature for the first team, he may get some developmental minutes with the team depending on his form. Djordjevic has signed a contract specifically with the Next Pro team, indicating that most of his minutes will be with this team.

Centre back Mark O’Neill, striker Nelson Pierre and midfielder Jackson Castro have all joined the team over the off-season. Caleb has already produced a brilliant deep dive for us on the new guys, which is well worth a read.

WFC2 Newcomers

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the signings are the ages of the new players. O’Neill, Djordjevic and Castro are all 22 years old, so would need hugely impressive seasons to be realistically considered good enough for MLS minutes. Nelson Pierre is younger, but he played senior first team football last year, and is only on loan from Philadelphia Union. This implies the Whitecaps are focusing on bringing in more experienced players to nurture and enhance the development of the younger ones.

This theory is evidenced further with the recent arrival of 23 year old defender Deylon Vellios. Vellios did initially come through the Whitecaps’ academy, but has since developed at Ohio State University. He captained his college team, like O’Neill and Djordjevic, and his age suggests that he too has been signed for his leadership qualities. This may mean we see some academy players with the Next Pro team in the upcoming campaign, so that could be one to watch.

Season Outlook

From the way Axel Schuster speaks in press conferences, the Whitecaps are keen to invest in their youth academy and mirror the successes of FC Dallas and the Philadelphia Union. Youth soccer always has a transitional feel, but you get the sense that WFC2 is shifting focus for the upcoming this upcoming Next Pro campaign, focusing on a smaller group of incoming projects, and looking more towards the academy for squad depth.

On the surface level, one can hope for a play-off spot, and a hopefully a deeper run than last year. Ultimately though, the success of WFC2 will be judged by the development of players within the team, and whether or not they are able to make the jump to a higher level. The main role of this side is to develop players for the first team, so the true success would be finding and developing another Alphonso Davies, Russell Teibert or Sam Adekugbe.