As we fast approach the Vancouver Whitecaps’ first MLS Cup Final appearance, I want to take some time to talk about the value of high expectations and a good system.
I was inspired by a Glass City tweet which contains the following quote from Kristian Jack:
“Bournemouth don’t expect to beat Manchester United when they host them a home, but they do their best…and it’s the same with the Whitecaps-none of this talk about winning championships. Embrace your identity of who you are and then people will get behind you. And then when you play Seattle at home, and you’re losing the game 2-1 and you’re putting the pressure on them in the 95th minute, the place isn’t a library like it has been the last couple of years.”
Now, the point of this article is not to gloat about how wrong KJ was (at least that’s not the main point). But this quote (from Vancouver’s disastrous 2019 season) is representative of some of the sentiment around the Whitecaps in the late 2010s and early 2020s. Carl Robinson, Vancouver’s head coach from 2014-2018, would frequently bemoan his sqaud’s talent disadvantage as a reason he could not play a more front-foot style. A former data analyst for the club, Navid Mashinshi, put out an infamous Twitter thread in which he argued that moving on from Robinson was a mistake and that the club was on a downward trajectory. Highly respected Canadian data analyst Aaron Nielsen tweeted this:
Now, in fairness, that last tweet has since been deleted. But I was so incredibly pissed off when I read it that I have preserved these screenshots for all of these years!
What do all of these statements/general sentiments have in common? They all represent a severe lack of imagination about what was possible for the Whitecaps to achieve. Some of these statements may be dressed up as a positive vision, but underlying each is the belief that being a mid-table battler who develops the odd national team player was the best the Whitecaps could ever hope for.
“I came here and when I talked to some people, they say we’re never winning something, The Whitecaps are not winning, the Canucks are not winning. I have a feeling people in Vancouver, they accept not winning. I’m not used to that. I want to change it a little bit, maybe just a little bit. And yeah, that people care a little bit more about winning.”
-Thomas Müller
This quote made a lot of waves, it even popped up on r/Vancouver. Clearly, something about this sentiment really resonated with people. Comparing it to what we were hearing in circa 2018-2022, it’s easy to see why. The first step to achieving something great, is to believe that something great is even possible. Today the Whitecaps are in their second major final of the year and are the #5 ranked team in CONCACAF. Their achievements this year, by any metric you choose to name, make any others in the MLS era look quaint. Better things were and are possible.
Of course, high expectations by themselves are not enough. The history of sports is littered with people who talked a big game about winning mentality, only to get pounded into the mud in the actual games. You need to have a plan for how that greatness is going to be achieved. Going back to Jack’s quote, the irony is that these days Bournemouth would expect to beat Manchester United. The reason for this is simple. In the intervening years, Bournemouth have made much smarter decisions than Manchester United that have allowed them to perform better on the pitch despite fewer resources. Bournemouth are not the only team in Europe to beat the odds in recent years. Brighton and Brentford have famously seen a meteoric rise in recent years thanks in large part to their innovative use of data. As recently as 2022, Tifo Football published a video entitled “Why no team except Rangers and Celtic will ever win the [Scottish Premier] League.” But, at time of writing, Hearts are top of the SPL table. In Sweden, Mjälby, a club from a town with less than 2000 residents, are league champions. All of these clubs refused to accept their rightful place in the world, and found a way to beat the odds. Around the world it is becoming clear that, even in the stratified world of European football, smart management can and will win out over greater resources. In a salary cap league like MLS, there is even less reason to accept mediocrity.
Of course, having high expectations does not necessarily mean you expect to win the cup every year. The MLS rules create a natural ebb and flow to a team’s strengths. But it does mean that you should always have a roadmap in your mind for how winning the cup can happen. It means believing that, no matter what happens this weekend, it won’t be the last time.
(Image: Mark Zhuang)
i have always believed and stated numerous times that Vancouver is a terrific soccer market- all it would take is good management and an Ownership that would make some investments in a player or 2 that had substantial ability and the Team could make waves
it was really frustrating to have coaches like Robo and Vanni that had so little belief and capability to ever change the attitude that the Caps would never be a substantial team in MLS, let alone in the eyes of the City
then along came Axel Schuster who began a journey to make the Whitecaps a serious player in MLS and CONCACAF, finding a terrific soccer head coach and an Ownership that would be willing to take on Thomas Muller, hoping that that would ignite the Team, the Supporters and the City
look what we have!!! a Team in MLS Cup final, a huge jump in attendance and a City of over 22K coming to BC Place to watch the final on a JumboTron
Gotta keep Axel and the City on the wave
Salty
I remember that condescending KJ quote. It was in the pre-game show prior to a match celebrating the members of the 40th anniversary of the Soccer Bowl win (and a match that was originally scheduled to be played in the fall vs NYCFC but was moved several months earlier to be played against TFC for some reason…maybe a PR distraction move since the club was mired in the Birarda controversy, who knows?). It was at a time when TFC was still riding high and eventually on their way to another MLS championship match, losing to Seattle 3-1. The comment irked me then and it still irks me now, but karma is b*tch because TFC have been such a sh*t show the last few years: maybe they need to follow KJ’s advice and just be competitive until the final whistle.
And who the f is Aaron Neilsen? Does he have a real job?
I think they have done a much better job of upgrading personnel. Instead of sticking with the likes of Raposo, they brought in Nelson and Sabbi and they have been key contributors to this season’s success. They may have missed on Rios but I would much rather have homegrown teenager Elloumi featured instead of Levonte Johnson, who failed in USL and his next stop might be CPL. They have been able to get Priso to be a key contributor, the draft pick Johnson has been a plus, Berhalter has been a major upgrade on Teibert over the last two seasons, and the keeper has been at his very best in this stretch and he is one of the best ball-playing keepers in the league.
Unless they get screwed by the reffing, the Caps will win tomorrow.
The referee crew has been set. Fischer won 2025 referee of the year. I’m sure there’s a way to find out which games, if any, he has ref’d for Vancouver and what the results were, but I can’t find it without a lot of digging. Maybe someone else remembers.
There’s going to be a lot of pressure on the officials, especially considering all the cameras and the widespread TV coverage. I expect them to be fair.
REF: Drew Fischer
AR1: Cory Richardson
AR2: Nick Uranga
4TH: Pierre-Luc Lauziere
VAR: Carol Anne Chenard
AVAR: Tom Supple
RAR: Jeremy Kieso
Drew Fischer is beyond question the best ref in MLS- the players respect him, keeps calm in the storm (which it will be on Saturday), makes decisions without fanfare and doesnt make gross errors – i am confident that the ref will not be the major decider of the game
Salty
they didnt miss on Rios- he got 4 critical goals and is a suberb teammate, a class act in the dressing room and on the practice field
I was going to say the same thing. Rios has been really great for us. It would be great if he scored more but he’s been awesome. The dude had the biggest smile no matter he was asked to do. Thanks Rios!
His loan ends after this season and I bet the club doesn’t exercise the purchase option.
And they didn’t. Like me, Axel didn’t feel he would be worth the purchase price.
It is usual in sports to be invested in a superstar and a fad; what is unusual is to find oneself invested in a project, the people who execute it, and the ethic behind it. If you think about this, the MLS was built on the idea of parity, a parity that it would serve owners’ interests the best. That profit-motive-based system of salary caps and limits to spending allows for manipulation (as Miami clearly shows), yet it still delivers opportunities for those people who take its principles to heart and build within its confines. Whatever the result on Saturday, Axel, Jesper and co have proven that it is possible to actually be good at your job at every level: recruitment, support of players, player-development, team-building, and more, even without spending like a drunk sailor. And so right now Vancouver is not embracing a superstar (though Mueller is certainly one, even if profoundly quirky and he has helped), Vancouver is embracing a “family” and a work ethic. In our times this is so refreshing.
after years of stale and bad air, this smell is sweet and refreshing
In an early interview – I think it was from before Stuart Armstrong bolted training camp for Sheffield Wednesday – Sørenson, as I recall, described his philosophy by saying “You can’t win a soccer game without taking risks. Our job is to create an environment to allow every player the safety to take the risks that are necessary.”
I was extremely fond of Vanni because of his ideals and unfiltered honesty. Like the club itself, which went through heartbreaking revelations of sexual misconduct and harassment both in the women’s program and in the boy’s academy before Axel Schuster’s arrival, he leaned into the project of rebuilding trust and responsibility and transparency, eliminating cliques and levelling the hierarchy among players, making things a little fun, too.
Schuster did his part by bringing in character players like Ryan Gauld, guys who could play but also guys who could play here, in Vancouver. Those that couldn’t were quietly moved along.
Vanni’s tactics and managerial style were based on principles I could get behind even though his tactics and managerial style were a little chaotic. I was sad when he was fired, though even he seemed to think it was the right move for the continued growth of the team. I did, too.
I guess what I’m trying to describe is that these Whitecaps are demonstrably built, layer by layer, on principles that can be handed down through coming seasons as they have been in the past. That Jesper’s success is Vanni’s success and Axel’s success is Ryan and Brian and Thomas and Ralph and Rayan’s success. And ours too, as fans. Sam and Ranko and Bilal still own a share of it and Fafa and Pedro and Julian and even Stuart do, too.
I wouldn’t be the first fan to link together a bunch of disparate, half-baked impressions into a delusional overarching narrative. Look at anything too closely and it will tell you exactly the story you brought with you.
But for some reason I am unreasonably invested in this team. I, too, want to feel safe enough to take the risks required in my life, that my safety means something to the people surrounding me. I want to share my success, to be generous. I want to look around in amazement as others take on challenges they couldn’t have anticipated and rise to meet them. I’m a fan of the Whitecaps every year but this year that support, against a background of international violence, selfishness, duplicity and even barbarism, it feels revelatory.
Things don’t always work out but when they do it’s especially satisfying to look back and see there was a plan, that it stood for something. I’m delusional, I know. But how else do you respond to a season like this one?
I’m buzzing.
I appreciate the write up and the comment. Looking forward to Saturday!
“ I, too, want to feel safe enough to take the risks required in my life, that my safety means something to the people surrounding me. I want to share my success, to be generous. I want to look around in amazement as others take on challenges they couldn’t have anticipated and rise to meet them. I’m a fan of the Whitecaps every year but this year that support, against a background of international violence, selfishness, duplicity and even barbarism, it feels revelatory.” — What a fantastic statement! Well written and spiritually uplifting in nature!
well said- its what makes soccer THE BEAUTIFUL GAME
FOR ALL!……game is on TSN {thankfully = total enjoyment!}