Whitecaps add a Designated Player

So last evening the Whitecaps official twitter account tweeted that at 9:30 PST this morning, July 12th, they would be making a major player announcement.  This tweet of course started off a huge amount of speculation all over my twitter feed as every fan of Canadian soccer seemed to have their own couple of suggestions for who it might be.  The early front runner was of course Owen Hargreaves who has bee often linked to the two Canadian clubs in recent weeks as well as having been spotted training in British Columbia of late.  That speculation of course caused the expected reaction with die hard Canadian fans hoping that all the worst possible things happen to Hargo.  The rumour of Hargreaves being the player coming in were squashed only a few minutes later when rumours came out that Vancouver's new player was going to be an African who had been in Belgium recently where he was a decent player.  It was also reported that this new player might have been the captain of either his national team or his club team.  So of course many fans who wanted to be the first to report the name, including myself, spent a few hours on the internet trying to find out just who all met these criteria.  I for one never even came close to getting it right though and really only helped to add to the outlandish speculation that was going on with the likes of Eto'o and Drogba being linked just because they are captains of African nations.

So this morning all the rumours were put aside and the actual announcement was made that the Whitecaps would be adding another Designated player to their team in the form of Gambian international Mustapha Jarju.  He is a striker who spent last season playing for RAEC Mons of Belgium's second division.  So he did indeed fit all of the criteria that were being put out in rumours the night before.  He also fits the needs of Vancouver as last season he scored 25 goals for his club last season and has 58 career goals despite only being 24 years old.  So he will bring the Whitecaps a second scoring option that should provide the sort of partner that Eric Hassli has been lacking all season long.  Hassli has 6 of the teams goals this season but the introduction of Jarju will take some of the pressure to score from him as well as drawing some of the attention of the defenders away from him.  The Whitecaps will be counting on their two designated players to get the job down and give them the attack that has been lacking in so many games this season.

Jarju will be counted on for scoring and to also create goals for the other attacking players.  He has a good record of both in Belgium but that is by no means a guarantee of success in the MLS.  His record in Belgium would suggest that he is worthy of that DP tag but now Vancouver has 2 of its 3 potential slots filled and has used both on them on attackers.  It could limit their ability to strengthen other areas of the team but even with that aside there is still the question of whether a relatively unknown player from Gambia is worth that kind of investment rather then the team going after players with proven MLS quality.  I personally think that signing Jarju is a worthwhile risk and as he won't command that massive of a salary and it is also possible that as soon as next season he could no longer be a designated player which would free that spot up to be filled by another player.  His upside is very large as a 24 year old who has a proven ability to create in front of goal and if this move pays off he could be a huge factor in any improvements that the Whitecaps will make in the coming seasons.

The other big part of todays signing is that Jarju becomes the first African player to be signed to an MLS contract as a designated player.  His move to the MLS could be seen as opening the door for more African players to make the same move in the near future which could only be good for the league that needs to continue exploring new talent markets in hopes of improving the overall quality.

For the Whitecaps they now have the attacker they needed but reports suggest they are still in the hunt of a midfielder which could even see them bring in a third designated player.  That does mean that their fans will have to continue to worry about the potential of Hargreaves being signed in the coming days or weeks if he can prove he is fit and ready to play.  Fans will likely be hoping that if the club does make another big move that it is on signing a proven player with real quality rather then gambling on a player from a small African country who plays in one of Europe's weaker leagues.  Hargreaves would fit that bill but the fact is he has a major history of injury so playing him at Empire field would just be asking for disaster and that is my attempt to avoid discussing other reasons why signing him would be a terrible idea.

For the Whitecaps todays signing was another step forward but as a team that has only scored more then one goal in a match just one time in their last 21 matches there is clearly a lot of work left to be done.  Jarju is possibly one piece of the puzzle that is success in the MLS but at this point he only address one problem on a team with a multitude of them.

More Beautiful Goals from this Weeks MLS Action

On the same night that Eric Hassli scored what should be the goal of the season in the MLS, Sporting Kansas City and FC Dallas did their best to get their names on the list. Graham Zusi and Brek Shea added to an already outstanding night for goals with a long range cracked and a great individual effort.

FC Dallas forward Brek Shea scored to tie the score at 1-1 in the 32nd minute with a great run through the Sporting Kansas defense. Picking up the ball about 40 yards out, Shea turned and knocked the ball past three tackles before calmly slotting the ball through the Kansas keeper's legs. The home crowd sounded their appreciation for this piece of individual magic by Shea.

Graham Zusi does Brek Shea one better in the 55th minute making the score 3-1 for Sporting Kansas. From 45 yards out, Zusi lines up a free kick that he smashes into the back of the night. Zusi caught the Dallas keeper napping on this play but it was still a fantastic shot that dips just under the bar and smashes into the pole behind the net, just listen to the sound it makes.

Hassli, Shea, and Zusi's efforts were joined on the goals of week nominee card by Thierry Henry showing he still had it and Alan Gordon hitting a cracking volley. You can see all the candidates for MLS goal of the week and vote for your favorite HERE.

If you ever needed a reason to watch MLS soccer this weekend put on an exhibition of why you should tune in for next round for a chance to catch a glimpse of some more magic.

Canadian Excitement in the MLS!

I really hope that for our readers on the eastern side of the country you stayed up past your normal bedtime on Saturday night to watch either, or hopefully both, of the Canadian teams in MLS action.  Toronto FC found themselves as massive underdogs going into their road match against the Los Angeles Galaxy while Vancouver White Caps were focused on trying to snap their winless streak against rivals Seattle Sounders FC.

The first game that I am going to talk about, since I watched more of it, is the Toronto FC match.  The sense among most TFC fans was that this was not going to be a good outing for the team and they were just hoping to keep things close.  Recent history though would suggest that when these two teams meets it is likely to end in a draw but if you look at the forms of the two teams Toronto's chances looked slim.  The Galaxy came into the match unbeaten in 7 games and on their second longest run in franchise history without conceding a goal.  So when Chris Birchall opened the scoring only 2 minutes into the game I for one was thinking here we go again assuming that things were going to get ugly for TFC.  Things would settle down though and TFC slowly seemed to be getting in to the game.  A bad tackle from Beckham would see him get a caution just before the half hour mark and a lot of TFC fans were left wondering how he managed to avoid a red card as he would be spoken to about 2 fouls later in the game without receiving a second yellow.  It really did seem like he was getting the old super star treatment and not being punished for his actions.  The tackle also resulted in Toronto having to make one of its two first half changes as Tony Tchani seemed to pick up an injury and had to be replaced by Plata.  Jacob Peterson would also have to leave the game before the half when his hamstring appeared to tighten up.  He was replaced by Gordon who was returning to the TFC lineup after missing several games with a groin injury.  In Gordon's absence TFC's attack looked weak and lacked any real punch but his return to the lineup paid off quickly.  The first half ended with LA up 1-0 but it was no where near the dominant performance that many would have expected.

In the second half Toronto continued to fight back and show that they were not going to be pushovers.  It was nice to see the team playing with some real heart and acting like they wanted to go out and try to salvage a result.  In the end their effort paid off as Gordon marked his return to the lineup with a 68th minute goal that leveled things.  It looked like TFC had done enough to earn a draw but in the 90th minute Juan Pablo Angel scored a heart breaking goal that seemed almost certain to send the Galaxy on to all 3 points.  In the past Toronto would have folded like a cheap tent under that goal and not had enough about themselves to even try to fight back.  They have a proven history of lacking any sort of performance in the clutch moments of matches and stoppage time goals have been few and far between for the club since their inception.  On this night though things seemed to be very different as TFC bounced right back from going down 2-1 and went right to work trying to pull it back in stoppage time.  Just as it seemed like time was going to run out on the Gordon again proved his value to the team as he scored his second of the game against his former team.  Gordon managed to volley home the ball in to the top corner in what would have been one of the best MLS goals I have seen in a long time if not for one that took place in the Whitecaps game. 

For me the game felt like a win for TFC despite it being their 4th draw in 5 matches and extending their winless streak to 6 games.  It also ensured that the Galaxy's unbeaten run continued for an 8th game.  Toronto did show a lot of positive signs in this game and when the club is working to rebuild that is the kind of thing that you look for.  After their 0-0 draw with Sporting Kansas I was concerned about how the team were satisfied with that and seemed to be lacking the desire to win matches.  Combine that with the fact that anyone who has followed the club knows that they are terrible in the clutch moments of matches and you can see how this result was even more unexpected.  The team showed a lot of heart and passion in LA as well as showing that they really can hold their own with the better teams in the league.  There is no reason for this team to be happy with 0-0 draws against poor KC teams but this draw is one that you can build on.  The game also proved that Alan Gordon makes TFC a whole lot better in the attack.  With him out of the lineup they looked far to one dimensional and if teams could deal with Santos Toronto had very little other options in terms of scoring threats.

The Toronto result had me all excited but it was a moment from the Vancouver game that stole all the headlines and may actually help to increase the profile of the MLS.  Vancouver played a very good opening 80 minutes and led 1-0 thanks to a penalty that was converted by Eric Hassli.  It all seemed like it was going to be undone though as the team had a terrible couple of minutes and Seattle scored a pair of goals very quickly to go up 2-1.  It looked like all of the Caps hard work would be for nothing and they would lose yet again but then Eric Hassli stepped up with one of the best goals you have ever seen.  If you have not seen his goal yet well you need to!  It is a world class goal, not just one of the best ever in the MLS.  Hassli showed that he has the skill to be a great goal scorer when he is actually able to avoid card trouble and stay on  the field long enough to show these flashes of brilliance.  Some poor defending by Seattle set up Hassli's second goal of the game as they turned the ball over to him near the corner of the 18 yard box.  He flicked the ball up and with his back almost to the goal he volleyed the ball across the net and right into the top corner of the net.  It was one of the best goals you will ever see and it was enough to ensure that Vancouver would at least be able to grab a point from the match.  Even the loud Seattle crowd could not help but appreciate what they had seen and gave Hassli a well deserved round of applause. 

So if you went to bed on Saturday night then you missed out on both Canadian MLS teams being involved in some exciting games.  Its a shame that both teams had to settle for draws but the efforts of Gordon and Hassli are ones you can be proud of as fans and both teams had games that they can build on going forward.

And now for your viewing pleasure: