Information » Orlando, playing alongside Brazilian star Kaka, or in New

With new head coach Carl Robinson at the helm, the Vancouver Whitecaps will look to get back into the MLS Western Conference playoff picture. TSN soccer analyst Luke Wileman tells you everything you need to know about the 2014 Whitecaps, while TSN soccer analyst Jason deVos tells you how they will succeed or fail during the new campaign. Luke Wileman: After missing out on the playoffs in 2013, Vancouver Whitecaps have re-tooled ahead of the new season. They lost their leading scorer, Camilo, in controversial circumstances, but the Caps will enter the 2014 season with a stronger overall squad. The biggest change of the offseason was the departure of head coach Martin Rennie. After two years with the club, Rennies contract was not renewed, and after a long search, the Whitecaps promoted Carl Robinson from his role as assistant coach to take the top job. I said at the time that Robinson was the perfect choice. He already knew the inner workings of the club from his time on Rennies coaching staff, but has brought a fresh outlook. Robinson is heading into his rookie season as a head coach, and it will be a steep learning curve, but theres little doubt he is ready for the task ahead. The way he handled difficult situations during the offseason was superb, and his leadership and communication with players through preseason has earned him plenty of respect within the locker room. So what can we expect from Robinsons team? The Whitecaps coach has made no secret of the fact that he wants to play an attractive entertaining style of soccer. He has also said he wont be afraid to give youth a chance. Robinsons squad is young, but with experience in key areas throughout the team. In fact there is a strong veteran presence down the spine of the team with David Ousted in goal, Jay DeMerit and Andy OBrien at the back, Nigel Reo Coker in midfield and Kenny Miller up front. The Whitecaps have made some strong additions in the offseason but the biggest question mark is whether they will be able to replace the league-leading 22 goals scored by Camilo. There wont be one person who shoulders the responsibility of filling the void left by the Brazilian, it will need to be a team effort, and the way the squad has been built should help that to happen. Uruguyan duo Sebastian Fernandez and Nicolas Mezquida have shown evidence of their creativity and technical ability during preseason, and the expected arrival of Chilean attacking midfielder Pedro Morales from Spanish side Malaga will be a massive piece of the puzzle. Vancouver already has quality in attack. Keeping Kenny Miller fit is key for the Caps. It will also be interesting to see the development of youngsters Kekuta Manneh, Darren Mattocks, Erik Hurtado, Omar Salgado and Russell Teibert. All five of those players have the ability to contribute significantly to the Whitecaps attacking play. The Whitecaps added former MLS All-Star Steven Beitashour at right back to replace the retired YP Lee and have options in the central defensive positions with DeMerit and OBrien likely to be favoured to open the season, but Carlyle Mitchell, Johnny Leveron and draft pick Christian Dean all capable of stepping in at any time. With Carl Robinson likely to play a 4-2-3-1 formation, the two defensive midfield players will need to protect the back four but also start a lot of the Whitecaps play moving forward. On his day, Nigel Reo-Coker can be one of the top midfielders in the league, but Robinson will want to see more consistency from the Englishman this season dictating the play and getting box to box. One of the Whitecaps big offseason additions was young Argentine midfielder Matias Laba who arrived from Toronto FC. Hes a superb signing who will complement the qualities of Reo Coker. Laba is a destroyer. He breaks up the play and gets it going again in an effective manner. The defensive midfield pairing of Reo Coker and Laba could be particularly strong for the Whitecaps this season. Despite my view that the overall squad is better than a year ago, the Whitecaps wont find it easy to achieve their goal of making the playoffs in a Western Conference that is packed with quality. Last year, Vancouver improved on their points total from a year earlier, but didnt make it to the postseason. They improved, but not enough because the other teams around them had made bigger strides. This time around, the Whitecaps have made some significant changes. It might take them time to settle into their new identity, but it should be a fun ride. TSN Soccer analyst Jason deVos weighs in on how the Whitecaps will succeed or fail during the 2014 season. Jason deVos: Vancouver Whitecaps will succeed if… …the young guns come out firing. Rookie head coach Carl Robinson has a squad full of talented youngsters. Russell Teibert, Kekuta Manneh, Gershon Koffie, Omar Salgado, Darren Mattocks, Nicolás Mezquida, Matías Laba, Erik Hurtado, Andre Lewis and Sam Adekugbe are all under the age of 23. With youth comes inconsistency; an amazing performance one week, followed up by a flat one the next. If Robinson can get the young players to find a measure of consistency, the Whitecaps will fare far better than many predict this season. The reason for that is that this team is quick - and I mean, lightning fast. Mattocks, Manneh and Hurtado are whippets, and will win races against virtually every player in MLS. If the experienced players in the squad - Nigel Reo-Coker, Andy OBrien and Jay DeMerit - can shepherd the young players along the right path, the Whitecaps are going to surprise a few people this season. Vancouver Whitecaps will fail if… …they show up one week and not the next. Succeeding in professional soccer is all about finding a level of consistency from week to week. Reliability comes with experience - something that is severely lacking from this squad of players. The onus is on Robinson to set the standards of performance that he expects from all of his players. Experienced campaigners like Reo-Coker, OBrien and DeMerit wont be the issue - they know what they need to do to succeed in the game, and will rarely dip below a 7 out of 10 performance. It is the young players that need to learn this. They need to learn that you cannot turn it on one week, then not bother showing up the next. That will be Robinsons biggest challenge this season - getting a consistent level out of his talented crop of youngsters. If he can do that, this will be an exciting season for Whitecaps fans. If not, the Whitecaps will again fail to make the playoffs. 2013 finish: 13-12-9 (seventh in Western Conference). Did not qualify for MLS Cup playoffs. Whos In?: M Mehdi Ballouchy (Re-Entry Draft), D Steven Beitashour (traded from San Jose), M/F Sebastian Fernandez (loan from Boston River), M Matías Laba (trade from Toronto), M/F Nicolas Mezquida (transfer from Boston River), GK Paolo Tornaghi (signed). Whos Out?: GK Joe Cannon (option declined), M Jun Marques Davidson (option declined), F Tommy Heinemann (option declined), F Corey Hertzog (option declined), D Greg Klazura (option declined), GK Brad Knighton (traded to New England), M Daigo Kobayashi (option declined), D Lee Young-Pyo (retired), D Brad Rusin (option declined), F Camilo Sanvezzo (transfer to Queretaro), GK Simon Thomas (option declined). SuperDraft: D Christian Dean (1-3), MF Andre Lewis (1-7), F Mamadou Diouf (2-30). Adidas Nmd China Wholesale . In the Brewers six games this season, no starter has allowed more than three runs. "We see the guy in front of us do a great job and we want to do even better," Gallardo said after the Brewers beat the Red Sox 4-0 on Sunday, his second straight scoreless start. Cheap Wholesale Adidas Nmd . The Calgary Stampeders announced both moves on Wednesday. Parker played 17 regular season games with the Stampeders in 2013, setting career-highs in catches (21) and yards (217). http://www.discountadidasnmd.com/ .C. - Steve Clifford isnt exactly singing his teams praises after the Bobcats won for the sixth time in seven games. Adidas Nmd Clearance Sale . As their best player continued to orchestrate his dramatic exit from the club, the Whitecaps added size and creativity at Thursdays Major League Soccer SuperDraft. Wholesale Adidas Nmd . Toronto ended an 0-4-0 skid with Sundays shootout win over visiting New Jersey, but the club could have a difficult time making it two victories in a row tonight. The Maple Leafs have dropped three straight and 11 of the last 12 regular- season meetings against Boston overall and the Bruins have claimed six straight in Beantown.There’s a good chance that on Thursday a Canadian will be picked first overall in Major League Soccer’s SuperDraft. UCONN forward Cyle Larin won’t be in Philadelphia for the draft, as he is currently away with Canada’s U-20 national team trying to qualify for this summer’s FIFA U20 World Cup, but the 19-year-old from Brampton is widely projected to be a top two pick. Orlando City holds the first-overall selection in the SuperDraft with fellow expansion club New York City FC picking second ahead of Montreal Impact in third. Toronto FC holds three first-round picks, starting with number six, and Vancouver Whitecaps are 13th in line. On this week’s TSNFC podcast, we were joined by Bobby Smyrniotis, the Technical Director for Sigma FC, the academy where Larin developed his talents from the age of 11. Smyrniotis has been at the MLS Combine in Florida over the past few days where he has had conversations with staff of both Orlando and New York about Larin. Larin finished his UConn career with 23 goals in 39 games and was named American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year in 2013. This year he was named AAC Offensive Player of the Year. So what makes him stand out? “He’s a rare blend of a big number-nine striker who has got soft feet and is very technical,” said Smyrniotis. “I think what makes him alluring for many of the clubs here in MLS is that he blends the physical attributes with being a very intelligent footballer.” “As a number nine he has the ability to score in and around the box from a variety of manners, whether he is beating players or whether it’s with service from the outside, his aerial game is very good, Smyrniotis continued. The other thing that people see in him is his hold-up play. He’s very good at bringing the ball down and having defenders around him and that helps a team that wants to play with a point man up top.” Despite just leaving college, Larin is no stranger to the professional game, having spent time training with a number of European clubs over the last couple of years including Genk and Club Brugge in Belgium and Hertha Berlin, Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen in Germany. There had been some speculation that Larin would leave college a year early and join the class of the 2014 SuperDraft, but with another year under his belt, Symrniotis is confident the Canadian teenager has all of the qualities needed to deal with the pressure of being a very high draft pick. “He’s got the right mentality for it,” said Smyrniotis. “He has been iin some good environments in the past and over the last year getting called up to the senior national team with Benito Floro has helped him a lot.dddddddddddd He has been over training with some European clubs, so he has had a taste of the pros and I think that will prepare him for what is coming in the next couple of weeks.” “He is a very level-headed young man. That is something we try and work at with young players – the mental coaching aspect of things, making sure the players don’t get too high and don’t get too low, Smyrniotis went on. There’s a long process involved in things and there will be a lot of ups and downs as a pro and I think he has been well prepared for that. His name has been talked about a lot in the media, but he usually stays away from that and is unaware of a lot of it and I think that’s a good thing on his part.” Smyrniotis feels that Larin could be a quick study in the MLS. “I think it comes down to where he may go, or what the exact needs of that club will be, he said. From a technical aspect he will definitely need a couple of months to get his feet wet, but I think it will be a quicker transition than a slower one.” Larin isn’t the first product from Sigma Academy to head into the MLS SuperDraft. Two years ago, Kyle Bekker and Emory Welshman were both picked in the first round by Toronto FC. Smyrniotis has been to every MLS Combine since 2008 and has been impressed with the standard of players on show this time around. “It’s been a relatively good combine, he said. Some of the top players are missing, such as Cyle who is down in Jamaica, but what is important to note in talking with the MLS teams is that they still take this very seriously. A lot of MLS teams now have USL PRO teams as their reserve teams, so they will have a legitimate place for some of these players to keep on developing, instead of them just being released in a few weeks - that has been one of the big issues in the past.” It promises to be an exciting few days for Larin as he continues to play a role in Canada’s quest to qualify for the 2015 U-20 World Cup in New Zealand and also gets to find out where he will begin his pro career. He could end up in Orlando, playing alongside Brazilian star Kaka, or in New York, where he could learn off NYCFC’s star striker David Villa. Whatever the outcome, Larin seems capable of playing a major role for club and country in the years to come. Click here to listen to the latest edition of the TSNFC podcast Wholesale Hoodies NFL Shirts Outlet Jerseys NFL Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '