Gershon Koffie's effort against Seattle bodes well for young Whitecaps

Gershon Koffie broke out of his defensive shell Saturday.
For much of this MLS season, the Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder has played a holding role intent on stopping the opponent’s top offensive players. But against the Seattle Sounders, he moved up into the attack.
He was rewarded with a goal and was robbed on a last-second shot while enjoying several other scoring chances, helping the Whitecaps earn a 2-2 draw with their regional rivals before a sellout crowd of 21,000 at B.C. Place Stadium.
“The manager (coach Carl Robinson) asked me to move forward a lot, and we can’t play with so many guys back, so I got the opportunities to score,” said Koffie afterwards.
The Whitecaps improved to 4-2-5. The Sounders, who entered the same in first place in the Western Conference, now stand at 8-3-1.
Koffie’s goal in the 66th goal was a gimme as Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei rushed out of the net to get an errant ball on the right flank. In a desperate attempt to keep the ball in bounds, he volleyed it into the middle of Seattle’s half. Koffie chested the ball down, waited momentarily and sent a high shot from distance into the net as Frei came up just short of getting back to it.
“I think last year I scored (a similar one) against Chivas – same except the goalie went off his line to play the ball,” said Koffie.”
The goal, Koffie’s first of the season, put Vancouver ahead 2-1. But Gonzalo Pineda netted the draw as he scored on a penalty-kick in the 82nd minute.
The spot kick resulted after Whitecaps captain Jay DeMerit was called for a foul as he and second-half substitute Cam Weaver went up for the ball and both fell on the way down.
As six minutes of added time were coming to an end, Frei robbed Koffie as he raced in on goal. The ball went off the goalkeeper’s hand and into touch, but the final whistle sounded before the Whitecaps could take their corner-kick.
Six minutes into the game, Koffie sent a volley just wide of the goalpost and then, about three minutes later, nailed a shot off the crossbar after making a fine run up the middle of the pitch. Simply put, the XX-year-old Ghana native was a force in midfield both offensively and defensively – and the obvious choice for his club’s player of the match.
Koffie overshadowed Vancouver’s new attacking midfielder Pedro Morales, who stood out at times but was less visible than usual. Ironically, Koffie excelled in the second half even though he took a yellow card in the first half after he fell, apparently faking an injury, after he ran onto a cross at the far post and went down after Frei got his hands on him.
“When you get booked early you have to be careful about what you do, and you can’t create any fouls, so the manager told me I had a yellow card, so I should be careful,” Koffie said.
Koffie’s effort was evidence that he still has plenty of upside to his game after coming under criticism from Robinson at times this season and former coach Martin Rennie in the past.
“Yeah, it was probably his best performance,” said Robinson. “He’s been excellent the last three or four games for me. I keep saying to him that he needs to keep scoring goals. He’s a midfield player. Not just his goal, but I think he hit the bar in the first couple of minutes, and then could have nicked it in the end with two more chances. It was an all-around performance from him today, and he should be proud of himself.”
Whitecaps management, coaches and player development types can also feel good about their efforts, too.
One tends to forget that, although Koffie is in his fourth MLS season and fifth overall with the Whitecaps, he is only 22 years old. It’s evident that he is gaining a vision for the pitch that he has been accused of lacking even this season and in previous years. Such improvement often comes only after years of staying after practice to do extra work, countless hours of fitness workouts and dedication.
Thanks to Koffie’s efforts, the Whitecaps controlled play for most of the match and thought, justifiably, that they should have won easily.
If Koffie, Erik Hurtado, who scored Vancouver’s other goal on a super individual effort, and Kekuta Manneh had not been foiled by Frei on several opportunities, it could have been a blowout.
Chad Barrett scored Seattle’s other goal on a header that gave Seattle a 1-0 lead in the 36th minute after the Whitecaps had dominated the first 30 minutes.
While the Whitecaps were dejected about allowing the Sounders to come back and earn a point in the standings, the performance was a sign of the upside that the Caps have after deciding to part ways with Scottish international Kenny Miller. Robinson was not about to rip his young forwards ad midfielders after coming up empty, often due to Frei, on several scoring chances.
“It’d concern me more if we weren’t getting chances,” said Robinson. “Obviously, we’re getting chances. We got to work at that, or do something about it. I’ve openly said we’re looking at trying to bring in (offensive) players to help this group, and I’ll continue to do that. But the player has to be the right player or players, and if they are, then we’ll move forward with that. But the guys in there, I said I’m delighted with them today, and I’m proud of them. Erik Hurtado again, another fantastic goal and performance and we’re just moving in the right direction slowly.”
Koffie’s improved play demonstrates that the Whitecaps’ strategy of developing players from within their system can pay off.
Since arriving in Vancouver while still in his teens, he has demonstrated strong skill on the ball, the ability to play physical when necessary, a strong shot and decent speed. But he has also committed poor passes, struggled to communicate with teammates in the silent language of the game where moves offer unspoken instructions, and missed shots on many nights. Now, it appears that he is adding another dimension – field smarts – which can overcome inconsistency that has been glaring at times.
Koffie’s showing and those of his mates bode well as the Whitecaps prepare for a game in Portland next weekend.
“The manager told me I did well on my performance, and I could have got more than one goal,” said Koffie. “I guess we will take it to the next game and see what happens.”

Camilo, Y.P. Lee give fans a night to remember

Camilo and Young-Pyo Lee made the Vancouver Whitecaps’ final, supposedly meaningless, game of the 2013 MLS season a memorable one.

Years from now, fans will be able to talk about the time Camilo scored three goals, which gave him 21 on the season, to win the Golden Boot in a 3-0 win over the Colorado Rapids. Sunday's hat-trick avoided the need to use assists as tiebreaker with Chicago’s Mike Magee, who scored earlier in the day to finish the campaign with 21 goals.

Fans will also be able to recall how they watched Young Pyo-Lee receive a resounding send-off in the final game of his stellar career. Rookie Sam Adekugbe’s first game of his MLS career will also be talked about, if not remembered as vividly, except in his mind’s eye.

Never mind that the Caps missed the playoffs a year after getting in. For one night, all was forgiven and forgotten as Vancouver dominated a playoff-bound Colorado team that still had plenty to play for.

“As a team, we came into tonight making sure that this was what we wanted to happen,” said Whitecaps captain Jay DeMerit. “There was an effort behind that. There was a lot of emotion on a lot of different occasions tonight.

Of course, Sam coming in for his first game and Y.P. leaving with his last. And, there were still a lot of things on the line as far as the season goes, Camilo finishing on the right foot. All these things carried through and made sure that as an organization, and as a team, we were moving forward. We could have easily given up. … But we wanted to end on the right note, because it’s a team that cares and it’s a team that wants to get better – and tonight proved that.”

Camilo’s third, history-making goal came in the 85th minute came as he ran on to a long bouncing ball from Canadian midfielder Russell Teibert and volleyed it home.
“I’m very proud, because I’ve been training hard every single day,” said Camilo. “The coaching staff helped me a lot, especially (Carl Robinson). … Every single day, he (was) there with me. (He) helped me a lot.”

The second goal was also one for the highlight reels as Camilo took a pass from second-half substitute Matt Watson and then deked Colorado defender Drew Moor, putting the ball through his legs and firing a shot inside the right post.
Camilo’s opening goal came on a penalty-kick two minutes before half-time, after teammate Kekuta Manneh was tripped in Colorado’s 18-yard box. The Brazilian dynamo took the spot kick although Lee had supposedly been designated to take penalties.

“I said, ‘Please, Y.P., let me take that penalty,’” said Camilo, drawing laughs from a crowd of reporters.

Lee left to a standing ovation in the 90th minute as his illustrious career which included three World Cups with his native South Korea and championships and cups in the top leagues in England, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia came to a close.
Coach Martin Rennie got the timing of Rennie’s departure right as he allowed the crowd to serenade him with three minutes of stoppage time remaining.

Now, time will tell whether the Whitecaps get the decision on Rennie right. The embattled coach is widely expected to be fired after the Whitecaps went through their second consecutive summer swoon, from which they could not recover, even though they had a revamped lineup from 2012.

But Rennie also had to deal with extenuating circumstances that included injuries to key strikers Kenny Miller, who went to Sweden to have a sore knee checked out; Camilo; and Darren Mattocks. International call-ups and inconsistency also hampered Rennie’s efforts to field a consistent lineup, and the Whitecaps again lacked a midfield general who could distribute the ball fluidly and consistently while also providing some goals.

Rennie made some questionable lineup decisions, the most glaring being the one to keep Manneh, 18, parked at the bench for extended stretches during the mid-season meltdown.
But Rennie has also shown a knack for developing young talent. Manneh has the traits – speed, creativity and finish – that all world-class players possess. He scored six goals, which matched the number of games that he started, while appearing in 20 games with a minute total that equated to barely eight games.

Rennie also managed to get much out of Watson, a journeyman midfielder, and Jordan Harvey, a well-travelled defender who filled in admirably after Alain Rochat’s controversial trade to Washington.

Most importantly, Rennie has established a program that integrates young players like Adekugbe, 18, who was born in England and grew up in Calgary and Manneh, a Gambia native who was tutored for a while in Texas. As Rennie has noted, the Whitecaps improved in many areas, particularly goals, wins and and points. The Caps also won the Cascadia Cup, an in-season competition between Vancouver, Portland and Seattle that supposedly means a lot to fans, who founded it, but means little in terms of final standings – on which Rennie will ultimately be judged.

Naturally, he stressed the positives, as he addressed reporters for, possibly, the final time as Vancouver’s coach.

“Obviously, we wanted to do better but we know that it takes time to build a team, and we’ve got to the point where we are very close to doing that,” he said. “It’s extremely exciting going forward, the ticket sales are better than they’ve ever been, the fan support is better than it has ever been and we’ve got young players coming through that are starting in the first team and doing well.

“I think we are just extremely excited about what the team can do and be. You look at how far it’s come in a short space of time and look forward to what it can become in the future.”

The next few days will determine whether he is part of that future.

If the Whitecaps are smart and pay heed to teams that have enjoyed continued success by employing coaches over the long term, such as the English Premier League’s Manchester United, NHL’s Detroit Red Wings and CFL’s B.C. Lions, he will be.