Newcomers put in spin
By Marc Weber
It was the kind of drill that leaves onlookers exhausted and nauseous.
Fifteen seconds to run the length of a soccer field. Fifteen seconds back. Catch your breath -- briefly -- and do it 10 times.
That's one set. And this was after an intense two-hour training session.
Three sets later, except for a 17-year-old freak named Russell Teibert, who managed to summon the energy to yuk it up with a staff member, there were Whitecaps strewn about the Simon Fraser University turf on Monday.
Defender Zurab Tsiskaridze promptly declared he was having a big, fat, juicy steak for lunch.
It wasn't punishment. Just fitness work. Teitur Thordarson's system, with its constant pressure on the ball, demands a lot of it.
Among a group pulling up the rear was new forward signing Jonathan McDonald, a 22-year-old Costa Rican youth international. His season with Club Sport Herediano ended in May.
"They have basic fitness, but they don't have game fitness," Thordarson said of his transfer-window additions, eight of whom are currently with the squad.
That presents a challenge because there are only six games left in the USSF D-2 regular season, plus playoffs.
Management has to evaluate a crop who are essentially in preseason mode while the rest of the team is in peak form. And those evaluations can't compromise the club's shot at a second championship in three seasons.
Cody Arnoux, a 22-year-old U.S. forward, is another recent arrival. He was released by Everton after last season, having played for their reserves.
"Touch, finishing, pretty much everything that goes into being ready to play, I'm lacking right now," said the North Carolina native. "I want to play but to do that I have to show in training and that's tough right now. I'm just working on the things I need to work on -- which is everything."
The Whitecaps claim all the new signings are on trial for next season, when the club jumps from the second division to top-tier Major League Soccer.
That's almost certainly false; the Swiss Super League pair of Alain Rochat and Davide Chiumento have MLS written all over them. But it's difficult to say where McDonald and Arnoux stand. Arnoux might yet have to go through the MLS draft. What is clear, however, is that the team has much to gain if the two young forwards can do one thing in spite of their lagging fitness: score.
For Vancouver, the opposition's 18-yard box has been where chances go to die.
Converted wingers Nizar Khalfan and Cornelius Stewart have taken their turn creating all manner of excitement around goal with little end product: three goals between them, although Stewart does have four assists.
Thordarson seems quite prepared to sacrifice flash for finish and Arnoux, in particular, comes with a reputation as a right-place, right-time guy. He scored a goal every two games at Wake Forest.
"We haven't scored anywhere close to what we should," said Thordarson, whose club has 25 in 24 games.
McDonald and Arnoux split time in a 1-1 tie at Tampa. They could do the same Sunday as the NASL Conferenceleading Caps (9-3-12) host USL Conference contender Austin (13-3-5).
Thordarson has also arranged exhibitions next week against Seattle University and UBC to get his newcomers and reserves more game minutes.
"They are good players, they have already shown us that," he said of McDonald and Arnoux. "But we need to get them fit to see their real quality."
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