Whitecaps FC head coach Vanni Sartini spoke to media on Wednesday for the first time since testing positive for COVID-19 last week.
“Touching wood, in the week after my testing no one in the squad has tested positive, so it’s also a good thing that maybe we caught my positivity and I didn’t spread it into the team,” he noted. “I think I was able to function at like 60 percent of my functions with the team. I did all the training session preparation with the staff, I did all the training session review with the staff, I watched all the training session feeds live, so I was able to see. And in the six days I also had meetings with every player tactically, going through video… but the execution part I also had my staff.”
The Italian is expected to rejoin the team in time for Saturday’s departure to San Diego, with the first preseason match set for Sunday.
Vite impressing
‘Caps fans are surely interested to see last season’s mid-season U-22 initiative signing Pedro Vite in action for the first time, and Sartini told the media that he has liked what he’s seen during preseason.
“Pedro is doing actually really, really well. It was kind of a question mark at the beginning of the season, because we bought him last year but never saw him, he trained with us like two weeks. I was very curious. I think it’s going to be a player that is going to help us. He needs to work a lot, of course, but he has the mentality, he’s fast, he’s good technically, he’s very receptive on what we’re telling him tactically. So he’s going to be in the mix in the midfield position, as a number eight I would say, to help the team during the season.”
Rookie on board to San Diego
Sartini revealed that there will be one 2022 MLS SuperDraft pick traveling with the team to San Diego.
“We’ll bring some academy kids that did very well in these first two weeks, and we’re going to bring also one draft pick … it’s Giovanni Aguilar.”
Aguilar was selected in the second round, 49th overall. The remaining draft picks will stay in Vancouver to train with the MLS NEXT Pro group, but Sartini was also clear to acknowledge that they could rejoin the first team group.
“The other guys that we’re not going to bring, it’s not that we’re going to cut them. They’re going to stay and train with our NEXT Pro team. I actually think that it’s much better to be a protagonist with the second team and play games than being on the side for most of the tactical part in San Diego. I don’t like to have like 35 players. I like to concentrate my attention to 20, 22 players so everyone has really a chance to show me that maybe he can play. I’m very happy that we have the NEXT Pro now so it allows us to have some players where we don’t know. Let’s see with them what they do, and then maybe they can join back the team when we come back from San Diego.”
More on MLS NEXT Pro
“It’s going to be mostly a place where our best guys of the academy go and play, that’s for me the entire reason of the team, to give a platform of the very interesting players that are young and good. But maybe they are not good enough at the moment to trust them in MLS, to see if they can compete at a good level. The choice to bring them into the first team is going to be much more educated instead of just a guess.”
Caio Alexandre
Speaking of the second team, Sartini also noted that another valuable way he plans to use MLS NEXT Pro will be to get competitive matches in for first team players returning from injury or layoffs.
“In some specific situations we can use that team to put game fitness to players that have been out for some time. To give you an example, when Caio will join us back, I think that I will use a little bit the NEXT Pro to have him have game fitness to be back with us. Because if not, it’s going to be really hard for someone to get back and compete for a spot in the first team.”
The Brazilian will join the team in San Diego.
New additions
Will there be any new players joining the team before the season begins?
“I think the roster is very good. At the same time I know that the club is working to bring in not too much, but maybe one [or] two additions to the roster to try to improve in some specific positions. One thing that I can say for sure is that we’ll bring a goalkeeper, because we only have Thomas. So we need to have another goalkeeper. I know that the club is working on doing something maybe in the midfield too.”
Goalkeeper situation
Who will be the number one goalkeeper this year? Sartini also addressed what he’s expecting.
“We are looking for a guy that is going to compete with Thomas, not a guy that is going to be the number one and Thomas is going to be relegated to number two. The guy that is going to come in, he knows that Thomas has been here for three years, so we know him. It’s like a Formula 1 race …they will compete through the season to show who is going to be the first one at the end.”
Who starts if the season began today?
The gaffer reinforced his philosophy that he doesn’t expect a set starting XI during the season, but rather consistent competition among his core group.
“It’s wide open, because as I’ve said a lot of times, I don’t fully believe in [set] starting lineups. I believe that the best way for a soccer team to function is to have at least 17, 18 starters that really compete every week on spots. And I think that we have it at the moment. We have the core of 16, 17, 18 players that allow everyone to not be sure of the spot, but everyone can see the spot there and be ready to play. I would love to do what I did last year to change the lineup – not the system, not the way of playing – but to change the lineup often, because it means that every week in training someone is showing that he can play.”
