Whitecaps: Introduction and some roster changes

Hi everyone. Duane's asked me to come on board here, and I'm greatly looking forward to the chance to interact with more Canadian soccer fans. My focus is going to be on the Vancouver Whitecaps, but you may see posts on other soccer topics from me as well.

I figured a brief introduction might be in order. I'm a sports nut in general, but soccer's always been my favourite and I've been writing about it for four or five years now. I've written about the Whitecaps and other soccer teams and issues before for the Langley Times, Out Of Left Field and my own site, Sporting Madness. I'm also the sports editor of the Queen's Journal, and have covered Canadian university soccer there for the last three years. More recently, I've also covered university soccer at The CIS Blog. If you ever want to get in touch with me, just shoot me an e-mail at andrew_bucholtz[at]hotmail.com.

Anyway, enough about me. The Whitecaps have made a bunch of interesting roster moves already this off-season, so it's worth taking a look at them.

Outgoing:

-Jason Jordan: This one perhaps might have been seen coming. Jordan wasn't getting the first-pairing time up front this past season and was relegated to spot duty. He played 867 minutes this year and notched two goals. According to The Province, it looks like he might decide to retire. Jordan will go down as one of the legends of the Whitecaps, though. A local boy who was born in Vancouver and raised in Richmond, he joined the club at 18 [whitecapsfc.com], stayed with them in 2002 instead of jumping to the MLS and won the USL-1 Most Valuable Player award for his 17-goal, 37-point 2005 campaign. He finishes his career as the club leader in assists (45), and also ranks third all-time in goals scored, fifth all-time in games played and seventh all-time in minutes played.

-Alfredo Valente: Like Jordan, Valente was another local boy and Whitecaps lifer. He was born Vancouver and grew up in Burnaby [whitecapsfc.com]. He was drafted back in 1998 and spent 11 seasons with the team, finishing second all-time in assists (38), fourth in games played (271), eighth in minutes (16,948), ninth in goals (35) and fifth in points (108). He's a bit younger (28), so there's a chance he'll catch on with another club. It will be odd to watch the Caps without him making his trademark runs down the wing, though.

-Jeff Clarke: Clarke first joined the Caps in 1997 but only stayed for a year before heading off to Europe. He returned in 2002 and played a key role in midfield (and occasionally on defence). He was the team captain for the last four years as well and was the MVP of the championship game in 2006. He's 31, so it's unclear if he'll give up playing or try and catch on somewhere else.

-Steve Kindel: Midfielder Kindel completes the quadumvirate of long-time Caps leaving. He played 11 seasons with the club in two stints, and finishes second all-time in games played (287) and minutes played (24,009). He also ranks fifth in all-time assists (25), eighth in goals (36) and ninth in points (97).

-Eddy Sebrango: Sebrango might be the biggest loss for the club. He led the team in scoring this past year with 12 goals and was a huge part of the offence. I was very impressed with his play in all the games I caught in person. He's decided to go back to Montreal and play for the Impact, partly to be closer to his kids in Kingston. He is 35, though, so there was always the chance that he'd lose a step even if he did come back to Vancouver. Regardless, Sebrango was the most consistent striker for the Whitecaps this year, so he will leave quite a hole.

Incoming:

-Marlon James: James sounds like a replacement for Sebrango [Marc Weber, The Province]. He led the Malaysian Super League in scoring last year and put up 47 goals in 47 matches in all competition. He plays internationally for St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and both current Canadian head coach Dale Mitchell and former head coach Frank Yallop speak highly of him. He's 32, so how long he'll be in peak form is questionable, but then again, Sebrango shone last season at 35. Interestingly, he'll be the second guy from St. Vincent and the Grenadines on the Caps: defender Wesley Charles is also from that country.

-Justin Thompson: Thompson is a good local guy (from North Vancouver). He played 47 matches in central defence [whitecapsfc.com] for the Portland Timbers over the last two seasons and did quite well. He's 27, so he should be around for a few years.

Looking at that list, it seems clear that a youth movement is underway. Both James and Thompson are younger than the leaving players at their positions, and many of the players announced as coming back are also quite young (such as 23-year-old defender Lyle Martin, 25-year-old winger Justin Moose, 23-year-old winger Vicente Arze and 26-year-old goalkeeper Jay Nolly). Head coach Teitur Thordarson told the team's website that he's expecting several players from the residency program to be in the mix for starting spots as well, so we could see a very young Whitecaps squad. I'll have more news on off-season moves as they happen.