Posted by

Harjeet Johal ,

October 26, 2016 Twitter

@HarJournalist

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VANCOUVER, B.C. - The 2016 MLS playoffs kickoff tonight and the Vancouver Whitecaps will not be a part of the post-season. A 10-15-9 record was not nearly enough to quality the Caps for a playoff spot in the western conference. The 2016 campaign was high with expectations in March only to see the team struggle in the summer months before fading in the fall. The organization will no doubt make several changes before next season as fans, media, and fence sitters begin a long post-mortem. The Whitecaps offense was not good enough and the defense was just as atrocious leaking 52 goals against. Two players tasked with contributing at the defensive end, and offensive end of the pitch, respectively are Matias Laba and Christian Bolanos. Laba had a down season as a defensive midfielder, while 'Bola' took time to find chemistry with his new teammates. He chipped in 5 goals and 8 assists. The Costa Rican international believes the Caps constructed roster should have made the playoffs. "It was a little bit of a strange season," admitted Bolanos. "I feel we have the players and the squad to be in the playoffs, so we have to learn about this season. I think everything is not bad, so that's how it is in football. You have to sometimes learn from losing to be better for the next year." Matias Laba was often tasked with going forward to help out on offense as well as being asked with tracking back for his defensive responsibilities. Yaya Toure he is not, and in the end, his game suffered for much of the season. The Argentine, would like to chip in offensively and pin points the Whitecaps attack as an area that needs improvement going forward. "I think defensively I did well, but the team needs more in attack," said Laba. "I think I have to do better to help the team next season." The 32 year-old Bolanos was happy with how he performed from an offensive perspective, but lamented the Whitecaps ability to play as a team. Eleven individuals playing like they don't know one and other did not get the job done. Bolanos would like to see a more together Whitecaps team in 2017. That means doing more of the little things and more goals and assists from himself. "I feel good," said Bolanos. "I think I can do more too, that comes with if the team playing well. I think individually we can offer more, but the first team has to be more compact, strong, and the small things. I am very happy, I can score more, and make more assists, but I am happy with my season." The Caps winger has played all over the world including stops in Norway, Denmark, Costa Rica, and Qatar. He was on the Vancouver books with a $253,500 salary in 2016. By far a bargain for his production. Bolanos has one year left on his contract with Vancouver. Yes, he would like to come back next season, but in football you never know what can happen. "Yeah, I have one year here," said Bolanos. "I am very happy to be here. I have one more year, I am very happy, my family is happy, everything is good here." What do the Vancouver Whitecaps need to improve on going into next season? How about leadership, communication, discipline, scoring goals, and most importantly, team defense. Matias Laba was often paired with several different holding midfield partners throughout the season. A revolving door that featured, Russell Teibert, Andrew Jacobson, and Pedro Morales. The Whitecaps must make it a priority to find another player on the open market who is a natural defensive holding midfielder. Matias Laba has a different opinion, perhaps Vancouver already has a budding defensive midfielder that suits Laba just fine. "I think there are too many options in the midfield with Russell (Teibert), A.J. (Andrew Jacobson), Pedro (Morales). revealed Laba. "We have a quality team, I think this season we didn't get good results, but we have time to work on next season." Christian Bolanos would like to see an overall fine tuning in as many departments as possible. Too many times this season, Vancouver lost focus and quickly unraveled if things weren't going great. Bolanos wants to see a switched on team ready to go from the first whistle. Vancouver is a frail team in terms of confidence and it wouldn't hurt to improve in as many areas as possible. "I think it's about everything," said an astute Bolanos. "Individually everyone has to offer more, as a team we have to play with more confidence. We lost many games, and many points just because we don't be one-hundred percent focused on the game. That's part of the football, if you aren't focused from minute one to minute ninety-two, you can lose the games. I think this year, that happened a lot of times. I hope next year it's not the same thing." The Caps season went down the playoff toilet when they lost the Amway Canadian Championship final to Toronto FC, at B.C. Place. The game was deep into second half stoppage time when midfielder Will Johnson scored to give Toronto the ACC Cup. Bolanos notes that moment as the turning point for the Vancouver Whitecaps. A fragile team, shaken by a goal at the death. "We started okay," said a reflective Bolanos. "We go up and then at the half of the season, we go down without confidence. We lost the cup game in ten seconds. I think to be honest, when we lost that game everything go down. I hope next year it's going in the right direction."



