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The clock is Ticos tocking on Kendall Waston’s time with the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Just three games remain before the Caps’ formidable centreback heads to Russia to join Los Ticos and his Costa Rican teammates for the World Cup, leaving the Major League Soccer side without the player who, arguably, is most integral to the squad’s success.

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It was Waston’s injury-time goal that salvaged a Friday night tie with Houston, a goal that definitively changed what the conversation would have been this week.

A loss to the Dynamo — a result that looked assured with Mauro Manotas’ 90th-minute goal — and it would have been the fifth defeat in six games for Vancouver.

The 30-year-old Waston has set the standard defensively, too, with 729 clearances and 97 blocks since coming into MLS with the Whitecaps in 2014, both marks league-highs.

“He’s a beast,” Kei Kamara said simply. “We’re going to miss him.”

How they adjust without him remains to be seen. Perhaps a formation switch to a 6-3-1?