Carl Robinson has traveled to some remote outposts in his quest to transform Vancouver Whitecaps into championship contenders. As the affable Welshman describes it, he has been forced out of his comfort zone, the necessity of pragmatism superseding what might otherwise have led to a more accessible approach.



Robinson’s first year in charge of the Whitecaps was moderately successful, resulting in a narrow, controversial defeat to FC Dallas in the one-game Western Conference knockout round last October. At the close of the previous campaign, the club was at a low ebb. They had just missed out on the playoffs and their well-thought-of head coach, the Scotsman Martin Rennie, had paid the price with his job. Robinson looked on as an assistant. He was there during the mini rollercoaster ride of the previous two campaigns. Where 2013 had represented failure, 2012 had brought a brief playoff appearance, the solace of which was the fact Vancouver had become the first Canadian club to make the post-season.

But Robinson saw what had occurred. These were early days for his coaching career. Notes were duly taken. Managers often opt for what they know, he says. Yet in that scenario, innovation can die.



“You’re only as good as the players you’ve got,” Robinson tells the Guardian. “I was lucky enough to work here three, four years ago as an assistant and Martin, the old manager at the tim – what you tend to do as a manager is bring in players that you like, have got the characteristics you like, players that you know – he went with players that he knew, good players. I wanted to go with players who probably had different characteristics.”

He may have a point. It was perhaps a penchant for accessibility that helped seal Rennie’s fate, with aging Scottish players such as Kenny Miller and Barry Robson among his charges.

Vancouver were at a crossroads. Robinson seemed an unlikely – if convenient – candidate to replace Rennie. What followed was curious. Former national team coach Bob Bradley and now Chicago Fire head coach Frank Yallop were mooted for the role. When it became clear those options would not materialize, the job fell into the then 37-year-old’s lap. But he didn’t want it. He was two years into a seven-year plan to remain an assistant. He didn’t think he was ready. Until luminaries from back home, including his former boss on the Welsh national team, John Toshack, convinced him otherwise.

There began his traverse along an unfamiliar path toward a quite different player recruitment schema. He took in lesser traveled locales in Chile, Uruguay, Honduras and Costa Rica. He placed himself in what he describes as scary surroundings, “getting into the trenches, getting his hands dirty,” as he puts it. The man who brought him down in last year’s playoffs, FC Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja, attracts ample praise for his ability to unearth hidden gems in Latin America. But for a Colombian steeped in the language, culture and history of the Latin game to do so is one thing. It pales somewhat when a relative youngster from deep in the heart of Wales starts to eek out more than a hint of success doing the same. Uruguayan attacker Octavio Rivero was plucked from Chilean outfit O’Higgins FC. Chilean playmaker Pedro Morales arrived by way of Malaga in Spain. Uruguayan winger Cristian Techera came in on loan from River Plate Montevideo. And Kendall Waston was signed from Costa Rican side Saprissa.

The fruits of progress are in further evidence this year. To a certain extent, Vancouver have been the surprise package of 2015 while flying somewhat under the radar. Going into Wednesday night’s clash with Colorado Rapids, the Whitecaps sat second in the Western Conference a point behind LA Galaxy. The carrot was obvious. And while teams further down the table, such as Sporting Kansas City and FC Dallas have played fewer games, Robinson believes his approach is starting to see tangible rewards.

“I wanted to go with players who probably had different characteristics. But when I took the job 18 months ago, because of the way the league is structured, it’s impossible to totally revamp your team in one year because of the cap and guaranteed contracts and things like that,” explains Robinson, now just a month shy of his 39th birthday. “I had to do it step by step.”

By the time he took the reins, he had already built up a memory bank of talent. Despite seeing management in his distant future, he was observing youngsters playing alongside him in his waning years at Toronto and New York Red Bulls, mentally noting the types who ticked the boxes for the type of players he wanted to meld into a team.

“I’ve gone for the Central American, South American routes, as Oscar has, because, one, there is better value,” says Robinson. “And if you look at the background of these players – players from Honduras, players from Uruguay, players from Costa Rica – they’re from good countries but they want the chance to try to progress themselves, get out of that country to maybe get to North America or to Europe.

“Whereas if you go for European-based players – Kenny Miller, Nigel Reo-Coker, two close friends of mine, when I got the job they were here – they’ve been there done that and sometimes it seems the mindset is it’s a step backwards. If I was going to be successful as a young manager, I wanted hunger in my team. So I thought if I get players who need to prove something rather than players who have been there and done that is the best way for me to start on my managerial career.”

Elsewhere, Robinson also points to the youthful make-up of his squad. “One of my main things here was to not just build a team but build a football club,” he says. “I wanted to create pathways for younger players. We’ve got the youngest squad in Major League Soccer. That’s 18 months on from me taking the job, we went from being in the top third of having the oldest squad to be youngest now. For us to do that with all the turnover and win our first cup in the Canadian Championship and be in with a shout for the playoffs for the second consecutive year is nothing short of a fantastic achievement for these players.”

An August blip saw points dropped against Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City, the latter a key contender and a conference rival the Whitecaps have struggled against this season. On the flip side, Vancouver took all three points against another playoff rival in the shape of Dallas. Robinson’s side had a busy August schedule of eight games, including the two-legged Canadian Championship final against Montreal. Squad rotation became crucial. Key players were rested. With nine games to go, Vancouver’s close to the season promises to be almost as busy. At this stage, they appear well primed. But MLS has not been kind to the triumvirate of Canadian clubs. In a collective total of 15 seasons of play between them, only twice has a club from north of the border made it to the post-season playoffs.

So could this year be the breakout year for the Canadian clubs? Or a Canadian club? Toronto, at present safely inside the play-off spots, have had an indifferent season. Yet with the likes of Sebastian Giovinco, the resurgent striker Jozy Altidore and the cool head of Michael Bradley, they look likely to bring an end to their sorry record. How deep they can go remains uncertain.

“I’ve worked for two of the Canadian clubs, and for Toronto not to get into the playoffs for eight years is bizarre with the money they’ve spent there. Hopefully this is the year because they have got the best player in the league in Giovinco,” Robinson muses, reflecting on the gulf in finances between clubs like his and their Canadian rival to the east. “But I really hope it is the year because the interest in soccer in Canada is huge. It’s about being successful over a period of time. It’s not about doing well one year then terrible the next year, in and out the playoffs.”

The benchmark in that regard, Robinson adds, is LA Galaxy, another free-spending outfit bustling with high-priced imports. “That’s the target you’ve got to aim for but it’s not going to happen overnight.”