VANCOUVER, B.C – One day after Marc Dos Santos and Phil Dos Santos walked the plank, Vancouver Whitecaps FC were back at training ahead of a crucial clash against Real Salt Lake on Sunday night at B.C. Place. Acting head coach, Vanni Sartini took charge of his first training session since the Dos Santos double dismissal on Friday.
The atmosphere at the National Soccer Development Centre at UBC was subdued, while the players went through a lengthy session and worked on various tactics. It was tense.
Laughter, and the loose free flowing togetherness ahead of a matchday, it was not there.
Whitecaps FC goalkeeper, Max Crepeau has known the Dos Santos brothers for more than a decade.
You could not hide the disappointment on his face when he met with the media.
“Obviously with a coach and an assistant like Marc and Phil, I know them since (age) 13, 14, we’ve been growing and getting older a little bit together. It’s a tough thing for players because the loss was on us not on them against Pacific. The loss was on the players and they got the axe. That’s the reality of the business. There’s some games we just can’t lose and the group is well aware. Now it’s about us to show up against Salt Lake to turn the page and be really focused on the game.”
Despite a long run of form in MLS play that features a 3-0-5 record and two consecutive MLS wins, that wasn’t enough to keep Marc and Phil from the chopping block.
Does Crepeau agree with the decision to fire them?
“It’s not my place to say that,” Crepeau told Har Journalist. “It’s not my place to say that. My place is to be in a good headspace with the guys because it’s a quick turnaround. We didn’t get the chance to talk yesterday. We’ve had 24 hours to digest the news, we talked a little bit about that, and in the locker room we need to turn it around. Like I mentioned, the loss against Pacific was on us and it’s in the past. We took a hard hit about that because it’s a lot of credibility with our fans. It is, what it is, we’re in playoff run (race) and we’ve got to turn the page.”
Whitecaps FC centre-back, Ranko Veselinovic has spent much of the year partnered with Andy Rose in the middle of the back four. While Vancouver struggled defensively against Pacific FC on Thursday, Veselinovic was not the worst defender on the night.
The 22 year-old declined to weigh in on the decision to sack Marc and Phil.
“It’s not on me to talk about that,” Veselinovic told Har Journalist. “Honestly it’s the organizations decision. It was a sudden decision, we were all kind of surprised. We’re all professionals, we need to put our emotions aside. We can only do on the field, out of the field is not up to us.”
The attention now shifts to Real Salt Lake and the push to make the playoffs. Vancouver sits in 10th spot in the MLS western conference with 23 points from a 5-7-8 record. Three points shy of 7th place San Jose.
With eight matches remaining at B.C. Place there is certainly an opportunity to earn results at home.
Whether or not the players receive the wake up call that remains to be seen. When Carl Robinson was sacked in September, 2018, players created more of a rift in the locker room as apposed to a big united “La Banda” of brothers.
What kind of changes will Sartini look to make to the squad?
“Tomorrow I would say not too much,” Sartini revealed. “I just did this training with the team. I’ll try not to… can I say, screw it up? It’s bad word, no. We have come from a bad defeat in Victoria, but we don’t forget, we are eight games undefeated in MLS. We’re going to do minor tweaks in the sense to be more compact in the defensive face. You don’t have to expect major changes tomorrow in the way that the team was playing under Marc.”
A native of Florence, Italy, Sartini is grateful for the opportunity to lead Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Whether it be a short term role or something further. Sartini is thrilled to have been asked to take charge of Whitecaps FC.
Sartini knows he owes a lot to Marc Dos Santos for bringing him aboard as an assistant coach in 2018.
“I’m really happy to keep the job until tomorrow,” Sartini joked with reporters. “It’s a fantastic opportunity, I told the club yesterday, I’m actually honoured that the club in this difficult situation put the faith and trust in me to do a job. I don’t have a long term vision about this thing, tomorrow is Salt Lake. If I’m the head coach next week, it’s going to be Austin. That’s (how) I’m approaching this job, week by week.”
There is no Harry Potter magic wand that’s going to bring Marc and Phil Dos Santos back to Vancouver Whitecaps FC. The Caps players have the option to move forward and earn a playoff spot, or they can fold like a tent and call it a season.
It’s all on the players.
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