The two weeks camp in Arizona is over. Good work put in by Mattocks and the team. Look to be adapting well to what the coaches what from the forwards on the pitch. Him working hard with defending from the top, following coaches instruction. Back in Vancouver now before they head out for two camps in Florida where they play 3 or 4 practice games.
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Whitecaps earn pre-season draw on speedy top pick Darren Mattocks goal
By Bruce Constantineau, Vancouver Sun February 10, 2012
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Darren Mattocks dribbles past a defender during Vancouver Whitecaps training camp practice.
Darren Mattocks dribbles past a defender during Vancouver Whitecaps training camp practice. Photograph by: Arlen Redekop, PNG
VANCOUVER — Ten days of sunshine, two 1-1 draws and just 28 days until the first game of the season.
Those are the numbers the Vancouver Whitecaps take from Arizona as the team concluded its Casa Grande pre-season training camp Friday with a 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake.
It's the same result achieved against Seattle earlier this week as head coach Martin Rennie again mixed and matched his squad during two 45-minute periods and one 35-minute period of play.
Whitecaps first-round SuperDraft pick Darren Mattocks scored for his first goal for his new club, calmly beating RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando after taking a through pass from Atiba Harris in the 27th minute.
The play was set up rookie defender Greg Klazura, who intercepted an RSL pass. The Notre Dame product — taken in the second round of the MLS Supplemental Draft — has impressed in pre-season and started the game on the back line with Jay DeMerit, Carlyle Mitchell and Jordan Harvey.
Salt Lake tied the game later in the opening period when Fabian Espindola scored on a penalty kick after midfielder Ned Grabavoy was taken down in the Caps box.
Rennie was pleased with his team's overall play, noting it gave up few quality scoring chances against two good MLS clubs this week.
“We're defending well as a team and defenders are not getting pulled out of position all the time, which allows them to defend more consistently,” he said Friday in a telephone interview after the RSL game. “I feel very good about where we are.”
Rennie said the speedy Mattocks has progressed well in pre-season.
“He's very lively and sharp and today he showed really good composure with his finish,” he said. “He's starting to grow in confidence and he's realizing he's going to do well at this level and that's the first thing that needs to happen.”
Rennie and his assistants have to assess which players stay and who goes as the club prepares for its March 10 season opener against the Montreal Impact. He added that new players may still be brought in.
“But we do have enough players now to make a very good starting team,” Rennie said. “There's still a lot of work to do and we're well aware of that but [28] days is quite a long time to do that.”
He said midfielder trialists Patrick Cregg and Floyd Franks both played well in Arizona and will give coaches a lot to think about as they consider the eventual makeup of the club's 30-man MLS roster.
“They both showed good composure on the ball and a real willingness to win the ball back,” Rennie said. “They certainly showed well and should be very pleased with how they performed.”
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8. Where does rookie Mattocks fit: Note to anyone concerned about Rennie's choice to use Darren Mattocks, the No. 2 overall draft choice, out wide in a 4-2-3-1 during early scrimmages: relax. Rennie told me Mattocks' best spot is either at the top as a target or operating underneath the striker. But he wants the system to be fluid, so there will be times when Mattocks could find himself out wide. As such, Rennie wants the quick, young attacker to understand the defensive responsibilities of the flank types. Plus, it will help in the youngsters' development, Rennie figures, to see the attack from all angles. Literally.
Whitecaps earn pre-season draw on speedy top pick Darren Mattocks goal
By Bruce Constantineau, Vancouver Sun February 10, 2012
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Story Photos ( 1 )
Darren Mattocks dribbles past a defender during Vancouver Whitecaps training camp practice.
Darren Mattocks dribbles past a defender during Vancouver Whitecaps training camp practice. Photograph by: Arlen Redekop, PNG
VANCOUVER — Ten days of sunshine, two 1-1 draws and just 28 days until the first game of the season.
Those are the numbers the Vancouver Whitecaps take from Arizona as the team concluded its Casa Grande pre-season training camp Friday with a 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake.
It's the same result achieved against Seattle earlier this week as head coach Martin Rennie again mixed and matched his squad during two 45-minute periods and one 35-minute period of play.
Whitecaps first-round SuperDraft pick Darren Mattocks scored for his first goal for his new club, calmly beating RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando after taking a through pass from Atiba Harris in the 27th minute.
The play was set up rookie defender Greg Klazura, who intercepted an RSL pass. The Notre Dame product — taken in the second round of the MLS Supplemental Draft — has impressed in pre-season and started the game on the back line with Jay DeMerit, Carlyle Mitchell and Jordan Harvey.
Salt Lake tied the game later in the opening period when Fabian Espindola scored on a penalty kick after midfielder Ned Grabavoy was taken down in the Caps box.
Rennie was pleased with his team's overall play, noting it gave up few quality scoring chances against two good MLS clubs this week.
“We're defending well as a team and defenders are not getting pulled out of position all the time, which allows them to defend more consistently,” he said Friday in a telephone interview after the RSL game. “I feel very good about where we are.”
Rennie said the speedy Mattocks has progressed well in pre-season.
“He's very lively and sharp and today he showed really good composure with his finish,” he said. “He's starting to grow in confidence and he's realizing he's going to do well at this level and that's the first thing that needs to happen.”
Rennie and his assistants have to assess which players stay and who goes as the club prepares for its March 10 season opener against the Montreal Impact. He added that new players may still be brought in.
“But we do have enough players now to make a very good starting team,” Rennie said. “There's still a lot of work to do and we're well aware of that but [28] days is quite a long time to do that.”
He said midfielder trialists Patrick Cregg and Floyd Franks both played well in Arizona and will give coaches a lot to think about as they consider the eventual makeup of the club's 30-man MLS roster.
“They both showed good composure on the ball and a real willingness to win the ball back,” Rennie said. “They certainly showed well and should be very pleased with how they performed.”
The coach building a well rounded team. Camilio (top scorer of last year) see some time in midfield also. He is working with flexibility with the players. Frank Gregg already been send back to England and Franks is in question.
The Whitecaps will head to Florida tomorrow (Monday) for their last extended (2wks) training camp outside of Canada. There they will play 3-4 games against MLS teams at the same complex. Today they will play a scrimmage game against the Canadian college champion Victoria team on the Victoria island. The game will be stream live so anyone who live in Canada good chance to watch..start time is 1pm (PT) or 4pm (ET). Mattocks, Lee Nguyen, Goffe, Camicionto(not sure spell dat right), B. Knight and the last defender they brought in from Ghana is in team for this game. Camilio, Hassli, Sebastian L., Cannon el al are resting for this game.
Wildcard: Mattocks offers something no other forward on the team has – blistering pace. Against tired defences the No. 2 overall pick in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft could be deadly, and he has the potential to become the sort of impact sub any MLS club would envy.
Does Mr. Martin MacMahon come off has someone with a clue of what he is writing about? He doesn't have him on the bench but he has this assessment. A total idiot, which coach in their right mind would not use a player like that, much less to not even have him as an option on the bench, but have Tan! For 1. Le Toux is more center forward (he already stated that he wants to be in foward position the same day he was traded to Whitecaps. 2. Chiumiento plays in midfield mostly (Sunday was attacking midfield). This guys is totally clueless.
On another note, Whitecaps are now in Florida with 3 preseason matches on schedule while they are there in Florida, Disney Pro Soccer Classic. MLSsoccer.com will stream 19 preseason games these last two weeks of preseason. Matches from Desert Diamond Cup (Arizona), Disney Pro Soccer Classic (Florida) and the Colorado games in Hawaiian Islands Invitational.
It was SHAVAR THOMAS that MATTOCKS beat for pace on the left side, although I can't put all the blame on Shavar; he was trying to mark two man at the same time; the man with the ball coming inside and Mattock to left.....
But ye-ya now.... a SHAVAR gave up the penalty, tackling the forward in the box.....
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Darren Mattocks is looking strong so far at the pro level but the real thing starts in 15 days. But believe me, he has a place in the senior squad now.
Darren Mattocks is looking strong so far at the pro level but the real thing starts in 15 days. But believe me, he has a place in the senior squad now.
Still waiting on Navion Boyd to take a shot on goal.......Hell, still waiting on Navion Boyd to take a shot!!! If Darren Mattocks, Errol Stevens and others cannot get 15 minutes on the national team.......then, "HOUSTON KINGSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!"
_________________________ "Money doesn't change men, it merely unmasks them." - Henry Ford
Darren Mattocks is looking strong so far at the pro level but the real thing starts in 15 days. But believe me, he has a place in the senior squad now.
let's just say for now that Cummings it seems has real competition; and because he's young and playing in the MLS we may see him sooner than later in the Yellow,green & black.
. ORLANDO, Fla. – Vancouver Whitecaps forward Darren Mattocks chose to dedicate his first goal against the Montreal Impact to … the Montreal Impact.
“They didn’t choose me No. 1 [in the SuperDraft] and I showed them they made a mistake,” the Jamaican striker said after the match. “I had it in the back of my mind.”
Mattocks’s 70th minute blast which overpowered Montreal goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts was the second goal in a 3-0 blanking of Vancouver’s Canadian rivals on Friday night in the second match of the Disney Pro Soccer Classic. But it meant a lot more than your run-of-the-mill preseason goal.
Numerous experts had Mattocks going as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 SuperDraft in January, but the Montreal Impact instead chose Duke’s Andrew Wenger. Mattocks wanted to make sure he made them pay for it on Friday at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
So if his blistering left-footed strike that found the roof of the net had a little extra juice on it, you can understand why.
“At the end of the day, that’s my competitive edge,” Mattocks told MLSsoccer.com. “I think I was the best player in the draft without a doubt. I mean I’m not talking about it. It’s reality. So it’s pretty good. They made a choice and went with Andrew. And that’s fine with me.”
The goal came just three minutes after Wenger had entered the match seeking to boost the Impact’s fortunes in attack. But it would not mark a memorable spell for Wenger, who came as part of a flurry of subs by Impact manager Jesse Marsch midway through the second half.
Mattocks’s strike put the game out of reach. New arrival Sebastien Le Toux was the provider and the Akron University product did the rest, redeeming himself for what had been a frustrating evening to that point after a smattering of botched plays.
He celebrated by pointing to the sky and displaying a heart shape with his hands following the celebration with his teammates on the Whitecaps bench.
“Whatever your heart can conceive, you can achieve,” said Mattocks, adding a poet’s touch to a night that he will remember as poetic justice.
_________________________ "Money doesn't change men, it merely unmasks them." - Henry Ford
It was SHAVAR THOMAS that MATTOCKS beat for pace on the left side, although I can't put all the blame on Shavar; he was trying to mark two man at the same time; the man with the ball coming inside and Mattock to left.....
But ye-ya now.... a SHAVAR gave up the penalty, tackling the forward in the box.....
It wasn't Shavar who gave up penalty in 82 minute of the game..it was Camara/Kamara. But if did see the game Shavar foul Mattocks in the box earlier in second half but referee didn't give the penalty. Rickets had to block a rocket again from Mattocks coming from the right side from way outside the box, only because the other Whitecaps player didn't get the rebound quick enough because that would've been a easy put back. Rickets did well overall but there is just so much shot you can stop. Shavar was ok in the game.
Good game by him and the team. They have game again today against Houston starting at 10:00am PT or 1:00pm ET. Then on Wednesday they play Kansas City at 3:00pm PT or 6:00pm ET.
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Mattocks' blinding speed the talk of Vancouver camp March 2, 2012 Martin MacMahon MLSsoccer.com MLSsoccer.com
Vancouver Whitecaps rookie Darren Mattocks is fast. Really fast.
That speed helped the Jamaican attacker score 39 goals in 47 matches at the NCAA level with the University of Akron, and now it’s causing his Vancouver teammates to compare him with some of the fastest men in – and out – of the soccer world.
“I call him Usain Bolt, because he’s so fast,” a laughing Eric Hassli told MLSsoccer.com during a recent phone interview, comparing Mattocks to the famous sprinter who also hails from Jamaica. “He has a great chance now. He’s young and has to learn that he has great quality – he’s fast and scores goals. For a young player, he’s very talented.”
That ability and breakaway speed made it a no-brainer for Vancouver to select Mattocks with the second overall pick of this year’s SuperDraft after the Montreal Impact overlooked him in favor of Andrew Wenger.
Mattocks has shown during this preseason that he’s more than just a runner, and has a powerful strike with both feet. As it turned out, he saved his most emphatic demonstration of those qualities for the team that passed on him, scoring a fizzing left-footed shot in Vancouver’s 3-0 victory over the Impact last weekend.
Mattocks’ ability to accelerate, matched with his composure in front of goal, is drawing comparisons to some of the finest players to grace MLS.
“He reminds me a lot of Jeff Cunningham,” Atiba Harris said, name-dropping the MLS all-time leading goal scorer. “He could do a lot of great things in this league, even this season. When we go to stadiums with bigger fields, I think he’s going to cause a lot of trouble.
“In this league, guys with pace can really cause problems for defenses.”
That ability to stretch the defense has often been cited by head coach Martin Rennie during interviews when asked to describe what will set Mattocks apart from the other strikers in the squad. With such a deep attacking group, having that distinct attribute should mean the 21-year-old will get his chances to play, particularly as a substitute running at defenders with tired legs.
“He has great qualities,” playmaker Davide Chiumiento said. “He’s really, really fast. If he improves and learns how to move, he can score a lot of goals in this league and be really dangerous. If he gets good balls from behind, he can be a surprise.”
Martin MacMahon covers the Vancouver Whitecaps for MLSsoccer.com.
You beat me to it Jamatl. Last night I read it but so tired fell asleep before come on the board on post it. The youth ago score at least 15 goals this season. Can't wait for season to start so can watch the team. Whitecaps is capable of scoring 3-5 goals a game and at this point IMO them can beat any team in MLS. It might seems far fetch but they will do serious damage and could win it all. I love attacking teams and the best defense is offense in my opinion. A team not worrying about attacking you when you constantly peppering their goal.
Today them play in Disney Pro Soccer Classic final game be live on Espn3(US) and TSN.ca (Can) then tape delay on TSN cable TV network in Canada. Team a run way from fielding their first eleven against them in the final because them no want a demoralising defeat going into their season. I want Whitecaps to drop 4-6 goals on TFC today, take no prisoners. No their fault teams no want send out them best team. Winning mentality starts with not playing down to other teams level. The MLS season starts next week Saturday.
