Vancouver has rather quietly become one of Major League Soccer’s best teams through the summer – and there is a possibility of things improving further yet around BC Place.
That’s because Darren Mattocks is back and available for tonight’s contest against Colorado, one of the better matchups of Round 25 in MLS
The second year man out of Jamaica was in the match just two minutes back on July 14 against Chicago when he collected a knee injury. (The Whitecaps prevailed in that one, 3-1.) Vancouver’s speediest striker has not appeared since.
It’s the quintessential “good problem” to deal with for manager Martin Rennie – whose ‘Caps are 8-3-3 since May and currently No. 3 in PST’s MLS rankings – but there would have scarcely been room to squeeze in some Mattocks minutes recently.
Camilo has emerged as a league MVP candidate, Scottish striker Kenny Miller is contributing some timely goals and much of the attacking push is coming from the wide play of Russell Teibert.
Tonight’s match does, on the other hand, offer some opportunity for Mattocks; Miller played Wednesday in London (in Scotland’s loss to England) and then traveled back into North America on Thursday. So he’s probably not up for 90 minutes of top-form stuff.
As neither Miller nor Mattocks are ready for a full 90-minute shift, especially in the thin air of Denver, that looks like a good opportunity for some useful sharing of a spot.
After that … that’s where Rennie will have the more difficult choices to make.
