NextPod Soccer Podcast for October 17

In this week's NextPod, Duane and James are joined by former US international and Houston Dynamo legend Rico Clark to talk about his first season as head coach of Whitecaps 2. Rico discusses the role of MLS NextPro in the development pathway, how to balance wins and losses with other development needs, what he's learned about himself as a coach and more.

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Welcome to Next Pop, your weeklylook at North American soccer prospects and the
West. Next bro Campil and beyond. These are your homes. Dwayne Rowland
and James Grossi, and welcome tothe next pod. Dwayne Rowlands on the

(00:28):
line with my friend, my colleague, the world's leading expert in Canadian development
issues, James Grossy heights James lenI swear as your mission to make me
chuckle at the start of every singleone of these. There's no way I'm
in the leading expert in the Canadiansare development. But I will take the
I will take the praise when itcomes, because you know, there's no

(00:49):
such thing as too much praise.So I'm happy to be here with you,
happy to talk to some more.Forty. It's been a slightly quieter
week in the Canadian football landscape.We had one men's game in Japans and
some action in the NWSL, someCBL playoffs and this next Pro playoffs,
but relatively quiet. So it's beengood and I'm looking forward to chatting with

(01:10):
that. Yeah, and thanks foryour patients. Last week. We did
take Thanksgiving off, folks. Youknow we had to eat some well,
I don't eat turkey, but youmight have. I don't know. I
had some potatoes, so so thatwas good. But we took Thanksgiving out
there and briefly we mentioned that weusually talk about national team games a little
bit on this thing. This isa show. I'm not sure I really

(01:30):
want to talk about the Japan gameconcrete you'd like to say it before one
loss to Japan and they need tofigure it out and within a month to
make sure that they get to goto COPD. But any thoughts before we
quickly wrap up on the next proand then bring out a really really good
guest for this week. Yeah,I think just my overarching takeaway was sort

(01:52):
of that's that's the price that youpay when you skip a window and then
go and play against one of theinformed teams. And in the international game
right now, I mean, travelingall the way to Japan to play a
friendly on the sort of tight turnaroundsthat that guys are experiencing in season is
always a pretty big ask. Andyou know, Canada looked like a team

(02:13):
that that hadn't been together for threemonths, and as you said, there's
some really important games coming up,so it wasn't wholly unexpected by the result,
the performance left a little bit tobe desired, But I think that's
that's what you sort of wanted toget out of. This window was a
reminder to the guys that, hey, you know, we've going to shape
some things up before before those biggames coming up in November. Yeah,

(02:37):
it's hard to say that those gameswill be against yet based on the reaction,
we'll no, but this time nextweek, Jamaica is my guest,
but there's about five different teams.It could be it's gonna be a little
easier than Japan, but they stillneed to uh to figure it out.
Okay, we're gonna we're gonna moveon from that. Well, we'll talk
more than national teams in the daysahead. We have a MS next Pro.
Their playoffs got going. Uh youknow, we also can't be all

(03:00):
playoffs, but we're through the developmentside of things there. We'll maybe talking
about that in a couple of weeks, but that's wrapped or summarize what's been
going on in Next World before webring on our special special special guests.
I'll say that one last time.It's week O Clark Emials legend. If
you watched the game for a longtime, weeks. He's the white Caps
f seed two head coach. Rightnow, He's going to talk some development

(03:20):
and tops two with us in abit. But James, before we do
that, let's have summarize what's beengoing on in MLST Next Proble playoffs.
Yeah, the MLST Next Pro Playoffshave been just chalk full of upsets.
So we saw some in the firstround and the second round did not disappoint,
you know. In the first matchin the Eastern Conference, things went
to order, the second ranked NewEngland defeeding fourth ranked Red Bulls to one.

(03:43):
On Friday night, New England tookan early lead, doubled it with
twenty minutes left. Red Bulls pulledone back but can't find that equalizer.
And then on Sunday we saw numberthree in the East, O Columbus Crew
defending champions upset the top seed groundLegacy one zero with an early goal in
the second half. One the sixthmatch, I saw a red card in

(04:03):
the second minute put San Jose behindthe eight ball against Colorado, who's still
need an eighty fourth minute game winnerto move on to the next round.
And in the West and then aneighty second minute goal from fourth rank D
Austin saw them hand second seed Tacomaa one mill defeat. So Austin's run
going through Kansas City and now Tacomacontinues, and that trend of teams being

(04:27):
upset held through the conference finals,with Columbus beating New England one mill in
the East on Saturday with a ninetyfirst minute winner right at the death of
the game. I think there wasa one minute of extra time and goal
goes in and New England barely hada chance to respond to that disappointment.
So the Crew will be in thefinal for the second year running. And
out West Austin beat the top seedColorado. The game was scoreless through ninety

(04:51):
minutes and both periods of extra time, so it was decided in a shootout
where Austin's goalkeeper of the year lastmade a pair of save as well as
teammates converted their spot kicks. Sowe've got a Columbus will host Austin in
the final on Sunday. For theCanadian content, the Talo Bundury started for

(05:12):
Columbus. Nobel Akello was a halftimesub for New England, and center back
Salamona as a Pharaoh was a wasa rock in the back once more for
Austin. So with Bundary and asa pharaoh. Moving on to the final,
we'll have a little bit of Canadianaction there to keep it on own.
But it should be a good one. Should be a good one.
Yeah. You gotta admire what they'vebeen doing with the crew program there,

(05:32):
right, to win the championship theway they did in the first year and
to be successful and to follow upfor that when you know, you expect
the most and players out and theydid. So they're kind of meeting both
ends of the the spectrum there whenit comes to the next boat. They're
book producing players for the first teamand they're successful. So you know,
and who runs that program there inColumbus, James, do we do?

(05:53):
We know who runs the crew?Any any connections to Toronto by chance?
No? Anyway, Yeah, that'sto move on. Okay, as I
mentioned a minute ago, we gotRico Clark. He's uh. For those
who don't didn't follow them or don'tfollow on the list, you may not
know it, but he played closeto what four hundred games in Major League

(06:15):
Soccer, probably best known for histiny Houston Dynamo. He's on his coaching
journey now and his first kind offull time first not first team, but
full time in the head coaching positionis with the white Caps two. He
came in to leave that program andwe had the opportunity to have a chat
with him, so we're just gonnathrow that now. It's a really good
interview. He's a guy that knowshis stop, as I said, a

(06:39):
legendary playing career at the major leaguesoccer level, and that's something that I
think he can really give to theplayers that he's working with day and day
out. So that that's sort ofthe breakdown, and when we come back,
it'll be us with Ricardo Clark andwelcome back to Next Pod. I'm

(07:08):
Dwayne Rowlins and joining me on theline from Vancouver is Arico Clarkey is the
head coach of the white Caps two. Thanks for joining us today. Rico,
Hey, thanks for having me.It's awesome to have you here.
We talk a lot on the showabout what next pro is and what's going
on at that level, but it'sgood to talk to someone who's who's right

(07:29):
right there on the trenches, workingday and day out with these guys at
this level. So so I reallywant to start here. So our second
year of the league has just wrappedup, and I'm wondering whether Next Pro
is doing what you felt it wasgoing to do in terms of developing players
at this point, Like when youthink back to when this league started,
are you happy with where Next Prois and what it's doing right now?

(07:54):
Yeah? To be honest, Ithink in general, it's it's it's doing
what it needs to do. Youknow. I think in regards to developing
players, that the platform is there, and the the environment and setup is
there, uh for these kids toplay and get experience playing and in a

(08:15):
competitive environment, uh, in ain a relatively professional environment, you know,
Uh a season of twenty four gamesagainst against you know, good quality
opponents. I mean all these opponentswe play are are you know, MLS,
MLS teams, MLS Next Pro teams. So it's it's been a very

(08:37):
good level from what I've experienced thisyear in my first year of coaching with
the white Caps too. So againI think, like I said, the
setup and you know, the levelplay have been have been good for uh,
for the for the development of playersand hopefully keeps improving. There's a

(09:01):
lot of different options out there inthe Lower Mainland. Of course, you
have bankr Reptcy coming in this yearand the game primulating yourself you know,
obviously in versual level things like that, where does next pro fit in in
that pyramid? Though, Like ifyou were trying to pitch to a family
or to a player coming up toyour level versus the other levels I just
mentioned, you know where where waswhere's the fit? Well? How does

(09:22):
it benefit? Like what's your thoughtsthere? Uh, Well, I'll sort
of touch on sort of our setup. Right, So with this second year,
you know, some of the someof the I guess you can call
them objectives we sort of set outwas, uh, was that we we

(09:43):
wanted to you know, first ofall, integrate a bit more uh with
the club, especially with players.You know, we wanted to have more
mixed sessions, uh, more interactionsmore again, like I said, general
integration with with the first team inaddition to uh with the academy, right,

(10:07):
and and one of the other objectiveswe had was to get to get
younger. I know, not notjust younger to get younger, but younger,
uh, or for players in theacademy that are earning it, that
deserve to get to get opportunity fordevelopment development purposes. I think for the

(10:28):
most part, we did evolve thissecond season to uh to achieve some of
those objectives. Right. We choseto go with a lighter roster, right,
just to allow sort of availability withinthe roster when when it came to
to trainings to pull players up fromthe academy, where it came to games

(10:50):
where younger players in the first teamenvironed environment needed to drop down, uh
to get games, to get minutes, to get that experience and get the
reps. So you know, oh, no, it was I'd say it
was a positive from from that point, right, and I would say where
you know, uh MLS next FOfits into the whole I guess development scheme

(11:16):
of of you soccer. You know, you know the positive thing about an
MLS environment is the resources, rightyou have you know for the most part,
you know, obviously every club isdifferent, but you have the resources
UH there too to at least putthe kids in a in a good place

(11:39):
to develop, right. You know, you have very professional coaching staff.
You have very professional uh set upon all aspects of the game, the
medical side, UH, the performanceside, you know, speeding and agility,
the uh the strength and conditioning,you know, with the sports science,

(12:03):
it's it's really top right. Youhave, you know, just a
very professional setup, right. Obviouslynot as professional as the second team,
sorry, as the first team,but you know, for a second team
level, it's it's it's adequate enoughto create a like I said, a
proper environment. So you know,obviously always want to improve, always want

(12:26):
to evolve, but I say thestarting points for kids to come in to
a really nice environment to have rightin your backyard, the opportunity to play
against and see that the next levelin the pinnacle of North North American soccer
uh is is just again great startingpoints to have and it creates a great

(12:48):
environment for development in my opinion.Yeah, Rico, I've I've watched TFC
two a lot over the last fivesix seven years, as long as they've
sort of been around. And oneof the benefits love these MLST Next Pro
Pro programs is being as close,having that proximity that to the first teams,
having that those link points and beingable to hop into training and see

(13:09):
what those guys are doing on theday to day basis. We've seen you
guys graduate a couple of guys fromfrom white Caps FC two to the first
team both last year and this yearas well. We've seen you guys at
add a couple of interesting CPO playersthis past season. And you know,
one of the things that I talkedto Johnny Trumini at TFC about recently was
was, how do you go aboutputting together an MLS next pro roster?

(13:31):
You know, from from the outside, it looks to me like it's a
mix of academy players, draft picks, and a couple of guys that catch
the eye from outside that you wantto bring in. Is there an ideal
balance that you guys are looking forand what are some of the characteristics you're
trying to find in players that areready to take those next steps? Yeah?

(13:52):
So yeah, I guess I'll startwith no. Part of the evolution
this work this year was to gowith the at a roster right to to
sort of add you know, openup those those pathways for players coming up
and dropping down. But with that, you know, I'd say we have

(14:18):
two to three players per position inthe death chart, and then you know
it's about you know, part ofit's about, Okay, what are the
first team needs? Okay, Soyou know what's available in the academy.
Right as a club, what whereare we strong right? Like maybe right

(14:41):
now we're strong in the center midfieldposition at the first team and the academy,
right, so maybe we're looking foruh, you know ten seven eleven's
right, from different sources. Right, there's a thorough scouting network that that
we have, and we're constantly uh, you know, I'm constantly being uh,

(15:07):
you know, provided players to lookat, or they're bringing me players
to potentially bring in on trial.So you know, there's I wouldn't say
there's any limit to where these theplayers can come from, but within that
there, like you said, thereis a balance. There is a balance
between again opening up the the sortof pathways for academy players to potentially move

(15:33):
up and integrate, whether it betraining, whether it be in games like
we've done this year, but alsobalance it out with, Okay, what
are the first team needs? Howcan we bring in a player that for
instance, might be on like aone year plan or or maybe even a
two year plan to to sort ofhopefully prove themselves developed to make that jump

(15:56):
like uh for the next year.Like you look at a guy like Levonte
Johnson, right. You know,he was on maybe a one or two
year plan, uh to hopefully makethat jump, and he did similar to
one or two other players, right, So you know, and there was

(16:17):
a need for a number ten rightwhen I say ten, like a like
a ten and a three four three, right, there was a need for
that position right with the first team. So there's so many dynamics long story
short, there's so many dynamics thatgo into it of balancing what what players

(16:38):
you have coming through, providing pathwaysfor those players coming through, but also
you know, keeping the priority asthe first team and what their needs are
and hopefully getting these kids on differentplans, whether it be it you know,
strict development plan related to their totheir games or like a time frame

(17:00):
of plan related to win how longthey have to basically prove themselves and development
the platform to move on. Now, I like that you use the word
balance because, in my opinion,just watching from Afar as I do it,
so much of managing these second teamsis about finding those balance between meeting

(17:21):
the needs of the first team betweenhelping the players along those pathways. So
it's such a vital part of ofwhat you guys get up to and you
know, I didn't get a chanceto watch as many white Caps two games
this year as I would have liked, because the games, unfortunately were not
available on demand on TV, somethingthat doing and I have complained about affair.
But but we're a couple of weeksto remove from the end of the

(17:41):
season. Now I'm curious how you'rethinking about how this year went for you
guys. It seemed to me likeyou were right up there with the best
in the West, and then aroundthe middle of July there seemed to be
a little bit of a dip andyou guys ran out of steam. Is
that something that happens with young players? Is that? How did you see
that season, Planner? Yeah,it was a very interesting season, man,

(18:02):
at least in regardless of the standings. Like you mentioned, we we
started off flying, man, startoff flying, you know, uh,
top of the West and the standings, you know, and then about I
say about halfway through the season thatthe performance sort of just just dropped a
little bit. And then I'd saytowards the last couple of games maybe it

(18:26):
picked back up, but you know, it's the there's there there. I
would say, first of all,there's challenges for sure, just like any
other unless next pro club experiences withthe dynamics of players in and out,
players moving up and down, youknow, uh sort of trying to build

(18:49):
a chemistry among players in a shortamount of time, uh, you know,
trying to organize training sessions within youknow, short amount of time uh
player for for coaches and players justto just to deal with those dynamics and
and make the most out of thesituation and control what you can control in

(19:11):
those moments when it's so unpredictable atthis at this uh this level. But
you know, I would say,you know, we we were we were
glad to see Levonte Johnson moved tothe first team, right and j C
sort of even though we were onthe contract, but sort of kind of
push on to be uh more ofa mainstay with the with the first team.

(19:37):
I do think those guys did helpus, to be honest. Levante
was a big part of our attackuh the times he was with us.
But we were glad to see himmove on, like I said, and
you know, play in a CanadianChampionship final and help the team uh win
a trophy, right, and andthose the kind of stories you want to

(20:00):
see more of and hopefully we cansee more of throughout the season. So
I'd say with the dynamics of thatsort of playing a part in the performance
overall was definitely a factor. Butthen you know, you wonder if we
look back when we review, youknow, this is two years in a

(20:22):
row where sort of the play sortof performance dropped halfway through the season.
So then you look back. Theother challenge we have maybe is the travel,
right because we're a Western Conference team, because we're not really on the
same sort of travel budget as thefirst seam, Right, you sort of

(20:44):
lose training days, right, youknow, you maybe lose that with a
couple of games. You maybe losethe training the day before game, and
you lose again maybe on the travelback you're losing one or two trainings.
That is, you know, atthe development level is vital, right,
So now we have to review andsee, okay, where were those gaps

(21:08):
that that led to that sort ofdifferent performance and maybe sort of try to
adjust, right in my opinion,with like, for instance, training sessions
and how can we maybe add ona training session here or there to make
sure these guys are getting adequate timeon the ball. Top reps in in
in their game to keep the developmentaspect going throughout it consistently throughout the season.

(21:36):
So yeah, I don't know ifthe answers to questions a little bit
long winded, but that's kind ofwhere we're at with that. But again,
was our main objective to make theplayoffs? Know? Did we want
to be competitive? Absolutely? ButI think we did hit on those first
two objectives related to a grain againand pushing players on to the to the

(22:03):
first team. So maybe the nextyear that's our next step, you know,
maybe, yeah, maybe we pushfor that that that playoff playoff picture,
you know, and make that amain objective. You know. Again,
we're in a review positive process thisyear actually this postseason, so we'll
see how that sort of evolves goinginto the future. Yeah, that's where

(22:26):
of speaks to what I was goingto ask Rico. You know, let's
take the team and put that ona shelf for a second. Just think
about yourself as a coach. Whatdo you view as success in terms of
your role? If you win somelosses as your success or are you more
concerned about performance, about how they'reimplementing a game plan, how they're they're
building skills, how you're maybe graduatingplayers. How do you view your own

(22:48):
role and what your success is inthat matter? Yeah, yeah, I
would say my successes is related tothose objectives. You know, I would
say my success related to my rolewithin the club and the objectives we wanted
to hit. You know. Youknow, again, as a club,

(23:11):
the priority is the first team,right, so you know, for me
to fulfill my role within the clubwith that first team being a priority,
I want to sort of make surethat we're supporting them and everything they're doing.
Right. If they need they wantplayers involved in their training session,

(23:33):
We're more than happy too to providethose those players anytime and every time they
need them. First and foremost,it's going to help them prepare on the
weekend. You know. Also,it's given our players the experience of playing
in the first team environment and I'llI'll take that experience over you know,

(23:59):
preparation for my games any day atthis moment, based on our objectives this
season, right, so, youknow, again, maybe sometimes it will
affect the chemistry, Maybe sometimes itwill affect maybe the preparation for for our
game, but it helps the firstteam and at the end of the day,
you know, that's that's the priority. Right. So in addition to

(24:21):
that, you know, my youknow, with with how do I evaluate
my my role as a coach thisyear? Like like you mentioned before,
it's it's about you know, likewe said, meeting the objective. The
second one related to pushing players onto the first team, right, and
again I think we can hopefully improveon that and maybe next year it's not

(24:44):
just two three players, maybe it'sfour. Right. You're always pushing to
you know, the best, youcan hit those limits and and and you
know, sort of stru for forfor more in relations relation to what your
expectations are. But I think wehit what we wanted to do to a

(25:08):
large degree this year, right withthat, with pushing Levante on with JC.
So yeah, in addition to that, man, you know, I
want to develop players. I wantto bring academy players in. You know.
I think next year, hopefully wecan set up the structure a little

(25:30):
bit better so that we are moreintegrated with the academy. Maybe it's you
know, on the day to dayI think we can get a little bit
better with that and how we alignthe training sessions, how we align everything
so that we can just sort ofbe integrated on a daily basis to hopefully

(25:52):
get younger players in that are earningit, to get them that experience to
develop. But but yeah, inregards to performing some results, I'm a
very competitive person. I think everybodyon the staff is very very competitive.
So we definitely want when it comesgame day, were you know, we're

(26:14):
full long to win the game.Man. You know, we have the
same emotions as we would in thefirst team environment of of you know,
the pain of of of of losinga game, the the joy of winning
a game. The players have thatsame same expectation that come game that doesn't
matter what happened during the week,you know, we're we're there to win.

(26:37):
So that's that's kind of the mentalitythat we we want to instill and
in addition to control and what wecontrol, uh and and at then at
the end of the week, duringthe day to day to hopefully keep that
competitive mentality and keep that uh thatspirit going to uh because that's that's important
and a big part of development aswell, is that winning mentality and that

(27:00):
competitive mentality. Rica. Having watchedyou play a fair bed over the years,
I wouldn't have expected anything less fromyou. In this coaching role.
I was looking over your story alittle bit before we before we spoke today.
You know, you joined them alot to be a project for you,
the precursor to generation to do this. It's been a long career in

(27:21):
the league and a bunch of teamscoached in the US national team system were
at the Houston Dynamo Dynamo Academy fora little while. How has all of
that prepared you for this role andwhat are some of the lessons that you've
learned in your career that you tryto impart on these young players. Yeah,
just to be honest, I justhope that whatever experiences I had as

(27:45):
a player, I can relate itto me as a coach in order to
sort of develop players within my coachingstaf how I approach my coaching uh,
my coaching job, right, Soyou know, with that becomes you know,

(28:07):
how can I potentially relate more tothe player and what he's experiencing in
different situations, right, whether itbe in training, whether it be in
games, whether it be in liferelated to the soccer environment. You know,
I think there is something there thatthat is relevant when you can sort

(28:30):
of know what or have a closerconnection to what the player is experiencing in
different different parts of this this thissoccer soccer thing, in this professional game,
right, So I try not totalk too much about my playing career.
You know, if people need toknow, they can just go on

(28:52):
Google. You know, the playerscan go on Google and research it.
I just sort of try to hI don't more relate through my coaching actions,
you know, the best I can, you know, what I can
do to develop players, If thatmakes sense, Yeah, yeah, totally.
And it's nice that YouTube around nowso everybody can find those clips and

(29:15):
we're don't have to go back tovhs to which like we did back in
the day. One last one ifyou don't mind, and a little bit
selfishly for me, you know,we're going to be keeping a pretty close
eye on Canada at the U seventeenWorld Cup, and there's a couple of
players that you will have worked withwho are in contention to be a part
of that squad. So I washoping you could just you know, give

(29:36):
us a little synopsis on on Jeevesand Badwall, Liam McKenzie and kind of
void. But it just give usa little little snippet on what you've seen
from those three young men, andmaybe what these kind of experiences can do
for a young player earlier in theircareer to go out and see the wide
breadth through the world out there.Yeah. So I yeah, I'll start

(30:00):
with Jeevan Badwall. So Jieban Ithink was first involved with uh the secondeam
fret Zeason. Obviously he had uhI been in the mix for the national
team. I think at that pointearly in the season. This is maybe

(30:23):
very he was. I'm not sureif he had gotten called up to the
seventeen at one point before that,but I think he was heading into a
qualifier to a qualify, you know, I chose, we chose to bring
him in to sort of hopefully springboardhim in preparation for him going into the

(30:48):
U seventeen qualifiers, right, youknow, I think he was, like
we talked about young players earning opportunityto use one of the top players for
the U seventeen up to that pointlast year, and he had earned an
opportunity to come and be involved inour in our group, you know,

(31:11):
came in uh, you know,showed a little bit of you know,
the I should say immaturity for lackof a BEATD word I would say immaturity,
but it just showed that he wasa young player in that in that
environment, right, And this wasback in pre season February, right,
so which we expected within that hewas able to hold his own. I

(31:34):
think we had a couple of scrimmagesagainst the first team in those moments.
We maybe had one or two scrimmagesagainst one of two CPL teams. But
again in preparation for what he hadcoming next in the qualifiers, I thought
it was a great opportunity, right, And you know, fast forward through

(31:55):
qualifiers through his U seventeen season.It come late summer, right after his
U seventeen season, he joins intraining with us, right, and it's
almost like we tried to progress himwith him coming back into our environment with

(32:20):
training, then with maybe a coupleof minutes in a game the next game
I think again, the first gameI think was ten minutes. The next
game he got was maybe twenty minutes. The game after that was maybe thirty
minutes. The game after that wasa half. With each time he performed
in those games, he got better, right, He got better in training,

(32:42):
he got better in games. Nextthing, you know, he's earning
a starting spot right and you know, totally deserved. I think he may
have started every game after that forthe rest of the season, last fourth
of the season and helped us,contributed for us and was like a mainstay

(33:07):
for us in the midfield. Sothe kid is is is an awesome kid.
Uh. He's got a great mentality, he's got a great mindsets,
very steady, very humble, andhe does the work and he can bring
quality as a midfielder. So we'revery happy with Jeevens has brought to the
group and what he's shown for usup to this point with next PROD.

(33:29):
It's it sucks because you wish therewas like another couple of games ago this
year in the season just to seehim get that more experience and develop even
more. But man, he's beenawesome for us, man, and I
think he's totally totally deserved that.Uh. He's in with the U seventeens
and hopefully the uh this this experiencewith him helps sort of again springboard them

(33:52):
going into the World Cup. Youknow, Liam McKenzie uh was involved with
us throughout the throughout the year,just like jeevn jeeven was involved with us
in a couple of training sessions,especially towards the end of the season.
But what he got his first appearance, I think with the second team,

(34:15):
uh maybe our third to last gameof the season. You know, I've
tracked Liam for a while, youknow, I think he's grown as a
player throughout this year when they're seeingthem with the U seven teams, uh
white Caps, you've seen with theU seven teams with the Canadian national team,

(34:37):
and then fast forwarding to to toright now now and how he's performing.
I think he just scored a goalwith the U seven teams against l
A Galaxy UH this past weekend.So he's he's definitely taking his game to
another level in regards to being alittle bit more dynamic player, in regards

(34:58):
to being more confident and just maturingas a player in general. And I
think he's you know, he's ahe's a player for instance, that's going
to be involved in our training sessionuh in two days, right, So
he's definitely earning the spot and hassomething different in in in what he brings,
and it's almost like his sheer desireis what takes him over the top.

(35:20):
Right, He's got the physical ability, he's got the strength. Uh.
He's he's a little bit mature physicallyfor for his for his age,
and his desire sort of carries himin in all his actions. Right,
He's hungry around goal, he wantsto make runs and now he's actually shown
some ability to receive in between linesuh and be dynamic in his play.

(35:42):
Right. So you hopefully he keepscontinuing and hopefully he contributes for the national
team coming up this World Cup.Right. So, and then Kyler is
a guy who was going into Campuh In in Brazil, I believe a
couple of weeks ago, and sortof like what we did with Jeeven uh

(36:04):
earlier in the year, we wantedto sort of help spring void him going
into that to that camp. Sowe once we found out he was going
uh going to Brazil to to beinvolved in those preparation preparation games, we
decided to have him in training throughoutthe week and then give him get him
some minutes uh in in the gameagainst San Jose again to sort of just

(36:30):
help him in his development towards thatnext camp. So, yeah, this
kid, you know, he's ahe's a he's a feisty player. Again,
a lot of desire on the field. We need to prove a little
bit on the technical side. Buthe again sort of like Liam, He's
he's very tenacious in and the roundgoal. He's He's actually improved a bit

(36:52):
at least what I've seen in myenvironment in his finishing ability, uh,
in his consistency uh in those moments. But still has a bit of ways
to go. But you know,I think the idea again was just springboard
him in our environment going into thatU seventeen national team camp. But apparently

(37:14):
he's done well for them when he'sbeen in camp, so hopefully he continues
and gets a shot at that WorldCup. Rico, just real quickly.
I want to turn back to yourselffor a second. Next pro offer is
an opportunity for everyone to develop,including the coaches, including yourself. Are
you happy with how you performed inyour season with the white Caps? You
see ways for you to improve asa coach moving forward into the next season.

(37:37):
Yeah? Absolutely, man, absolutely. You know this is my I
wouldn't say my first head coaching job, but you know I coached with the
Dunmo Academy. I was a headcoach for the United teams for a brespell.
You know, I got reps ofbeing a head coach in the lower

(38:00):
groups as well in the U sixteams. So, but it was a
bit of a switch being assistant coachwith the first team then come into a
head coach role and just sort ofacclimating to that and being sort of the
the main voice, I guess youquote unquote the main leader in addition to

(38:22):
you know, uh coaching, youknow, how I want to play?
Right with saying that too, thereare some nuances, right, because how
I wanted to play was a littlebit related to the to the first team
and with the purpose of, youknow, preparing the kids for a first
ting environment. But but yeah,it was definitely an enjoyable experience. You

(38:46):
know, there's there's there's always growthin everything. Man, I'd like to
grow and in how I'm communicating tothe players, how I'm communicating, you
know, uh, to my staff, right just in in I felt I
have made made a lot of growth, made a lot of growth in those
areas throughout the season. But againthere's there's there's always room for improvement,

(39:10):
right. How am I making clearuh, my coaching points on the field,
How am I making clear my principlesto the players? Uh, in
the way we want to play,you know, just little things like that.
I want to just keep evolving ina positive way towards you know,

(39:32):
I think delegation is something is importantas a head coach, right, especially
you know, as in a secondteam platform where uh, you know,
there's there's less staff. You know, there's there's so much, so many
dynamics on the day to day thatare that can be overwhelming, right,
So how can I maybe just keepevolving and delegating to make my work is

(39:58):
and make everything function as efficient aspossible with that? You know, you
know a lot of coaching is manmanagement, right, So how can I
improve on just connecting with players alittle bit you know better, right,
communicating with players as much as Ican in an effective way to help with

(40:20):
their development. So I would saythose are the three main things I'd like
to make the just keep honing inon and keep evolving in a good way
as a coach to make myself againa better coach, but also affect the
players in the environment in a betterway. Freakael Clark a long time MLS
legend coach for the white Caps too. Now recal, we thank you for

(40:43):
your time and invest a luck headinginto twenty twenty four and beyond. Yeah,
thank you, thanks for having meSures, and welcome back. Thanks

(41:07):
again for Rico and the white Capsfor helping stuck that up. Great interview,
I thought, James, what wereyour takeaways? Yeah, it's it's
always good to have a bit ofa chance to sit down with these guys
and pick their brains about what they'rethinking about. I think my big takeaway
from from a lot of the conversationswe get to have is just how many

(41:27):
moving pieces there are behind the sceneswhen it comes to it's to being in
a position like Rico is with Vancouverwhere you're you're trying to satisfy the need
for your team from match to match, and you're you're managing a team,
and you're navigating a season and allthe all the possibilities and all of the

(41:49):
unexpected surprises that come with traveling aroundNorth America and the professional athletes life in
general, and then you have meetingthe needs of the club in terms of
trying to keep in mind the firstteam needs and how to push guys along
to get there, but also makingsure that you're doing best for your players
and you're setting them up to besuccessful, whether it's with their U seventeen

(42:09):
national team, whether it's on apot of the first team, or whether
it's just where they are now tocontinue making those steps for and so I
appreciated Rico getting into to all ofthe different angles that he's wrestling with week
to week and that he needed tolearn how to add a little bit more
delegation to his life. The challengeof being a second team coach where you

(42:32):
don't have the resources and you arelosing so much time to travel that you
know, maybe a first team situationdoesn't have to deal with all those factors
come in and it makes it avery complicated job. But it sounds to
me like Vancouver's got a good manin the position there. And then the
other thing that stood out to mewas not so much something that he said,

(42:54):
but an idea that every season issort of iteration and you always take
away what worked this season, whatdidn't work this season, and what the
focuses were for this season, andin the off season, you pause and
you review and you reflect, andthen you go into next season with those
lessons in tow and you try anditerate again, and you try and add

(43:15):
a little bit to it, andso I like the sound of that,
and I thought it was a reallyinteresting way of putting towards something that I've
been looking at the game a fairbit. And the last point that I
would make is just that it's kindof cool now to see guys who spent
their careers in MLS and recoplate aBrad and I'm pretty sure he played for

(43:37):
the US men's nash team a fewtimes as well, to see them back
in the development period now and bringthose experiences that they had from their career
and past those on to the nextgeneration. And as you got to in
that last question, he's on thecoaching pathway himself. So it'll be really
interesting to see where all that leadsover the next five ten years. Thirty

(44:00):
four yaps, three goals for theus Man national team. I look,
Rico was or of the furniture forMLS three years, right, So we're
kind of privileged to being able tohave a chat with them, and that
institutional knowledge of the league is invaluableto a young player that's looking to break
into that league, and that that'sthe thing about guys that are at the
own next row level, that's whatthey're trying to do. They're trying to

(44:22):
get to Major League Soccer, they'retrying to have to cast at a career
at MLS, and then to havea player that's played at that level is
really impressive and really useful for them. I'm always impressed when a guy like
Rico, who probably has enough connectionswithin Major League Soccer team invited his time
might have been able to jump intothe first team level before he learned his

(44:45):
craft a little bit more at thesecond team level, to go to Vancouver,
a team he didn't really have amattion with, and build something there,
to learn how to coach, tolearn those skills. I think that
that speaks to the character of theperson. That speaks to someone who understands
his need to develop as a coachand to get better and move on.
I expect he's coaching with the aI himself to be a Major League soccer

(45:07):
headman one day, and you knowthere's no reason to think he can't do
that, right but this is thestep one along that way, and it's
a step that he seems fully committedto right now and committed to growing in
in a second season in that role, and the White Caps, I think
are pretty lucky to have a guywith such such vast experience. He truly
does nearly four hundred appearances as aprofessional, as I said, thirty four

(45:30):
caps for the US men's national team, and and now here is you know,
with his first full time head jobat white Caps two. I'm sort
of as sad and his shoulders too. But what the what the brief is?
It's the brief is to build forwhite Caps and to build that overall
program and to work within the parameters. And you could kind of hear it

(45:51):
in his voice where we asked himwhat the goals are in terms of winning
and losing and then making the playoffsfor next year. He's kind of lit
it up a little bit what hetalked about, maybe it's time to try
and win some games because those guyshave that kind of competitive and she don't
think, yeah, yeah, theage old conundrum for a second team coach.
And you know the exception, overmy years of covering this level,

(46:15):
it's it's pretty much a constant thatthere's always that little bit of friction,
that little bit of all this isn'twhat's best for us, but it's what's
best for the club. As awhole, and so you had no surprise
to see that there. And asyou said, a guy being willing to
go down the runs and to putin the hard work and to learn to
learn not just what he needs todo, but how everything functions is He's

(46:37):
a worthwhile endeavor and so you know, I wish him nothing but success in
the future. I defer really hopethose white Caps games are on demand on
Apple TV next season, and I'mlooking forward to what the future has for
Rico and white Caps too. Allright, that's going to do it for
today. Not as much banter betweenJames and I because Rico took so much

(46:58):
time, But I think he wasworthwhile, don't you guys. So we're
gonna take the breaks now. WhenI say the break, I mean like
a week. So you guys canlisten to this podcast a second, a
couple of times. Well you dothat? Could you give us a review
on Apple or wherever you do that? As you've heard on a thousand different
podcasts, it really helps you findus, It helps us grow our audience,

(47:19):
It helps us maybe one day evenget some revenue from the advertising meet
occasionally you're on this. All thishelps us do a better job. So
go out there, give us arank and review, Share us on Twitter
or whatever the hell they're calling itthis week, Instagram, yell it out
your window, whatever you want.We do appreciate all that in that note.
One day, I'm going to figureout how to say goodbye on this
show easily, James. But todaythat's not that day, So I'm just

(47:43):
gonna stop talking now. Mm hmas good a close as anyway,