The Whitecaps coach lead his Brazilian youth club to its first national title in 2012, the tournament structure giving him an idea of what's to come when Vancouver travels to Orlando next month for the return-top-play tournament for MLS
In his first season with Palmeiras in 2012, Marc Dos Santos was given several tasks as the youth academy coordinator.
Recruiting, coaching, setting up a model of play — sound familiar, Vancouver Whitecaps fans? — and leading the club’s U-15 squad into the Brazilian youth cup.
“Our group had Grêmio, Inter of Porto Alegre, Santos, and my first reaction was scared. It was ‘oh no,’” said Dos Santos, now in his second season as coach of the Whitecaps.
“And then I realized … playing good teams made us even more aware as a team. We ended up finishing first in the group and going all the way.”
It was the first youth title in history for Palmeiras, and vindicated Dos Santos, who had been vilified in the press when his hiring was announced.
Now he hopes to take the tournament knowledge he learned in Brazil and apply it to the MLS Is Back tournament in Orlando next month.
The Whitecaps have been drawn into Group B with Major League Soccer rivals the Seattle Sounders, FC Dallas and San Jose Earthquakes. The top two finishers in the six groups advance to the round of 16 knockout stage, along with the four best third-place teams.
Vancouver Whitecaps head coach Marc Dos Santos
The first games in tournaments structured like this are important, but Dos Santos is ambivalent to whom the Whitecaps play first.
“Whoever we play in the first game, we have to be ready. I hope, for our fans, that our first game is against Seattle. But just for (the) fans, not for anything else,” he said.
“It’s a tough group,” Seattle’s vice-president of soccer and sporting director Chris Henderson said during the live draw. “Some rivalry games for sure and some history between the clubs.
“We’re looking forward to get starting again. November and MLS Cup seems like a long time ago.”
The Sounders, the defending MLS Cup champions, knocked FC Dallas out of the playoffs last season in an epic opening-round match. The Toros rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to send the game to extra time, where Jordan Morris broke their hearts with a 113th-minute winner.
“As soon as I saw we were in Seattle’s group, man, I started smiling,” Reggie Cannon told reporters on Friday.
“It is just going to be a great opportunity to get some revenge because that game hurt, and it’s something I’ll never forget. It was a game I grew (from). It was a game the whole team grew (from). And everyone was together in that game. It felt like a family, it felt like a brotherhood.”
Seattle Sounders midfielder Henry Wingo (23) tries to break up a pass by Vancouver Whitecaps defender Ali Adnan (53) in 2019.
The winner of the tournament gets a berth in the CONCACAF Champions League, which is the primary goal for Dos Santos’ squad heading in. Heading home from Orlando still in a playoff position is the secondary goal for the seventh-place Whitecaps, with the three round robin games counting toward regular-season standings.
“This is a sprint,” he said. “This is a tournament that counts toward the … regular-season standings.
“It’s all games that count for points in the standings, and hopefully when MLS comes back we’ll still be in a playoff position. Our objective is: we’re going to Orlando in a playoff position, and hopefully we come back in a playoff position. When everything starts again, then we’ll be in a good spot to continue our run.”
There still haven’t been any definitive dates posted for the post-tournament landscape, though the league is still optimistic they’ll be able to fit in 16 games in the fall. Those plans were made before the number of positive COVID-19 tests began to rise again in several U.S. states, and in the wake of an unnamed D.C. United player testing positive on Saturday.
The league has established extensive health protocols for the players who will be confined to the Disney Swan and Dolphin Resort while competing at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Provisions have been made for a single player testing positive at the tournament — a mandatory 14-day quarantine — but none if several players on a single team test positive.
Rarely one to waste time on things he can’t control, Dos Santos has acknowledged the issue, as well as the uncertain future of the MLS season post-tournament, but is concentrating on getting his side ready for the 26-team tournament that will see 54-games from July 8-Aug. 11.
“Soccer rhythm is very different than the physical side of the game. Physically alone, I think our players are in a very good spot,” he said, alluding to the fitness regimen his players have followed since play was suspended in March.
“The rhythm, you only get it with games. I think we’ll have enough time. I think one month is enough time to get as ready as possible. Other teams have the same preparation … so we can’t use anything as an excuse.”
Dos Santos is hoping the Caps can recapture the same pressing energy they showed in a pre-season tournament in Portland and a road win over LA Galaxy this year, and while he said the heat and humidity might force them to be more strategic in their press, it wont stop them.
“It will be harder. It will. But I think you have a choice of identity or what you want to be about.
“But our overall game, we cannot be a club that is afraid of the opponent, always respecting too much the opponent, always backing off — we don’t want to be about that. We want to change that stigma,” the coach said.
“We want to make sure that from Game 1, we’re more on the opponent than they are on us. What we did in L.A. has to be in our DNA all the time.”
KEY DATES
June 24: Teams begin arriving in Florida
July 8: MLS is Back Tournament group stage begins
July 25-28: Round-of-16
July 30-Aug. 1: Quarter-finals
Aug. 5-6: Semifinals
Aug. 11: MLS is Back Tournament Final
MLS IS BACK TOURNAMENT
(July 8 to Aug. 11, Orlando, Fla.)
Number of Matches: 54 (39 group; 15 knockout)
Number of match days: 26
Format: Group Stage, followed by Round-of-16, quarter-finals, semifinals, championship match
Minimum matches: 3 (per club)
Maximum matches: 7 (per club)
GROUP A
Eastern Conference
1. Orlando City SC
2. Inter Miami CF
3. New York City FC
4. Philadelphia Union
5. Chicago Fire FC
6. Nashville SC
GROUP B
Western Conference
1. Seattle Sounders FC
2. FC Dallas
3. Vancouver Whitecaps FC
4. San Jose Earthquakes
GROUP C
Eastern Conference
1. Toronto FC
2. New England Revolution
3. Montreal Impact
4. D. C. United
GROUP D
Western Conference
1. Real Salt Lake
2. Sporting Kansas City
3. Colorado Rapids
4. Minnesota United FC
GROUP E
Eastern Conference
1. Atlanta United FC
2. FC Cincinnati
3. New York Red Bulls
4. Columbus Crew SC
GROUP F
Western Conference
1. LAFC
2. L.A. Galaxy
3. Houston Dynamo
4. Portland Timbers FC
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