Sounders U-18s vs. Whitecaps Residency in Bellingham

Alternate title: The kids are alright, I guess, or at least a couple of them are

Living in Bellingham for 9 months out of the year makes it hard to obsessively follow the Sounders as much as I’d like. Home games are an hour and a half drive each way, making most midweek games next to impossible to attend. So the prospect of a game right here in the City Of Subdued Excitement was, well, exciting in a subdued way. Even though it was only the U-18’s, it was still the Sounders. The same green jerseys on the pitch.

That’s about where the similarities ended. Around 200 or so fans came out to Whatcom Community College, enduring temperatures in the 30’s for two hours to stand or sit on metal bleachers that felt more like frozen seats in one of those ice palaces they have in Russia. Did I mention that it was cold? It was cold. For anyone who still has ideas that MLS can play a fall-to-spring schedule, for my counterargument I refer you to the lineswoman in Bellingham, who said, and I quote, "Damn, it’s cold."

Maybe the Whitecaps residency team felt more at home with the weather, because they clearly outclassed the Sounders younglings (with one exception). They were bigger, smarter and better technically. I think the final was 2-0, but I got to the field a bit late, although I don’t believe there were any early goals. Vancouver dominated the run of play in the first half but couldn’t create many chances. It was the same in the second half for the first 15 minutes, when the Sounders put in a mass substitution, sending in an entirely new midfield, and Vancouver pounced to score two quick goals.

The one positive, in my eyes, was forward Sean Okoli. He’s listed at 5-11 and 175 but played like he was much bigger. He was able to hold off the Whitecaps defenders very well to keep, receive and pass the ball, even when double-teamed. Didn’t turn it over often, had several nice passes that led to half-chances, and played smart. (Although he didn’t get any shots that I remembered, either.) Okoli doesn’t look like a superstar, but he’s the one prospect that looks like he could maybe - maybe - hold his own playing with the big boys.

Everyone else, though, man. Maybe it was the cold, maybe it was all the time off for the holidays the kids have had, too much time playing Xbox and eating cookies or something, but whatever it was, nobody else was impressive. Number 17, Aaron Kovar, playing on the left wing, showed that he has plus-speed, but has a long way to go developing everything else. I’d heard good things about Ryan Herman (keeper) and DeAndre Yedlin (right back), but Herman didn’t play and Yedlin was caught way out of position on the sequence that led to the second goal.

I couldn’t get reads on every player, because some of them were wearing different jersey numbers than they had listed on the Sounders website. (Late in the game, there were two #7’s on the pitch.) But aside from Okoli, there were no obvious standout talents. Based on this game, we don’t have an Andy Najar hiding in the youth ranks.

Late in the game, I turned to my friend and asked him if he could picture any of the players on the field suiting up and taking on the Galaxy. He just looked at me and shook his head. I think that sums it up pretty well.