Coaches have a funny tendency when it comes to selecting full-backs. With a hole to fill on the defensive flank, they find it almost irresistible to move a central player out wide.
Makes perfect sense, right? Yes, if you're under the mistaken belief that the best players are in the centre of the field.
Such belief can prove disastrous.
Don't believe me? Here's one soccer disaster from our national history of soccer disasters that proves the point:
In 1986, Canada played in the World Cup for the first time. Sure, we didn't score a goal (Bobby Lenarduzzi, a full-back, came closest, I seem to recall) but clearly this was a sign of an emerging CONCACAF soccer power, right?
Fast-forward four years to Swanguard Stadium where Canada was in tough against a speedy Guatemalan side that came into the game riding a 1-0 victory from the first of a two-game qualifying series.
At a key point in what was a tight game, a Guatemalan right winger sprang from the shadow of the giant Canadian left back, Randy Samuel, and notched the deciding goal for Guatemala, leaving the emerging northern soccer power scratching its head.
How could this happen? Randy Samuel was one of the best defenders Canada had ever produced. He was big, strong and great in the air. A perfect centre-back. The problem was, he was big, strong and great in the air. Not a perfect full-back. After the game Samuel summed it up (if memory serves) to the questioning media: hed never played full-back in his life.
Now, flash forward to this year's Vancouver Whitecaps.
The year started with a glut of good centre-backs: the-fit-but-soon-to-be-injured Jay Demerit, the-injured-but-close-to-fit Mouloud Akloula, Michael Boxall and Alain Rochat.
So, former coach Teitur Thordarson decided to slide Rochat to the left wing, where he did an adequate job defensively and a stellar job distributing the ball offensively. (The flip side of the full-back job is to move the ball up the field for their own team to start the offensive attack). But soon Demerit was injured, and Rochat moved back to the middle, leaving a hole at left back.
Thordarson experimented by moving the always dependable (and, frankly, the unsung hero of this young team) Jonathon Leathers from right to left back and then slotting Wes Knight from right midfield to right back.
While Knight is as fit as anyone, it's been clear from the start of the season that he's just not ready for this level of play. And it showed when he was pulled to the full-back positionhis defending was adequate but when it came time to serve the ball up the field after winning possession, Knight often faltered.
The team then picked up Jordan Harvey, a full-back from the Philadelphia Union.
Problem solved, right?
Not really, no.
Defensively, Harvey has been a liability. In fact, he was the cause of three of the four goals the 'Caps allowed in their homestand against the L.A. Galaxy on July 30.
On the second goal, Harvey used the upper part of his arm to trap the ball. Unfortunately he was in the 18-yard box. Unfortunately, the referee was a man who followed the letter and not the spirit of the law. Unfortunately, Landon Donovan knew how to finish a penalty kick.
On the third goal, L.A.'s Donovan outflanked 'Caps centre-back Boxall and slipped the ball across the net to a streaking right winger who outran Harvey from 50 yards out.
On the fourth goal, rather than clear the ball, Harvey headed the ball to himself at the six yard mark and was then out-jumped by a Galaxy player who lofted it over Joe Cannon and into the net.
So, this week against the lowly Chicago Fire, on Aug. 7, interim head coach Tom Soehn experimented by putting the inexperienced but promising Russell Tiebert into full-back. He normally plays outside midfield.
Though they won the game, Tiebert was a little out of position on Chicagos second goal.
Even in a win, the left full-back position continues to vex this young team. And if history is any guide, Bobby Lenarduzzia former full-back whose coaching trademark when heading the Vancouver 86ers was a bold attack led by overlapping full-backs who acted like wingersis going to want to fix this problem.
The key is to remember that the full-back position requires a unique skill set, just like every position on the field. It's not a position you can just plug with any solid soccer player and expect him or her to succeed.
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After more than 35 years playing soccer with stints at some of the highest levels in the North American game, Vancouverite Geoff DAuria recently discovered it's much easier on his knees to watch the game than play, though he does still play in the Vancouver Metro Soccer League. Hes followed professional soccer in Vancouver for decades.
