BIG SPENDERS
Players like Lampard aren’t cheap, but you get what you pay for
SOCCER:
New York player Frank Lampard proves his worth to the Caps.
The Vancouver Whitecaps have done their designated player shopping in what is, relatively speaking, the bargain aisle.
They signed Chilean playmaker Pedro Morales for $1.4 million a year and Uruguayan striker Octavio Rivero at $890,000 a year, putting them 15th and 23rd on MLS’s list of top earners.
Expansion side New York City FC did their DP shopping at the soccer equivalent of Tiffany’s, picking up Frank Lampard for $6 million, David Villa for $5.6 million and Andrea Pirlo for a paltry $2.3 million.
The two clubs are on opposite ends of the budget philosophy. And Saturday night at BC Place, in a game that was at turns crazy, frantic and enthralling, it was shown just what buying polished gems means for the teams willing to spend the big money.
Referee Ricardo Salazar made two questionable penalty calls in the final six minutes of the 2-1 NYCFC win. And the Caps were awful through the first 45 minutes. But it was New York’s designated players whose quality and class were better than that of the Caps’ stars, even if Morales and Rivero only got 20-plus minutes each off the bench.
“I have to say, I thought he was the best player in the park today by a country mile, Frank Lampard,” Caps head coach Carl Robinson said of the 37-year-old English Premier League legend who scored NYC’s first goal and had a game-high five shots.
“I thought they played a great game,” Caps veteran Robert Earnshaw said. “Lampard, still a class act. The standard of how they play is very professional, but with unbelievable quality. That’s why they are who they are.”
The elegant Pirlo started the scoring play with a sublime ball that hard-charging fullback Angelino got to at the end line. His head up all the way, Angelino cut the ball back to the top of the six-yard box, where Lampard, running at speed, had the composure to first-time it into the net with a cracker of a shot.
By contrast, the 23-year-old Rivero missed the target on all three of his shots, while once again furiously throwing his hands in the air in a desperate but futile attempt to get Salazar to put him on the penalty spot.
Rivero, praised rightfully this season for his holdup play and his runs off the ball, just isn’t providing the finish the suddenly reeling Caps sorely need. He has scored just twice from the run of play in his last 23 games as Vancouver has won only two of six since a three-game win streak.
It’s the difference between players like Lampard, Pirlo and Villa and the likes of Rivero and Morales. They all have skill, but it’s the ability to compose themselves in tight quarters for that crucial millisecond that separates the brilliant from the merely good.
Perhaps Rivero gets there one day. But right now he’s in a finishing funk that is concerning, particularly with his understudy, Darren Mattocks, stumbling and bumbling around the box like a dazed UFC fighter.
Morales’s fragile body is also clearly becoming an issue for the Caps. He had back issues in 2014 and has been limited to just 15 starts this season by calf and hamstring injuries. And that has to call into question the Caps’ mid-season decision to sign him to a contract extension.
Lampard was all class on and off the field. It was the Englishman who went down just inside the box in the 94th minute after a sliding tackle by Caps midfielder Matias Laba, with Villa scoring the winner on the resulting penalty. But nearly everyone agreed that Laba got all ball. Even Lampard.
“It was two non-penalties,” Lampard said, referring also to a call in the box against Angelino in the 87th minute that allowed Morales to tie the game.
“I have to be fair to the ref now because I was ready to be negative about him after he gave their one. It’s not an easy job. I think he maybe made a mistake with their one — well, he did make a mistake. And mine wasn’t a penalty either.”
And unlike others — hello Thierry Henry and Robbie Keane — who wouldn’t play on artificial turf or complained noisily about it, Lampard offered a refreshingly different viewpoint.
“I enjoyed it. It’s quite an experience for a few of us. I think it’s good turf. It plays fair. You adapt slightly. I have to say I found it enjoyable to play on,” he said.
The Caps, on the other hand, aren’t finding much enjoyment on their turf. They’ve now dropped back-to-back home games at BC Place for the first time all season, falling to 8-6-1 after promising to make it a fortress. Only Eastern Conference bottom-feeders Philadelphia and Chicago have lost more games at home this season than the Caps.
“Not good enough,” said Caps goalkeeper David Ousted, whose club has four regular season games remaining, two at home. “My focus is winning these last four games we have. I don’t want to have (Saturday’s loss) being the defining moment of the season.”