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Going into the Vancouver Whitecaps 2015 season, the one big question mark for the club had to be the untested attack at the striker position, with Erik Hurtado, Kekuta Manneh, Darren Mattocks and Octavio Rivero among those looking to prove themselves as reliable scoring threats in the league.
However, when the Whitecaps went toe to toe with Toronto FC on Saturday, the biggest weakness on the club was easy to spot; the backline. After a promising 45 minutes from the club, the backline, specifically the Center Back pairing unravelled like a cheap sweater caught on a nail. Kendall Waston, the darling of 2014, looked pedestrian. His partner Pa Modou Kah showed why he absolutely cannot be an everyday option for the club, with poor positioning on the Robbie Findlay goal (although no member of the backline can claim innocence on that one) and then a ridiculous tackle on Jozy Altidore in the box leading to goal number 3.
It's troubling to see Carl Robinson and co. put so much trust in the pairing of Waston and Kah when anyone could have told you, the two play far too similar of a game. Obviously Robinson knows more about the game and his players than I'll ever be able to, but I can't believe this pairing will be successful moving forward. You might say I'm being harsh given it's been just one game, and the season opener to boot, but if Carl Robinson believes Kah is supposed to pick up the torch from Andy O'Brien, I think this team could be in very big trouble. I mean, it's going to hurt Kendall Waston's game too; He no longer has a brick wall like O'Brien backing him up when he wants to play aggressive, he no longer has the calming influence the big guy brought match in and match out. Strange how the 'Caps couldn't work out terms with O'Brien in the off-season, when it seemed the big issue was surrounding playing time. I'm sure the 35 year old will have a few questions for the club if the 34 year old Kah continues to get minutes.
The Whitecaps do have a few depth options they can take a look at, although there aren't any slam dunk choices; Christian Dean hasn't exactly been getting rave reviews from the 'Caps, while Diego Rodriguez and Tim Parker are unknown quantities right now. Again, it's early and I don't want to be Chicken Little squawking about the sky falling down, but I imagine the Whitecaps will have to add another Center Back before we can talk about sustained stability at the position.
I'd love to be wrong though.