Where are They Now?: The 2014 Vancouver Whitecaps

In 2014 Carl Robinson inherited a Vancouver Whitecaps side that was in chaos. Martin Rennie had just been fired, and MLS golden boot winner Camilo had fled to Mexico. Despite this Robinson was able to bring relative stability to the team (with the exception of 2016). His tactics have not always won over the hearts and minds of the fans but he’s certainly been the most successful coach of the MLS era. So, with that in mind, let’s look back on how the team has changed during his time in charge. In the interests of not being overly repetitive I won’t cover players still with the team (there’s a lot more in this edition then in my piece on the 2011 Whitecaps), or players who have already been covered in previous editions.

Goalkeepers:

Paolo Tornaghi: The long serving backup is currently a free agent. He’s been “the long serving backup” for most of his career as he’s never actually made more then 10 appearances for one club.

Marco Carducci: Once seen as the future goalkeeper for the Whitecaps, Carducci is now a rotational player for the Rio Grande Valley FC Toros, the USL affiliate of the Houston Dynamo.

Defenders:

Steven Beitashour: traded to Toronto F.C in 2016, leaving a black hole at right back and forcing the fans to endure Jordan Smith. Beitashour remains at TFC

Andy O’brian: Retired in 2015 and is now a scout for Liverpool.

Johnny Leveron: Departed in 2015 for Honduran club Marathon. He also spent a loan spell at Ascenso MX (Mexican second division) side Correcaminos UAT.

Christian Dean: Traded to the Chicago Fire in August. Unfortunately for Dean he has once again found himself sidelined through injuries.

Ethen Sampson: After being released by the Whitecaps Sampson was out of the professional game for quite some time before eventually landing with Ubuntu Cape Town F.C of his native South Africa.

Midfielders:

Pedro Morales: A bittersweet player who came to the team as one of the most talented players ever to pull on a Whitecaps jersey and left after an altercation in training with David Ousted. Morales also made a series of social media comments where he expressed his distaste with the idea of Ousted succeeding him as captain. On the football side of things Morales played the 2017 season with Colo Colo in his native Chile. Unfortunately the injuries that plagued Morales towards the end of his time In Vancouver continued to trouble him and he scored only once for Colo Colo. Morales was released at the end of the year and his currently a free agent.

Sebastian Fernandez: After his loan ended Fernandez bounced around several clubs in South America. Fernandez hasn’t played for the same club two years in a row since he graduated to the senior squad of his first club Mirimar. Fernandez has played for Nexaca (Liga MX), Danubio F.C (Uruguayan Primera Division), Liverpool F.C (the Uruguayan Primera Division one, not the English one), Deportivo Pasto (Columbian first division), before finally landing with his current club; Zamora F.C of the Venezuelan league.

Nigel Reo-Coker: Reo-Coker’s career has been in free fall since he tripped over a bike rack and injured himself in early 2014. When he returned he fell below Matias Laba, Gershon Koffie, and Russel Teibert on the depth chart. He was traded to Chivas USA for Mauro Rosales during the 2014 season. When Chivas USA dissolved he was picked up by the Montreal Impact who introduced him with a parody hip hop video entitled “I’m in love with Reo-Coker.” Despite this initial enthusiasm Reo-Coker was released the following year. After a series of trials with various Europeon clubs he eventually landed with Norwegian outfit Start (yes that’s actually the name of the team). He made a whopping 2 appearances before being released.

Mehdi Ballouchy: Played the 2015 season with NYCFC before retiring from professional football. He has since founded a charitable organization called “Kickstart Joy,” Which has recently done work with Syrian refugees

Kianz Froese: Sold to Fortuna Dusseldorf at the start of the year. He scored 7 goals and added one assist in 15 appearances for their reserve team in the German fourth tier. So far this season he has not been as prolific with a goal and an assist in 8 appearances but his future looks bright nevertheless.

Andre Lewis: Despite being drafted 7th overall Lewis never made a first team appearance. He now plays for Portland Timbers 2.

Aminu Abdallah: I won’t fault you if you don’t remember him as he never made a first team appearence and spent most of his time on loan to the Charleston Battery. Nevertheless he was technically under contract. Unfortunately i’m not quite sure what Abdallah is up to these days. I’ve tracked down his Facebook page but all I can confirm from that is that he’s single, he’s a fan of Justin Beiber, and is “too lazy to play fake.”

Bryce Alderson: Another Canadian prospect who made his way to Fortuna Dusseldorf. Unfortunately Alderson was let go after only 15 appearances with the reserve side. Alderson has since left the pro game and is now a small business owner/investor. Based on his Instagram, he seems to own, or has previously owned, a pizza/grill/sports bar type of place though he alludes to moving on to bigger and better things.

Forwards:

Kekuta Manneh: Traded for Tony Tchani at the start of the year. Manneh has put up 4 goals and 3 assists in 19 appearances for the Columbus Crew and has indicated he plans to go to Europe at the end of the year.

Darren Mattocks: Traded to the Portland Timbers and has tallied 4 goals and 5 assists in 40 appearances over two seasons. Seems about right

Kenny Miller: Still banging them in for Rangers. Miller has scored 32 times in 100 appearances since leaving Vancouver.

Caleb Clarke: Though his first team appearances were pretty limited Clarke was the top scorer in WFC2’s first season. Since leaving Vancouver Clarke has gone to Germany where he’s played for both SpVgg Unterhaching and F.C Amberg, both of the fourth division. He was let go by Amberg after they were relegated. He has 8 goals and 10 assists in 32 german fourth division appearances.

Update:

it’s recently come to light that Clarke is now playing for CCB LFC United of the VMSL Premier Division.

Mamadou Diouf: Diouf never made a first team appearance but was loaned out too the Charleston Battery. He later played for Ilves of Finland’s first division. What he did after that I have no idea. last time we were able to figure out what Jonathon Leathers is up to so if you know anything be sure to get in touch.