God wasn't on Vanni Sartini's side, and in the end, neither were the Whitecaps

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Vanni Sartini is many things. A professional coach and educator, an outspoken socialist, an unabashed fan of the beautiful game and a passionate leader whose style and personality can both polarize and galvanize.

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New on the list: scapegoat.

The Vancouver Whitecaps pushed their head coach out the door on Monday with a year remaining on his contract, just a few weeks after losing to LAFC in the playoffs. Since being named as interim head coach in 2021, Sartini made the playoffs three out of four seasons, and has racked up more playoff wins and Canadian Championship trophies than any of the six Caps coaches who preceded him.

After news broke early Monday courtesy of Tom Bogert, formerly of The Athletic and MLSsoccer.com, Axel Schuster rushed straight from an international flight at YVR to hold a presser at the team’s training facility to explain the decision.

The reasoning behind his dismissal wasn’t that Sartini hadn’t gotten the team past LAFC in the first round of the playoffs in back-to-back seasons; it was because of the games he had yet to coach.

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“The decision was really made on how will our pre-season look like, and what kind of energy and mindset we will go into the first game of next season,” Schuster said when asked if Sartini would still be employed had they not lost their three-game series with LA.

“Winning against LAFC, and maybe winning the conference, could have changed that — or not. I don’t know, but it wasn’t really (that) game.

“It has nothing to do with the outcome of last year, to be very clear. That’s a clear statement. This decision has nothing to do with the outcome of last year, although we all agree, including Vanni, we felt like we haven’t got to the outcome (we wanted). It is only about our belief where we can get next year and how we will start into next year.”

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With questions being fired at him scattergun, Schuster’s messaging veered from point to point, and occasionally contradictory.

— Vanni didn’t do anything wrong, did everything they asked.

— But it comes down to wins and losses.

— Last season’s results have nothing do to about it. It was more about energy and how we start next season.

Got it.

Schuster spoke for more than an hour in his non-native English — he joked he’d have more words to thank Sartini if he was speaking German — but it was hard to crystallize his long-winded answers into something easily understood. Probably because the decision isn’t easily understood.

The Whitecaps managed to break through from time to time in the Vancouver market, and it was all about Sartini’s quotability and personality. It’s not something anyone can replicate — indeed, Schuster said it wasn’t going to be a quality they would search out in a head coach — and Monday’s presser lacked ‘la gioia’ that came with Sartini. As far as on-field results, while Sartini delivered, the team believes a new manager could do more. But as far as breaking through in a tough promotional ecosphere, Sartini stood apart.

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So it seems coach who happened to be the most successful in team history wasn’t good enough for the final year of his contract. The solution to the team’s shortcomings was to fire him two days before the deadline for decisions on player options and two weeks before MLS free agency begins, all while saying you have no specific replacement in mind, no timeline to fill the spot, and the new coach will have to make due with the team he inherits.

Got it.

There was no specific tipping point that led to a decision, one which Schuster came to after many talks with players and staff, but while it didn’t seal his fate, the seven-game winless swoon to close out the season set the stage. That meant a top-4 finish, which seemed almost certain as September came into its final weeks, was gone. It meant a play-in game — on the road, because of circumstance — instead of a more favourable first-round matchup than one with the reigning conference champs.

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The Caps pushed the 2022 MLS champs to the brink in their series — they’d have been through had the format been home-and-home aggregate instead of best-of-three — and only a single misstep from the usually dependable Andres Cubas allowed LAFC to take the deciding game.

A quality performance wasn’t enough. Sartini’s quality was deemed insufficient for their needs.

It’s decisions like these that have led to a long history of mediocrity for the Whitecaps in MLS. Only twice have they finished in the top four in their conference — second in 2015, and third in 2017 — and prior to Sartini, one playoff wins and six playoff goals. Their lot in (MLS) life is to be a depth team, those plucky Canadians from the Pacific Northwest, managed by whomever was the Morris Buttermaker of the moment.

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Seven men have been head coaches of the Whitecaps in MLS. All seven, two of them with interim tags, have failed to reach whatever unspoken goals have been set for them.

Which leads us to ownership. Jeff Mallett actually attends some important games, and Steve Nash pokes his head in occasionally, but Greg Kerfoot has yet to meet with the media in modern Caps history. The impression this ambivalence leaves is the Whitecaps are more an investment vehicle rather than a cherished possession.

Spending isn’t a road map to success, but it does indicate one’s investment in it. Vancouver is now mid-table in spending with Ryan Gauld ($2.9M) and the acquisition of Stuart Armstrong ($2.8M), the first time they’ve been that high in years. But historically, has ownership given their team what they need?

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The question put Schuster into silence for a few moments on Monday, before he said: “This is a very complicated question. Was there ever a moment where I thought like, ‘OK, we haven’t got everything …’ but that’s not our approach. This is not the reason.”

This is true, and this is why the socialist coach they’d just fired worked so well in the role. It was about the team as an entity, not a high-priced player or two. You had stars, but they were “working-class DPs.”

The Whitecaps always admired a team like the Philadelphia Union, which was known for high-table finishes on a low-end budget, and developing domestic talent through a strong academy program.

The topped the Eastern Conference twice and won the Supporters Shield in 2020, and were consistent finalists in the U.S. Open and Concaf Champions Cups, and just ended a run of seven straight seasons in the playoffs.

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And now, the man who led that run — two-time MLS coach of the year Jim Curtin — is available after parting ways with Philadelphia earlier this month.

It would be no surprise to see him land in Vancouver, though Schuster wasn’t ready to talk names or even profiles.

“I have no timeline because I haven’t prepared for this scenario,” he said. “I’m not starting to speak with five coaches and see what is out in the market … then I’d make this decision. I really have spent all my energy in analyzing the situation in getting to solution.

“We need a coach the moment we start to train, that’s for sure. But I think urgency is never a good adviser, so I don’t want to be driven by urgency. The club culture, and the club, is the driver of everything, and in this way, you build consistency. And so some we have to find somebody who fits to the culture and to what we have built here.”

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PAST WHITECAPS HEAD COACHES

Teitur Thordarson: 2011

Tom Soehn (interim): 2011

Martin Rennie: 2012-13

Carl Robinson: 2014-18

Craig Dalrymple (interim): 2018

Marc Dos Santos: 2019-21

Vanni Sartini: 2021-2024

VANNI SARTINI’S BEST QUOTES

“We had a game in two days. If I step into the locker room and act like I’m the boss, everyone’s going to say, ‘Who the f**k are you?’ So, I called a group of players, the leaders, who are respected, and asked them: ‘Tell me, what is the situation? Tell me.’ I wanted them to know that we’re all on the same page. The players are the leaders”.
— on taking over from Marc Dos Santos in 2021

“When we play like this, it’s better than sex.”

— On beating CF Montréal for the 2023 Voyageurs Cup 

“I don’t want to say what it’s better than, because we are in PG-13 (environment). But I can say it’s a soccer orgasm, the first goal.”

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— after beating Seattle for the first time in five years in 2022

“I’m glad the game is in two weeks, because tonight we’re getting so drunk, we cannot play. I’m full of champagne. I’ll stay away from the microphone. I don’t want to catch anything on fire.”

— After tying Seattle on Decision Day to make the playoffs in 2021

“If they found (Tim Ford) in False Creek then I’m going to be a suspect. I’m not saying that I would do it, I’m saying I’m the first suspect — it’s different”.

— His infamous comments on the official after a controversial 1-0 exit in the 2023 playoffs, leading to a multi-game suspension

“Some other guys are more flashy. I call him ‘the working class DP.’ And being a far-left guy, I’m very happy to have a working-class DP. He’s less flashy than other players, but so important for us.”

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— On star midfielder Ryan Gauld 

“I don’t like this thing because Batman is the worst superhero ever. He’s just a spoiled rich kid that defends the capitalists. I don’t like Batman and Robin, please don’t call them that, because I hate Batman.”

— On Ryan Gauld and Brian White’s partnership being like Batman and Robin

“I’m not the most qualified person to speak about God, because I’m an atheist. So God can be a Timbers fan, but God doesn’t exist for me. I’m much more happy if the Southsiders are Whitecaps fans, the Rain City brigade are Whitecaps fans, the South Sisters are Whitecaps fans, Albion are Whitecaps fans, the Prawnsiders are Whitecaps fans … because for me, they’re more important than God.”

— After beating the Timbers 5-0 — and after Portland coach Phil Neville claimed his was ‘God’s team’ 

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