Vancouver Whitecaps' head coach Martin Rennie, right, looks on during a Major League Soccer training session in Vancouver, March 8, 2012.Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press
Eric Hassli rediscovered his French joie de vivre in Las Vegas.
The 6-foot-4 star striker had watched, mostly from the bench, the tattered end of the Vancouver Whitecaps' expansion season in Major League Soccer last year. It had begun with such promise, led by Hassli's colourful play and goal scoring, until it all collapsed. Injuries and lack of talent made the bold ambition to reach the playoffs look ridiculous as the team stumbled to last place.
Hassli retreated to the desert. His girlfriend was a barrel racer and kept five horses. The Frenchman took to riding. He liked it "fast, like crazy."
"Shhhh," Hassli says on the sidelines of a recent Whitecaps preseason practice, when reminded that such thrills might not be embraced by the team's front office. He revises his story, smiling: "I just walk with the horse, okay?"
Hassli's happy, and there's good reason. The Whitecaps have been overhauled since the final whistle of 2011. Vancouver's lineup is now more formidable than it was a year ago, stronger on defence, at midfield and particularly up front, with the real potential for goal-scoring pizzazz after a debut season barely managed one a game.
"I don't want to talk about last year," Hassli says. "It's just behind. I'm really happy this season. And we really want to go in the playoffs. … I have a great feeling, really."
Where the Whitecaps stand among fans is not yet known. A "Round 2" marketing push to draw fans is seen around Vancouver. Fans last year enthusiastically backed the expansion team, which was No. 3 out of 18 teams in home attendance, averaging about 20,000. About three-quarters of attendees were season-ticket holders.
The team kicks off its sophomore season at home on Saturday with a match against the expansion Montreal Impact.
A new, young coach oversees the remade Whitecaps. Martin Rennie is a 36-year-old Scot, untested in MLS, but he arrived in Vancouver with a strong record of success in lower-tier soccer. Only four years ago, Rennie coached in Cleveland, leading the team to a championship in a barebones league where his wife occasionally had to do the team's laundry.
MLS recalibrated for 2012, notably creating a schedule in which the Whitecaps face Western Conference teams more often. It means thousands of fewer kilometres travelling, but also more games against the titans of the league, starting with last year's champ, the Los Angeles Galaxy, and neighbours and constant contenders, the Seattle Sounders.
Rennie's poised to capitalize on a young league often in flux, where teams can move up or down quickly.
"The thing is you don't know who the best teams are yet," Rennie says. "You can say those were the best teams last year, but in MLS, it changes from year to year."
The most visible addition to the Whitecaps will likely be Sebastien Le Toux, another goal-scoring Frenchman whom Vancouver secured in February from the Philadelphia Union. Le Toux was a top-10 scorer in both the past two seasons, 35 goals in 62 games.
Le Toux's experience appears to be a strong fit for the Whitecaps. In his first year in Philly, the expansion Union were one of the worst squads in the league. Last year, they made the playoffs under Le Toux's leadership.
Hassli welcomes his French countryman. One huge problem last year was that Hassli, along with Brazilian striker Camilo, were the only Whitecaps capable of scoring. Now, Hassli is ready, he smiles, to let someone else carry some of the load. Rennie sees Le Toux as a speedy, roaming striker, with Hassli playing the pillar of a big man in the middle.
"He runs like a maniac," Hassli says of Le Toux's fitness. "I stay. I don't move. And he runs, a lot. That's great, no?"
Hassli is smiling. Among his many tattoos are maple leaves on his right arm, a bit of Canada he had inked in the happy early months after arrival last year. In those months, everything seemed possible, like a cracker of an arcing goal against Seattle that became one of the highlight-reel scores from any sport in 2010.
It's a buoyant spirit Hassli hopes extends into the fall this season, rather than dissipating and dying in the summer.
"This year is going to be good," Hassli says.
David Ebner