Two weeks after their postseason got here to an finish, the Vancouver Whitecaps are already making modifications. The crew Monday that it’s parting methods with head coach Vanni Sartini, and will likely be searching for a brand new coach this offseason.
Sartini has been a member of the Whitecaps group since 2019, beginning as an assistant coach. He was promoted to move coach in November 2021.
In an announcement, Sartini and Whitecaps CEO Axel Schuster each expressed their gratitude for each other.
“I took my time with this choice, and it was not taken flippantly,” Schuster stated within the assertion. “Now we have taken necessary steps every year and it’s now the best time for another person to steer this group on the pitch with recent and new vitality.”
“I’ll all the time be grateful to Axel Schuster and possession for entrusting me to be the technical lead of this membership in such an necessary time,” Sartini added within the assertion. “I will even all the time bear in mind with fondness the successes on the sector, however what I’ll cherish essentially the most is the recollections of my relationship with the followers, gamers, workers, and the neighborhood. Vancouver will all the time have a particular place in my coronary heart.”
Sartini led the crew to 2 playoff appearances in three years and alter, however the Whitecaps have been by no means capable of advance previous the primary spherical. That custom held this 12 months, with after forcing a win-or-go-home Sport 3.
Sartini additionally led Vancouver to a few straight Canadian Championships, beating the sector {of professional} soccer groups throughout Canada. The match included the three Canadian MLS groups — Vancouver, Toronto FC and CF Montréal.
The Whitecaps completed in eighth place this season after a 13W-8D-13L end. Vancouver began the postseason properly, .
The win was particularly spectacular provided that it was in Portland; regardless of being the upper seed, Vancouver was unable to host attributable to a stadium battle, with the crew’s BC Place set to host a motocross occasion on that day. After Timbers head coach Phil Neville joked that the great luck meant that “God is a Timbers fan,” Sartini responded in variety after the sport: “God generally is a Timbers fan however God would not exist for me.”
(Sartini’s witty remarks have gotten him in hassle earlier than: After a contentious name modified the tide of final 12 months’s playoffs, Sartini that he could be a suspect if the referee was discovered useless.)
Sartini’s firing marks simply the newest MLS coach to separate together with his crew, even with the postseason nonetheless ongoing. Earlier this month, Philadelphia Union after the crew didn’t qualify for the palyoffs, whereas Inter Miami coach Tata Martino . Atlanta United additionally has a head coach opening .