Unique interim coach leads Vancouver Whitecaps to MLS playoffs
Vanni Sartini isn’t exactly the coach many would expect to be tasked with turning around a struggling soccer team.
Sartini has joked that he was named interim coach of the MLS squad because he was the only person in the facility at the time. But Whitecaps sporting director and CEO Axel Schuster argues that the decision was more methodical. Asked whether he envisioned the Whitecaps making the playoffs when he was named interim coach, Sartini gives a typically candid answer.
And he isn’t afraid to mix up his lineup. Over 14 games at the helm, he’s used 22 different players in the starting 11. During games, Sartini paces the sidelines, gesturing wildly as he shouts instructions to his players in multiple languages or loudly confers with officials on calls. When the ‘Caps score, he leaps and cheers as if the ball has sailed off his own foot into the back of the net.“You guys see how he is in the games. He’s the same exact way in the locker-room,” said Vancouver defender Jake Nerwinski. “His mentality, his attitude is infectious, it really is. So it’s been great having him.
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