By Terry Phillips
Former Wales midfielder Carl Robinson tested his Vancouver Whitecaps players on and off the pitch when he brought them to South Wales on a 10-day pre-season tour.
Robinson, from Llandrindod Wells in Powys, set his squad a series of questions on Wales and they weren’t at all easy for footballers drawn from all over the world including Denmark, Gambia, Costa Rica, Uruguay, USA, Canada, Argentina, Peru and Italy.
Among the questions asked were:
Can you name the capital city of Wales?
How do you pronounce Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch?
Which Welsh town is Carl Robinson from?
It was all part of the team-bonding during the Caps’ three-match trip to Wales and the South West of England.
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“Counting the sheep?” 🐑
Get ready to laugh as the ‘Caps put their Wales knowledge to the test… #VWFC pic.twitter.com/Rj3z1h9zTg
— Vancouver Whitecaps (@WhitecapsFC) February 1, 2017
Vancouver, based at the Vale of Glamorgan Hotel, played three fixtures against under-23 team opposition, losing 1-0 against Cardiff City in a private friendly at the Bluebirds training ground, before winning 4-0 against both Oxford United and Bristol City.
The Caps squad now play New York Red Bulls home and away, on Wednesday, February 22 and Thursday, March 2, before opening their Major League Soccer season against Philadelphia Union on Sunday, March 5.
Former Wolves star Robinson, 40, won 52 caps for Wales and also helped Portsmouth and Sunderland to promotion from the Championship during his playing days, while he moved to Toronto FC as a player in 2007.
Today, 10 years later, he is manager of Vancouver and says: “Moving to North America was the best decision I ever made.”
He is under contract with Vancouver through to the 2020 season and is happy in Canada, but admits a return to the UK could be on the cards in the future.
“Will I come back? Probably,” says Robinson. “But when? I don’t have a clue. It is about opportunity.
“The average shelf life of a Football League manager is for under a year and that sort of thing does go through your head when you are thinking about your next move.
“But I live and breathe English football and I have since I was eight years old.
“I watch the goals, I watch games at 4am. It is in me. I want to get to the best level I can as a coach.”
Robinson would also love to succeed Chris Coleman as Wales national team manager in the future.
“I wanted to play for my country and it would be an honour at any stage of my career to manage Wales,” he says. “If there was a Welshman who doesn’t want to manage Wales, they aren’t really Welsh. It is the ultimate.”
Vancouver are far from among the biggest hitters in MLS football financially, but have qualified for two MLS Cup play-off appearances, won two Cascadia Cup titles and qualification to the CONCACAF Champions League for the first time.
