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He was already an entertainer. The smiles came before the passes, before the dribbles, the crosses and the shots. It was early March when Pedro Morales joined up with his new team in Vancouver and the public and his new teammates got to see what the coaching staff had warned them about. This was no ordinary DP. Morales immediately impressed. He held court with the media showing tremendous dignity and a humbleness seen so rarely when a top player arrives from Europe. The Chilean made the media smile as he tried to answer some questions in broken English, sometimes telling his interpreter that he didnt need him. It was only his first day yet it was clear he was not willing to take the easy route. That attitude quickly transformed on to the field. I brought him here to be a difference maker, said new head coach Carl Robinson. Robinson had found the crown jewel to his new system. When he was given the job last December, the Welshman already had a list written down inside a notebook of the players he wanted to target. That list was full of creative number tens, players who can play in between the lines and be the conductor of the teams offensive orchestra. In a league where the likes of Diego Valeri and Federico Higuain had starred, the head coach allowed himself to wonder what his team would be like with a similar South American in that position. Robinson knew he needed one and Morales was top of his list. Morales told the media on his first day in Canada: Set pieces are one of the virtues I have – free kicks, penalties, I hope this can help the team, Help the team? How about transform the team. Just over seven months after telling us all about his qualities, those words rang louder than ever as the DP ran towards the corner flag at a raucous BC Place on Saturday evening. The Whitecaps were on top against a stubborn Colorado team that was playing for nothing more than pride, but their dominance was not on show in the score. It remained deadlocked. Fittingly, in a season where the team couldnt get goals out of their strikers, here was a team, desperate for a goal, hoping for a moment of individual brilliance. Someone to make a difference, as the coach had said from the beginning. That is what you pay your DP players for. Moments like this. With 20 minutes left in the season, Morales adjusted his socks and took as many steps backwards as the territory would allow. He glanced towards the box and his sight was Kendall Waston, a man he has only known for three months but one he had already learned to target from dead ball situations. The two had combined last month at home to San Jose when the big defender had headed home a Morales corner just outside of the six-yard box. Morales sent this corner in closer to the goal, in the perfect place, just over the top of any defenders at the front post. It arrived with at the exact right speed for someone to meet. Andy OBrien and Erik Hurtado made the dummy runs and in behind Waston nodded it into the back of the net. Morales had delivered. At the time he was playing solely in central midfield, slightly deeper than the number ten role he had started the game in, which allowed Kekuta Manneh to come on (and win the corner) whilst the Chilean could dictate the teams tempo from deep positions. There is no doubting the brilliance of Morales further forward, linking with the wide attackers and the front man, but this season the Whitecaps fans fell in love with the playmaker because of his vision. No matter where he was positioned he had an ability to look up and spray a pass over a long distance to a teammates foot. The 29-year-old is a ball craver. He isnt shy to come deep to get it and many of Vancouvers successful attacks have begun when Morales has created something special from deep. In fact, for a lot of Whitecaps fans, the first memory of Morales came when he did exactly that on his debut, claiming his first assist with a delightful long-range pass for Kenny Miller to run onto. He would go on to gain 11 more assists, including the biggest of all on Saturday night. Morales was sixth in MLS this season with 6.2 long balls per match and the only outfield players ahead of him all played much deeper on the field – Wil Trapp, Will Johnson, Michael Bradley, Aurelien Collin and Tony Tchani. Despite occasionally playing deeper, he also finished the season with 2.5 key passes per game, only behind Landon Donovan, Javier Morales, Higuain, Valeri, Brad Davis and Graham Zusi who, unlike Morales, do most of their damage exclusively in the final third. Stats only tell a small part of his debut season in MLS, however. Everyone will have his or her favourite Morales moment. Sometimes you just had to be there to see it and it didnt always have to be a goal or an assist. For his teammates it is likely to be a moment away from the game. Hes a fantastic example of a proper professional, said Robinson. He conducts himself right, he talks to the younger players. In the changing room, hes dancing and singing, so hes a character. And I want characters in the squad. Anyone lucky enough to watch this group train this season will have seen just how close they are. Before a ball is kicked no one would have any idea who the most expensive player is. There was no special treatment, no arrogance and no ego from the former Malaga man. He was just one member of the squad. Yet, when Jay DeMerit retired he was the clear replacement for the club skipper. Morales doesnt need to be a vocal leader. He leads by example. He also knows where to lead to. A man who played under the guidance of world class coaches like Marcelo Bielsa and Manuel Pellegrini knows what you need to do to succeed at the top level. The Whitecaps have had a mixed bag of expensive talent since joining MLS but as every game passes the Chilean maestro is leaving behind a trail of special moments that makes him arguably the most complete player since joining the league. This is not a DP whose best days are behind him or a DP who is using the North American market to improve and get a better deal elsewhere. Morales has been a small fish in a big pond before, and perhaps has dipped in the biggest pond of all by playing at the Nou Camp with Isco against the likes of Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta. Those days are happily behind him. He is too good to be used as a substitute. Here he is the talk of the town wherever the Whitecaps land. The opposing coach, players and fans cannot talk about the team without raising their voice to praise the guile and creativity of Morales. This will be no different in Dallas on Wednesday night. It is the second-ever MLS playoff game for the Whitecaps but that is where the comparisons should end between this one and the game in Los Angeles 24 months ago, one they narrowly lost 2-1. That team could only have dreamt about having a player like Morales. Now he is leading the team out for their biggest match of the season. Entertainers continue to find ways to make their fans smile and in Morales the Whitecaps have a magician whose box of tricks will give FC Dallas many reasons to be concerned. Sale Nike SB Shoes . To be fair, the celebrations are already anything but tame. Nerf ball tricks shots are just the tip of the iceberg for a group that has performed in zero gravity, faced pro-skateboarder Rob Dyrdek and an assembled team on the MTV series "Fantasy Factory", and even hit a basketball trick shot from a passing blimp. Wholesale Nike SB Shoes . The eighth-year point guard played in his 500th career game on Sunday, a 98-93 win over the Orlando Magic. Does he feel like hes played in that many games? "No," he said initially, before reconsidering. http://www.cheapnikesb.com/ . Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves to backstop the Penguins to a 2-1 victory over the Flames, handing Calgary its team record sixth consecutive home regulation loss. Discount Nike SB Shoes . Louis, MO (SportsNetwork. Cheap Nike SB Shoes Authentic . Leverkusen said on Friday it signed Schmidt on a two-year contract. He guided Red Bull Salzburg to the Austrian championship this season.After winning Sundays Heritage Classic game in Vancouver, there is a sense that perhaps the Senators can use that victory as a springboard down the stretch. One would think that winning one of the NHLs signature events – with 50,000 fans watching in the stadium and a larger-than-normal television audience – could propel this team onto a much-needed winning streak. But looking at the brief history of these events, there is hardly any connection between winning an outdoor game and any subsequent success in the NHL. A few years ago, the 2008 Penguins and the 2009 Red Wings each made it to the Stanley Cup Final in the same year after winning the Winter Classic game – although that was more likely the result of having a powerhouse lineup than anything to do with playing in an outdoor game. For the Senators, a better comparable would be to look at some of the less dominant teams that have won an outdoor game and how that affected them immediately afterwards. This season, for example, the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Winter Classic in Ann Arbor – but then turned around and lost their next four games. In 2011, the Calgary Flames beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-0 in the Heritage Classic at McMahon Stadium. The Flames ended up losing three of their next five games, so any momentum they gained from winning the outdoor game was non-existent. The same can be said for the 2003-04 Montreal Canadiens, who beat the Edmonton Oilers in the first-ever outdoor game at Commonwealth Stadium. The Habs managed to win only two of their next five games – although they did manage a pair of ties as well. This seasonn, we even saw the Anaheim Ducks stumble after winning the outdoor game at Dodger Stadium against the Los Angeles Kings.dddddddddddd The Ducks lost four of their next five games – marking their worst stretch of the regular season. The same thing happened to the 2010 Boston Bruins and the 2011 Washington Capitals – each team lost four of their next five games after winning the Winter Classic. So in many cases, it seems like teams suffer a letdown – rather than an uplift – following a big win in an outdoor game. Heres a look at how every team that has won an outdoor game fared in their next 5 games: 2003-04 Montreal Canadiens – Won Heritage Classic 4-3 at EdmontonNext 5 games: 2-1-2 record 2007-08 Pittsburgh Penguins – Won Winter Classic 2-1 at BuffaloNext 5 games: 4-1-0 record 2008-09 Detroit Red Wings – Won Winter Classic 6-4 at ChicagoNext 5 games: 4-1-0 record 2009-10 Boston Bruins– Won Winter Classic 2-1 at BostonNext 5 games: 1-4-0 record 2010-11 Washigton Capitals – Won Winter Classic 3-1 at PittsburghNext 5 games: 1-2-2 record 2010-11 Calgary Flames – Won Heritage Classic 4-0 at CalgaryNext 5 games: 2-2-1 record 2011-12 New York Rangers – Won Winter Classic 3-2 at PhiladelphiaNext 5 games: 4-1-0 record 2013-14 Toronto Maple Leafs – Won Winter Classic 3-1 at Ann ArborNext 5 games – 1-4-0 record 2013-14 Anaheim Ducks – Won Stadium Series 3-0 at Los AngelesNext 5 games – 1-4-0 record 2013-14 NY Rangers – Swept Stadium Series 7-3 (Devils) and 2-1 (Islanders) at New YorkNext 5 games: 4-1-0 record Cheap Jerseys China NFL Jerseys China NFL Jerseys Wholesale Discount Basketball Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Authentic Cheap Baseball Jerseys Free Shipping Cheapest College Jerseys Sale Cheap Football Jerseys China Nike NFL Jerseys Canada Wholesale NHL Jerseys From China MLB Jerseys Outlet Canada Wholesale NBA Jerseys Canada Store Cheap Soccer Jerseys China Cheap Authentic Jerseys Canada ' ' '