Daigo Kobayashi enjoying late-season resurgence

Selective memory can be a wonderful asset for an athlete.

A blank look washed over Daigo Kobayashi’s face when he was asked about his last trip to Denver.

The Whitecaps 2-0 loss in Colorado two months ago epitomized Kobayashi’s struggles this season. At times, it felt like the technically-gifted midfielder couldn’t complete the simplest of passes.

“I forgot last game in Colorado,” he responded in all seriousness.

“We lost?”

When the altitude was mentioned to jog his memory, he smiled.

“Ah, yeah,” he said. “I remember. Hard to breathe. But we are good now. We have belief. So, we can win.”

Belief, and a player in Kobayashi who for the last two games has revelled in his preferred role, as a No. 10, creating in the space behind two forwards.

A week ago Wednesday, in Seattle, he twice set up rookie Kekuta Manneh for goals. The game before, at home to Portland, he showed flashes. And he’ll be key to any offensive success the Caps (12-11-9) enjoy against the Rapids (13-10-9) in Saturday’s crucial clash (3 p.m. PT, Sportsnet One, TEAM 1410).

Kobayashi’s play, and his role in Martin Rennie’s team, has been a talking point almost all season. Two goals and three assists in 28 games — 19 of them starts — isn’t what anyone expected when the Caps signed the Japanese League veteran to a deal in January.

After Kobayashi’s disappointing August night in Denver, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if he failed to see another start for Rennie’s team.

Suddenly, though, he’s as key as anyone to the Caps’ playoff aspirations, pulling the strings from the top of a diamond midfield, rather than starting wider on the right, or in more of a two-way midfield role.

“Everybody thinks about simple, possession football,” he said of the recent shift, “so I can play good.

“This is my football style. Play simple, possession style. So now I feel comfortable. Before we played like (this), sometimes play long ball, play physical, so, yeah, now we start good football.”

In Kobayashi, Camilo and Manneh, Rennie appears to have found a lethal combination.

Certainly, the 4-1 win in Seattle was the most threatening the Caps have looked since a mid-season run with Camilo, Kenny Miller and Russell Teibert playing the forward roles in a 4-3-3 formation.

Manneh, 18, looks up to the 30-year-old Kobayashi, and the Japanese playmaker enjoys the role of big brother. Kobayashi said he’s felt the chemistry between them in training throughout this season.

“We feel very good together,” he said. “Natural connection. We talk a lot. We have a good friendship.

“I have to find his timing, turn, and soon I have to pass because he’s running so fast. I have to find the space faster.”

Rennie will rely on that connection again in Colorado, where Rapids goalkeeper Clint Irwin secured the win in August with big saves off Teibert, Miller and Darren Mattocks.

The Caps can’t afford a similar display of wasted chances. Lose and they’re done. Tie, and they’ll need lots of help.

Like Kobayashi, though, Rennie doesn’t care much about that last trip to Denver. The Caps, he said, will draw confidence from scoring seven goals in their last two road games, with a 3-0 win at Montreal preceding the Seattle spanking.

“We’re in good form,” said Rennie, who might have Miller (groin) on the trip.

“We’re training well. There’s a sharpness to what we’re doing. We’ve got players who can score some goals. We’re defending reasonably well.

“So, we’ve got to focus on doing those things and getting our third away win in a row.

via Daigo Kobayashi enjoying late-season resurgence.