Nigel Reo-Coker is a Whitecap no longer. After an odd injury or two, some uneven play and a whole lot of being stapled to the bench, NRC has been traded to Chivas USA for renowned playmaker Mauro Rosales.

A year ago, Reo-Coker was playing his best soccer in a Whitecaps kit, barrelling over defenders, yellow cards bedamned. When he had the ball, he was  saucering up tasty passes at the lip of the 18-yard box for Darren Mattocks, Gershon Koffie and the Golden Boot-wearing traitor-to-be Camilo. When he didn’t have the ball, he was directing traffic in the midfield, at times seemingly for both teams. That hopeful play from NRC, however, was short-lived. He started making odd choices with the ball, and near the end of the season seemed to be mailing it in. (In all fairness, the whole squad was guilty of that.) Despite feeding a fleet of fast-footed forwards in front of him — try saying that five times fast — Reo-Coker just hasn’t been able to put up the kind of numbers his promise, well, promised.

This year, he lost his spot on the starting XI to the much superior Pedro Morales, and did little to resurrect faith from the bench. At his worst, he gifted the worst team in soccer an opening goal in a 1-1 tie earlier this season. Let’s not forget that Chivas USA were down to ten men when that happened. He wasn’t much better in the 3-1 loss to those same Goats at BC Place a few weeks ago. Frankly, even with a lovely first-game assist against the Red Bulls, this season Reo-Coker hasn’t provided any of last year’s impressive play, which earned him more than $400K on his contract for 2014. One goal and six assists in two seasons of play just ain’t enough, my handsome English friend. Coming the other way is Mauro Rosales, perhaps the best crosser in the MLS. Where Morales can dictate the play, and spray passes through the middle or to either side, Rosales is known for swinging balls in from the flank. With the recent signing of Kendall Waston — known for climbing the ladder to head the ball home — the Whitecaps are suddenly a threat to score from distance or on wide set pieces. The Argentinian Rosales adds to the South American flavour of Carl Robinson’s recipe for Whitecaps FC. He isn’t the goal-scoring striker fans and pundits alike have been calling for, but between Morales calling the shots and Rosales assaulting from the air, there just might be a little more consistent swagger to the young Vancouver squad through the end of the season. Rosales is no stranger to Whitecaps FC supporters. He assisted on all four Chivas goals in the aforementioned clusterbleeps against the Caps, and delivered this gorgeous cross to Eddie Johnson two years ago in a Sounders uniform: Rosales has eight assists this season, a remarkable feat considering Chivas USA only has 21 goals. (A cynic would note that the Goats have 19% of their total offensive output against Vancouver this season; one hopes Whitecaps Coach Carl Robinson isn’t merely obtaining Rosales to improve chances of gaining points against the league doormats.)