Vancouver WhiteCaps' Ghanaian midfielder Gershon Koffie just keeps getting better

Gershon Koffie turned 24 on Tuesday and that doesn’t seem right because he’s played almost 10,000 minutes in MLS and was around when the Caps played in the old USSF D2.

But the gritty Ghanaian midfielder is, in fact, just getting around to his best years in the game.

It’s showing.

Koffie was at his best in the 1-0 win over Dallas last weekend — winning battles, taking care of the ball, linking play — and he’s been that way, more often than not, for the last two or three months.

For a player constantly harped on by his coach for a lack of consistency, something seems to have clicked.

“First, it comes from opportunity,” said Koffie, who has started eight straight MLS games and will be very hard to pull out of the lineup for Wednesday’s Canadian final against Montreal (7 p.m., Sportsnet One, TSN 1410).

“And then, it’s just focus. Maybe better than before.”

The excitement and frustration around Koffie has long been that he gets up for the biggest games but can lose his way in between.

And, more than that, when he’s on, he’s almost always in the man-of-the-match conversation because his best level is that good.

That kind of potential has fuelled both his fans and critics, although there’s certainly far more of the former these days.

It’s also an impression of Koffie that’s becoming increasingly outdated.

“Similar to Kekuta (Manneh), I think he’s found a vein of form where he’s playing at his levels,” said Caps coach Carl Robinson. “I demand those levels every game and I have been on him — sometimes a little bit too hard — but I know what the kid can do.

“He’s got fantastic talent and I want him to be the best player on the pitch every day and every weekend, and he was on Saturday.

“He sets that standard, and my job is to try and get him to maintain that standard.”

One of the tactics Robinson’s used to coax the best out of Koffie has been to publicly air his grievances when Koffie has a poor game or even a poor half, as the coach did a few weeks ago.

It stands out because Robinson goes to great lengths to protect all his players — Koffie included — but he will challenge the midfielder through the media.

It works because Koffie loves a challenge, and because the relationship between the player and coach is so strong.

“Sometimes I watch the video (of the press conferences) or I read it and I laugh,” said Koffie. “It doesn’t bug me. He’s been here for me for a while, and not just soccer-wise. He’s family to me. He talks to me about not just soccer but how to live my life.

“He’s been in the business and in the same position (defensive midfield) and he knows I have a lot of room for improvement, so that’s why he keeps doing that.

“I take it in a positive way.”

Whatever the two are doing, it’s working. And the sense is that Koffie’s just scratching the surface here.

While it would have been unthinkable a couple of months back that Canadian Russell Teibert wouldn’t start the Canadian final, now it’s unthinkable that Koffie wouldn’t be first choice in a must-win game.

Vancouver and Montreal are tied 2-2 after the first leg, with the Impact overcoming a 2-0 deficit in the 84th and 85th minutes.

The series winner, on aggregate goals, claims the Voyageurs Cup and qualifies for the 2016-17 CONCACAF Champions League.

The Caps have never won this trophy. They lost the 2011, 2012 and 2013 final under the current tournament format, and Koffie’s the only Cap to have started in all those finals.

“We have nothing to fear,” he said. “This is our home. We have to use our fans. Our form has been great. We have to keep winning because it doesn’t feel good to lose.”

Credit: The Province