Montero helping Caps move on
Impressive performance against Sounders eases lingering sting of Camilo’s betrayal
Friday wasn’t the first time Carl Robinson displayed a potty mouth.
Just a few weeks ago, the Vancouver Whitecaps’ coach stunned an interviewer by describing a dangerous tackle as “naughty.”
It almost didn’t make it into print because it had been so long since we had heard that word — perhaps in preschool while discussing Tigger and Pooh — that we weren’t sure how to spell it.
But Robinson outdid himself after Fredy Montero scored twice in the Whitecaps’ 2-1 win against the Seattle Sounders at B.C. Place.
He dropped a C-bomb in his postgame news conference.
“We haven’t had that since Camilo left,” Robinson casually told reporters. Yes, he went there. Robinson invoked the name of He Who Shall Not Be Mentioned — Camilo Sanvezzo, the Brazilian traitor who bolted Vancouver and a valid Major League Soccer contract to sign in Mexico after scoring a league-high 22 goals for the Whitecaps in 2013.
Resentment around here over Camilo’s treachery hasn’t much eased in the 3 ½ years since his defection, mainly because the Whitecaps have tried about a dozen forwards since then and none has scored even half the goals Sanvezzo did during his record season.
Midfielder Pedro Morales led the Whitecaps last season with nine goals, and six of those were on penalty kicks.
Octavio Rivero scored a team-high 10 goals in 2015, but half were in his first month.
In their seventh MLS season and still looking for their first playoff win, the Whitecaps have had many issues, chief among them the lack in five of their first six seasons of someone to poach goals, turn nothing into something, and change a game with one opportunistic touch.
And this is why Robinson and others are so excited about Montero, who was largely invisible Friday until he popped up (literally) in the 65th minute to head in Cristian Techera’s cross, then pulled away from his defender and nodded in a second goal from Kendall Waston’s header in 80th minute.
Waston later made the save of the game, clearing Clint Dempsey’s desperation shot off the Whitecaps’ goal-line in the final seconds of injury time to preserve a victory over the Sounders that Vancouver badly needed for confidence and stability.
Whitecap goalie David Ousted finished with five saves, including a brilliant right-arm block of Dempsey’s shot early in the second half when the game was scoreless. Seattle’s star striker — Dempsey essentially replaced Montero when the Colombian left the Sounders after the 2012 season — also cracked the woodwork twice during the electric game.
But the best thing about the Whitecaps, the best thing about their 2-31 start, is that newcomer Montero is not yet at peak fitness or form but suddenly has three goals in six games, four in nine including Champions League.
When he headed past Seattle goalie Stefan Frei to make it 1-0, Montero actually dropped to his knees, put his palms together and prayed.
Robinson and the Whitecaps were also giving thanks.
“I’ve seen him score a lot of goals for Seattle,” Vancouver fullback Jordan Harvey said. “And a lot of goals like that — kind of in and around the box. Fredy’s a poacher. That’s why we brought him in — to score goals.
“To have success in this league, you need a guy with 10 goals and possible 10 assists — a 20-point guy — and hopefully he’s that guy for us. But I think there are a lot of guys who can contribute goals and assists, and you’ll see that throughout this season.”
Harvey said the finish is the main thing in common between Montero and Camilo.
“In terms of scoring goals, absolutely,” Harvey said. “In terms of type of player, they’re totally different. Camilo was getting (goals) off the dribble and shooting and scoring. Fredy makes these runs around the box and we just need to feed him the ball. They’re different players, but a goal is a goal.”
Montero, 29, who remains the Sounders’ all-time leading scorer with 47 MLS goals from the four seasons he spent with them before leaving for Europe, said he didn’t celebrate more effusively Friday out of respect for Seattle fans. Instead, he prayed. “I was thanking God for this opportunity,” he said after beating his old team. “It was a long week, a lot of comments coming in. At the end of the day, 90 minutes was all I needed to prove I am here with this team, giving everything I have for the Vancouver Whitecaps. And I show when I have an opportunity to score, I will.”
Whitecap substitute Mauro Rosales, who was Montero’s teammate in Seattle, said the forward is an even better player now.
“He has a lot more experience,” Rosales said. “Barely five games (of actually playing time) ... and he has four goals. He is a great player, even better than when he played with me in Seattle. It’s very important to have an experienced player like Fredy, but it’s a group, it’s a team. We’re all working together to become the team that we were before.”
Rosales is aware the Whitecaps have lacked a pure goal-scorer since Camilo.
“Obviously, for Camilo, that was a huge year (in 2013). But not for the team,” Rosales said. “Camilo was one of the best strikers but they didn’t make the playoffs. You can score many goals, but you need to work for the team. We are looking to have a better team now.”
Unlike last season’s title race, Tottenham knows it isn’t on the wrong side of a popularity contest in its pursuit of Chelsea.
Leicester was the undoubted pick of the neutrals as it fought off Tottenham’s challenge to improbably collect the Premier League trophy last May.
Now Tottenham occupies the role of the underdog, sitting four points behind Chelsea after swatting aside Bournemouth 4-0 on Saturday.
“We expended a lot energy fighting against Leicester, but (also) against West Brom, against Chelsea, against the media,” Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said, recalling last season’s late costly draws against West Bromwich Albion and Chelsea. “We fought against everyone, but now we are focusing on fighting our opponents when we play.
“Then we spend time and energy on preparing ourselves to compete in the best way. We have improved a lot, from the beginning of the season that was our chance to improve our mentality, our belief and I think you can see the group and the team have improved.”
If Chelsea can be chased down in the Spurs’ remaining six games, Tottenham would be crowned champions for the first time since 1961 and etching another new name in the Premier League trophy. A triumph for Chelsea, which is at Manchester United on Sunday, would be far less enchanting, given the west London club has won the league four times since 2005.
All Tottenham can do is keep racking up the wins — Saturday’s was the seventh in a row — and raising the goal-difference advantage over Chelsea in case it matters. Tottenham has a six-goal edge over Chelsea by that reckoning after another irresistible performance on Saturday that produced a club-record 12th straight home win.
Even substitute Vincent Jansson managed to score his first goal from open play eight months into the misfiring striker’s first Premier League campaign, wrapping up the victory in stoppage time. It was opened by Mousa Dembele scoring his first goal of the season in the 16th minute, ghosting into the penalty area unmarked to meet Christian Eriksen’s corner.
Inside three minutes, Son Heung-min put the ball through goalkeeper Artur Boruc’s legs for his 19th goal of the campaign to become the highest-scoring South Korean in a single European season since Cha Bum-kun for Bayer Leverkusen in 1985-86.
Tottenham has dispelled notions it is over-reliant on Harry Kane by continuing to thrive during the top-scorer’s injury absence. Naturally, though, on his first start in almost five weeks, Kane netted his 25th goal in all competitions this season three minutes into the second half. It’s the third successive year that Kane has hit 20 league goals in a season.
“The only way to build that winning mentality is to always play in the same tempo, with the same focus during the 90 minutes,” Pochettino said.
Tottenham has a seven-point edge over Manchester City, which went third by beating Southampton 3-0. Captain Vincent Kompany headed in the opener in the 55th minute with his first goal in 20 injury-ravaged months before Leroy Sane and Sergio Aguero scored.
Here’s a look at the rest of the day’s Premier League action:
SUNDERLAND 2, WEST HAM 2
There’s still a chance Sunderland could avoid the drop, but it’s an unlikely prospect even after Fabio Borini came off the bench to rescue a point in the 90th minute. The Italian scored two minutes after replacing the concussed Billy Jones, who was carried from the pitch while being given oxygen.
With six games remaining, though, Sunderland is nine points from safety, but it has a game in hand over Hull — the team directly above the drop zone.
Twice West Ham led, through Andre Ayew and James Collins, but twice Sunderland rallied — the first time when Wahbi Khazri scored direct from a corner.
After Borini’s late leveller, West Ham finished with 10 men after Sam Byram was dismissed in the fifth minute of stoppage time after being shown a second yellow card.
CRYSTAL PALACE 2, LEICESTER 2
Crystal Palace recovered from two goals down to move seven points clear of the relegation zone. Goals from Leicester duo Robert Huth and Jamie Vardy were cancelled out by Yohan Cabaye and Christian Benteke. Leicester has mounted a feeble defence of its title — sitting 12th — but it is England’s last Champions League participant and plays host to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday in the quarter-finals. The Foxes are only 1-0 down from the first leg.
EVERTON 3, BURNLEY 1
Phil Jagielka’s close-range effort, Ross Barkley’s deflected strike and Romelu Lukaku’s league-leading 24th of the campaign sealed Everton’s eighth successive home win. The Toffees moved ahead of Manchester United into fifth place on goal difference, having played three games more.
STOKE 3, HULL 1
Hull remains two points above the relegation zone after 11th-placed Stoke ended its four-game losing run with a win that was wrapped up by Xherdan Shaqiri striking into the top corner from 30 metres with 10 minutes remaining.
WATFORD 1, SWANSEA 0
Swansea is two points behind Hull in the third relegation place after a fifth loss in six games. Etienne Capoue secured the victory for a Watford side which is all but assured of avoiding the drop.