Caps pull off comeback for the ages
High-octane offence overcomes bad luck and shoddy defence — and probably saved the season
The Vancouver Whitecaps were dead and buried — perhaps along with their season. But as the eulogies were being read on social media, the Whitecaps resurrected themselves with perhaps their most signature performance of 2018.
Down 2-0 in the second half to the team with the worst record in MLS soccer, the Caps pulled it together with three goals in a nine-minute span, beating the San Jose Earthquakes 3-2 on Saturday night at Avaya Stadium.
Yordy Reyna, Cristian Techera and Kei Kamara scored in the 59th, 61st and 68th minute for Vancouver (10-9-7), who won in San Jose for the first time in team history. The Caps are now unbeaten in five, with three wins and two draws, including seven of a possible nine points in three away results.
Jahmir Hyka and Magnus Eriksson scored for the Earthquakes (3-14-8), who are winless in their last 11 home games, breaking a mark that’s stood since 1996. They haven’t won at home this season since their March 2 home opener against Minnesota.
Here’s what we learned:
SLOW START
Some poor luck and worse tackling put the Whitecaps in a 2-0 hole before all the fans had returned to their seats from the beer queue.
Seven minutes in, San Jose’s Nick Lima chopped a ball in from the edge of the box, but centreback Aaron Maund only had time for a reaction headed clearance that unfortunately dropped right onto the chest of the unmarked Hyka. The Quakes midfielder had time to take a control touch before beating Stefan Marinovic with a powerful volley from 18 yards out.
Eight minutes after that, fullback Marcel De Jong clattered clumsily into San Jose striker Danny Hoesen near the edge of the box, and the VAR alerted referee Baldomero Toledo to the fact that the foul had potentially occurred inside the box. He agreed, and Eriksson put the ensuing penalty just past the fingertips of a diving Marinovic, undeterred by Techera’s pre-kick scuffing of the penalty spot.
It gave the league’s fourthworst scoring team a 2-0 lead for just the first time since their home-opening victory.
THE (YELLOW) TIDE TURNS
It looked like the Caps, trailing by two goals were going to self-destruct, as frustration led to a flood of yellow cards to Reyna, Felipe and De Jong in a two-minute span. Whitecaps coach Carl Robinson pulled the trigger on a double substitution, pulling De Jong and Felipe off for Aly Ghazal and Nicolas Mezquida, and switched to a 3-5-2 formation.
The game’s complexion changed almost immediately, and when Reyna bounced a free kick from 20 yards out between two Whitecaps in the defending wall and past the hands of goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell, the floodgates opened.
Techera, sprung on a through ball from Kamara, putting Quakes centreback Guram Kashia on skates before scoring the tying goal two minutes later. It continued a remarkable streak, as Vancouver is unbeaten in 34 games when El Bicho scores a goal or assists on one.
Reyna put a cross right through the six-yard box for Kamara to finish from pointblank range, as he moved into fifth all-time in MLS scoring with 109 goals. It was his sixth goal in his last seven games.
WHAT THIS MEANS
The Whitecaps moved into a tie with Portland for the sixth and final playoff berth with Portland (10-6-7), but the Timbers have three games in hand, and face Seattle on Sunday at Providence Park. The Sounders (10-9-5) are just two points back of both teams.
The Caps return home to face the Earthquakes next Saturday at B.C. Place (7 p.m., TSN, TSN 1040)
SAW THAT COMING
Robinson was well aware of the potential of a trap game coming into San Jose.
“By not listening to you guys, because it’s a trap match for us. It really is,” the Caps coach told media ahead of the game on Friday, when asked how to avoid a banana-peel game.
“People will assume and think automatically that we should go and get three points, but football doesn’t work that way. It works in mysterious ways, but not in that way. We won’t take anything for granted.”