WON’T BACK DOWN
The Caps know they must win at home to stay in playoff hunt
Afrozen pause, a subtle shoulder fake, and Jake Nerwinski put the ball between the legs of San Jose’s Joel Qwiberg — the dreaded nutmeg, a social media kiss of death — before bursting past his mark and laying the perfect cross on the foot of Kei Kamara, alone in the box.
The outcome wasn’t as planned — Kamara misfired on his volley — but the bit of skill was, to hear the Vancouver Whitecaps fullback tell it.
“At halftime, someone came up to me and said, ‘You didn’t mean to do that,’ and I was like, ‘Well, I saw his legs open, and it was a last-second thing,’ ” Nerwinski said, laughing.
“Sometimes I have flashes of brilliance. That’s what I say to the guys.”
“Flashes of brilliance” could be the motto of these 2018 Whitecaps, too.
There was the nine-minute, three-goal outburst last week that turned Carl Robinson’s chagrin to a grin; the snapping of rival Portland’s 15-game unbeaten streak; Erik Hurtado’s goal at the death to earn Vancouver a draw in the toughest stadium in Major League Soccer; a first triumph in six tries in Houston … they were all tank-emptying performances.
But the other common thread between all of these seminal moments? They all came on the road.
It’s no secret the Whitecaps (10-9-7) are the rudest guests in MLS. The team that flies more miles than any other club also has 22 away victories since the beginning of the 2015 season, tops in the league.
Only two other sides — both New York teams — have 20 or more.
In 14 road games this year, the Caps have five wins and 17 points (5-7-2). In 12 games at B.C. Place Stadium, they’ve won five and picked up 20 points (5-2-5).
“I think last year, we were road warriors as well, but we had a better home record,” Nerwinski said of the 2017 team that went 9-3-5 at The Dome.
“We have to bring that confidence — knowing that we can go into somebody’s place and get points, and get wins … why can’t we do that at home in front of our own fans, on our own terms?”
The importance of home wins in the travel-heavy MLS can’t be overstated. In the Eastern Conference, all six of the teams in playoff position have eight or more wins at home. In the West, the top four all have at least seven wins. Seattle might only have six at The Clink, but they’re also on a 10-game unbeaten run. Portland has six, but they also had a 15-game tear of their own.
It’s not as if Vancouver has been poor at home — they’ve only lost twice at B.C. Place this season — but it’s the points dropped in the middle of the schedule, an unfortunate run of three consecutive 2-2 ties at home — that has left them on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.
The Whitecaps are on the playoff bubble, with one point and one team (Portland) separating them from sixth place and the final playoff berth. If they are to make the post-season, they need to maximize their home dates, beginning this weekend against San Jose, the first of three straight home games.
At this juncture last season, the Caps were in the middle of a seven-game unbeaten streak and had just clipped Colorado 2-1. And, for the first time so late in a season, they occupied first place in the Western Conference.
This year, Vancouver is unbeaten in five with a chance to make it six when they host the Earthquakes, owners of the league’s worst record (3-14-8), on Saturday.
Midfielder Russell Teibert wasn’t looking past Saturday at the other two big home matches — against Seattle and FC Dallas — and was forceful in his remonstration of making B.C. Place a fortress again.
“I think it’s premature to talk about this stretch. This game (against San Jose) now is the most important game,” he said. “It has to be game by game. We can’t look down the stretch too far. We need to take care of business this Saturday.”
Their meeting with San Jose last week should be a cautionary tale. Warned about slipping on a banana peel heading into their meeting, they had their legs taken out from under them in a first half that saw them go ass over teakettle into a 2-0 hole, before prevailing 3-2.
And while the Quakes have just three wins on the year, two of them coming against Minnesota, the third was a shocking 3-1 road victory over FC Dallas. Could Saturday be another trap game?
“You can call it whatever you want. All I’m going to call it is a must-win. We need to win that game,” Teibert said.
“What’s going to be the game that propels us (forward) is this home game at B.C. Place. We need this.”