Away goal gives Whitecaps the edge
VANCOUVER 1 NEW YORK 1
The ship was creaky at times, but it’s the result that matters.
Job done for the Vancouver Whitecaps, who held on for a 1-1 tie Wednesday at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, against New York in the first leg of a CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final.
When you get an away goal, everything feels better, even if the overall picture was rather sloppy. There was a decidedly pre-season feel to Wednesday’s affair.
“The effort, the application, the determination that we put in, especially when we went down to 10 men for the last half an hour, was phenomenal,” said Vancouver head coach Carl Robinson. “If you put the work in, you get the rewards. Today we got a little reward, we know there’s a lot of work to do in the game, but we’re fairly happy.”
The Red Bulls, who coach Jesse Marsch said were still feeling things out with 10 days to go before the MLS season kicks off, still came out of the blocks buzzing and controlled play for the first quarter of an hour or so. The Whitecaps struggled on defence, but found their form as the half went on.
Pre-season legs losing their gumption might have something to do with it, too.
Either way, when Kekuta Manneh redirected a Kendall Waston header off a corner toward the bottom left of the net to open the scoring in the game’s 39th minute, it was hard to say they were undeserving. The Caps had survived the early New York pressure, then found their feet as Manneh led a series of dangerous counterattacks.
On a run, Manneh danced down the left touch line from inside his own half, leaving two Red Bulls defenders in his wake, and put a long looping pass right on Alphonso Davies’ foot. The teen probably should have gone for a Eric Hassli-esque volley, as the scrambling Red Bulls defence recovered to snuff out the break.
Still, it’s a sign of possible things to come. Cristian Techera also was getting himself in the mix, as he curled an early chance from the right just around the left post.
Coming out of the break up 1-0, you knew New York would press for an equalizer. They got a chance almost off the hop, as the very impressive Daniel Royer went down in the box under pressure from rookie Jake Nerwinski, who started at right back in his pro debut. There was some debate over the call, but the referee had no doubt, pointing immediately to the spot.
But, again, the Red Bulls were still feeling themselves in pre-season. Captain Sacha Kljestan flubbed his attempted chip on the penalty kick and keeper David Ousted caught himself from diving too far to his right, instead using his legs to scoop the ball away.
The Caps took some time, again, to settle themselves, but again, the defence bent but never broke. Manneh continued to lead the attack, but the Caps never truly troubled Red Bulls keeper Luis Robles.
The game settled into a tidy rhythm, with the teams trading attacks, but not finding the final touch. Still you figured someone would find another goal.
Bradley Wright-Phillips, as you’d expect, was the man to do so. The Red Bulls crossed a ball from out wide on their right, the Caps couldn’t clear and BWP hammered the loose ball into the top right corner of the net.
At 1-1, the Caps were still going to be satisfied going home, but there was still something like half-an-hour to play.
The final quarter became even more interesting when Techera was shown a straight red card. A wild kick toward the ball at midfield missed and instead struck Red Bulls right back Sal Zizzo in the groin.
The Red Bulls took the advantage against the 10-man Caps, carrying the play in the game’s final 20 minutes, but again their legs looked to fill up with glue and they couldn’t find the go-ahead goal.