Hurtado living ‘a dream’ after goal clinches berth in playoffs for Whitecaps
“Unbelievable finish.”
That’s what Carl Robinson said about Erik Hurtado’s stunning outside-of-the-foot volley which snatched the Whitecaps their playoff-clinching winning goal Saturday.
The Caps won 1-0 over Sporting Kansas City. It was smash-and-grab, defined: the Caps had just 25 per cent possession and needed some luck — like when SKC’s Diego Rubio fired an early penalty off the post — as well as some brave goalkeeping — Stefan Marinovic made multiple acrobatic saves — to get a crucial road win, their sixth on the year.
Hurtado’s goal was a stunning, perfect touch on a cross which came over his shoulder. It came in a game where the Whitecaps barely had the ball.
“Just wondering if I’m going to wake up from a dream,” Hurtado said Sunday of the goal, his third on the season.
“That was more instinct than anything,” he said about the goal. “I didn’t even have to look at it; I knew where the keeper was, I hoped he’d stay in the middle.”
Hurtado’s season in many ways tracks along with his team’s performance. He was one of a half dozen injured players in the first half of the year, when the Whitecaps battled and pulled out points despite it all.
With the arrival of summer came health for the Whitecaps and Hurtado — and also improved form.
But that return to health also narrowed opportunities for him to play. After being hurt in a 4-2 win over the L.A. Galaxy in April, he was on the shelf with a bruised foot for months. When he returned to health in late June, he got on the pitch for just a smattering of lategame minutes.
“He’s a model professional for me,” Robinson said after Saturday’s game. “He doesn’t complain when he’s not in the team. He’s disappointed, which I wanted my players to be disappointed, but he doesn’t come ask me why he isn’t playing. He asks what he can do to get into the team.”
Hurtado finally made another start on Aug. 26 against Orlando City and made an immediate impact, laying off a perfect pass in front of a streaking Brek Shea, who scored what turned out to be the game winning goal.
“I just had to work hard and grind,” Hurtado said about what he focused on while he waited for his chance.
“I’ve got to thank the medical staff for getting me healthy, and for the coaches for believing in me,” he added. “But it’s really about the team, we’ve been getting it done, especially on the road.”
“Every single day in training, it’s intense. Everyone wants to play. Everyone is so good. That motivates you to play even better.”
Hurtado has provided the kind of depth production his coach will say he always knew was there.
Last season was difficult, as the Oregon native found the net just twice despite a mountain of opportunities. But the lack of success in 2016 didn’t get him down.
Hurtado looks back to his loan spell in Norway with Mjondalen in the latter half of 2015.
“It’s definitely a part of my story,” he admitted. “I played there, got a taste of a different culture, both on the field and off.”
He called the loan, “a wake-up call.”
“I did take a step back and I looked at the situation,” he said. “Part of me said ‘They don’t want me here, that’s why they sent me away on loan,’ but part of me said ‘They want me to get games.’ ”
“I knew that when I came back (in 2016) I had to show who I am. I just had to roll my sleeves up and make it happen.”
WHITECAPS GET SCOREBOARD HELP
The Whitecaps finally have some distance between themselves and the other teams sitting near the top of the table.
Beating SKC put a four-point gap between the two teams, though Kansas City still has a game in hand.
On Saturday night, the Portland Timbers, nominally second behind the Whitecaps, lost 2-1 to San Jose. And then Sunday morning, the Seattle Sounders dropped a 2-0 decision in Philadelphia.
The Caps’ Cascadian rivals are also four points adrift now and both have just two games to play. The Whitecaps — with three games to go — need just one more win to seal a top-two finish in the west.