Very late heroics salvage a draw with Dynamo
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
And until the 94th minute Friday night, it looked like the Vancouver Whitecaps were going to fall on theirs — again.
But Kendall Waston’s injury-time header rescued the Caps from a crushing loss, giving the home side a 2-2 tie against the Houston Dynamo, keeping their undefeated home record against their Texas visitors intact.
The team known leaguewide for the counter-attack fell victim to it in the 89th minute when Mauro Manotas put the visitors in front, coming after an extended siege of the Dynamo net where the Whitecaps did everything but score.
Some of the 18,813 fans began streaming out of B.C. Place Stadium after the Houston goal, but Waston came up big and kept Vancouver from suffering its fifth loss in six games.
Instead, they improved to six wins and two ties against Houston at home.
The same lack of finishing that doomed the Whitecaps (4W-5L2D) last week reared its head again, but instead they picked up a valuable point — as did Houston (3-3-3), who have lost just once in their last five games.
Here’s what else we learned:
SET-PIECE MAGIC
Left all alone on a free kick, Waston, the 6-4 central defender, put an Alphonso Davies-like move on his check — striker Manotas — putting the ball past him on one side, and out-legging him to it on the other. He crossed the ball just before it crossed into touch, and Jose Aja volleyed it up and over keeper Joe Willis from three yards out.
It was Aja’s first MLS goal in his 33 career games, split between the Whitecaps and Orlando City.
Waston nearly had the second goal of the game for the Caps in the 70th minute, rising up on a free kick to connect cleanly on a header, but Willis dove to make the save at the bottom corner. He put another free kick header off the crossbar, but the officials called it offside.
Aja, too, came close on a free kick in the 76th minute off a free kick from Felipe, but his header from eight yards out was just a foot outside the post.
LET’S GET IN FORMATION
The Caps started in a 4-4-2 for the second straight game, this time electing to use Kei Kamara and Anthony Blondell up top as a combo for the first time.
The Dynamo played big-boy ball with Kamara, bodying him up and earning the Caps four first-half free kicks, but the physical play created some space for Blondell, who created three scoring chances for the Caps in the first half.
On defence, Robinson elected to go with his veterans — Sean Franklin and Marcel de Jong — worried about the pace and attacking flair of Alberth Elis and Romell Quioto on the wings.
Houston’s first-half goal came from out wide with Elis driving forward at de Jong, but Tomas Martinez found space between Waston and Aja and had little trouble sidefooting Elis’s pass home from the edge of the box in the 35th minute.
ROWE, ROWE, ROWE THE BOAT
Brian Rowe got his first start for the Whitecaps after No. 1 Stefan Marinovic sprained his knee in practice on Thursday. He was a steadying influence, and even though he didn’t face a shot until 34 minutes in — it was 5-0 for Vancouver at that point — he intercepted several point-blank crosses that would have been goals had they made it through. He couldn’t be faulted on the goal, either, as Martinez took one touch then placed it perfectly in the corner.
Rowe finished with just one official save, an eight-yard effort from Elis in the 65th minute that the Dynamo winger had plenty of time to load up on. Marinovic got a little lost going to the players’ box pregame, a vantage point he’d never been to before, and declared he hoped he wouldn’t have to again. But he’ll likely be there for at least the next three games.
BY THE NUMBERS
Both teams are strong counterattacking sides that have speed to burn on the flanks. Houston, a mid-pack team in possession (47 per cent away) held 55.7 per cent of the ball, but the Caps had the balance of scoring chances, notably in the first half with Blondell and Davies storming through the defence on a number of occasions.
Vancouver outshot Houston 14-8 — 5-3 on target — and the Caps won the possession battle 69-52, the ninth time in 11 games this season they’ve turned the trick.
BOOSTER JUICE
The game’s complexion changed in the 69th minute when Yordy Reyna was inserted into the game for Blondell. Twenty seconds later, he’d earned a free kick with some deft footwork.
With Reyna and Davies marauding through the tired defence seemingly at will, the game opened up. The Caps pressed hard for the winner, the best chance falling on the foot of Brek Shea in the 85th minute, who was all alone with a gaping net in front of him six yards out, but the usually lethal winger whiffed on the cross.
Two minutes later, Waston flashed another header just wide.