BLAME GAME

Drubbing raises questions

ALPHONSO THE GREAT

In a battle, if that’s the right term, between two teams that started the night 6-7-5, the Whitecaps hammered out a 3-2 win in a contest highlighted by a moment of shimmering brilliance from Alphonso Davies.

With the Caps leading 2-1 in the 72nd minute, and the crowd of 22,120 fretting over a boatload of near misses by the home side, Davies sprinted down the sidelines, skipped past a pair of Fire defenders and, when it appeared he’d run out of room, left his feet to square the ball to Kei Kamara for the eventual game-winning goal.

It was Kamara’s second goal of the game. The only wonder is he didn’t have three more.

A ‘MUTCH’ NEEDED GOAL

Vancouver midfielder Jordon Mutch scored the crucial goahead goal early in the second half and, on a night when the Caps’ big guns butchered a series of scoring chances, it was fitting that Mutch supplied the game’s pivotal moment with his firstever MLS goal. While supporters were still settling in for the second half, the Crystal Palace man reeled in a long ball from Elfrain Juarez, navigated his way around Fire keeper Richard Sanchez and nervelessly finished the play.

Kamara’s second goal would stand as the game-winner after former Whitecap midfielder Tony Tchani brought the Fire within one with a strike from distance in the 80th minute. Kamara’s goals were the 105th and 106th of his MLS career, moving him past former Canadian international Dwayne De Rosario into seventh place on the MLS all-time goals list.

CHANCES GALORE

The teams went into halftime tied 1-1 but the larger story was the number of gilt-edged chances the Whitecaps missed.

Yordy Reyna forced Sanchez into a save in the seventh minute before Kamara missed a header in the 11th minute and chipped it over the crossbar in the 15th minute. Davies blasted one high from a prime scoring area in the 23rd minute, then rattled the woodwork when he was put in alone by Reyna.

For the Whitecaps’ lone goal of the half, Kamara was forced wide by Sanchez before Davies teed it up for Reyna. Sanchez made a spectacular save off the Caps frontman but Kamara finally converted the rebound.

But all those misses would become a massive part of the night’s storyline when Chicago scored in the 42nd minute on one of their few forays into the Whitecaps’ end. The Fire’s Kevin Ellis beat Felipe on the goal before finding Nemanja Nikolic unmarked five yards from the Whitecaps’ goal.

LAUNCHING PAD?

If you’re looking for signs from the Caps, this was about the point where they launched their best stretch of play in 2017. Beginning on July 5 with a win over New York FC, the Caps went 7-3-1 over their next 11 led by Reyna and Fredy Montero.