WHITECAPS OUSTED FROM PLAYOFFS
MLS PLAYOFFS: L.A. sends Vancouver packing with 2-1 win
CARSON, Calif. — For more than an hour Thursday night at the Home Depot Center, the Vancouver Whitecaps had their fans believing what the team had been preaching all week.
When Darren Mattocks scored just four minutes in, anything, in fact, did seem possible.
The heavy underdogs could topple the defending champions in their own stadium, sending Beckham and Donovan and Keane for an early exit.
But the bubble burst in four short minutes in the second half.
Keeping the L.A. Galaxy at bay for 86 minutes was too great a task, even with the Whitecaps furious commitment to defence.
The players, and coach Martin Rennie, were as bitter with referee Silviu Petrescu as they were disappointed in the result.
Mike Magee, L.A.’s playoff hero in 2011, smashed in the equalizer in the 69th minute, but it was Landon Donovan who scored the controversial winner from the penalty spot.
I’d like to see it again,” said Rennie, “but it would take a lot to convince me that it was a penalty.”
Donovan was denied a penalty late in a first half that ended with both teams in Petrescu’s face as he’d also called Gershon Koffie for a phantom foul that set up David Beckham for a free kick that Brad Knighton stopped at full stretch.
Donovan had gone down under Andy O’Brien’s challenge and Rennie believed that non-call affected the crucial second-half decision.
“The referee get put under pressure and that’s what happens,” Rennie said.
It was an unfortunate sequence of events for the visitors as the lead unravelled.
Jay DeMerit was forced out of the game with a groin injury on Magee’s equalizer in the 69th minute.
Argentine Martin Bonjour, who hadn’t played in five weeks, was called in, cold, and it was his challenge on Donovan that led to the penalty call.
But the real killer for the Whitecaps came shortly before Magee tied it up.
The excellent Matt Watson burst up field, flanked by Scots Kenny Miller and Barry Robson.
None could beat Josh Saunders in the L.A. goal, with Robson desperately trying to get the ball on his favoured left foot at the end of the sequence.
In a trying offensive season, the Whitecaps, against the odds, managed a goal, but couldn’t get another when it mattered most.
“You see it time and time again,” said DeMerit. “When you have a chance to put it away and it doesn’t seem to go it’s usually only a matter of time until they go and score on the other end.
“There’s some disappointed people in the dressing room because I think the game plan worked and I thought we deserved more tonight.
“To finish your season on that note is frustrating but either way we’re proud of our guys and we’re proud of our season.” It was a tale of two seasons. After a great start, they were battling for second in the West in June. Then came the terrible finish. One win in their final 10 games and an ugly showing against Portland in their last home game.
Vancouver’s season did come to an end in L.A., as most expected, but not in the fashion that was predicted.
After sputtering through the final weeks, they conjured up a confident, spirited performance against a heavy favourite.
There’s be plenty of question for what’s sure to be another busy offseason.
But, ultimately, a season of promise and progress ended with the same feeling it started with: hope.