Mid-week thriller at B.C. Place
Wednesday night? Against Columbus?
That had snoozer written all over it.
But these Whitecaps are so full of life and skill they even managed to make a thriller out of a mid-week non-conference game.
They didn’t win. They made a couple of defensive blunders that cost them. But they fought back twice to earn a 2-2 tie and really should have taken all three points against a decent Crew team.
The Caps (4-1-1) had 62 per cent possession and fired 22 shots at Steve Clark. Darren Mattocks, starting over Kekuta Manneh on left-wing, had seven of them. He scored his first goal of the season to tie the game at 2-2 but couldn’t convert again.
Vancouver was coming in waves for about 20 minutes, after Manneh came on, but they still had to rely on a clutch save from David Ousted in the 85th minute to take one point.
It was a lively game. Columbus sat back to start, but once the Caps got them going side to side it all opened up. Kei Kamara struck twice for the visitors, who are better than their 1-2-1 record. Octavio Rivero tied it at 1-1 for the Caps, who drew 18,000 and change at B.C. Place.
It was Rivero’s fifth goal in six games, a remarkable start to his MLS career.
Pedro Morales was doing whatever he wanted. Nicolas Mezquida put in another bright performance. Kendall Waston was a beast. And Russell Teibert and Matias Laba again provided the defensive platform for it all to happen.
Defending on both Kamara goals will be a concern. Pa-Modou Kah, who was an early substitute for Diego Rodriguez (quad), didn’t look great on them.
Even Ousted, so good this year, had a needless turnover for the 2-1 goal.
But it was Kah’s deft pass to Manneh that led to Mattocks’ 2-2 goal, and there was much to like about the Caps’ play and spirit despite the tie.