Laba-daba-do! Midfielder sparks Caps’ first win
Robinson goes all in with Manneh trade as new arrival Tchani has immediate impact
In his first 112 games in MLS, holding midfielder Matias Laba scored twice. He matched that in 20 minutes Saturday night.
Lightning struck twice for the Vancouver Whitecaps, who exploded for three second-half goals and beat the L.A. Galaxy 4-2 at B.C. Place Stadium for their first win of the regular season. Now, can they conjure another couple of electrical bolts Wednesday?
“It sets us up nicely for Wednesday, for Mission Impossible, as someone said to me the other day,” coach Carl Robinson said after the Caps rallied to beat Los Angeles.
His team will need to rally again in its CONCACAF Champions League semifinal against Mexico’s Tigres at B.C. Place — one of the biggest games for the Caps’ brand since Vancouver won the 1979 Soccer Bowl in another league and another era.
Tigres hold a 2-0 lead after their first-leg win in Monterrey on March 14. That deficit is daunting for the Caps, who’ll need a three-goal win if the reigning Mexican champs score in Vancouver. But it seems a little less impossible after the struggling Whitecaps finally ignited their attack against a dangerous Galaxy side.
Robinson went all-in this season when he traded 22-yearold dynamo Kekuta Manneh, the team’s second-best young player, to the Columbus Crew on Thursday.
One way or another, it’s going to be a trade that frames Robinson’s tenure with the Caps. Vancouver’s 0-2-1 start to this season had dropped Robinson’s MLS record to 2-9-4 since last July.
The two-way midfielder he acquired along with US$300,000 in allocation money (salary space), Tony Tchani, didn’t get on the field Saturday until the 64th minute, but made an immediate impact when his cross found Cristian Techera unmarked in the Galaxy penalty area.
Fredy Montero scored on the rebound from Techera’s shot to tie the game in the 66th minute, and only a minute later Laba hammered Montero’s pass home from 22 yards for the winner.
The biggest impact was made by Robinson. Trading away Manneh, fast and talented but inconsistent, was a wake-up call for the Caps.
As Montero said Saturday: “If Kekuta was traded, anyone can be in the same position. That was a message from the coach to the players. Eleven players are going to be sharp, 11 players are going to be hungry to stay.”
Whitecaps captain Kendall Waston said: “We know that this is a man’s game; this is a decision they have to make. Obviously, we love Kekuta because he is a nice guy and he was very important for us. But this is a group thing, not an individual thing. The coach decides to bring Tony, and I think he’s going to help us a lot.
“When you win, everything changes. On Wednesday, we are having a huge game and I think this win helps us ... keeping believing in what we’re working on.”
Montero replaced striker Erik Hurtado at halftime and had easily his most impressive shift for the Caps since arriving during the pre-season on loan from his Chinese club.
But the greatest spark to the attack was provided by Christian Bolanos, the Costa Rican international who was shifted from wing to the central midfield, where he played the attacking No. 10 role behind the striker.
Bolanos provided the creativity and ball distribution the Caps have badly lacked since Pedro Morales’s contract wasn’t renewed and his replacement, Yordy Reyna, broke his foot.
Even the enigmatic Techera looked engaged.
The Galaxy still had more of the ball (53.8-per-cent possession), but this was the first game this season the Caps didn’t simply sit back and soak up pressure while hoping to surprise their opponent on a counterattack. If they sit back against Tigres, they’ll be lucky to tie 0-0, which won’t get them to the final of the North and Central American championship.
What was especially impressive about Saturday’s win is the Caps responded marvellously after surrendering two goals in five minutes to Galaxy winger Romain Alessandrini to turn an early lead into a 2-1 deficit at halftime.
“They scored two goals, but we still believe in the way we play and create a lot of chances,” Bolanos said. “That’s very positive for the next game. If we believe we can play with the ball and create chances like we did today against a really strong team like L.A., we believe we can score the first goal on Wednesday and try to do the same thing.”
“I think it will make a massive difference,” Robinson said of Saturday’s encouraging win. “Every time you don’t win a game, you get a little bit nervous. I think I’ve got a happy change room. We got our reward today. Whatever you put in this game, you get out. Sometimes you don’t get any luck. You’re going to have adversity against you, and when you do, you’ve got to bounce back. We bounced back today against a top team.
“Belief, energy, passion — that group in there has got it. We just need to do it more consistently.”
I think I’ve got a happy change room. We got our reward today. Whatever you put in this game, you get out. Sometimes you don’t get any luck.