A SOUND RESULT
Caps fight streaking Seattle to a draw
The Major League Soccer season is almost as long as the human gestation period, and while its duration tests the attention span of its fans, it does offer certain benefits to its member clubs.
Teams, for example, can experiment with different players and different formations. Roles can change. Stars can emerge. The point is, unlike other sports, an MLS campaign is liquid, extremely liquid, and a team’s starting position usually bears little resemblance to its finish.
So tell us, does that describe this Whitecaps season? While you’re chewing on that one, here’s a harder question.
Paper cuts, do you find them annoying?
Wednesday night, the Whitecaps manufactured a 1-1 draw with the red-hot Seattle Sounders in an affair that revealed much about their evolution this campaign. While the effort was short on art, it was long on determination and effort and drew on the depth Carl Robinson has built into his squad.
Outclassed for most of the game and down to 10 men over the final 32 minutes, the Caps still earned a point on a piece of magic from young Alphonso Davies, some world-class goalkeeping from David Ousted and their own resilience and resourcefulness.
“That’s as good as a win for us,” said Robinson. “We didn’t play well. They’re a good team at the top of the table.
“Penalty conceded, sending off, I don’t know what else could go against us. But the subs who came on were brilliant. The character shown was brilliant. The mentality was phenomenal. I think we got a deserved point from that.”
Even if it took some time coming.
The Sounders came into B.C. Place Stadium as MLS’s hottest team, took a 1-0 lead on Nicolas Lodeiro’s penalty in the 19th minute and controlled play for absurdly long stretches most of the night, even when the Caps had all 11 players. But three minutes after midfielder Tony Tchani was
sent off with his second yellow card, the precocious Davies stole the ball from veteran Sounders defenceman Chad Marshall, beat Marshall to the outside, then put it on a tee for Fredy Montero.
Montero’s goal in the 64th minute, his third in two starts against his former club, would be the last bit of offence from the home side, which would park the bus in front of Ousted over the final 29 minutes.
Despite some nervous moments, the Caps’ keeper would keep things clean the rest of the way resulting in a point won, not two points lost.
“I know if I was sitting in that other locker-room, it would feel like a defeat,” said Robinson.
Still, this Whitecaps team has taken some big steps since the start of the season and has faced a stretch of four home games over its next five outings. The Caps have also secured the sixth and final playoff spot in the West with a favourable schedule beckoning.
But the team that will charge down the stretch bears little resemblance to the Whitecaps team that started the year.
The addition of attacking midfielder Yordy Reyna and the partnership he’s formed with Montero has changed the entire look and feel of the Whitecaps. Mid-season acquisition Bernie Ibini, who had a strong game after coming on as a substitute, gives Robinson another option.
Davies continues to grow as a player and has star quality. And the Caps will be adding Egyptian midfielder Aly Ghazal to the mix sooner rather than later.
“We had to make adjustments,” said Robinson. “The boys came on and brought positivity, but I expect the subs to do that when they come on. Yeah, they’re disappointed when they don’t play but when they come on they have to have an effect.
“Forget the point, forget the game. The mentality and character shown in this group was phenomenal today.”
The point? That was pretty good as well.