If there's one song blaring out in Vancouver Whitecaps dressing room tonight, it should be The Beatles' "With A Little Help From My <strike>Friends</strike> Cascadian Allies (for a night)".
Going in to their final home game of the season needing a win to secure their place in the playoffs, and against Cascadian rivals they have never beaten at MLS level, tonight’s game at BC place could have made Vancouver Whitecaps history.
Instead they had to wait a couple of hours for the party to begin, as Canadian football history was made 144 miles away in Seattle when the Sounders ended Dallas' playoff hopes with a 3-1 victory.
That win sent Vancouver Whitecaps into the MLS playoffs, the first Canadian club to achieve that feat, and Los Angeles Galaxy now await.
Yet despite this achievement, it's hard to feel much enthusiasm this evening after a performance against Portland that was devoid of anything promising.
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With Portland battling to lift the Cascadia Cup and secure their first, and only, away victory of the season, it was never going to be easy.
And so it proved. Although the Timbers barely had to get out of first gear to get the job done and regain the Cascadia Cup.
The Whitecaps turned in one of their worst home performances of the season, going down to a first half Jack Jewsbury goal.
Vancouver went for the same starting line as the previous game against Chivas, with Jamaicans Dane Richards and Darren Mattocks having to settle for places on the bench. This was particularly tough on Richards, who had run the show against The Goats.
You got the feeling that BC Place was ready to kick into party mode, but feelings of both anticipation and apprehension filled the air as the game kicked off.
Camilo nearly eased concerns early on, forcing Donovan Ricketts into a sprawling save when he got on the end of a Barry Robson cross in the fifth minute.
Although Vancouver were dominating possession, the closest they came to breaking the deadlock came when Portland’s Steven Smith forced Ricketts into a leg save from an inexplicably hard back pass from close range.
Camilo had another chance on the half hour mark, firing wide after Kenny Miller had flicked on a Matt Watson cross into his path.
Portland forced their first save out of Brad Knighton in the 35th minute, when Bright Dike got his head on the end of a Sal Zizzo cross.
The danger wasn’t over and Dike got the ball back in a seemingly offside position, but pulled his shot wide of the left hand post.
If the Whitecaps needed any clues that the Timbers were getting back into the game, they had it firmly rammed home in the 39th minute when the visitors took the lead.
Frank Songo’o played the ball out to Jack Jewsbury and the Portland captain crashed home an unstoppable 25 yard strike into the postage stamp corner.
The goal stunned Vancouver and the home side struggled to lift themselves for the remainder of the half.
Portland went in at half time with an unlikely lead, but it was one that they were desperate to hold on to.
Neither side made any changes at the break, but Portland only lasted a minute before being forced to make one in their defence when Hanyer Mosquera went down after a chance for Robson was headed over.
With chances proving hard to come by, Vancouver turned to their Reggae Boys and the introduction of Richard and Mattocks up the home side’s tempo, with first Mattocks and then Miller both having half chances in the air.
Portland were still a danger on the break and Dike forced Knighton into a save in the 75th minute.
With time running out, Vancouver decided to go for it and brought on Omar Salgado, making a welcome return to the team after his long term injury.
The Whitecaps pushed forward and Robson fired fiercely over from the edge of the box in the 79th minute.
Vancouver huffed and puffed in the final minutes, but seemed devoid of ideas and creativity.
The officials tried to help by adding on six minutes of stoppage time. It made little difference and Portland ran out the time with ease.
Portland may have thwarted the Whitecaps playoff party, but Seattle at least did the business against Dallas and the Caps are playoff bound.
With LA now awaiting, you have to feel that it's going to be a short lived playoff experience if tonight's display is anything to go by.
FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 0 - 1 Portland Timbers
ATT: 21,000 (sell out)
VANCOUVER: Brad Knighton; Young-Pyo Lee, Andy O’Brien, Jay DeMerit, Jordan Harvey; Gershon Koffie, Barry Robson, Alain Rochat (Dane Richards 61), Matt Watson (Omar Salgado 77); Kenny Miller, Camilo Sanvezzo (Darren Mattocks 67) [subs Not Used: Joe Cannon, Martin Bonjour, Jun Marques Davidson, John Thorrington]
PORTLAND: Donovan Ricketts; Kosuke Kimura, Hanyer Mosquera (Eric Brunner 48), David Horst, Steven Smith; Sal Zizzo, Jack Jewsbury, Franck Songo’o (Rodney Wallace 67), Diego Chara, Darlington Nagbe; Bright Dike (Danny Mwanga 85) [subs Not Used: Joseph Bendik, Eric Alexander, Eric Brunner, Mike Fucito, Lovel Palmer]
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