Another Saturday, another Cascadian derby, another defeat for the Whitecaps and another suspension looming. It’s all getting a bit too familiar as ten man Vancouver went down 2-1 to Portland Timbers at Jeld-Wen Field.
There were some surprises before kick-off with Martin Rennie deciding to drop Darren Mattocks to the bench as an impact sub and going with a Scottish pairing of Kenny Miller and Barry Robson to try and kickstart the Vancouver attack.
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Portland, on the other hand, kept one of their own Scots, Kris Boyd, on the bench for the whole match.
Vancouver had the early pressure from the opening seconds but Portland had the first shot on goal when Darlington Nagbe was allowed to power into the Caps box before blasting over in the fourth minute.
Portland were looking the more likely to score and Franck Songo’o forced Joe Cannon into an easy stop at his near post in the 14th minute, before Nagbe had a shot deflected for a corner three minutes later.
With Vancouver playing deep, Portland were finding it easy to control possession and try and get the breakthrough. They nearly got it in the 27th minute when Bright Dike got on the end of a Songo’o cross and rose unchallenged between Jay DeMerit and Alain Rochat to crash a header off the right hand post.
DeMerit was in the thick of the action in the 35th minute when he pulled down David Horst as a corner came across, but the referee thought otherwise and there was no penalty awarded.
The Caps finally mustered a shot on goal in the 37th minute when Camilo drove straight at the Portland keeper. At least it was something.
The home side finally broke the deadlock in the 41st minute in a neat move that ended with Jack Jewsbury play a perfect ball inside to Nagbe and the Liberian easily shook off Y-P Lee before slotting home past Cannon.
As the half entered stoppage time, it was looking like a long second half slog for the Caps but up stepped Kenny Miller to grab a huge first goal for Vancouver.
Portland were unable to clear the ball from a Caps attack and as it fell to DeMerit, his diagonal cross box pass landed perfectly at the feet of Miller, who had time and space to easily fire past Donavan Ricketts for the equaliser.
That was the last action of the half and Vancouver went in somewhat fortunate to be on level terms.
With no changes at the half, it was still all to play for and Vancouver came close to taking the lead five minutes in.
A dangerous corner from the right found it’s way through to Andy O’Brien in the six yard box and Ricketts responded brilliantly to keep out the defender’s diving header.
It was goalkeeping of another kind that saw the Timbers retake the lead in the 55th minute.
As Songo’o curled in a seemingly easy to take free kick, the normally reliable Cannon fumbled the ball and allowed it to somehow get away from him and into the net.
It was the Cameroon player’s first goal in MLS and he’s not likely to get more of a gift than that.
The Caps looked for an immediate response and John Thorrington hit a cutback from Miller past the right hand post two minutes later.
O’Brien was having a solid game for Vancouver at the back, but looked like he tweaked his hamstring mopping up a Portland attack and was soon substituted for Martin Bonjour.
Dike forced his way clear into the Caps box in the 64th minute, but wasted his chance to strike a decisive blow when he shot wildly wide.
Cannon had another nervy time in the 69th minute when he couldn’t properly collect a Dike header from a Songo’o free kick, but Jun Marques Davidson cleared the danger.
Portland kept the pressure on and Nagbe saw his goalbound effort deflected for a corner moments later.
The Caps had their best chance to date to restore parity in the 74th minute.
Dane Richards was rejuvenated by the introduction of Darren Mattocks as a sub and the Jamaican waltzed his way into the box before seeing Ricketts close him down and block his shot.
The ball broke the Camilo, who took a step inside, but he could only watch on in agony as his goalbound effort was headed off the goal-line by Steven Smith.
Vancouver kept on the pressure and Kenny Miller headed an effort wide before a long range Barry Robson shot was parried by Ricketts for a corner.
As the Whitecaps pushed for the equaliser, their chances were dealt a fatal blow when Mattocks was sent off for leading with the elbow in an aerial challenge with Horst in the 84th minute.
As referee David Gantar was talking to Mattocks, the replay was shown on the screen, the Timbers fans reacted, Gantar looked over to his linesman who indicated a sending off. So apparently we now have video replay in MLS.
Portland sensed blood and sub Danny Mwanga easily forced his way into the box, then crossed for Sal Zizzo who shot just wide, as Nagbe raced in to try and turn it in.
The Timbers easily saw the game out, and dealt another blow to the Whitecaps in their race for the playoffs.
With discipline now becoming a regular talking point in Vancouver, it’s not going to get any easier with two more away games coming up.
September 15th in Dallas is now looking massive.
FINAL SCORE: Portland Timbers 2 -1 Vancouver Whitecaps
ATT: 20,438 (sell out)
PORTLAND: Donovan Ricketts; Kosuke Kimura, Hanyer Mosquera, David Horst, Steven Smith; Darlington Nagbe (Lovel Palmer 90+2), Jack Jewsbury, Eric Alexander (Rodney Wallace 79); Sal Zizzo, Bright Dike (Danny Mwanga 86), Franck Songo’o [subs Not Used: Joseph Bendik, Kris Boyd, Mamadou Danso, Mike Fucito]
VANCOUVER: Joe Cannon; Young-Pyo Lee, Jay DeMerit, Andy O’Brien (Martin Bonjour 61), Alain Rochat; Jun Marques Davidson, John Thorrington (Darren Mattocks 65), Barry Robson; Camilo Sanvezzo, Dane Richards (Atiba Harris 85), Kenny Miller [subs Not Used: Brad Knighton, Jordan Harvey, Russell Teibert, Matt Watson]
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