Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact met in Orlando tonight in their first games of the 2012 Walt Disney Pro Soccer Classic at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex.
And if this game was anything to go by, the March 10th ‘First Kick’ match up is going to be one hell of a heated affair. Tasty doesn’t do it justice.
It was an assured performance from the Caps, against an Impact side that gave a good account of themselves but were well beaten in the end, 3-0.
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Both sides had chances to open the scoring. The Caps had good possession but lacked the killer final ball. Eric Hassli flashed a header straight at Donovan Ricketts in the Montreal goal, and Joe Cannon made a couple of important stops at close range, as the tackles came flying in all over the park.
Hassli showed Jeb Brovsky no former team-mate love, clattering the ex Cap midway through the half, in a tackle heard around the ground. No injuries in that one, but Davide Chiumiento had to go off in the 24th minute after taking a knock. He is listed as day to day with back spasms.
Vancouver came closest to breaking the deadlock in the 37th minute, when Camilo saw a long range free kick tipped just over.
The opening goal was to come a minute later when Hassli collected the ball outside the box and hit a low diagonal shot into the bottom left hand corner. A very well taken effort.
There was a stramash in the closing moments of the half that saw Camilo booked for a tackle and Hassli and Montreal’s Davy Arnaud booked for the afters.
Worryingly for the Caps, John ‘Sicknote’ Thorrington went off injured before the interval, after picking up what looked at first that it could be a bad injury, and has been confirmed as a quad strain, which the Caps will evaluate on Saturday
The second half continued in a feisty manner with Hassli being spoken to in the 49th minute after another crunching tackle.
Montreal had a great chance to equalise in the 53rd minute, when Cannon let a ball through his hands and the Caps cleared before a scramble ensued.
A rash of Caps subs in the 63rd minute, saw seven new players come on for Vancouver, and the new blood worked almost immediately.
Darren Mattocks ran on to a Sebastien Le Toux pass and made it two nil, burying a rocket high in to the net in the 67th minute.
Le Toux had a low effort turned around the post for a corner in the 76th minute.
The Impact made their own string of substitutions moments later, as they sought some consolation from the game, but they ended up losing a third in the 83rd minute.
Long Tan was brought down in the box and Le Toux stepped up to blast in his first competitive goal in a Whitecaps shirt. He might have seen Peter Novak’s head in the netting, with the ferocity that he hit it.
It was a good win for Vancouver. There were a few rusty moments early on, but the injuries to Chiumiento, and in particular Thorrington, will provide the most worry from the night’s events.
With Kansas City and Houston drawing the tournament’s opening match 0-0, the Whitecaps now top Group A.
Toronto get their tournament underway tomorrow. Could we be looking at an all Canadian final on Saturday?
The Caps are doing their part to make it happen.
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