Vancouver’s victory over Montreal on Friday, in a physical match at the Disney Pro Soccer Classic, could come at a price.
Davide Chiumiento is being listed as day to day, after going off in the first half suffering from back spasms. Fellow midfielder John Thorrington also picked up another injury and his quad strain will be evaluated Saturday.
It was certainly a feisty affair, with many of the crunching tackles coming from Vancouver players. Personally it was pleasing to see. Not because it was Montreal we were playing but because it showed a team with some bite, much needed and posted missing for most of last season.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Camilo and Eric Hassli, looked keen and sharp up front and the defence looked pretty solid, with just a little lapse in concentration now and again almost leading to some trouble.
It was also good to see the fringe guys come on in the second half, grabbing two goals and giving some good accounts of themselves.
Darren Mattocks came on for Chiumiento in the first half and showed some great pace during the match. None more so than when he scored Vancouver’s second goal, following a burst of speed and a rocket of a finish.
It was a goal that meant a lot to the Jamaican, who admitted after the match that he wanted to show Montreal what they missed out on by not picking him first in the SuperDraft.
Greg Klazura looked solid at right back and Long Tan had a couple of good forays forward, winning a penalty, after coming on towards the end.
All in all, it was a fine night’s work.
We caught up with Caps coach Martin Rennie after the match to find out what he made of the match and what he hopes to get from the tournament.
He was clearly happy with the performance, but was he surprised at how feisty the game was?
<i>"No, not really.
It was obviously two rivals and there was always going to be a little bit of aggressiveness when there’s two rivals playing at anything. Whether it be soccer, pre-season game, Cup final, ping pong, you’re always going to get that.
I don’t think it was that aggressive."</i>
Watching the game itself, it certainly whetted my appetite for ‘First Kick’ on March 10th. We could be looking at a pretty full on game that day but Rennie doesn’t feel like there was too much to worry about from this game that may be carried forward to the MLS opener.
It was a good overall performance from the Whitecaps, but it is still just a friendly, so we shouldn’t perhaps read too much into things in preparation for the League battle between the two teams. Montreal showed well in bursts, but looked like a team that will struggle early on and have a worrying lack of depth. They just didn't seem that they were at the races just yet.
This Orlando trip, and lesserly so the game in Carolina, will provide Rennie with some final looks at players, mixes and line ups before the season opener.
How important is winning the Disney tournament to Rennie, or is it more about getting the team right and producing what they’ve been practicing in training in a live game?
<i>"I wouldn’t say it’s that important. Obviously it’s always nice to win, and it’s nice to win any games, but it’s more about what you said. Building the team, building the chemistry, seeing improvements in the areas that we need to see improvements on and getting ready for the season.'</i>
Well it’s certainly a good start. With group games still to come against MLS Cup runners up Houston Dynamo on Sunday afternoon, and Sporting Kansas City wrapping things up on Wednesday evening, we’ll most likely get a further look at the fringe guys and get a feel as to just what the squad depth is looking like.
And if they can add a little bit of silverware at the end of it all next Saturday then all the better!
<p>