<i>Match report and post game reaction from Colorado Rapids 2-1 over Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place. With the thoughts of Vancouver's Carl Robinson, Jay DeMerit and Kenny Miller; and Colorado's Pablo Mastroeni, Drew Moor, Clint Irwin, Dillon Powers and two goal hero Jose Mari.</i>
<b><u>Report:</u></b>
Vancouver Whitecaps' undefeated streak to start the season ended on Saturday afternoon when they dropped a 2-1 result at home to Colorado Rapids.
The Whitecaps opened the scoring when Darren Mattocks picked up his first of the season midway through the second half, but two goals from Jose Mari, after Vancouver had gone a man down when Matias Laba was sent off for a second bookable offence, gave the visitors the three points.
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It was a positive start for the Caps as they pushed the ball forward and were able to test Clint Irwin a couple of times in the first fifteen. They came close to scoring when Darren Mattocks looked to have slotted his first goal of the season from a rebound but the striker was deemed offside by the linesman.
Last season’s rookie sensation, Deshorn Brown, had a couple of his chances go wide of the target for Colorado before the half hour mark. The first was deflected by a defender while the second was the better of the opportunities as he was sent in alone but sent his shot wide from inside the box.
There were shouts for a Vancouver penalty with just over five minutes to go in the half when it looked like Irwin had brought down Miller in the box. Unfortunately for the Caps it was not seen that way by the referee resulting in just a goal kick.
It was very quiet after the restart and the home side was unable to breakdown the Rapids, who played even more behind the ball.
Then from nothing, the Caps finally broke through midway through the half and took the lead when Mattocks beat Irwin. It was second half sub Sebastian Fernandez who got the ball forward to Kenny Miller and after a couple of nice controlling touches the Scot sent in Mattocks alone on goal and he finished clinically.
Just two minutes later it looked like the Whitecaps would double their lead when they got a 3 on 1 break. However Irwin came up big to stop Morales and sent the ball wide with a fingertip save.
That was a big turning point in the game but perhaps the biggest one in the match came in the 77th minute.
Matias Laba was hauled down from behind, but with no foul called on the play, Laba purposely handled the ball earning himself a second yellow and putting the Caps a man down.
It only took the visitors two minutes to take advantage of the extra man when Jose Mari struck an unstoppable curler from distance to even up the score. Three minutes later disaster struck for the Caps as Mari found himself free just outside the box and fired home another curler to give the Rapids a lead, they would hold on to.
There were moments in the final few minutes of the match when it looked like Vancouver would even the score and pick up a point but the Rapids were able to hold them off and pull off what was looking to be an unlikely victory three quarters of the way into the match.
Vancouver will be disappointed at losing their lead, but the nature of the defeat and the silly sending off will sting for a while. They need to pick themselves up quickly, with back to back road games coming up against LA.
FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 1 - Colorado Rapids 2
ATT: 21,000 (sell out)
Vancouver Whitecaps
David Ousted; Steven Beitashour (Erik Hurtado 90+2), Andy O'Brien, Jay DeMerit, Jordan Harvey; Gershon Koffie (Sebastián Fernández 57), Matías Laba, Pedro Morales, Russell Teibert; Darren Mattocks, Kenny Miller (Kekuta Manneh 74) [substitutes not used: Paolo Tornaghi, Johnny Leverón, Sam Adekugbe, Nicolás Mezquida]
Houston Dynamo
Clint Irwin; Thomas Piermayr, Shane O’Neill, Drew Moor, Marc Burch; Nathan Sturgis (Jared Watts 90+2), Jose Mari, Kamani Hill (Nick LaBrocca 59); Gabriel Torres, Deshorn Brown (Charles Eloundou 69) [substitutes not used: John Berner, Marvin Chavez, Grant Van De Casteele, Marlon Hairston]
<b><u>Reaction:</u></b>
<b>Carl Robinson on Laba's red card:</b>
"He's sent him off for a decision I think he's got wrong in my opinion and obviously ultimately it's cost the game."
<b>Carl Robinson on his team's performance:</b>
"It's a kick in the teeth to us and the boys in there and I said I'm proud of them, I really am. We didn't go under. We kept fighting till the end. We had one or two half chances but it's a pity we're not talking about the game. It was a good game today. It really was. We missed a couple of chances we probably should have taken, but there'll be other talking points and not the game, which is unfortunate."
<b>Jay DeMerit on loss:</b>
"We all feel we got punched a little bit in the gut there. Unfortunately that happens in our sport. Some things you can't control."
<b>Jay DeMerit on referee:</b>
"Everyone get assessed on their performances, including the referee, so hopefully people take a look at that and assess it in the right way."
<b>Jay DeMerit on team performance:</b>
"The guy's fought for 90 minutes tonight, even when we went down a man. Had enough chances to win but unfortunately that didn't happen either."
<b>Kenny Miller on the sudden change of events:</b>
"Obviously when I was walking off with 15 minutes to go, I could never have envisioned we were going to lose that game because I felt we were so comfortable, but obviously the red card has turned the game on it's head."
<b>Kenny Miller on the performance:</b>
"The manager had a bit of a go at us at half time because we never hit the heights we were expecting to hit, but we went out in the second half, got our noses in front and deservedly so. At that point it looked like we were going on to win the game and win it comfortably but with the red card coming at the time it did, and losing a goal within a minute, it was 1-1 and it was going to be a long 12 minutes."
<b>Kenny Miller on Caps not taking chances:</b>
"I think it was plain to see we never really hit the heights we hit in the first two home games but nevertheless, 1-0 up, should be 2-0 up, it's probably game over if that goes in."
"Listen, you can create chances but you're not always going to score three or four goals every week. It's about you want to take the chances when you create them."
<b>Kenny Miller on what Vancouver can take from the game:</b>
"At the moment it's disappointing. Obviously when you finish off a result like that you try to go away and assess it, look at the game and see what we can take out of it."
<b>Pablo Mastroeni on the win:</b>
"I think it was a hard fought contest. There were times when we were in the upper hand but there were times, especially in the second half where Vancouver was pushing the game, and you know they got a good opportunity and scored with it and got another good opportunity right after the first goal there. So we weathered some storms there. Credit to both teams it was a battle. The guys in that locker room fought really hard and found a way to win. That's what we've been talking about all preseason, finding ways to win. You can’t coach that, that doesn’t go on a whiteboard. That is found in the spirit of the group."
<b>Pablo Mastroeni on importance of winning at Western rival:</b>
"Every point that we get this year is huge. Every road game, every home game, and the mindset for me and the group is we're going to play every game to win. We're not going to play for a tie, we're not dropping off, we're not sitting in."
"Three points are incredibly hard to come by....Every point's critical. There is no easy point in this league anymore, everyone asks me about the tough start that we had in the first five games, I can’t find one game in the next 34 games that are easy, so it’s a great result for us. Extremely pleased with the effort and excited to get back to work this week."
<b>Pablo Mastroeni on resting players and depth of his squad:</b>
"I have 27 players on this roster and I believe in every single one of them. And from the beginning, every preseason game we’ve played, I had experienced players playing with trialists. I do things a little differently, I’m a little out there, but really believe the spirit of the team and when we go on the road and we have a lot of changes to our line up I’m so confident in our ability as a staff to prepare these guys and give everyone the same opportunities during the week. So we come here, completely confident that we know exactly what we’re going to get for the guys."
<b>Drew Moor on getting away win:</b>
"You know I think any game on the road is a tough game. But Pablo has preached since he was here you’ve got to be able to go on the road and get results. You have to play on the road in the playoffs. You can’t expect to get all your points at home."
"It’s early in the season for sure but anytime you can go on the road against your conference opponent and get a victory it’s a good sign."
<b>Drew Moor on Colorado depth:</b>
"We feel we have a very deep team. We have some good young guys. People talked about young we were last year, I feel we're just as young, if not even younger, this year. Pablo's got confidence in everybody and we've all got confidence in each other. To be able to make changes like that and get three points is a good sign at this stage of the season."
<b>Clint Irwin on win:</b>
"I thought the team played really well. We kept the ball well. Maybe we could have been more penetrative with our balls in our runs, but we hung in there, came up with two great goals from Jose Mari and it’s just a great result for us on the road."
<b>Clint Irwin on importance of winning against key playoff rival:</b>
"It’s very big for us I think at the end of the season for us last year we played two of our last four games against Vancouver. We came up here and really struggled and they really stuck it to us. This is a really difficult play to play and I think Vancouver plays really well here. The fact that we can take three points from here is going to be huge for our season.”
<b>Dillon Powers on the win:</b>
"We had a few chances we didn't make the most of. They got on us, they got a goal and they had a chance to put the game away, Clint made a great save to keep us in it. Then some great goals from Jose to win the game for us. It could have gone probably either way. Both teams I thought put in a pretty good performance."
<b>Dillon Powers on Pablo Mastroeni's style:</b>
"He wants to play a very simple brand of soccer where you pass. move, the next guy comes in. He's really made that clear that that's what he wants to do. To move the ball and move off the ball. That's the two biggest things he stresses."
<b>Jose Mari on whether he's hit two better goals and importance of them:</b>
"No. The truth is those are the two best goals that I’ve ever scored, but it’s also true, I understand the importance that they have. These are three very important points for us and we have to keep growing."
<b>Jose Mari on winning on the road:</b>
"For us they are very important. All the games are important not just the ones outside of home but also the ones at home. We’re a team full of humble players but we’re also very hard working. We’re always going to give it everything that we have until the final moments of the game to defend the colour of the Rapids."
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