REPORT:
There was no knock on effect from the World Cup excitement at BC Place on Wednesday evening
Vancouver Whitecaps extended their unbeaten MLS streak to eight games with an uninspiring 0-0 draw with lowly Canadian rivals, the Montreal Impact.
Both sides hit the woodwork but that was the closest they came in a game with little goalmouth action.
With captain Jay DeMerit out for at least six to eight weeks with an ankle injury, and Nigel Reo-Coker having to head back to New York for the birth of his child, Vancouver were forced to make two changes to their backline, with Trinidad and Tobago centreback Carlyle Mitchell coming in at right back and Honduran Johnny Leveron partnering Andy O'Brien in the middle.
Caps' coach Carl Robinson also took the opportunity to try out the electrifyingly fast front three of Erik Hurtado, Kekuta Manneh and Darren Mattocks against a slow Montreal defence that has the worst goals per game average in MLS this season.
It was the visitors who threatened early, with Hassoun Camara deflecting a Maxim Tissot shot goalward four minutes in. David Ousted parried but quickly recovered the rebound.
Vancouver's plan for a fast paced attack just wasn't clicking and it took Darren Mattocks until the 21st minute for it to cause the Montreal defence some problems, but after breaking into a free shooting position he fired his effort in the side netting.
Jack McInerney got on to the end of a long ball in the 26th minute and bore down on goal but fired well wide with O'Brien closing him down, as the spark failed to be lit by either side.
It was a poor first half, with the teams managing just three shots on target between them.
Ousted was by far the best Whitecap out there in the first half and made a double save in stoppage time as the teams went in level.
Vancouver looked livelier from the moment the second half kicked off, with Manneh firing a long range shot which Troy Perkins turned around for a corner just 24 seconds in.
The Whitecaps came the closest yet in the 50th minute when new captain Pedro Morales hit a low free kick through a mass of players in the box and forced a sprawling save from Perkins.
The Impact replied with a Karl Ouimette header that went wide moments later, as the game briefly took a more attacking turn before Montreal settled into defensive mode.
Mattocks wasted a good run by Gershon Koffie to fire wide in the 72nd minute and Montreal went up the field and Tissot crashed a looping shot off the Caps' bar.
The crossbar may have been rattled but Vancouver weren't and they went up the pitch and forced a corner in the 77th minute. Mitchell flicked it goalbound, Perkins parried and Jordan Harvey crashed the rebound off the Montreal bar from close range.
The woodwork came to Vancouver's rescue once more in the 83rd minute when McInerney rose unchallenged to head a free kick off the right post, with Ousted beaten.
There was no further goalmouth action and the teams had to settle for a share of the points in a match Vancouver will feel they should have won going in to it, but Montreal will be disappointed by the end of it.
FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 0 - 0 Montreal Impact
ATT: 21,000 (7th consecutive sell-out)
VANCOUVER: David Ousted; Carlyle Mitchell, Andy O'Brien, Johnny Leveron, Jordan Harvey; Matias Laba, Gershon Koffie, Kekuta Manneh (Sebastian Fernandez 62), Pedro Morales, Darren Mattocks (Russell Teibert 75); Erik Hurtado (Omar Salgado 87) [subs Not Used: Paolo Tornaghi, Christian Dean, Mehdi Ballouchy, Nicolas Mezquida]
MONTREAL: Troy Perkins; Hassoun Camara, Heath Pearce, Matteo Ferrari, Karl Ouimette; Gorka Larrea (Wandrille Lefevre 76), Patrice Bernier (Santiago Gonzalez 87), Issey Nakajima-Farran (Eric Miller 67), Andres Romero, Maxim Tissot; Jack McInerney [subs Not Used: Evan Bush, Adrian Lopez, Mamadou Danso]
POST GAME REACTION:
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS
Carl Robinson
Thoughts on the match:
"Well it wasn't very enjoyable watching, was it? I didn't enjoy watching it, and I don't think the players enjoyed playing in it. Bad day at the office I think we call it. We take a point, against a team that was happy for a point. They could've won it, I think we could've won it in the second half but performance levels weren't to the level we've played at all year."
On if considered points lost against a team lower in the standings:
"Of course it is. Now we have to make up two points somewhere along the line. We go to Colorado on Saturday, a tough place to go, a Western Conference team, and we'll go there and try to win and pick up four points in two games. Yah it's two points lost, but they're gone, and I can't get them back unfortunately, but we have to try to make them up somewhere."
On training leading into the match:
"Going on the performance in training last week, they were excellent. Maybe I should've given them two weeks off, then I would've gotten a good reaction this week. Giving players time off is always a difficult time because whoever wins, it was the right thing to do, and whoever loses, it was the wrong thing to do. It was the right time for us, mentally I think we needed a break, physically by the end we were getting cramped. So some of the guys who haven't played the majority of minutes. Carlyle was excellent tonight, but we'll review it and analyze it. The performance could be better, of course it can. They're not going to come here and lay over, and they didn't. They thoroughly came, and got something that they probably deserved."
On the play of David Ousted:
"I think he was excellent. Towards the end of the first half we looked a little vulnerable, and David came up big for us tonight. There's going to be points in the season where he has to, and he has already, and today I thought was an excellent performance by him, so credit to David.”
On starting three faster players up front:
"I think Montreal defended great, I really did. Frank is missing probably his three best players, so when players are missing, other players come in and they do very well, and I think the guys defensively from Montreal were excellent. Three speedy guys obviously had a quiet evening, all of them were below the level they should have been, and I tried to freshen it up, and slightly change the formation, but we'll get back to work tomorrow."
On Montreal’s defensive tactics:
"They were going to come back and sit deep, that was the reality that I knew Frank would do, and they did it excellently today. Sometimes you pick your team based on what you think is the right team to win the game, and I thought three speedy guys were going to win us the game today. Maybe in hindsight it would've been better to put three of the technical guys on, or two of the technical guys, and bring the speedy guys on in the end, but like I said, I can't take that back. I'm sure when we draw nil-nil, maybe someone will say we need to send a forward, which is great.”
On having Steven Beitashour back Saturday against Colorado:
"Yes. I spoke to Beta, and hopefully he will meet us there, which is a good sign."
On Nigel Reo-Coker missing the game to be with his wife who's expected to have a child:
"Nigel called me last night, or this morning at 3:45 a.m. in the morning. For some reason I had my phone on, which my wife wasn't too happy about. At 3:45 a.m., the third call I answered, and he asked me if he could go back because his wife is about to give birth. Couldn't say no, and I think he wanted to go back, it was the right thing to do, and I wanted him to be there when he becomes a father. I didn't sleep ‘til 5:30 a.m. Who was going to play right back? And I changed my mind five times. Reality is Beta’s away, Nigel has stood in brilliantly while he was away, and so it was like putting a square peg in a round hole. And I thought of putting Jordan there, and Russell there, and eventually I came up with Mitch. But credit to him today, I thought he was excellent, he's a centre back and he's very athletic, and he was excellent today with a very positive performance.”
Andy O'Brien
Thoughts on the match:
“I think we’ll take positives from it, and I think that’s eight games unbeaten now. So I think that’s a sign of a team that can achieve anything by the end of the season. As a team if you don’t play well you have to make sure you don’t get beat and we’ll take positives from that.”
Thoughts on the first half of the game:
“We were a little bit flat. You can put it down to the fact that we had a period of time off, like I said before the game. But we need to dust ourselves off now and get back in the game.”
How can you improve on the weekend? Do you think this game dragged you down?
“No I don’t think it dragged us down. I think you know, being in the game long enough sometimes it doesn’t bug you. You know we can’t dwell too much on it. In terms of single performances we played very well. David was outstanding in the first half, so you know there are some positives.”
How big is Saturday’s game having lost the possible two points from tonight?
“We don’t see it as two points lost. Like I said before the game, Montreal were not in a position that they wanted to be in. I watched the highlights from their game against DC, the penalty that came in off the post. So they were pleased by the look of them after the game tonight which is probably a complement to our play and that they got points off this.”
On Carlyle Mitchell and Johnny Levron’s play.
“We aren’t talking about players that have got no experience or are new to the league. They’re international players. Mitchell played out of position today for him but it showed his athleticism going forward. They did a lot…Johnny did a lot again.”
David Ousted:
Thoughts on the team’s performance:
“We were hoping that the break didn’t have any impact on us but we’ve got to say that after this match it looked like it did. So we have to get back to work, we’ve got a tough game on Saturday.”
Thoughts on the result:
“It was definitely not the result we were looking for. We were looking for that win at home, but you know, this shows you there are no easy games in MLS. I think we took it a little too lightly today.”
On the back line without Jay DeMerit:
“Definitely some adjusting needed to be done. Mitchell coming back with Nigel gone with the birth of his little daughter. So it was some adjusting, but I thought they did really well.”
On his early saves:
“It’s always nice getting saves in. That being said, I was trying to get the guys going forward, but like we said today was just not our day.”
On Saturday’s game:
“We are going there to the altitude against a strong Colorado team, a Western Conference rival, so we need to be ready for that game, and really be aware that they are going to come at us hard from the start. So we need a different attitude from today and to get out there.”
MONTREAL IMPACT
Head Coach Frank Klopas
Thoughts on the match:
“First half, we talked about being a little bit better with the ball because we were forcing too many plays, looking to hit them in transition, but then we came on the road against a very explosive team. Our back four, I thought we defended very well, everyone was committed to that part of the game. We had some very good chances to get the three points. They also did, but we found a way to get a point in a very difficult place and we have to continue. It was a good game to rebound after the break, but now we have to focus on Sunday, and understand, now we‘ve got to get on the road and start rolling up the points.”
On Maxime Tissot’s performance:
“Well, he’s good. He’s got a lot on him. He can cover a lot of ground. With him, you need games to get more comfortable. I said, ‘Look, when you get opportunities like this, you have to take advantage of them,’ and I think he played very well tonight. He got forward and, yes, sometimes he could do better in possession and making decisions, not forcing the ball, but that’s going to happen. The kid wanted to show and play well. I don’t want to say it in English, but I think the whole team showed a lot of cojones.”
On the seven natural defenders who were on the pitch at once for his squad:
“We put in Wandrille, I know he’s played in the back, but I know also that he’s played in the middle. I know Eric, with the U-20, with the national team, I’ve seen him play in the middle. I saw him at the combine, and these are guys that are comfortable with the ball. They’re good sized, they defend well and they were fresh. I would prefer to have some more options attacking-wise, but I did the best with what I had going tonight and the guys did a great job.”
Midfielder Maxime Tissot
On whether getting a point feels good:
“It does. Most importantly, we didn’t allow a goal on the road, which is very important. After that, we had some chances to score and we didn’t bury them, but I think we’re getting out of here with our head up high and we’re looking forward to the game on Sunday.”
On whether it’s nice to be involved in the attack:
“I’ve played a bit of left midfield with the Academy, so it’s not like it’s a new position for me. I still have some stuff to work on, of course. I gave some bad balls in the first half, but I tried to correct that in the second half, and I think I did. It’s a good position for me, I like playing there, and hopefully, I can play, whether it’s left back or left midfield.”
How the game raises the spirits of the club:
“I think we can take a lot of positives from this game. I mean, we had a break, the World Cup break, and I think we want to start the second half of the season fresh. I think that’s a good step that we took tonight, and now we have to continue in that direction.”
Midfielder Patrice Bernier
On how they matched with Vancouver’s speed:
“We did very well today. We knew that if we gave them too much space, they have a lot of firepower up front and they move very fast forward. We managed that very well, especially in the first half, where we didn’t give too much. We probably gave a little bit off of set pieces, but in terms of the play, we didn’t give Morales, Manneh, Mattocks, or all those guys that they’ve got forward who’ve got speed, who can go to goal very fast, many chances. We made a few mistakes, but overall, I think it was a very good, organized game and a defensive standard that we have to maintain to get results down the line.”
On playing with seven defenders at one stage:
“That’s not true. One centre back who came in was a centre midfielder. We have some injuries, but we had some young guys that came in and did the job. They did well, they came out of position, they hustled, that’s what we need towards the end – it’s a long trip, we’re playing on turf, and everyone needs to be committed. They came in, did a very good job, and we got a result.”
Defender Matteo Ferrari
On wanting to establish themselves physically:
“It was in my mind to give a message to Hurtado and also to my teammates. We were there today, and we wanted to come back with some points. I think we started in a good way, with a good attitude. It was not a good game to watch, but at the end, the fact that we were solid is a big step for us.”
On the defensive structure of the team being a positive:
“It is, because it was a tough trip for us. It was a long trip, we played on turf, we were missing some players. Everything was against us today. I’m sure there’s nobody that bet one dollar on our victory, or even tie. Like I said, we wanted to show everybody that this is a new start for us and we believe that we can come back to where we were last year. We’re solid, we’re strong, also we have good quality, and now it’s important for us to get some points.”