<b>[updated 9.30pm with post game reaction from both dressing rooms]</b>
<u><b>Report:</b></u>
May was highlighted to be a month of firsts for Vancouver Whitecaps. The goals were clear. To achieve their first win over LA Galaxy, to win their first ever Voyageurs Cup and to beat one of their Cascadian rivals in MLS action for the first time.
Despite two wonderstrikes from Camilo Sanvezzo and Gershon Koffie, Vancouver are still searching for that elusive derby win, with Portland coming away with a share of the spoils thanks to a Will Johnson penalty and a controversial late equaliser for the ten man Timbers by Jose Valencia.
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It’s becoming a standard line that we can insert into the match reports every week at the moment, but once again, it was all change for Martin Rennie. Five changes to the starting line up from last week’s win over Los Angeles, and three from the midweek draw with Montreal, albeit some others playing in different positions.
The most significant changes were Brad Knighton coming in as the starting keeper for his first MLS game of the season; Alain Rochat dropping to the bench, despite playing excellently in a left midfield role in Montreal; and out of form striker Darren Mattocks also losing his place, his late goal last week not being enough to save him.
The biggest surprise addition was former Timbers U23 player Erik Hurtado coming in for the start, despite not even being on the bench in some of the recent games. The thinking appearing to be that he would be really up for it against his former club.
After a fairly quiet and uneventful opening minutes, it nearly paid off nine minutes in when Hurtado cut inside and fired off a shot into the side netting.
Gershon Koffie fired over seconds later, before Russell Teibert hit an easy shot to Donovan Ricketts in the 12th minute, as the Caps enjoyed a spell of possession.
Portland came closest to breaking the deadlock so far in the 15th minute.
Brad Rusin let a high ball from Ryan Johnson go over him to Diego Valeri on the byeline. The Argentinean fired a shot off which Knighton spilled into the path of Rodney Wallace in the six yard box, but a foot in from Rusin and a falling lunge from Jordan Harvey somehow managed to conspire to just turn the loose ball out for a corner.
It was a close escape for Vancouver and they had another one in the 21st minute when Ryan Johnson got the ball from Wallace, hit the byeline and sent a dangerous ball across the face of the goal which Valeri was just inches away from getting on the end of.
The Whitecaps responded with a Camilo free kick that wasn’t too far away, whizzing past the left hand post. This was a warning to Portland which they didn’t heed and Camilo put the Caps one up in the 24th minute from a stunning free kick into the postage stamp corner, after Will Johnson had brought the wee Brazilian down on the edge of the box.
Camilo seemed to go down very easily but he made the most of his opportunity and gave Vancouver their first ever lead over Portland in MLS action.
Portland had a great chance to tie things up on the half hour mark, when Wallace got on the end of a pinpoint Valeri cross and rose unchallenged but his bullet header was straight at Knighton, who did well to hold on.
This was to prove to be the last goalmouth action of the half and the Whitecaps went in to the break with a rare halftime lead. The big question now was could they hold on to it?
Camilo was looking the Whitecaps only real attacking danger and he continued that moments into the second half, firing a long range shot on goal, which Ricketts spilled around the post for a corner.
Portland started to threaten and Ryan Johnson was inches away from getting on to a near post cross in the 51st minute. The Timbers kept the pressure on and won a penalty when the ball was played into the box and hit the arm of Andy O’Brien. Will Johnson stepped up to drill home the spot kick and the game was all tied up once again.
Vancouver’s response was swift and they were back in the lead two minutes later.
The ball came to Camilo in the box and he did well to hold off the attentions of Andrew Jean-Baptiste and Diego Chara to feed the ball back to Koffie in the d and the Ghanaian curled a beauty past Ricketts and into the Timbers net to restore the Caps advantage.
Nigel Reo-Coker picked up a booking for the Caps just past the hour mark, which will now rule him out of the New York game in June, and Will Johnson fired the free kick wide right
Portland pushed for the equaliser but were only able to get long range efforts in, all of which went wide.
The Timbers were reduced to ten men in the 81st minute. Reo-Coker played a long ball forward and as Camilo and Mamadou ‘Futty’ Danso chased it down, the Caps striker went to ground easily in the tussle and referee Matthew Foerster immediately pulled out a red card for the Portland defender.
The sending off proved not to be too much of an immediate disadvantage for the Timbers and they went up the pitch and tied things up once again in the 84th minute.
A long ball forward to Jose Valencia looked like it was controlled by the Colombian’s arm. None of the officials thought so and the substitute showed some great footwork in the box to get past the Whitecaps defenders and coolly slot it home past Knighton.
The goal shocked the Caps support and brought anger from the Vancouver bench.
Both sides could only muster up half chances for the remainder of the game and the match finished to a chorus of boos echoing around most of BC Place.
Although it was a heartbreaking end for the Caps, Portland were worthy of a point in the game and controlled possession for much of the game.
Vancouver had very little attack, with Camilo the only consistent danger to Portland.
The Caps now enter an eleven day break before facing Montreal in the second leg of the Voyageurs Cup.
The disappointment of the draw will hang around for a few days, but in reality Vancouver did well to come away with anything from one of the most in form teams in MLS right now.
FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 2 - 2 Portland Timbers
ATT: 19,823
VANCOUVER: Brad Knighton; Young-Pyo Lee, Andy O’Brien, Brad Rusin, Jordan Harvey; Jun Marques Davidson (Darren Mattocks 88), Nigel Reo-Coker, Gershon Koffie (Matt Watson 71), Russell Teibert; Erik Hurtado (Alain Rochat 83), Camilo Sanvezzo [subs Not Used: Joe Cannon, Carlyle Mitchell, Corey Hertzog, Tommy Heinemann]
PORTLAND: Donovan Ricketts; Michael Harrington, Jack Jewsbury (Jose Valencia 77), Andrew Jean-Baptiste, Mamadou Danso; Will Johnson, Diego Valeri, Diego Chara; Darlington Nagbe (Kalif Alhassan 34), Ryan Johnson (Frederic Piquionne 62), Rodney Wallace [subs Not Used: Jake Gleeson, Sal Zizzo, Ben Zemanski, Pa Modou Kah]
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<b><u>Vancouver Reaction:</u></b>
<b>Martin Rennie on the match:</b>
"First half I thought Portland played quite well. Camilo scored a fantastic goal, put us in a great position. In the second half I was disappointed in the decision for the penalty because Andy's hand is by his side and there's not a lot he can do. The same thing happened in the first half on Futty Danso and no foul or infringement was given. I felt that that was a bit harsh but the response was excellent."
"Most of the things regarding today are positive. Our players have put in a hard shift for a long number of days."
"Today we did enough to win and I'm disappointed just like I'm sure everyone is."
<b>Brad Rusin on the match:</b>
"It's frustrating being in here with the tie. It feels like a loss.
I think we played a great game. I think we played well enough to win. It came down to one play at the end and we were a bit unfortunate."
<b>Camilo on dropping points at home:</b>
"Now we have to go away and take points because they came here and took a point. We have to go away and take points too."
<b>Camilo on his free kick goal:</b>
"All week I have been training and today I think I strike a very good ball."
<b>Martin Rennie on Portland's sending off:</b>
"I thought their red card was harsh. Probably not a red card. I felt that moment was a big turning point in the game. We could have dealt with that better. We should have seen that game out. That's disappointing."
"Sometimes when the other team goes down a man it doesn't necessarily help you because you can have that subconscious relax a little bit and the goal came right after that and I think we could have handled that better."
<b>Martin Rennie on Portland's equalising goal:</b>
"I thought it was a handball."
<b>Brad Knighton on Portland's equalising goal:</b>
"I thought I was the only one allowed to use my hands in the box."
<b>Brad Rusin on Portland's equalising goal:</b>
"I take full responsibility for the second goal.
"At the end of the day, I got to do better. We can't blame the referees."
<b>Martin Rennie on Brad Knighton starting over Joe Cannon:</b>
"I felt that the way Portland pressed that we needed to be able to clear the ball and get real distance on it and I think Brad is very good at that and I also think he played very well against Montreal and deserved the chance to play in this game."
<b><u>Portland Reaction:</u></b>
<b>Caleb Portland on the game and Portland's performance:</b>
"We dominated possession but our overall, maybe, sharpness could have been a notch better. We made a few mistakes, a bit flat in periods, but in the end we come back, down a goal, down a man, to get a point and we stopped Vancouver from getting three points and making up ground on us."
<b>Will Johnson on the game:</b>
"After you score a goal, that's usually when you're most vulnerable. We've talked about it, We have to be ready. When we score a goal, make sure we don't give it back right away and unfortunately we did. I think looking back you have to give them credit. Those were two very, very good goals."
<b>Will Johnson on getting a result in Vancouver:</b>
"These Western Conference games, there's always so much on the line. Every game matters so much when you're battling for playoff positions. I'll take a road result anywhere.
Coming up to Vancouver, it's always nice to get a result up here. They don't seem to like me very much up here, so it feels good."
<b>Jack Jewsbury on the game:</b>
"We wanted to go after them right off the opening whistle and it didn't really happen the way we planned. That was more disappointing. The way we didn't keep the ball the way we would have liked. At the end of the day, to go down a goal, down a man, to get out of here with a point the group feels pretty good."
<b>Donovan Ricketts on the game:</b>
"On a day like this where we can't get anything going we have to be happy or we cry and then we talk."
"The positive is we didn't play our best soccer and we didn't lose, so that's a positive, and we keep on fighting."
<b>Will Johnson on Portland fighting back to get draw:</b>
"We didn't feel that we played particularly well. Even if we were playing well, any time you're down a man, you're down a goal, you're on the road, there's ten minutes to go, you don't like your chances. But you don't give up. You fight. You try. Because we have a thousand fans up in the stands that expect nothing less, our coaching staff, everybody back home watching in Portland."
We recognise that we've got to fight, even if it doesn't look like there's any chance. If the task looks impossible, we don't give up. We fight and that's what you do. That's the bare minimum requirement to play on this team."
<b>Caleb Porter on Portland fighting back twice:</b>
"I thought we responded well. We dug deep. It's not the first time we've done this. That's why I'm real proud of this group because we have a pretty special aura in our team right now where we just never quit. We find ways to get results and this is the fifth or sixth time that we've done that.
"We've come back from being down one goal, two goals, several times. We pulled a result out in Seattle in basically the 90th minute, we came back from two goals down against New York, we came back from two goals down in the second half against Colorado. Against Kansas City we came from behind twice to get that result and win 3-2."
<b>Caleb Porter on Portland's team spirit:</b>
"We really just have a mental toughness and a spirit in this group. That's probably the most exciting thing about this team, that we have that kind of that winning fibre as I call it. Once you have that, you're really have a lot of confidence that your team is going to grind out results and we want to be a team at the end of the season that's going to be in the mix.
"As much as we'll play good football and we have some good, talented individual players, we also have a great team spirit and a great chemistry and, like I said, a mental toughness that I think will really carry us through."
<b>Will Johnson on Portland's team spirit:</b>
"It comes from top to bottom. It comes from our coaching staff, from our fans, they expect high things. It comes from guys holding each other accountable. You have a good, honest locker room. Nobody's looking to cheat. If you do, you're going to get talked to and told about it. There's a collective group of guys. The leaders in the team, the coaching staff and our fans that holds each other accountable and that's important."
<b>Caleb Porter on Portland still being unbeaten on the road:</b>
"I go into every game thinking we can win. Yet I understand we're not going to win every game. We've not gone in any game thinking we're going to lose. We've gone in every game thinking we're going to win. I really don't change my approach home or away whatsoever."
<b>Jack Jewsbury on Portland still being unbeaten on the road:</b>
"The reality is it's tough to go on the road in this league and get results. It's a good feeling but we know we got another tough test the next couple of weeks. We got three on the road now. Next up is DC and we look to go there and get three points."
<b>Donovan Ricketts on refereeing:</b>
(laughs) "I have nothing to say. Nothing."
<b>Will Johnson on sending off:</b>
"Referee's decision. I just went up to the referee and said 'are you a 100% sure' and he said absolutely, no question about it and I said ok, if you're a 100% sure, you're a 100% sure. But I'm hearing other people weren't 100% sure, so it's one of those things. It happens. There's a question on our second goal as well, so referee's decisions are better left up to the referee so you just get on with the game and control what you can control.
<b>Will Johnson on giving away the free kick for Camilo's goal:</b>
"It wasn't a great play. He wasn't looking to shoot or try to do anything, he's looking for the foul. I'll have to see it again but a player of my experience should know better. To know that he's looking for a foul because he's deadly on free kicks. I take my hat off to him, that's a world class free kick."
<b>Caleb Porter on Will Johnson:</b>
"Will Johnson was like he is every game, to be honest with you. Chara and Johnson are just dynamos in midfield and battlers and fighters and scrappers and they can play a bit too. He's a great leader, good captain and he's a guy that puts his shift in every single game."
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