<i>We've decided to change up our gameday coverage from just the boring old match report, so starting this week we're going to have the report and post-game reaction for all home games and some away. This means that reports won't be up as quickly at the final whistle but will be there as soon as we can get everything typed up, and our "The Story In Pictures" slideshow will follow as soon as possible after that.</i>
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<CENTER><b>Caps cut down Crew to remain undefeated</b></CENTER>
Vancouver Whitecaps made it six points out of six to kick off the 2013 MLS season, after a hard fought 2-1 win over Columbus Crew at BC Place this afternoon.
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The Whitecaps had, and wasted, chance after chance in the first half but only had a Daigo Kobayashi wonderstrike to show for their efforts. They were made to pay just after the interval, before captain Kenny Miller saved the day with an opportunistic goal to give the Caps the win.
The scoreline belies how well Vancouver played but what was important was that they fought together as a unit to bring home the three points and created the chances that seemed to elude them last season.
Joe Cannon was the first keeper called into action when he had to get down to a long range Dominic Oduro shot two minutes in.
Vancouver came close to getting their first chance moments later when Kenny Miller held off his man well and nearly slotted a neat ball through to Darren Mattocks but Columbus snuffed out the danger.
The Whitecaps were playing some nice passing football and got their reward early and in fairly dramatic style.
The Caps hit the Crew quickly after dispossessing them at the halfway line six minutes in. Mattocks slipped the ball inside to Daigo Kobayashi who hit a 30 yards screamer over Andy Gruenebaum and into the top left hand corner of the net. It was a thing of beauty.
Columbus were stunned but soon settled and started to control possession, with Oduro blasting over from a good position in the 10th minute.
The Crew’s Glauber saw the first card of the game in the 19th minute when he cynically pulled back Miller as he was about to break free and bare down on goal. It was very close to being a last man red, but there was enough doubt that another Crew defender could have made it back. I’m not so sure.
Vancouver wasted the free kick and Columbus went up the pitch and had a chance of their own when Jairo Arrieta got on the end of a Tyson Wahl cross and forced Cannon into a goal-line save.
Cannon had to have quick reflexes to get down to a Federico Higuain free kick that eluded everyone and skipped through off the turf in front of him in the 34th minute. Moments later Higuain whipped in another dangerous free-kick which Cannon punched clear.
Darren Mattocks, who was having another tough time of it out there, finally got a chance to run at the Columbus defence in the 38th minute and played a perfect cross into the six yard box which Miller just couldn’t connect with and he ended up in the net instead of the ball.
Vancouver had their best chance to made it two with five minutes of the half remaining.
Alain Rochat broke on the left and cut the ball back from the bye line to Miller. The Caps captain saw his shot parried by Gruenebaum straight into the path of Nigel Reo-Coker but the Englishman blasted his shot over from eight yards out with the goal gaping.
Miller had another chance to double the Caps lead in the 43rd minute but YP Lee’s cross took a bounce and hit him on the chest. He did well to control it but it allowed Oduro to get in with a last ditch challenge and concede a corner.
Kobayashi sent the corner dangerously into the box and Brad Rusin could only look on in disbelief as his powerful header first crashed off the right hand post, onto Gruenebaum, then back onto the post, then cleared.
It was the last action of the half and the Whitecaps had to go in hoping that they wouldn’t be forced to regret their slew of missed opportunities.
They were, and it only Columbus 41 seconds after the restart to punish them.
Arrieta and Brad Rusin went up for a ball and the Crew man won it with ease, heading it down to Ben Speas. The Costa Rican continued his run and the through ball was played back to him from Speas and he buried it past a wrong footed Cannon.
The goal seemed to stun both teams and both soon struggled to carve out any clear cut chances.
From out of nowhere, the Caps retook the lead in the 57th minute.
Gruenebaum played a sloppy short ball out to Glauber, who had trouble controlling it. Miller saw the opportunity to pounce, dispossessed the Brazilian and coolly hit home to restore the Whitecaps’ advantage.
It was nearly three on the hour mark. Miller whipped in a great cross from the left but Mattocks could only direct his header straight into the arms of Gruenebaum.
Columbus went up the pitch immediately and Arrieta nearly got on the end of a cross into the box but Cannon was out quick to smother the danger.
Vancouver had the ball in the net in the 79th minute but it was ruled out for offside.
Miller ran past the Columbus backline and onto a great through ball. He bore down on goal and with just the keeper to beat, he looked up saw substitute Erik Hurtado in the clear and unselfishly played in the rookie for what he thought was his first professional goal.
Hurtado was deemed to have been offside when the first ball was played through but was clearly on in the second phase of play.
The Whitecaps were furious but they kept pushing and Camilo saw his header shoot inches wide.
Columbus tried to push to find a way back into the game but the Whitecaps did what they failed to do so often in their MLS era, and shut the game out with little to trouble them.
The win gives Vancouver six points out of six and sets them up nicely for their three game road trip coming up after next week’s free weekend.
The team is looking exciting and creating chances, but they will need to start finishing more of them if they are to do some damage on the road. Only three shots on target from eight attempts, compared to 15 attempts from Columbus is a tale in itself.
This week it didn’t matter and they got the win. You feel it will be a different story against the more dangerous sides in MLS.
FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 2 - 1 Columbus Crew
ATT: 18,078
VANCOUVER: Joe Cannon; Young-Pyo Lee, Brad Rusin, Andy O’Brien, Alain Rochat; Jun Marques Davidson, Nigel Reo-Coker, Gershon Koffie, Daigo Kobayashi (Erik Hurtado 77); Kenny Miller, Darren Mattocks (Camilo Sanvezzo 67) [subs Not Used: Brad Knighton, Jordan Harvey, Russell Teibert, Kekuta Manneh, Corey Hertzog]
COLUMBUS: Andy Gruenebaum; Josh Williams, Chad Marshall, Glauber (Ryan Finley 89), Tyson Wahl; Dominic Oduro, Agustin Viana (Tony Tchani 70), Ben Speas, Danny O’Rourke (Matias Sanchez 70); Jairo Arrieta, Federico Higuain [subs Not Used: Justin Meram, Matt Lampson, Ethan Finlay, Drew Beckie]
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<b><u>POST GAME REACTION:</u></b>
<b>Martin Rennie on the game:</b>
“I thought it was a very entertaining game. Maybe one of the most exciting games since I’ve been here as a coach.”
“Definitely we created more chances today in the game than I think we have in any game since I’ve been here. So that’s encouraging. We had that one let down for the goal, so that’s disappointing, but overall our play was very strong today. We scored two goals but created enough chances to score more and looked very comfortable in possession at times and I thought we managed the game against a team that I think are a very strong team.”
“It’s nice for us to start the season with two wins and also to play really well today. I was happy with that.”
<b>Rennie on Kenny Miller’s play and goal:</b>
“He was fantastic again today. Scored a goal from closing down and chasing someone, which he definitely deserved as he was running back to the left back area all day, and worked really hard for the team and showed again how good player he is.”
<b>Rennie on Daigo Kobayashi’s goal:</b>
“I thought it was fantastic. As soon as he hit it I thought it was in. I don’t know if I’ve jumped so high in a while when I saw that go in. At that spell of the game we were playing really well and I thought that the movement that we got from Daigo got him on the ball a lot in dangerous areas and they backed off a little bit and he couldn’t have struck it any better.”
<b>Columbus Coach Robert Warzycha on the game:</b>
“It’s tough to play on the turf. I think Vancouver, the local team obviously, adjusted to the surface a little bit quicker than us. We made some mistakes and that probably cost us the game.
In the first half they had a couple of opportunities that they didn’t score but we were fortunate not to give up the goal. Second half I felt we controlled the game. We made a mistake and then we paid for it.”
<b>Erik Hurtado on disallowed goal:</b>
“I don’t think it was offside. I’m young, the referee makes the decision and you’ve got to adapt to that. I just got to keep firing throughout the game and hopefully next time it won’t be offside, with the call at least.”
<b>Hurtado on Miller’s unselfishness on that play:</b>
“It was very unselfish. I just got a whole more respect for him for doing that. He could have obviously slipped that in, he did it the last time one v one. He just tried to get me involved in the game, you can’t ask for more than that from a vet.”
<b>Kenny Miller on that unselfishness:</b>
“I should have just shot then if he was offside. (laughs)
When you see a team-mate in a position where it’s a guaranteed goal, and I could shoot and the keeper could save it, or I could miss the target, or if I lay the ball and it’s a guaranteed goal, that was the best play I think. Unfortunately it was offside.”
<b>Nigel Reo-Coker on his open goal miss:</b>
“I missed it. I mean there’s nothing more to say, I missed it. I tried to get over the ball but it is a difficult surface. It is completely different from playing on grass, but I’m not going to make any excuses, I should have scored.”
<b>Has Brad Rusin ever had an effort hit the post twice before?</b>
“Not really. Can’t remember the last time, if it’s even happened. We created many chances today. Unfortunately it wasn’t our time to score three or four goals. We could have in the first half, but ultimately we got the win and that was the most important thing.”
<b>Joe Cannon on the team unity:</b>
“I really just want this team to win. It’s such a great group of individuals we have here, that I’d like to do something special with them, like winning something. I think whether I’m out there or not, I think creating that kind of memory would be great, but not just for but for the guys in this organisation.”
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