Fan 1: "How was the first leg of the Voyageurs Cup final?"
Fan 2: "It was pretty stale mate"
Vancouver and Montreal played out a goalless draw tonight in a Voyageurs Cup final first leg lacking excitement and action, along with goals.
The Whitecaps turned Stade Saputo into a car park, parking an entire fleet of buses on the way to being outpossessed two to one in a tight defensive display that left the Impact devoid of ideas and unable to break down a resolute Caps side.
It's hard to knock it. It may not have been pretty to watch, but it was a clinical performance that got the job done and saw Vancouver come away from Montreal still very much in with a chance of lifting their first ever Voyageurs Cup trophy.
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Whilst Montreal put out a strong starting eleven, experimental is perhaps the nicest word to use to describe the line up that Martin Rennie went with for Vancouver.
There were five changes to the starting team that beat Los Angeles Galaxy at the weekend, and many of them were surprises. Brad Knighton returned in goal for Joe Cannon, whilst Young-Pyo Lee sat out at right back and was replaced by Nigel Reo-Coker, playing his first game in that position in North America. More surprising was Brad Rusin slotting in as the holding midfielder instead of Jun Marques Davidson, with Alain Rochat playing in left midfield.
It was a defensive line up, with the Whitecaps hoping to keep the scores close or scoreless and give themselves a fighting chance in the second leg. It was also a line up that lacked a real attacking edge and had all the makings of being a far form exciting cup tie, and so it played out.
Vancouver kicked off and Matt Watson had the first shot of the game, firing wide after just 15 seconds.
It wasn't the shape of things to come and the game quickly settled into a possession based encounter, with both teams happy to let the other side knock the ball around in their own half and with neither side troubling the other's goal.
Marco Di Vaio nearly brought the game to life in the 19th minute, when he collected a long ball forward from Hassoun Camara and curled a low 22 yard effort on goal, which Knighton was forced to get down to his left to save.
Patrice Bernier came close to giving Montreal the lead two minutes later when he shot low through a crowd after some nice work from Justin Mapp. Knighton was somewhat unsighted and relieved to see Bernier's effort go narrowly past the right hand post.
Vancouver got their first shot on target in the 32nd minute when Rochat forced Evan Bush into a save from a blistering strike from just outside the box, after Matt Watson had done well pressurising Collen Warner to win the ball for the Caps.
The visitors nearly had the lead from the resultant corner. Teibert whipped it into the box, but Mapp cleared Rochat's header off the line and the Caps just couldn't put the resultant scramble away.
Vancouver finished the half looking the livelier side, if not exactly a constant attacking threat, with their shut down tactics having the desired effect on Montreal, who looked devoid of ideas with how to break down their opponents.
It had been a robust first half, with each side committing eight fouls and the home side picking up three bookings for some really hard challenges.
The Impact came out with more impetus in the second half and dominated the early possession. The Whitecaps were happy to let them do so, as apart from a couple of unfulfilled threats, they were having trouble just getting dangerous balls in the Vancouver box never mind breaking the deadlock.
Montreal had a couple of scrambles in the Vancouver area before Russell Teibert had the Caps' first effort of the second half in the 64th minute, with a long range shot that went well wide.
The home side, who have looked so lively in matches this year, were being continually frustrated with the Caps cat and mouse tactics and although they kept taking the game to Vancouver, their attacks were constantly breaking down before they got into the box.
The game continued to be played at a slow tempo, with Vancouver hardly getting out of their own half.
A wild, long range Mapp shot that flew over and a Jeb Brovsky cross-come-shot that ended on top of the Caps net, was all the Impact had to show for all their possession, as the game moved into the final minutes.
Vancouver could have done with a map of their own it seemed. One to enable them to find the way out of their half.
Montreal were clearly frustrated and their added urgency saw them going to ground to try and win a late penalty, but referee Silviu Petrescu was having none of it.
Mapp had a shot on goal two minutes into stoppage time, which Knighton spilled at first, but quickly recovered with two Montreal ready to pounce.
Vancouver had a rare foray forward when substitute Erik Hurtado tried a long range shot, which Evan Bush easily held.
Montreal had a late scare when Jeb Brovsky had to leave the field, and later went to hospital, with blood covering his face and a suspected broken nose, after he headed the back of Jordan Harvey's head.
The final whistle came as a relief. More of not having to watch any more of the match, as opposed to Vancouver coming away with a draw.
The Whitecaps went in to Montreal and did what they needed to do. They shut up shop and have given themselves a great chance of lifting their first ever Voyageurs Cup in two week's time, although Montreal may still be narrow favourites with the away goals rule in force.
Vancouver have never played at home in the second leg of the final before, but they will need to be very wary of conceding and play a lot more attack minded if they are to make their dreams become reality.
FINAL SCORE: Montreal Impact 0 - 0 Vancouver Whitecaps
ATT: 12,016
MONTREAL: Evan Bush; Dennis Iapichino, Matteo Ferrari, Hassoun Camara, Jeb Brovsky; Collen Warner (Felipe 62), Patrice Bernier, Justin Mapp; Andres Romero (Blake Smith 72), Andrew Wenger (Sinisa Ubiparipovic 81), Marco Di Vaio [subs Not Used: Troy Perkins, Sanna Nyassi, Karl Ouimette, Wandrille Lefevre]
VANCOUVER: Brad Knighton; Nigel Reo-Coker, Andy O'Brien, Johnny Leveron, Jordan Harvey; Brad Rusin, Alain Rochat (Erik Hurtado 79); Gershon Koffie, Matt Watson, Russell Teibert; Darren Mattocks (Corey Hertzog 65) [subs Not Used: Joe Cannon, Young Pyo-Lee, Jun Marques Davidson, Kekuta Manneh, Tommy Heinemann]
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