Tuesday was a great day for the Vancouver Whitecaps at Phoenix's Reach 11 Sports Complex. The 'Caps had a strong defensive showing against the Crew. Expect to hear that a lot this season if you are a new follower of the club. The boys in blue and white managed to hold the MLS' number two all time scorer Jeff Cunningham off the score sheet. Atiba Harris showed that he can in fact hit the broad side of a barn, and 1st Overall wunderkind Omar Salgado netted the game winner. Jay DeMerit and John Thorrington even got into the game.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Interestingly, Vancouver took the field in a deviation from their standard 4-4-2 alignment that they normally employ. We saw it happen on several occasions last year, notably while Johnny Steele or Davide Chiumiento were in the starting lineup. However it was not the norm. I would not expect to see Teitur to use a 4-2-3-1 on a regular basis but i kind of like it. I would like to think that Chumiento was playing more of a withdrawn striker role, where his creativity and playmaking abilities would be fully utilized."I'm very happy and impressed with the shape we had in the game today, both defensively and offensively. We battled hard and looked difficult to beat, while we had great rhythm in attack. I'm actually a bit surprised that we are already producing performances like today, so I'm very happy about that."- Teitur Thordason
Vancouver Whitecaps FC Starting Line-Up
Jay Nolly
Jonathan Leathers Greg Janicki Michael Boxall Alain Rochat
Terry Dunfield Gershon Koffie
Shea Salinas Davide Chiumiento Nizar Khalfan
Long Tan
By all accounts Omar Salgado had a fantastic game, even in the limited minutes he played. Long Tan had several chances but didn't manage to bag a goal. According to Odeen Domingo of Soccer by Ives, Shea Salinas would have been the man of the match. The speedy Salinas even managed to draw a penalty shot after being taken down in the box. Davide Chiumiento had his "weak" (again according to Domingo) penalty kick saved by Ray Burse.
Atiba Harris scored in the 62' off a great pass from Terry Dunfield, and then 15 minutes later Harris sent a cross in from the left side that Omar Salgado nodded it home in the 77'.
Substitutions:
Nizar Khalfan subbed by Kyle Porter 45'
Davide Chiumiento subbed by Atiba Harris 45'
Jonathan Leathers subbed by Wes Knight 59'
Long Tan subbed by Omar Salgado 59'
Michael Boxall subbed by Bilal Duckett 63'
Shea Salinas subbed by Philippe Davies 70'
Greg Janicki subbed by Jay DeMerit 76'
Gershon Koffie subbed by John Thorrington 76'
Scoring Summary:
62' - VAN - Atiba Harris (Terry Dunfield)
76' - CLB - Eddie Gaven (penalty)
77' - VAN - Omar Salgado (Atiba Harris)
Did Not Play:
Ryan O'Leary
Santiago Bedoya
Joe Anderson
Blake Wagner
Cornelius Stewart
Joe Cannon
Jeb Brovsky
Bryan Sylvestre