A '26 minute Red Card Ejection to Salt Lake Midfielder Collen Warren was the deciding factor in tonight's Whitecaps victory. Jay DeMerit was hoping he was going to score on the initial play when his downward header ricocheted of Warren, but he was more then satisfied by the red card and then Camilo penalty. Camilo slotted home the decisive goal to give the Caps the 1-0 lead and they looked to keep the throttle down for the rest of the match. Vancouver came out with guns blazing from the opening kick off as they looked to erase memories of Sunday's loss to Portland.
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Real came in to tonight's game with a weakened line up due to a suspension, and international call ups. Vancouver's Tom Soehn looked to capitalize by making some very creative line up changes. Probably the most interesting and effective experiment was returning Alain Rochat to left back, and moving Jordan Harvey up onto the left wing. Rochat praised Harvey's defensive awareness when the Swiss back chose to push the ball up on the attack. "It was great to play with Jordan, he knows how to defend because he's a left back too". In the same breath though he also conceded that Real "weren't too much dangerous on our side", so he was given ample opportunity to move forward having the confidence that Harvey would drop back and fill his position.
Rochat was able to slide out onto the left side after recently signed Carlyle Mitchell got the nod to start at centre back. The Trinidadian took full advantage of his opportunity to play in his first match with the club. His solid performance was a breath of fresh air after many recent poor showings from the Whitecaps. He said felt good about coming away with 3 points, and about the passionate level of support from the fans. He looked good out there and he showed great athleticism tracking back and closing down attackers. The solid communication between him and defensive partner Jay DeMerit showed a fair bit of promise. Mitchell had nothing but kind words for the American International calling him a "great player" who provides "great leadership". The defence only gave up 6 shots and Joe Cannon was only forced to make 2 saves. As always, when called upon Cannon answered the bell.
At halftime the club had a chit chat in the locker room about their recent loss in New York after going up a man in the first half and came out in the second- thirsty for blood.
Camilo ended up scoring on a second penalty in the '53 as Chris Schuler was called for another Salt Lake hand ball in the box. Schuler was not ejected but he was substituted out of the game shortly there after. Rimando got his finger tips to Camilo's low shot to the left side but it was not enough to stop the Brazilian's blast.
Vancouver continued to smother any Real Salt Lake attacks before they could get dangerous, and in the 88th minute Nizar Khalfan buried a Omar Salgado header past Nick Rimando on a Goal of the Week worthy Half Volley. Khalfan got his first start in ages, and worked his tail off. In fact all the guys who got unusual starts came in and had solid performances.
All in all, it was a great game for the Caps to gain a little energy as they look to end their season on a high note. Things should really begin to heat up as players vie for positions in this offseason's training camps. The squad came out with energy to burn and the fans will surely appreciate the effort.
Many RSL fans will be upset with tonight's result, and there have been early rumblings about the refereeing from Chris Penso and his squad. It's easy to empathize with them, how often do you get called twice for handballs in the 18? RSL have had a busy schedule as of late and looked pretty tired. For the last 5-10 minutes of the game Jameson Olave had his hands on his hips.
On a side note: Former USSF D2 Whitecap Cody Arnoux got a run out tonight against his previous squad and did not really look all to effective in his first appearance since September 3rd for the Utah outfit.
The Caps next game is at home Wednesday October 12 at 7pm, against a red hot Dwayne DeRosario, and his DC United squad that will be looking for an easy three points as they look to battle their way into the playoffs.