Caps Rattle Earthquake

The City was a buzz prior to the match against San Jose Earthquakes with many counting the Whitecaps out even before it started.

Most that I spoke to were under the assumption that if the Caps pulled off a win it would be 2-1 or possibly a 3-1 final, but to the shock of many, including San Jose it was a 5-0 win.

Playing at BC Place might have been the incentive given the 21,083 on hand to watch the club capture their first ever playoff victory in the MLS with the last appearance in the Conference Semifinals back in 2015 coming up short (2-0) to the Portland Timbers.

Let’s not forget that the Caps played the same team a ten days prior only managing a 1-1 draw, thus the reason for skepticism from the fans.

With the win they now advanced to the Western Conference Semifinals for only the second time in three years facing the team a short 3 hour drive down the I5.

The first game has the Seattle Sounders FC come to town in a tantalizing two-leg aggregate series beginning October 29th.

Vancouver saw seven different players either grabbing a goal or an assist, while Cap’s “tender” Stefan Marinovic taking control early in the match with some stellar saves.

Early in the match Marinovic managed to swat which proved to be the first of five saves directly from a free kick off the boot of Anibal Godoy managing to earn a clean sheet in only his 6th start.

The Caps took advantage in the 33rd minute as Techera executed a corner kick from the left side allowing Waston to sent the ball to the far post that allowed Montero to hammer a header home his first goal in his postseason career.

Adding to this  in the second half the Caps had a direct free kick  that saw Techera deliver a 25 yard strike to the top right corner with Quakes “Keeper” Andrew Tarbell narrowly missing the ball.

The Caps continued with shot after shot and the 64th minute saw Parker setup Waston who delivered another blow to San Jose by getting the third increasing the Caps lead to 3-0.

Bench Boss Carl Robinson made a substitution sending in Mezquida who notched two goals in a span of two minutes giving the Caps an insurmountable 5-0 lead and eventual victory advancing them to the next round.

Those on hand saw the Caps deliver a record-setting night grabbing their biggest win, while scoring the most goals in one game, in their club MLS history.

To the surprise of no one Man of the Match was Nicolas Mezquida and now the one question is “CAN HE REPEAT”!!!

The other Western Conference semifinal series has top seed Portland Timbers facing off against the winner of  the match between Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City.

If and only if the ‘Caps win their Conference Semifinal against Seattle, they advance to the Western Conference Championship.

This will take place over two legs with the first match Tuesday, November 21, with the return match November 30.

MLS Cup will be played on Saturday, December 9 at the home venue of the finalist with the best regular season record, so here’s hoping??

PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

Western Conference Semifinals

First Leg – Seattle at Vancouver – BC Place

Sunday, October 29 – 5:30 p.m. (PT)

Second leg – Vancouver at Seattle – CenturyLink Field

Thursday, November 2 – kickoff time TBC

Western Conference Championship

First Leg – Tuesday, November 21

Second Leg – Thursday, November 30