The Vancouver Whitecaps played host to the Seattle Sounders at BC Place Stadium in a key match with a possible playoffs series on the line with the visiting Sounders pulling out a 2-1 win in front of a record crowd of 27,863 for MLS league play.
Vancouver came out strong in the opening 20 minutes taking the game to the Sounders as both teams coming into the match with undefeated streaks on the line as Seattle has a record of 9 wins the last 11 games as well as two draws dating back to June 23rd.
Vancouver were riding a hot streak with a six (6) game undefeated streak going 5-0-1 in their last six to get back into playoff contention in what is a key Western Conference match-up game.
Nicolas Mezquida tested Sounders “Keeper” Stefan Frei early in the match only to have his shot deflected and palmed wide with two others off young superstar Alphonso Davies who set up Kei Kamara who sailed a header over the crossbar.
Try as they might to keep the Sounders off the board the visitors who opened the scoring in the 21st minute on a three way passing play allowing Cristian Roldan to set up Raul Ruidiaz on a cross pass allowing him to find the back of the net jumping out to an early 1 nil lead.
Vancouver’s solid play saw them dominate the remaining part of the first half testing the Sounders defenders several times creating great chances only to go away empty-handed in the early stages of the match.
The Sounders added to their lead on a Caps mistake in the back-end allowing Sounders forward Raul Ruidiaz to turn the opportunistic chance into a goal number two in the 42nd minute.
Added time saw both Vancouver and Seattle play 6 minutes in the first half with Kei Kamara notched one in off a Caps corner cut their score to 2-1 at the half.
The second half saw the Caps control of possession and ball giving the Sounders defense fits as Alphonso Davies made numerous great runs beating Sounders defenders forcing them to foul setting up a free kicks into the penalty area forcing Stefan Frei to come up with some key saves.
The second half saw Vancouver make three subs which added to the attack with Brek Shea coming in the 53rd minute as well as a sub seeing Jordan Mutch enter the match for Aly Ghazal in the 70th minute.
The caps had several additional chances for the equalizer including one from Kei Kamara who hit the post late in the match allowing the Caps for one final sub as Erik Hurtado came in for Nicolas Mezquida.
The victory see’s the Sounders capture and celebrate the victory of the “Cascadia Cup” with the with the fans in the corner of BC Place that made the trip north of the 49th to BC Place.
The final stats tell the story of the match as “Coach Robinson” mentioned in the post game stating “How proud he was of their effort despite the loss and the way they competed.”
Vancouver falls to 11-10-7 on the season good for 40 points through 28 games only trailing the Portland Timbers for a playoff spot with earlier action saw the Timbers drop a 4-1 decision to Houston, while the Sounders improve to 13-9-5 for 44 points tied with the Timbers for the final spot in MLS West standings.
Vancouver’s next home game is against FC Dallas in another key in the stretch in the run for the playoffs kickoff at 4 pm at BC Place stadium for tickets go their website www.whitecapsfc.com/tickets.
Vancouver dominated with shots from inside the box by a 19-5 edge also in heading shots as Vancouver had four (4) and while Seattle managed only two.
Budweiser Man of the Match Kei Kamara
Statistics
Possession: VAN 52% – SEA 48%
Shots: VAN 21 – SEA 7
Shots on Goal: VAN 5 – SEA 5
Saves: VAN 3 – SEA 4
Fouls: VAN 12 – SEA 5
Offsides: VAN 1 – SEA 0
Corners: VAN 10 – SEA 8
Duels won: VAN 43 – SEA 49
Tackles won: VAN 13 – SEA 15
Thanks to Bruce Nolte for covering the game for Sportswave.ca
