Whitecaps Hard Pressed

Vancouver hosted the last years runner-up MLS championship in front of 20,438 fans at BC Place with both Canadian squads going win-less in their opening match.

Both clubs came out with a solid game with Toronto having possession creating space having several impressive scoring chances early against Spencer Ritchie who started in place of Ousted.

Vancouver just returned from a grueling match against in their semi-final game in Mexico against Tigres UANL in game of their semi-final series in the CONCACAF Champions League dropping the match by a 2 nil score.

The start of the MLS season see’s both Canadian squads start slow getting results with the Whitecaps missing goalkeeper David Ousted, who was dealt a Red Card in a game against the San Jose Earthquakes for an infraction outside the penalty area in a match in which they saw a 3-2 loss.

Toronto was without their top scorer from last season Sebastian Giovinco in the starting line-up, but that failed to stop the Reds from excellent against the Whitecaps.

Vancouver used space in their game that saw them move the ball, but at times were stymied by Toronto defense when entering the penalty area.

The first half saw the teams go scoreless to the half with the Reds taking opportunities of the chances, holding the Caps to 0 shots while Toronto fired 3 shots on Spencer Ritchey who was forced to make two impressive stops.

Vancouver made some key moves in the second half to get un-tracked as key subs came into the game Christian Bolanos and Kekuta Manneh to add a spark in the match as they created some much needed work rate to the Caps game.

Vancouver began testing the Toronto FC defense using the flanks to create space for forwards to get shots on the Reds “keeper” Alexander Bono.

As the percentage of the play seemed to changed due to the changes sent in by Caps Head Coach Carl Robinson, Toronto seemed to on their heels with the game coming to the 90th minute.

The game changed when midfielder Brek Shea was called for a late tackle in the 70th minute and after receiving it (Yellow Card) he contested it and the language used in his discussion with referee Ismail Elfath was the same color as his first card.

To the shock of many he used the f-word contesting the play which resulted in a second Yellow and Red Card ejection forcing the Caps to play with 10 men.

The final 20 plus minutes opened space for the Reds, which they used it to their advantage stretching the Caps defense to the limit create several chances finding the back of the net twice.

The 76 minute Victor Vazquez who came on as a second half sub headed a cross finding the twine past Spencer Ritchey giving the Reds a 1-0 lead.

They managed to get the insurance marker 6 (six) minutes later as Joey Altidore hammered a low shot past Ritchey extending the score to 2 nil.

Toronto’s defense tightened up against the Caps holding them to zero scoring chances making life easy for goalkeeper Alexander Bono recording the shutout in the Reds.

Toronto now improves to 1-0-2 (5 points) in the eastern conference standings, while Vancouver dropped to 0-2-1 with just a single point from the their first three games of the season.

The Whitecaps next match is April 1st (Aprils Fools Day) against the 1-0-2 LA Galaxy with the kick-off set for 4:00 pm.

Possession time      Vancouver 42.1% Toronto 57.9%

The Whitecaps FC2 season opener is at McLeod Stadium in Langley against Seattle Sounders FC2 game time 3:00 pm.

Thanks to Bruce Nolte for the notes!!