- Vancouver’s Cornelius Stewart on the attack against Austin’s Leonard Griffin Sunday. Stewart scored one of Vancouver’s two goals in a 2-2 draw. Photo by Eric Flexyourhead on Flickr
It was a return home at long last for the Vancouver Whitecaps, but it didn’t go exactly as planned. After a month-long five-match road trip where they went 2-0-3 and made several sweeping personnel changes [Bruce Constantineau, Vancouver Sun] that I’ve discussed over the past few weeks, they played their first match at Burnaby’s Swangard Stadium since their draw with Minnesota back on July 25. Against the high-powered offence of the Austin Aztex, though, they were only able to come away [Constantineau] with a frustrating [Simon Fudge, WhitecapsFC.com] 2-2 draw Sunday [Marc Weber, The Province], making their return less glorious than it might have been otherwise.
The game itself was well within the Whitecaps’ grasp, as they dominated the possession and created more top-quality scoring chances, but they weren’t able to finish consistently, conceded two goals thanks to defensive lapses and faded at the end. They outshot the Aztex 6-2 in the first half, but were themselves outshot 6-4 in the second half. They did manage to take the lead early through a Cornelius Stewart breakaway, but gave away an equalizer just before halftime after a defensive mixup on a corner. New Swiss signing Ridge Mobulu put Vancouver back into the lead with a spectacular goal shortly after halftime, and they looked set to take a full three points from the fixture. That all changed when former Manchester United academy player Eddie Johnson, Austin’s leading scorer, tied things up with a picturesque header off a free kick in the 80th minute, only one minute after entering the match. It was his 11th USSF-II goal of the season, and it earned his side a deserved point; they weren’t as constantly dangerous as Vancouver on the day, but they capitalized on their chances and played an excellent road game. The result ensured that the Whitecaps remain in first in the NASL Division, while the Aztex are second in the USL Division but sit only two points back of Rochester with three games in hand.
Vancouver head coach Teitur Thordarson was pleased with his team’s showing for the majority of the game, but thought their finishing needed more work.
“We struggled with finishing,” Thordarson said. “Of all the chances we created in the first half, if we could have scored one or two more, that would have changed the complexion of the game.”
The Whitecaps did receive strong performances from many of their new signings, though, including Mobulu, Terry Dunfield and former Everton reserve player and Wake Forest star Cody Arnoux. The team didn’t look as cohesive as usual [Benjamin Massey, Eighty-Six Forever], which was probably thanks to some of the new players trying to find their roles and some of the older players who were bumped out of position. Thordarson said it isn’t a tough process to integrate the new signings, but it’s one that will be time-consuming.
“I wouldn’t say difficult; it just takes time,” he said. “They are all very understanding that they have to work hard to get integrated, and they’re working on it every day, so that’s going fine; it just takes time.”
Dunfield said the spate of transfers over the last month shows how important it is for the new players to find ways to adapt to their teammates and Thordarson’s system.
“It’s his system or you’re not going to be here,” he said. “No one’s bigger than the Vancouver Whitecaps.”
That’s something all their current players would do well to keep in mind as Vancouver builds towards MLS next season. There have been plenty of personnel changes towards that end already, but it seems highly likely we’ll see more. The Whitecaps are next in action Sunday at home against Puerto Rico.
Around the country:
—Toronto FC struggled to a 0-0 home draw [Gareth Wheeler, Toronto Sun] against Real Salt Lake Saturday, capping off a disappointing week where they also lost 1-0 to Arabe Unido in Panama in a CONCACAF Champions League game marked by officiating follies. The draw leaves TFC in a bit of a tough situation in their push for the playoffs, but [Duane Rollins, The 24th Minute].
—The Montreal Impact continued their turnaround from last week, beating the USSF-II leading Rochester Rhinos 2-0 at home Friday [Randy Phillips, Montreal Gazette]. They were again led by Canadian striker Ali Gerba, who notched the fastest goal in franchise history 18 seconds into the match and added a second later on. Their next clash is Sept. 8 in Puerto Rico against the Islanders.
—The men’s national team takes on Peru Saturday at Toronto’s BMO Field and then faces Honduras Tuesday at Montreal’s Stade Saputo. Paul James has a good piece in The Globe and Mail looking at the importance of these friendlies, and how they’re the first step in preparing for the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign. It’s not going to be an easy run for Canada, but they’ll need to form a cohesive lineup and find how to best maximize the talents of each player they have if they hope to make it to Brazil in four years.
North of the 49 is a weekly Canadian soccer column written by Andrew Bucholtz, a B.C.-based journalist who runs Sporting Madness. You can get in touch with him by e-mail or Twitter.
