Gleeson’s fingertips no match for the Caps in Cascadia clash

The Vancouver Whitecaps came out firing on all cylinders on Saturday afternoon at BC Place Stadium. Before a sellout crowd of 22,120 in a key Cascadia Cup match against their rivals from Portland Timbers the Caps pulled away late by the score of 2-1. It was the first Whitecaps come from behind win at home since September 27th 2014. With the win they moved into tie for sixth place in the Western Conference and are a point behind 5th place San Jose.

The Caps came out hungry after getting grilled by coach Carl Robinson during the week at training at UBC. The change in the attitude of the players showed as they attacked the Timbers in waves. Whitecaps midfielder Nicholas Mezquida came close in the 5th minute with a rocket that just wide of the far post.

In the 9th minute Pedro Morales sent a header right at the Timbers goal. Timbers Jake Gleeson stamped out the goal-scoring chance with a fingertip save over the bar.  On the ensuing corner Cristian Techera sent in a well targeted ball that was headed out of danger by the Timbers.

Morales was yellow carded two minutes later for a contact foul on a Portland player by referee Kevin Scott.

Vancouver continued their assault as defender Kendall Watson sent a blast just wide of the near post. Just three minutes later,Whitecaps forward Masado Kudo made a brilliant run at the edge of the box that was saved by Gleeson.

Portland against the play in the Vancouver end of the field opened the scoring on just their second shot and best of the of the opening half. Midfielder Nat Borchers beat Caps keeper David Ousted  with a well placed shot in the back of the Caps goal. Timbers midfielder Darlington Nagbe and forward Fanendo Adi helped set up the breakthrough goal in the 34th minute.

The Whitecaps nearly had their equalizer in the 22nd minute when defender Christian Bolanos sent a howitzer right at the Timbers goal. Once again Gleeson would prove to be the difference-maker with another fingertip save to avoid catastrophe. On the ensuing corner kick, Whitecaps defender Tim Parker’s header was on target but just wide of the goal. Despite having more than double the number of shots on goal to the Timbers Vancouver were unable to capitalize on their opportunities.

In the second half the Caps kept up the pressure on with a solid attack using the ground game and the crosses into the penalty area giving Gleeson problems. In the 50th minute Bolanos would rip another chance from distance only to once again be foiled by Gleeson. Kudo would also have a chance in the 54th minute but would also be denied.

After being denied on countless occasions by Gleeson on their own, Kudo and Bolanos decided to team up with the hope of breaking through against the Kiwi keeper. In the 60th minute Kudo took  a pass from Bolanos made a run to the edge of the 18 yard area. His shot went past Gleeson to tie the game at 1-1. The goal was Kudo’s first of his MLS career.

Six minutes later Pedro Morales headed home the game winner past Gleeson of Portland to give the Caps the lead 2-1.

From there on Vancouver continued to dominate the game and could have added more on the scoreboard against their rivals coming at Portland.

At the other end a steady David Ousted after giving up the first half goal was solid for the Caps. In a sense of irony,  Ousted was forced into making some key saves off former teammate Darren Mattocks on three occasions in keeping his team in the lead.

Overall one of the best games of the year that saw both teams make it exciting for the fans on the pitch with great scoring chances and great goalkeeping from both Ousted and Gleeson.

With the victory Vancouver improved to 4-5-3 good for 14 points the Timbers fell to 3-4-3 remained at 12 points in the Western Conference standings.

Man of the match was Pedro Morales of the Whitecaps.

Vancouver’s next game is Wednesday night when they host the Chicago Fire who sit in last place in the Eastern Conference with a 1-2-4 record game time. The match will be at 7:00pm PST at BC Place.