P osted by

Harjeet Johal ,

July 10, 2016 Twitter

@HarJournalist Read this on your iPhone/iPad or Android device



VANCOUVER, B.C - Vancouver and Colorado met for the first time this season and the match was not without any prominent talking points. An equalizer at the death from Swedish centre-back Axel Sjoberg earned both teams a 2-2 draw. The Whitecaps looked to be in the driver's seat thanks to a second half penalty from Cristian Techera before Colorado nicked away a point deep into stoppage time before 21,120 shocked spectators. Kevin Doyle added a goal and an assist, and Kendall Waston scored for Vancouver who now sport a 7-8-4 record with a visit from Real Salt Lake on Wednesday, July 13. Colorado Coach Pablo Mastroeni talked about the ups and downs that were on display vs Vancouver. "The game of soccer is riddled with different moments that have you riding the emotional roller coaster. I think for a good part of the 70 minutes, I thought we played some of our best stuff all year. I thought we were moving the ball well, defending well, didn’t let them get into a rhythm, created some great opportunities on goal. Ousted came up trumps quite a bit and then the red obviously changes the game. Then at that point, momentum shifts, they have a good run of play. I think overall, I think a draw might be a fair result. I think, in the end, they dug one off the line. We had a lot of opportunities. I think that from that perspective, what you want is to set up the group in a way that creates opportunities to score goals and obviously set up a group that defends and does a good job of not conceding any. I think tonight, 2-2 at the end of the day, against a really well coached team, is a good result." Whitecaps Coach Carl Robinson was left to ponder what could have been as the Caps squandered all three points in a match they probably should not have come close to winning. "I don’t think that we deserved to win the game if I'm being honest. I think Colorado deserved the credit the way it panned out and us conceding in the last-minute is disappointing, but I think it was probably a fair result." Axel Sjoberg was in the right place at the right time as he jumped up into the play and scored with an unmarked header in the 94' minute. The big Swede took it upon himself to rush up the pitch in the dying moments of the game to try to help his team. It was also revealed that Sjoberg might have broken his right hand. It was a busy night for the Stockholm native who spoke to Red Nation Online about his goal. "It felt great, last minute, it's a good feeling staying undefeated and getting that draw." Tim Howard made 4 saves on the evening and shared his thoughts on the draw and his first road MLS start with the Colorado Rapids. "I thought it was hard fought. I thought some calls went against us and obviously that made it a lot tougher, but the fight back was good, we had to come back from a goal down twice. The resiliency is good, a point on the road is good for us as well." The penalty that was awarded to Vancouver in the 87' minute was not without controversy. It appeared to be a 50/50 call. Yes, Jared Watts got a tug on Cristian Techera's left shoulder, but perhaps the Whitecaps winger went to ground a little easy. Is this a call that would occur in the English Premier League with..... Everton? Tim Howard wasn't about to directly answer that as he gave his opinion. "It was a coming together and when it happens obviously you leave it in the hands of the referee. He uses his discretion. We on our end thought it was soft. I would imagine if that happened to us we'd be begging for a penalty, so it evens itself out." The Opening 45

The Whitecaps pounced on the stingy Colorado Rapids defense with a clever early goal in the 10' minute. Christian Bolanos played a beautiful cross into the box and Kendall Waston headed home his second goal of the season. The big Costa Rican centre-back had Rapids full-back Mekeil Williams draped all over him and managed to out-muscle him before smashing in a header. "For my goal I was very happy because it was weeks, months, that I didn’t score," said Kendall Waston. "I could help my team with one goal. But now I'm really sad because I know how much effort every one of teammates made this night, and we couldn't have the three points. At least we have one point that helps us fight to be in the first positions.” The early goal from the Whitecaps set the tone and energized the BC Place crowd. Pablo Mastroeni's side have always had trouble finding the back of the net and that increased as they had to chase the game. Vancouver's defense was on the back foot as the Rapids tried to create offense. David Ousted was solid in net and did well to keep his team ahead with 6 saves in the first half. Vancouver caught a scare when Kekuta Manneh was down on the pitch in the 39' minute. Manneh seemed to be favouring his foot after a tackle from Jared Watts. Trainers attended to Manneh and he momentarily came back onto the pitch before being subbed off in the 43' minute for striker Erik Hurtado. An official Whitecaps announcement revealed that Manneh left with a right foot sprain and he later left BC Place in a walking boot with crutches. More information should come to light in further days. The Whitecaps went into halftime with a 1-0 lead, but they were living dangerously as Colorado had a large possession advantage of 68% - 32%. Now is not the time for cheap mystery strikers. Open the damn wallet. Stop the half measures. We want a real striker. #WhitecapsFC #VWFC — Vancouver Armada (@VancouverArmada) July 10, 2016

The Second Half

Carl Robinson's lads played cautiously to start the second half and continued to turn the ball over with regularity. Vancouver's attempt to lull the Rapids into an early night-cap was a dangerous tactical strategy and it eventually came back to bite them. Albanian international Shkelzen Gashi played a terrific through ball onto the path of striker Kevin Doyle. The tall Irishman slipped the ball under David Ousted as Kendall Waston was too slow getting to him. Colorado had found the equalizer after an immense amount of pressure on the Vancouver back-line. Moments later the Rapids looked to take the lead in the 63' minute. Doyle setup Gashi and the Euro 2016 participant had his attempt on goal cleared off the line by a timely headed clearance from Kendall Waston. The Colorado momentum went up in thin air as full-back Eric Miller was issued straight red card after a dangerous sliding tackle on Whitecaps skipper Pedro Morales. The crowd was in a frenzy as Miller showed no attempt to go for the ball. Referee Allen Chapman wasted no time in sending Miller to showers. Colorado was forced to play the final 19'' minutes down to 10-men. Tim Howard proved his worth in net as he came up with an unbelievable save off of Christian Bolanos in the 76' minute. Jordan Harvey played in a cross that was headed on by Erik Hurtado. The ball came to Bolanos at the back post and his one-time effort on goal was turned aside by Howard. The former Everton shot stopper appeared to get the back of his leg on the ball as he fell backwards into his net to make a fantastic save. Howard described the big save that kept Colorado in the match. "I was trying to read the header, the header skipped off the boys head at the front post and obviously Bolanos did well to read it and get around the back. It was desperation just trying to get across and make myself big and make the save." The Whitecaps kept pressing for a goal and eventually they would take the lead in the 87' minute after a converted penalty kick. Jared Watts hauled down substitute Cristian Techera in the box with a tug on his shoulder. Referee Allen Chapman pointed to the spot and 'The Bug' stepped up to take the penalty. Howard got his fingers to the ball, but it wasn't enough to stop the shot and Techera's first of the season. It looked as if Vancouver would sneaky away with all three points on the night, but that wasn't to be. Five minutes of stoppage time went up on the board and Axel Sjoberg's second goal of the season earned both teams a 2-2 draw. The Caps switched off before the final whistle and the Rapids kept playing. Kendall Waston faced the media and talked about what transpired on another late opposition goal. “It’s tough to say, because we in our heads want to win. We didn’t want in the last moment, again, to have something happen like against Toronto. But it happened. We have to come back every day trying to get better, because we want to get three points however it takes, whatever it takes. We just have to look forward to the next match.” Man of the Match



Kevin Doyle

Doyle had a fairly quiet game that is unless you check out the score-sheet. The 32 year-old scored his 4th goal of the season and also added an assist. Vancouver had trouble with the duo of Doyle and Gashi and the striker was fantastic vs Vancouver. He was in the right place at the right time and helped Colorado equalize the match after conceding early. Colorado isn't a team that's going to score a lot of goals, but with a strong defense and Tim Howard in net, they'll do just fine with the Irish international chipping in from time to time with quality goals in key situations. Who is your Whitecaps Man of the Match?

Vancouver Whitecaps Starting XI: David Ousted; Jordan Smith, Kendall Waston, Tim Parker, Jordan Harvey; Andrew Jacobson, Matias Laba; Christian Bolaños, Pedro Morales(C), 80 (Cristian Techera), Kekuta Manneh, 43 (Erik Hurtado); Blas Perez, 65 (Nicolas Mezquida). 4-2-3-1. Los Angeles Starting XI: Tim Howard; Eric Miller, Jared Watts, Axel Sjoberg, Mekeil Williams; Sam Cronin(C), Micheal Azira; Marco Pappa, 74 (Marc Burch), Dillon Powers, 84 (Luis Solignac), Shekelzen Gashi, 79 (Marlon Hairston); Kevin Doyle. 4-2-3-1 Notes: U.S. international, Jermaine Jones was a late scratch with a lowering leg injury. The 2016 Rio Olympic Canadian Women's National Soccer Team was on hand and honoured at halftime.