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Robert Cerjanec ,

August 11, 2014 Email

Robert Cerjanec



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The Vancouver Whitecaps returned home after drawing their fourth straight game, this time against the Chicago Fire 0-0, to face a red-hot Sporting Kansas City side.



Kansas City entered the contest undefeated in their previous seven matches, with a record of five wins and two draws.



Sporting came into the match sitting in first-place in the Eastern Conference, while the Whitecaps were locked in a tight battle for the playoffs with the Colorado Rapids and the Portland Timbers.



The Opening 45

Vancouver nearly got things started quickly in the 4th minute, but a shot from Darren Mattocks right in front of the Kansas City goal deflected off of defender Aurelien Collin and went wide.



Benny Feilharber drew close to putting the defending MLS champions ahead in the 10th minute when the midfielder fired just wide of the far right post following a nice feed from Graham Zusi.



Vancouver took the lead in the 17th minute on an own goal from Igor Juliao, who did not see Andy Gruenebaum come off his line and headed over the helpless Sporting keeper.



Mattocks would miss another sitter in the 30th minute when the ball fell to him in the Sporting box, as the striker was unable to poke the ball past Gruenebaum.



Just one minute later, Gruenebaum made a brilliant save on a strongly taken free kick to the bottom right corner by Pedro Morales to keep the score 1-0.



Mattocks doubled Vancouver’s lead in the 39th minute when he slotted home from the top of the Kansas City box after a brilliant run and pass from Morales.



The Whitecaps looked confident and threatening throughout the opening 45 minutes and could have easily taken an even larger lead to the interval. How did Pedro Morales from #VWFC not make it to the all star game! — Steven Caldwell (@stevocaldwell) August 11, 2014

Morales is great, but where would #VWFC be this year without Laba, especially with NRC losing form? That unsung hero award is so his. — Hanson Ho (@bidetofevil) August 11, 2014

The Second Half

After a lively and free-flowing opening 45 minutes, things began in a more subdued fashion in the second half.



Vancouver looked comfortable to hit on the counter-attack and to try to protect their two-goal lead.



Kansas City nearly cut the Whitecaps lead in half in the 64th minute, but Collin’s header off of a Zusi corner just grazed the top of David Ousted’s net.



Johnny Leveron came close to putting the game out of reach in the 69th minute, but Feilhaber cleared his headed attempt off the Sporting line.



Vancouver earned a late penalty in the 85th minute, but Mattocks saw his attempt denied by substitute keeper Jon Kempin, who parried away the striker’s shot off of the post.



Kansas City tried to cut into their deficit with large spells of possession and pressure in the final minutes of play, but were unable to crack a steady Vancouver defence.



Man of the Match





Pedro Morales

The midfielder was influential all night for the Canadian side, as he set up Mattocks’ goal, drew near to scoring on a free kick opportunity in the first half and sprayed a number of quality passes all over the field.



Honourable mention

Although he missed a couple of sitters, including one from the penalty spot in the second half, Darren Mattocks was very active and scored the insurance goal that put the Whitecaps up 2-0. Who was your Man of the Match?

Vancouver Whitecaps Line-up

(4-2-3-1)

1 David Ousted

33 Steven Beitashour

40 Andy O’Brien

16 Johnny Leveron

2 Jordan Harvey

28 Gershon Koffie

15 Matias Laba

19 Erik Hurtado

77 Pedro Morales

7 Sebastian Fernandez

11 Darren Mattocks



Substitutions: Mehdi Ballouchy for Erik Hurtado (68), Russell Teibert for Pedro Morales (77), Omar Salgado for Sebastian Fernandez (82).