Lazy Whitecaps throw away advantage in NYC

September 11, 2011 at 10:04 pm | Posted in Whitecaps MLS Season 2011 | 4 Comments

Goalkeeper Joe Cannon showed his true worth again last night in New York as a lazy Whitecaps squad had to be rescued by his superb goalkeeping. While the Whitecaps shone brightly in the first half, they went into a defensive shell inexplicably after the Red Bulls had a man sent off. In spite of having a man advantage for the entire second half, the whitecaps spent most of it ball watching. It was precisely this tendency to watch the Red Bulls play that erased Davide Chiumiento’s first half wonder strike.

The Whitecaps star trio of Hassli, Chiumiento and Camilo were playing some superb football, putting some fantastic moves together in the first half. It was one of these moves that put Camilo through, who crossed at an acute angle for Chiumiento, who, with his back to goal, flicked the ball up for himself to volley into the net off of the crossbar.  It was a bit of magic, the kind of goal we all dream about scoring but never do.

Bizarre refereeing saw an early Camilo goal erased for a reason only known to the referee, an odd sort of fellow called Vaughn.  He is the kind of ref that MLS seems to attract; he loves the camera and calls fouls with a dramatic flourish like a prima ballerina.  Poor Camilo was through clear on goal, survived a mugging attempt, and then apparently was called for a shirt pull that never happened.  It was nothing short of incredible.

Whatever the injustice of this incident, Vaughn appeared to correct his failure to send off Rafa Marques for a bare faced two footed lunge at Hassli from behind by sending off Red Bull Solli, who committed the next foul against the Whitecaps when he yanked down Camilo.  Incredible again, but nothing comes as a surprise anymore with the poor quality of MLS refereeing.

Rather than seizing the advantage of an extra man, the Whitecaps beggared belief by falling back into a defensive shell, from which they might as well have been given a coke and some popcorn as they proceeded to watch the Red Bull play for virtually the entire second half.  Again, one has to question the instructions given to them by coach Soehn at the half.  Did they fail to listen or did Soehn tell the team to play defensively?

When playing with an extra man the Whitecaps should have been able to keep possession of the ball, which is the style of play Soehn wants to play.  They did not do so, but sat back and let the Red Bulls have it.  A team playing with ten men can be exhausted if you play using the width of the field.  The Whitecaps did not do so.  Furthermore, with the extra man, the Whitecaps should have been able to put pressure on any Red Bull player who had the ball.  Instead, the Red Bulls were generously given time on the ball by the ‘Caps, which led to an equalizer.  Marquez was given all the time in the world to cross a beautiful ball into the Whitecaps box which Cannon, DeMerit and Thorrington all admired while Agudelo slipped in and scored.  The laziness was unforgivable. It was a scandal and a shame to the Whitecaps that they would give up such a goal with an extra man.

Again, were it not for Cannon, all would have been lost as he made heroic save after save to earn us a point almost single-handedly.  Camilo’s late curler was all we really had to show in the second half.

While I am happy we earned a point, the team threw away two more because they did not work hard enough.  We should have been able to generate more chances than that, and it is embarrassing that New York had more shots than us in the game overall.  Where was the killer instinct?

Sad to say, it was again a case of not good enough.