Unfulfilling Result: Hurtado scores late as 10-man Whitecaps draw Rapids 3-3 | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
Subscribe

Would you like to subscribe to our newsletter?

Current Conditions Light Rain  4.2°C

Unfulfilling Result: Hurtado scores late as 10-man Whitecaps draw Rapids 3-3

Original Publication Date September 24, 2016 - 6:20 PM

VANCOUVER - The Vancouver Whitecaps' season could be boiled down to Saturday's performance.

In a game they desperately needed to win to keep their flickering playoff hopes alive, the Whitecaps came out listless in the first half, looking like a team that had never kicked a ball together.

They were then shaken from their slumber while trailing 1-0 at the break and responded with three goals, two after going down to 10 men, in what turned into an exciting yet unfulfilling 3-3 draw with the Colorado Rapids.

"I can't explain it. I wish I could. It's not good enough, simple as that," said Vancouver goalkeeper David Ousted. "I thought what we showed in the first 45 minutes is a disgrace.

"I feel sick to my stomach that we performed in front of our home crowd that way."

Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson has seen similar nightmarish sequences throughout 2016, with players switching off at key times. It happened twice on Saturday, leading directly to Colorado's first two goals.

"That just sums our season totally up. First half, not good enough, not acceptable. I let the players know that," said the Welshman. "I thought we were well off the pace and they deserved to be ahead.

"We altered one or two things in the second half and the positives I'll take out of it is that they showed tremendous fight, spirit, heart. But they made two mistakes again, which cost us."

Erik Hurtado scored his second goal of the season in the third minute of stoppage time to salvage a point for the Whitecaps, while Kendall Waston — who was later shown a red card — and Pedro Morales had the other goals for Vancouver (9-14-8).

Shkelzen Gashi replied with two for Colorado (12-5-12) after Dominique Badji gave the Rapids an early lead.

The Whitecaps are just 1-6-4 over their last 11 games in Major League Soccer and likely needed to run the table over their four remaining league games to have any shot at the playoffs. While not yet mathematically eliminated, the situation is bleak after starting the day six points back of the final post-season berth in the Western Conference.

"I found out a lot about my players today," said Robinson. "A lot of good things ... and a lot of no so good things."

The Rapids, meanwhile, are a pedestrian 1-2-4 in their last seven as they continue to fight for tops in the overall standings.

"We had this game under control," said Colorado head coach Pablo Mastroeni. "One of the things we take most pride in, which is defence, let us down."

After the Whitecaps fought back to tie the game 2-2, despite being down a player, in the 70th minute on Morales' seventh, Gashi curled a free kick from 30 yards out past an outstretched Ousted in the 75th — his second goal of the match and seventh of the year — before Hurtado's late header struck the crossbar and bounced in off a defender.

"Every time we've gone down to 10 men, for some unknown reason we tend to concentrate more, make smarter decisions, make the right decisions and work harder," said Robinson. "That should never happen. If we had that at 11 men in the first half then maybe we would have been ahead."

Waston tied the game 1-1 with his third of the season on a header off a corner in the 51st, but was sent off moments later after bringing Badji down on a breakaway in the penalty area. Gashi cooly sent Ousted the wrong way from the spot in the 57th minute to make it 2-1.

Badji took advantage of some sloppy Vancouver defending to open the scoring in the eighth minute.

The Rapids played a simple ball over the top to a streaking Marlon Hairston after he got in behind Whitecaps defender Jordan Harvey.

Ousted charged forward in an attempt to cut off the chance, but could only take out Hairston, who fed Badji for his fourth of the campaign just before the collision.

Colorado nearly doubled its lead six minutes later on a corner, but Eric Miller's header rattled Ousted's bar and stayed out.

"We're at the stage of the season where we needed to win this game to have a slight chance of qualifying for the playoffs," said Robinson. "We didn't respond the right way in the first half. We didn't show enough personality in our play, and that's something me and my staff, we're going to have a lot of work to do in the off-season."

Notes: The Whitecaps gave 15-year-old midfielder Alphonso Davies - the youngest player in North America's top league - his first MLS start. ... Vancouver hosts Central FC of Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday in CONCACAF Champions League play. The Whitecaps have already qualified for the knockout stage, but their final group game will impact seeding in the quarter-finals.

---

Follow @JClipperton_CP on Twitter

News from © The Canadian Press, 2016
The Canadian Press

  • Popular kamloops News
View Site in: Desktop | Mobile