The Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps head into the second leg of their Western Conference semifinal deadlocked at 0-0 after an entertaining, yet scoreless affair in the first leg at Providence Park on Sunday. “What I did, I thought I did clean, which was nice”.
Advertisement
Vancouver certainly had their chances in the first half with Octavio Rivero and Gershon Koffie both squandering opportunities to give the ‘Caps the lead. If there is optimism for the Whitecaps it comes from their response in the regular-season finale, a 3-0 win over Houston that ensured them the No. 2 seed.
It then ricocheted behind Kwarsey, narrowly missing his back and what could have been a lucky deflection into the goals, before rolling harmlessly away. “We know that. We had two great chances in the first half and we didn’t take them”. Nothing you can do. “You got to get back to work”.
After their strong first half showing, the Timbers turned up the intensity after the break and the Whitecaps defence was under intense pressure in the second half.
The Timbers almost snuck out of their home park with a late victor, but Maximiliano Urruti’s close-range effort off a feed from Diego Valeri in the 89th minute hit off the far post and stayed out. “With all attacking players, I’m sure they’re judged by the journalists on goals and assists”, said Robinson. “When he came in we had a quick conversation and he reminded me of the things I’ve done for this team in the past and what I can bring in the future”. Obviously we’d have loved to get that away goal but it wasn’t to be today.
“Brilliant game for the neutral”, Robinson said prior to Friday’s practice in Vancouver.
Both teams will view the match now as a one-off cup tie.
“We’re comfortable there. It’s a place where we normally play well, but it’s still their home turf”, said Ousted. I don’t think more than usual.
Advertisement
For the Whitecaps, their line of thinking is simple: win that game and they’re through to the conference final. Seating capacity will expand from 21,000 to 27,500 as Vancouver looks to add an extra home pitch advantage in their first ever home playoff match. For him, the math is simple. If Vancouver get the victory next Sunday, they advance. “It’ll come down to fine lines again”. “But at the same time we’ve seen it before this season where we’ve been able to play back-to-back and have good performances”. “To play 120 minutes on Thursday and go what we went through, physically and emotionally, and turn around and play like we played today”. Caleb will rely on his players turning up. It will be a game that will see the Whitecaps playing for all the marbles, as a win is the only result that will book their ticket to the West Conference Final.
