VANCOUVER, B.C - The Vancouver Whitecaps defensive struggles continued once again. This time Sporting Kansas City were the beneficiary of gifts from Carl Robinson's players. The home side scored five minutes in and never looked back as Sporting Kansas City came away with a 2-1 win at Children's Mercy Park in front of 20,178 spectators.
Dom Dwyer scored a first half brace and Jordan Smith was sent off for a rash tackle on Graham Zusi before the interval. Whitecaps skipper Pedro Morales pulled one back for the visitors with a converted penalty in the 70' minute. Vancouver's defense was all over the place in the first half and the offense wasn't much better. Sporting Kansas City was deserving of all three points.
Whitecaps Coach Carl Robinson complemented the brilliant strike from Dwyer that opened the scoring and set the tone.
"It was a super goal. Wasn’t it? It was a fantastic strike by him," said Robinson. "Goals change games unfortunately for us and we were on the wrong end today especially in the first half. We started well. We gave away a bad goal. It was a great finish by him. It was a mistake by us. We don’t take our chances and then we see suddenly the game changes."
The Opening 45
Carl Robinson made a trio of changes to his startling lineup that lost 3-2 to Montreal in the home opener one week a go. Fraser Aird and Kianz Froese started on the bench while a suspended Christian Bolanos remained in Vancouver. Deybi Flores, Kekuta Manneh, and Jordan Smith earned their first starts of the season.
It didn't take long for one of the Whitecaps new lineup additions to impact the match. Deybi Flores had a brutal turnover in his own half as he cutely tried to dribble his way out of danger. Dom Dwyer wasn't having any of it and nicked the ball off Flores before blasting the ball top corner past David Ousted from 25 yards out. Just five minutes in and Vancouver trailed 1-0.
Kekuta Manneh had a terrific chance to level the score in the 20' minute. Octavio Rivero sent Manneh in on Tim Melia 1v1. The 21 year-old winger had all sorts of time and space and sent his shot squarely off the hands of the onrushing Sporting keeper.
Sporting Kansas City did well to keep the Whitecaps offense at bay by controlling possession and attacking down the flanks with Amadou Dia and Chance Myers. Vancouver looked frustrated and picked up early yellow cards to Rivero and Waston.
Peter Vermes saw his team double their lead in the 41' minute with a beautiful display of passing. Graham Zusi took on a pair of Whitecaps defenders before sending a cross to full-back Chance Myers. The 28 year-old was not challenged and he delivered a sublime pass across goal to a wide open Dom Dwyer. The former Norwich City youth player slotted home a tap in-goal.
Whitecaps goalkeeper David Ousted had three saves on the day and summed up the mood of Vancouver supporters.
"I thought out levels dropped too low in the first half, that’s what killed us today. I thought we showed character in the second half giving them a game and being tough to play against but not the result we were looking for."
Things only went from bad to worse for the Whitecaps. Jordan Smith was shown a red card in stoppage time for a dangerous and reckless tackle. The Costa Rican right-back came from behind with a two-footed tackle on Graham Zusi. Referee Edvin Jurisevic had no option, but to eject Smith from the match. At the half Sporting Kansas City led 2-0 and maintained a 65% 35% possession advantage.
The Second Half
Carl Robinson made a pair of substitutions before the second half kicked off. Canadians Kianz Frose and Fraser Aird came on for Deybi Flores and Cristian Techera.
Sporting Kansas City continued with dominant pressure against the Whitecaps. Dom Dwyer had several fantastic chances to score his hat-trick goal. Vancouver, down to 10 men lacked for options going forward. Pedro Morales was forced to play back, and that left Manneh, Froese, and Rivero without attacking support. Matias Laba made way for striker Blas Perez in the 66' minute.
The Whitecaps caught a break in the 69' minute as charging Octavio Rivero was tripped up in the box by Tim Melia. Edwin Jurisevic pointed to the spot and awarded Vancouver a penalty. Pedro Morales calmly stepped up and sent Melia the wrong way. Melia voiced his thoughts on the penalty call decision that cut Sporting Kansas City's lead in half with twenty minutes to play.
"I did touch the ball. I didn’t get a huge chunk of it, but it hit off the top of my left hand. My momentum carried through the player, but I’ll have to see the replay to know if it was good decision or not."
Vancouver's poor first half did them in and was too much to overcome against an exceptional Sporting Kansas City side. The Whitecaps fall to 0-2-0 and will take on Seattle Sounders FC also 0-2-0 next Saturday at CenturyLink Field in Seattlentti.
Man of the Match
Dom Dwyer
Dwyer was a handful for the Whitecaps back-line. He was able to do as he pleased throughout the match and contributed with a brace. Vancouver failed to closely mark Dwyer and he had chance after chance. Dwyer could have easily had three or four goals if not for a missed timed scoring opportunities in the second half. Your best players have to be your best players and Dwyer stepped up and helped carry Sporting Kansas City to a home opener win.
Following the match Dwyer took time to describe his goals and the terrific build up from his teammates.
"The first one was good pressure in the middle and every time we lost the ball, we pressed hard," said Dwyer. "When they gave it away we had a little counter. And when you don't shoot, you don't score. So I thought I'd have a hit, and I hit all right and it went in. The second one was just great buildup. To me, that was a better goal. It was fantastic buildup Zusi and Chance and the other guys in the middle, and it was just a fantastic team goal."
Vancouver Whitecaps Starting XI: David Ousted; Jordan Smith, Kendall Waston, Tim Parker, Jordan Harvey; Deybi Flores 46 (Kianz Froese), Matias Laba 66 (Blas Perez); Cristian Techera 46 (Fraser Aird), Pedro Morales(C), Kekuta Manneh; Octavo Rivero. 4-2-3-1.
MSporting Kansas City Starting XI: Tim Melia; Chance Myers 82 (Saad Abdul-Salaam), Nuno Andre Coelho, Matt Besler, Amadou Dia; Jordi Quintilla 76 (Jimmy Medranda), Soni Mustivar, Roger Espinoza; Connor Hallisey 77 (Brad Davis), Dom Dwyer, Graham Zusi. 4-3-3
Notes: Kekuta Manneh earned his 50th MLS start.
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