VANCOUVER, B.C - The Vancouver Whitecaps took on floundering Houston Dynamo, a team struggling at the bottom of the MLS western conference and minus Manager Owen Coyle who stepped down from his position on Wednesday. Nevertheless, the makeshift Dynamo caught the Whitecaps by surprise as both teams settled for a 1-1 draw. A crowd of 22,120 watch another MLS referee have an unfortunate impact on the match. Houston's Alex, and Vancouver's Pedro Morales were both given straight red cards for an altercation just before halftime. Carl Robinson was once against watching his words as he provide his comments.
"I might as well just press play, I'm not sure. I just spoke to my player there, and again, I'm disappointed. I don't like red cards. I think they spoil games and we've seen it a number of times. I'm not allowed to speak to the referee and they don't speak after, so I'm not sure why, I've got told he got sent off for pushing him in the face. Pedro says he didn't touch him in the face. Again, I haven't seen it. If he's pushed him in the face it's a red card. I'm not going to sit here and say he shouldn't get a red card. If he hasn't touched him in the face, then I'm not sure."
Houston Dynamo Assistant Coach Wade Barrett had a different matter of opinion on the red card controversy.
"You know what, I've had to referee in practice and the referees have a tough job. I will never criticize a referee."
Canadian midfielder Russell Teibert was in the thick of things during the first half altercation and shared his thoughts.
"You see Pedro getting pushed in the face. If I'm right, and you get pushed in the face or touched in the face, it's a red card. I didn't see what Pedro did."
Vancouver should have earned all three points against a Houston team in turmoil, but that was not the case. You can put it down to a match with a pair of lost points for the Whitecaps, but that's not something Teibert want to hear about.
"I think that would be the negative way to look at it, two-points lost. The positive is one-point gained and that could be a crucial point coming down at the end of the season."
The Opening 45
The Whitecaps were minus a trio of players due to Copa America preparations. The absence of Kendall Waston, Christian Bolanos, and Blas Perez meant that Russell Teibert, Octavio Rivero, Jordan Smith, and Andrew Jacobson earned a start. Carl Robinson elected to go with a 4-4-1-1 formation with Kekuta Manneh supporting Rivero up top.
Houston opened the scoring in the 20' minute as skipper DeMarcus Beasley cut through the Whitecaps effort and poor attempts to tackle him. The former U.S. international fired his shot top corner on David Ousted to put Houston out in front. Alex and Boniek Garcia earned assists as they helped setup the tally which really put the Whitecaps and the crowd on the back foot.
Referee Drew Fischer made his mark on the match in the 42' minute as he decided to issue red cards to Alex and Pedro Morales. Alex appeared to catch Morales with a punch as both teams gathered for some pushing and shoving in the Houston half. After a mass confrontation Fischer harshly sent both players off. The crowd was clearly unhappy as Morales really did nothing to warrant a sending off. Both teams were reduced to 10-men as they headed into the internal with Houston leading 1-0 thanks to Beasley.
The Second Half
The chippy and physical play that closed out the first half continued at the start of second half. Goalkeeper Tyler Deric went down holding his head after a close play in the Houston box. Replays indicated that his head did not strike anything at all. Referee Drew Fischer clearly did not have a handle on the match as both teams were not happy with his decisions.
The Whitecaps would find an equalizer in the 52' minute off a corner. The ball was headed into the box and off a bounce, Octavio Rivero smashed a volley top corner into the Houston net. For the struggling Rivero, that was just his second goal this season. The Caps found a way to get back into the match after having their best player sent off and they looked to take the lead.
Vancouver had chance after chances to go ahead 2-1, but it was just not happening. Cristian Techera was set up in close by Kekuta Manneh and he flubbed his shot on target. Deric leaped to push the ball over the crossbar. Andrew Jacobson connected on a Vancouver Whitecaps corner in the 79' minute, but struck the famous crossbar. The effort was there, but not the end result.
The talking points from this match will clearly be the sending off to Alex and Pedro Morales. While we await to see what length of suspension Kendall Waston receives, Pedro Morales may also miss some time as Vancouver now leads MLS with 6 red cards.
Man of the Match
Octavio Rivero
Ever since Darren Mattocks has left the Whitecaps organization, Octavio Rivero has drawn the most criticism of any Whitecaps player this season. He was fantastic against Houston and helped Vancouver salvage a point, then they really did not look like a team that was ready to perform in the opening forty-five. This particular match could be just what the Uruguayan needs to get on a hot streak and carry the Whitecaps, not that they'll be without striker Masato Kudo, and Blas Perez.
Vancouver Whitecaps Starting XI: David Ousted; Jordan Smith, Andrew Jacobson, Tim Parker, Jordan Harvey; Cristian Techera 79 (Erik Hurtado), Matias Laba, Russell Teibert 90 (Kianz Froese), Pedro Morales(C); Kekuta Manneh 90 (Nicolas Mezquida); Octavio Rivero. 4-4-1-1.
Houston Dynamo Starting XI: Tyler Deric; Sheanon Williams, David Horst, Raul Rodríguez, DeMarcus Beasley(C); Andrew Wenger, Ricardo Clark, Collen Warner, Boniek García 73 (Leonel Miranda), Alex; Will Bruin 61 (Mauro Manotas) . 4-5-1
Notes: David Ousted earned his 100th start for Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
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