VANCOUVER, B.C - The hectic schedule of the Vancouver Whitecaps continued Saturday night in Sandy, Utah as they took on Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium. Carl Robinson's side played their third match in eight days as they looked to shake off a stretch of sub-par post World Cup break matches.
This was a heated match between two rival Western Conference foes that featured a combined seven yellow cards and a thrilling second half of action that saw a pair of goals. Vancouver scored on a penalty kick before a Joao Plata blast rescued a point for Real Salt Lake in a 1-1 draw in front of 20,265 fans.
Real Salt Lake Coach Jeff Cassar was understandably not pleased with the penalty decision that went against his team.
“It’s not a PK. It’s 100 percent not a PK – I just watched it again. I wish the referee would, you know, be positive [about a call like that]. I went up to him afterwards and asked him ‘are you sure about that call?’ He said ‘pretty sure.’ It’s a PK in the box – you need to be sure. You can’t be ‘almost right’ about those types of calls. Maybe in the middle of the field, you can get away with that, but not a PK. It changes the game, changes the momentum. I was really not pleased with that call."
Darren Mattocks converted from the spot after Nat Borchers was thought to have tackled him from behind. Replays showed that Borchers got all of the ball and Vancouver should not have been given a penalty. Added to the drama, tempers flared between these two clubs throughout the match and Joao Plata scored in the 81' to send each team away with one point.
Nat Borchers disagreed with the call that went against him and he was not confident the referee was sure of the call he made on the pitch.
"I didn’t think it was a penalty obviously. I think that in that situation, the referee needs to be a hundred percent sure if they’re going to make that call. I felt like I got the ball first, and unfortunately he didn’t think that way."
Carl Robinson made an astounding six changes to his starting lineup that played to a 1-1 draw with Toronto FC earlier this week. Jordan Harvey returned from his one game suspension to start at left-back, while Gershon Koffie and Mehdi Ballouchy both started in a defensive holding position. The most significant changes came in the midfield as Sebastian Fernandez, Nicolas Mezquida and Omar Salgado all started. For Salgado, this was his first MLS start since May 19, 2012, when the Whitecaps played Seattle to a 2-2 draw. The Caps started this match in a familiar 4-2-3-1 formation.
Erik Hurtado, Kekuta Manneh, Russell Teibert, Matias Laba and Pedro Morales all started this match on the bench. Nigel Reo Coker was not on the match day roster because he was in New York City with his wife and baby daughter. David Ousted wore the captain's arm-band for the fist time in his MLS career and following the match he talked about how much he felt Vancouver played in a tough environment.
"Three games in a week now. It was tough. Coming here is always tough and we knew it was going to be a game where we needed to be smart about how we played and not let them dictate too much of the game. I thought we did really well and kudos to the team. If we were a little bit luckier, we might have gotten away with three points, but 1-1 is probably a fair result."
The Opening 45
Real Salt Lake had a glorious opportunity to open the scoring two minutes into the match. Carlyle Mitchell fouled Joao Plata outside the Whitecaps box and the home side was awarded a free kick. Javier Morales took the free kick and his shot cleared the wall before being tipped over the bar by an alert, leaping David Ousted.
Joao Plata had a partial breakaway at the 10' when he was able to get past a ball watching Carlyle Mitchell. Plata was only able to get a weak shot on target because Mitchell did well to get back and keep the Ecuadorian to the outside. Ousted made a relatively easy save.
In his third game since returning from the World Cup with the U.S. National Team, Kyle Beckerman picked up a needless yellow card. The Real Salt Lake captain delivered a dangerous tackle to the legs of Nicolas Mezquida and referee Edvin Jurisevic did not hesitate in giving him a yellow card in the 17'.
Real Salt Lake controlled the first thirty minutes of the match and had the majority of chances. The Whitecaps looked gassed by the 35C temperatures and they gave the ball away to Real Salt Lake on too many occasions. The visitors gave up unguarded headers in the box and a pair of free kicks to Javier Morales. The possession battle heavily favoured Real Salt Lake 69% to 31% at the 30' mark of the opening forty-five.
The Whitecaps had a first half injury scare when Javier Morales caught Steven Beitashour with elbow to the back of his head. Beitashour went down on the pitch for a few moments before continuing on in the match. Edvin Jurisevic did not see the incident and thus Morales was not issued a card.
Vancouver looked to finally have their legs under them with a few minutes to go in the first half. Darren Mattocks made some terrific runs down the left flank and Gershon Koffie had an attempt on goal that almost caught Nick Rimando napping. The Ghanaian midfielder tried a shot from distance that looked to be heading into the far right corner, however the ball missed the net and went out for a Whitecaps corner because of a Real Salt Lake deflection.
Real Salt Lake looked poised to score in the early stages of the match, but when they came up empty they appeared to run out of ideas. The Whitecaps got going just before the break, and they started to finally look dangerous on offense. The home side carried a 64% - 36% possession advantage and a 2-0 shots on target advantage as both teams headed into the interval with the scored tied 0-0.
The Second Half
Neither manager decided to make any substitutions before the second half kicked off. Carl Robinson elected to wait and see how the first fifteen minutes of the second half would unfold before deciding on his lineup alterations. He was quite pleased with the way his team battled against Real Salt Lake. Vancouver wasn't willing to back down in a hostile stadium and he was happy with the showing his team put forth.
“It doesn't matter how big they are, because I've got a very small team. That they’re willing to fight for the jersey. The camaraderie, the spirit they've got, it’s fantastic, it really is, and we’re going to need that if we want to be challenging at the end of the season for the playoffs. To come here twice this year and get a point on each time is a fantastic achievement for us, against a team that’s been in playoffs every year, really, and won the MLS Cup. So it’s a good starting block for us."
Jeff Cassar was the gaffer that blinked first as he made a double substitution in the 58'. Robbie Findley and Luke Mulholland entered the match for Devon Sandoval and Luis Gil. Real Salt Lake looked to add a punch of offense as they've struggled to score goals since Alvaro Saborio went down with a fractured foot in May.
Not to be outdone, Carl Robinson also made a substitution in the 63' as he wanted to shore up his team on the defensive side of the ball. Matias Laba made his way onto the pitch, and Mehdi Ballouchy left for the bench. It looked as if Erik Hurtado would be the first sub for Vancouver, but at the last moment Robinson decided to go with a more defensive-minded player. Hurtado did eventually enter the match in the 65' for Omar Salgado.
Robbie Findley went down like a sack of potatoes in the 68'. Carlyle Mitchell made little contact with the 28 year-old and Real Salt Lake was awarded a dubious free kick. Javier Morales stepped up for his third free kick of the match and he fired well over the bar as the Caps defenders were lucky not to be whistled for encroachment.
In the 73' minute Vancouver earned the gift of a penalty as Nat Borchers got all of the ball as he tracked down Darren Mattocks inside the Real Salt Lake box. Mattocks went to ground and Edvin Jurisevic harshly awarded a bogus penalty. With Pedro Morales still on the bench, Mattocks stepped up and slotted the ball to the right of Nick Rimando who dove to the wrong side. For Mattocks, that was his second of goal in as many games. The Jamaican striker wasn't worried about the fans inside Rio Tinto Stadium that were upset with the penalty call. Mattocks wanted to do the best he could for his team in that situation and echoed that post-match.
"There are going to be a lot of calls that fans don’t agree with in MLS – that’s up to the referee to make, the decision to give a penalty kick. My job is to try to do my best to help the team win."
Tensions boiled over at midfield as Real Salt Lake wanted to resume the match after the Mattocks goal. Pushing and shoving from both players ensued and Rio Tinto Stadium security came onto the pitch. Sebastian Fernandez and Matias Laba were issued a yellow cards. David Ousted was also given a yellow card for leaving his box and charging up to midfield. Moments later Tony Beltran fouled Fernandez and he was given a yellow card from Jurisevic.
Jeff Cassar thought that the midfield scuffle helped give his team a much-needed boost of energy for the duration of the match.
"I’m not exactly sure why that all happened, but I think everyone was getting a bit frustrated. I think it was because the referee didn’t control the game. For us, we need to have cooler heads – that’s for sure – but it also gave us a little boost."
The Whitecaps looked to add a veteran presence on the pitch as tensions were close to boiling over. Pedro Morales entered for Sebastian Fernandez in the 78'.
Real Salt Lake was quite upset by the bogus penalty call that was awarded against them and that helped motivate them to try to seek out a goal to even up the match. They were able to tie the score at 1-1 in the 81' when Joao Plata was given absolutely all the time and space in the world.
Vancouver was over-shifted to left-side of the pitch and Kyle Beckerman sent in a terrific cross to Plata on the right flank. With no Whitecaps player anywhere near, he took his time in sending a sublime strike towards the Caps net and past David Ousted. Steven Beitashour attempted to rush over to cover Plata, but he was too late getting across and the Ecuadorian striker scored his 8th goal of the season to rescue a point for his team.
Man of the Match
Johnny Leverón
The Honduran centre back was fantastic in the middle of the back-four for the Whitecaps. He was in great position for all ninety minutes and he did a bang up job tracking and containing Javier Morales and Joao Plata. Leverón has stepped up in the absence of Andy O'Brien and Jay DeMerit. The Whitecaps have found a gem in Jonny Leverón, and tonight was a wonderful example of how well he can play against tough opposition like a Real Salt Lake.
Honourable mention
Javier Morales gave the Whitecaps fits. He was under the skin of many players on the Caps side of the pitch and he also delivers a pair of elbows to Whitecaps players. Not only did Morales stick out like a sore thumb, but he was also one of the best offensive threats on the pitch for Real Salt Lake. Morales had numerous chances to score via a free kick, and he was a threat whenever he touched the ball. Morales was a big factor in this match.
Vancouver Whitecaps Starting XI: David Ousted(C); Steven Beitashour, Carlyle Mitchell, Johnny Leverón, Jordan Harvey; Gershon Koffie, Mehdi Ballouchy; Sebastian Fernández, Nicolas Mezquida, Omar Salgado; Darren Mattocks. (4-2-3-1)
Real Salt Lake Starting XI: Nick Rimando; Tony Beltran, Chris Schuler, Nat Borchers, Chris Wingert; Kyle Beckerman(C), Luis Gil, Ned Grabavoy, Javier Morales; Joao Plata, Devon Sandoval. (4-4-2 - Diamond)
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