<i>Match report and post game reaction from the Canadian Championship semi-final second leg clash between Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC.</i>
<b><u>Match Report by Steve Pandher:</u></b>
Vancouver Whitecaps may have won the match by a score of 2-1 but they lost the overall tie on penalties to TFC, eliminating them from the Canadian Championship.
The home side fought back through goals from Erik Hurtado and Pedro Morales after Doniel Henry had scored an early opener for Toronto, but suffered more Voyageurs Cup heartbreak when TFC converted all five of their penalties and Joe Bendik saved from Kekuta Manneh to send the visitors through to final 5-3 on penalties.
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It didn’t take long for TFC to make up the away goal and they opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Doniel Henry scored his first of the tournament.
The ball was sent in from a Michael Bradley free kick which got by a charging Marco Carducci with the help of Nick Hagglund. The ball crashed off the bar and Christian Dean was able to save it off the line but couldn’t clear it too far and Henry was on hand to tap it in.
After that first goal the majority of possession belonged to the Whitecaps and they were able to create a number of chances. The closest ones were from Kekuta Manneh, who had two opportunities around the six yard area with both missing the target.
Despite the possession advantage TFC came close to widening their lead but Carducci came up with a diving stop off a Bradley free kick from 25 yards out. Pedro Morales cleared a header off the line off the ensuing corner.
The Whitecaps gained some life just before halftime when Erik Hurtado scored his second in as many matches to even the score. Morales collected the ball in middle third and floated a pass over the TFC backline, which took a bounce before Hurtado fired it by Joe Bendik.
The second half continued in a similar fashion to the first and the Caps carried the bulk of possession as TFC soaked up the pressure. However it was the visitors with the first chance when after a turnover, Gilberto was sent in on goal but Carducci came up big with a sprawling stop to keep the game even.
A number of chances were created by Vancouver in that second half with Manneh and Morales clear in on goal. Both instances saw a heavy last touch which allowed Bendik to get forward and clear the ball from danger.
With less than five minutes left in regular time the Caps pulled ahead on the night and equalized the semi-final when Henry fouled Hurtado in the box. The penalty would be taken by Morales who beat Bendik for the go ahead in the game and tying one in the series.
With the extra time being mostly uneventful and lacking any clear chances, the semi-final would be decided in penalties.
Bendik came up big as he stopped Manneh in the second round. Both teams converted the remainder of their chances which saw TFC winning the shooutout 5-3 and advance to play the Montreal Impact in the Voyageurs Cup finals.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Marco Carducci; Nigel Reo-Coker, Carlyle Mitchell, Johnny Leverón, Christian Dean (Sebastián Fernández 82’); Russell Teibert, Bryce Alderson (Matías Laba 67th min); Nicolás Mezquida (Omar Salgado 71st min), Pedro Morales, Kekuta Manneh, Erik Hurtado
Substitutes not used
Paolo Tornaghi, Jordan Harvey, Gershon Koffie, Andy O’Brien
Toronto FC
Joe Bendik; Nick Hagglund, Doneil Henry, Bradley Orr, Ashtone Morgan (Mark Bloom 79th min); Issey Nakajima-Farran, Kyle Bekker (Daniel Lovitz 64th min), Michael Bradley, Jonathan Osorio; Luke Moore, Gilberto (Dwayne De Rosario 83rd min)
Substitutes not used
Julio Cesar, Jermain Defoe, Andrew Wiedeman, Ryan Richter
Scoring Summary:
4’ – TOR – Doneil Henry
43’ – VAN – Erik Hurtado
86’ – VAN – Pedro Morales
Penalty Kicks
TOR – Bradley Orr – Scored
VAN – Matías Laba – Scored
TOR – Luke Moore – Scored
VAN – Kekuta Manneh – Saved
TOR – Dwayne De Rosario – Scored
VAN – Sebastián Fernández – Scored
TOR – Michael Bradley – Scored
VAN – Russell Teibert – Scored
TOR – Issey Nakajima-Farran - Scored
Match Stats:
Shots: Vancouver 24 – Toronto 11
Shots on Goal: Vancouver 9 – Toronto 5
Saves: Vancouver 4 – Toronto 7
Fouls: Vancouver 23 – Toronto 21
Offsides: Vancouver 2 – Toronto 3
Corners: Vancouver 9 – Toronto 5
Cautions:
16’ – TOR – Kyle Bekker
29’ – VAN – Carlyle Mitchell
58’ – TOR – Doneil Henry
79’ – VAN – Omar Salgado
89’ – TOR – Bradley Orr
90’+2’ – TOR – Mark Bloom
<b><u>Post game reaction:</u></b>
HEAD COACH CARL ROBINSON
Thoughts on the team’s performance:
“Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. I keep saying I’m proud of them, but what a performance that is. And we won the game today. Obviously we lost the cup tie, but we won the game, but there was only one team that was ever going to win that. We dug ourselves a little hole because they got in with a straight ball like they tried a lot last week in Toronto, but we didn’t give up. We kept fighting, kept creating chances, obviously we took it to extra time. Probably the only disappointing thing is when we got the 2-1 lead goal we got two more chances there in normal time to win the game, and I think that’s the only disappointment because I think they were gone, they were dead on their feet, and then extra time; we got dead on our feet. We got tired and it probably got played out then ‘til penalties.”
On not capitalizing on chances:
“It’s decisions at the right time, but I think today, someone asked me why I’m not playing my strongest team. I said, well tell me what my strongest team is? And that’s the reality of the performance today, players who haven’t played that much football come in and for their first or second game it was absolutely fantastic that they could compete at this level as well.”
On Toronto’s goal and Marco Carducci’s play:
“I think it was an aerial challenge, he looked to foul, I was trying to say to the fourth official it was a foul but, you know he’ll learn from it… but besides that he kept us in it with one or very good saves as well. He had a very solid game.”
GOALKEEPER MARCO CARDUCCI
Thoughts on the match:
“Obviously it’s disappointing. We ended up losing on PKs, but at the end of the day, we win the game, and of course it’s exciting. You play for those moments. For me, I got to experience that with all the fans at home, it was just surreal. I had a lot of fun.”
On pumping up the crowd before penalty kicks:
“Yeah, I thought it was an appropriate time to do that, so it was really great. The fans we have were behind us the whole time. I thought I’d use that to our advantage.”
On traffic in front of the net:
“Yeah I don’t want to make too many comments now. For me, what was important was how I reacted, and I think I did that well. Of course the game’s 90 minutes, 120 minutes sometimes, so you’ve got to just let it go and then continue on with the match.”
DEFENDER CARLYLE MITCHELL
Thoughts on the match:
“I think it was a really great performance, really tired legs. It was a difficult game, and the guys showed heart. We came out, we won the game, but we lose on penalties – but that’s football.”
Thoughts on yellow card:
“Yeah, for sure it was a yellow card, but there was a fall before you know. I tried to even it up, but it was a yellow card. You have to make the right decision.”
Thoughts on Jermain Defoe not playing:
“It doesn’t matter who is there, you know. It’s 11 versus 11. Everyone’s a player. Jermain Defoe could be who. He has to go out and play football.”
STRIKER ERIK HURTADO
Thoughts on the match:
“I couldn’t be more proud of the guys, you know. We actually won the game, but PKs [are] a 50/50 coin toss. As I said, I couldn’t be more proud. At home, [we] worked our butts off. It’s just unfortunate.”
Thoughts on his goal:
“Yeah, we won the ball, and Robbo’s been trying to tell us to move forward. We’re trying to get forward, and I just yelled at Pedro to hit me, and he gave me a great ball. I just ran by the defender, and just had to put it in the back of the net.”
Thoughts on his game:
“I’m playing with good confidence. It just feels good to finally put goals in the back of the net.”
Thoughts on scoring his first goal at home:
“Yeah it was great to score at BC Place in front of the home fans. It was awesome.”
Thoughts on his performance and what it means for the rest of the season:
“We’ve got to take it game by game. We’ve got to focus on practice next week. We get to take a few days off, and now to regenerate our legs. We’ve just got to get focused on the game against Seattle.”
STRIKER OMAR SALGADO
Thoughts on game:
“Yeah it was great. It was a great atmosphere and it was a great game. It was a really fun game to play in. It was unfortunate we couldn’t get pass the next round, but I think we should be proud of ourselves.”
Thoughts on nearly scoring at the end of regulation:
“No I didn’t hear the first whistle. I heard the second whistle after I scored, so it was unfortunate. I just want to get a goal. A goal we needed to get through. So unfortunate, but on to the next one.”
Thoughts on his scoring chance and collision:
“It was just a fast thing. The keeper was coming at me. I had a defender on the side. I just tried to poke it somewhere. The keeper was coming straight at me. I don’t really know what happened after that. Everyone collided, and the ball just kind of bounced up everywhere. It was just unfortunate.”
TORONTO FC
HEAD COACH RYAN NELSEN
Thoughts on the match:
“I thought it was a thrilling game for the crowd. It was a really good spectacle for the Canadian Cup. It was two young teams out there and with a bit of experience on both teams. It was just a really good competitive game.”
On the floater shots taken on Marco Carducci:
“I’m not going to apologize for it, he’s a young keeper, he’s 17 and hopefully games like this he’ll learn. That’s how you do it as a young kid. I thought he was very good today. He’s got a great future and all that, but when you’re a young kid and you’re in goal on a situation, be ready for it.”
On coming into the game up 2-1:
“Well I think that unfortunately that late goal at Toronto kept them in the tie. We knew we were going to get a chance here; we knew we were going to score here. And it would’ve been over, and so that kind of kept them in there. We played a really young team as well, very inexperienced guys that played together. You know we had Luke [Moore] who has just turned up on our team, we had Daniel Lovitz come on, and Nick Hagglund, and it was his first game in probably six or seven weeks, so actually in terms of minutes played their guys played a lot more minutes probably than our guys.”
Performance of Joe Bendik:
“We just expect that of Joe now. That’s why he’s one of the best goalkeepers in the league. He’s got such a bright future, and I wouldn’t be surprised after this World Cup if he gets a call-up.”
GOALKEEPER JOE BENDIK
On tonight’s performance:
“I thought it was really good. All the guys who came on, all the guys who were starters, they played 120-plus minutes, that’s tough to do especially after all the travel and we have a game on Saturday, so mentally, that’s incredible from all those guys. I can’t speak enough about them.”
On whether he guessed or kind of knew where Manneh was going with the penalty kick:
“I saw in both games that he had a little tendency – he liked that side. Every time he cut in, he would try to go for that near post. I told myself at the beginning of the game, or last night, that if we went to penalties, then he would go that way, I ran it through my head. I knew I just had to make one save and the guys would finish them off.”
On TFC’s 5-for-5 showing in PKs:
“The guys are top class. We took penalties the other day in training and I think I saved maybe one. They were incredible tonight. Their finishes were incredible. To come down to the wire like that, then to finish it so well is a good characteristic for this team.”
On whether the match gave him personal satisfaction, in showing his abilities, even though he’s backing up Cesar:
“Of course. Every day in training, we still talk, Julio and I, so there’s no difference in the way that we train, the way that we play, and I think that both our performances show that. For Julio, the guy wins everywhere he goes, so maybe he’s rubbing off for TFC.”
On playing Montreal in the ACC finals:
“I like it. I think I speak for everybody – we’d rather go to Montreal than to Edmonton. I like the rivals, also it cuts down on our travel for the league, so that’s nice, but it’s good to have that rivalry so close.”
DEFENDER DONEIL HENRY
Thoughts on the match:
“I thought it was really competitive, I thought both teams really did play well. At some points, we were in possession and really attacking-minded. Vancouver really did fight back.”
Thoughts on his goal:
“I credit that to the team 100%. It wouldn’t have been anything without Nick’s first effort to go out and challenge it. I was hungry to get a goal – I’m just happy to help the team get an away goal, it was very important. You could see the boys battled really hard and we did it.”
On the play that got Whitecaps FC a penalty kick:
“You can ask the referee. Very questionable to me. In that situation and position, I don’t see why it’s a penalty. At the end of the day, he makes the calls and we won the game - a little karma.”
On whether Toronto was lucky to get away with being down 2-1 after regulation after Vancouver dominated play:
“We’re definitely not lucky. This is a team that works hard and in Toronto, I thought that we should have had a lot more goals and lucky that they scored in the dying parts of the game. No, this is a team that definitely put in a lot of work. Everything that we have went into making it to the finals. I think we really do deserve it.”
On TFC’s penalty kick prowess:
“We did it in training on Monday and some of the penalties were really good. Including myself, I was ready if I got my chance to step up. A game is not only 90 minutes. Sometimes it goes into overtime, golden goal, and sometimes it’s decided by penalty kicks. We were ready for the situation if it got to it, and we took full advantage.”
On how they will fare against New York on Saturday with the quick turnaround:
“I think that all the guys are in high spirits right now and definitely riding with a lot of confidence. We’ll do what we have to do to recover and fully regenerate our bodies, but otherwise, I’m ready for New York. A couple of guys got some rest and I feel really positive going into the weekend.”
On playing Montreal in ACC final.
“Bittersweet. Last year’s qualifying semi-final round, we faced Montreal and beat them 2-0 at home, and then got spanked away. We didn’t go to the finals, obviously. Definitely when we get the chance to face Montreal, we’re going in there with everything to get those two legs, to go in there and bring the Canadian Cup back to Toronto.”
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