Show me a team that can win ugly and I'll show you a team that will win trophies.
Now don't get me wrong. In no way am I saying right now that Vancouver Whitecaps are going to be anywhere close to being MLS champions, but look back at some of the best championship sides around the world over the years and you'll see teams that have won with late goals, undeserved victories, lots of luck and avoided losing despite playing poorly.
If you are a Caps fans, the game in Columbus was not an enjoyable one to watch for most of the ninety minutes.
You just kept waiting for the sky to fall in, but this isn't the 2011 Whitecaps we're talking about and that's a big difference and why we're now sitting on 14 points after eight games.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Somehow, we came away from Ohio with three points and that's ultimately the main thing that matters.
I'm half expecting the team to turn up at training on Monday wearing highwayman's masks.
The Whitecaps performance was like some of my old girlfriends. Not the prettiest but it got the job done.
And like some of those girls, they were tight at the back but a bit sloppy up front.
That was one hell of a test for the Whitecaps defence and they held firm. I'm still not quite sure how, but they did.
It's getting to the stage that we just need to cut and paste this in to the reports every week, but once again, Y-P Lee was immense.
It was great to see him get his first goal in a Caps jersey, as flukey as it was, and we certainly had lady luck on our side at times.
When Columbus has two goals disallowed in the opening minutes, you feared the worst.
Full credit to Lee, Martin Bonjour and Jun Marques Davidson for helping us to our sixth clean sheet in eight games.
Rennieball isn't going to be spectacular to watch at times, especially away from home, but the team that Martin built is going to be hard to break down.
We just need to work on the fact that when teams do get that breakthrough, it can go off the rails big time.
Jay DeMerit had a shocker out there for the first hour, and the US international was shown up time and again by rookie Aaron Schoenfeld. He was only saved more embarrassment by the 22 year old going off injured in the 57th minute and then DeMerit came on to a game and was the Jay of old.
With the midfield we had out there, it was never going to be spectacular and full of flair. You had three workmanlike performers, but you knew that magical spark wasn't likely to come.
The overall passing of the team was pretty disappointing. A 68% passing accuracy for an away game, in which you want to try and have some control on the match and what you do in it, is worrisome.
Not as much as the 37.2% possession stats though. Columbus must be looking at the overall post game stats and wondering how the hell they didn't get something from this game. But even after all that, they only managed two shots on target, compared to Vancouver's three. Therein lies the tale.
Our attack is so lacking something right now.
We badly missed Camilo out there, just to give some spark, if not all round team effort. Sebastien Le Toux needs to be playing as an out and out striker. He's being wasted.
Omar Salgado had some good glimpses and I like what I'm seeing from the kid recently. He seems to have a whole new attitude and zest for life.
Then we come to Eric Hassli.
I'm not going to dwell on his drought quite yet. He knows he's not scoring, we all know he's not scoring, and the frustration was played out in front of everyone when he was subbed off in the 73rd minute and took it out on the dugout.
I'm happy to see he was angry and frustrated. I would like to think that it's because he didn't score rather than the fact he was taken off. We'll try and find that out.
What Hassli, and the whole team, needs right now is some pressure from the squad members.
The attack in particular have it fairly easy with Darren Mattocks and Etienne Barbara still being injured. By the end of next month, they should hopefully be in a position to challenge for a starting place and then we'll see the competition for spots that will hopefully provide a vital spark.
It's going to be interesting to see what kind of team Martin Rennie puts out against Edmonton on Wednesday.
We'll get a rough idea on Tuesday, as the players that are not travelling will be training in Vancouver in the morning, with the rest training in Edmonton later that day.
I'm a little torn. We shouldn't, and can't afford to, take Edmonton too lightly, but should be more than strong enough to see them off with a mix of first teamers and fringe players.
The reserve guys struggled a little in their last two games (against Washington Huskies and Portland Timbers), especially up front, so I would be a little bit nervous about relying solely on them to get the job done.
I think we'll see players like Cannon, DeMerit and Le Toux staying in BC, but I'd like to see Hassli get the start and hopefully get some confidence boosting goals. That could backfire of course, if he then doesn't score and feels he couldn't score against a D2 side.
No offence intended to Edmonton, but you would expect your DP striker to find the net on such an occasion.
I'm confident with whoever plays at the back, especially with Carlyle Mitchell, and Alain Rochat is rumoured to be aiming at getting back into action at Commonwealth Stadium.
A good performance from some players in this game, could make Rennie's starting choices a lot more interesting.
The main thing is to come away with a win and no injuries.
Saturday's upcoming game against San Jose is huge. They already hold a five point gap and giving them eight, even at this early stage, will be a hard ask to claw back the way they are playing.
The strikers are due a break out game soon. There would be no better time to do it than against the Conference leaders.
'Mon the Caps.
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<b>AFTN 3-2-1 :</b>
3 points - YOUNG-PYO LEE (Running out of superlatives, but deserves all the praise going)
2 points - JOE CANNON (Another couple of big saves that kept us in the match and ultimately helped us to the win)
1 point - JUN MARQUES DAVIDSON (Understated in many ways, but is such a key cog to the whole backline now)
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