Report and Reaction: Second half double sets up Seattle showdown for Whitecaps in CONCACAF Champions Cup

Vancouver Whitecaps had to wait for a pair of second half goals from Kenji Cabrera and Sebastian Berhalter to finally dispatch a gutsy and defensively resolute Cartagines side at BC Place on Wednesday evening.

The 2-0 scoreline on the night, and on aggregate, doesn’t really tell the tale of the Whitecaps’ dominance over the two legs, but as with Saprissa last year, they were given a tough test from the Costa Rican side and struggled to break them down. But they did, keeping two cleans sheets and not allowing a single shot on goal over the two legs.

That early test against Saprissa last year set the ‘Caps up well for the rest of the competition and the season. Let’s hope it’s the same again and another run in the competition lies ahead.

Jesper Sorensen made two changes for the Whitecaps from the first leg, and four from the team that started Saturday’s win over RSL, with Mathias Laborda and Andres Cubas being rested and Ralph Priso and Oliver Larrez coming in to start and Jeevan Badwal getting another look in the number 10 role. Cartagines made one change to their starting line-up from the first leg, with Jose Mora coming in for J.C. Gaete.

The Costa Ricans came out on the front foot and, with the away goals rule very much on their minds, showed more attacking intent in the opening 10 minutes than they did for most of the first leg a week ago. All they had to show for it, however, was an in-swinging corner from Douglas Lopez that Yohei Takaoka had to tip over from under his cross bar.

The Whitecaps were slow to get their foothold on the match, but Badwal’s cross into the box was sliced over from Fernan Faerron and Priso headed the subsequent corner over in the 10th minute.

It was proving to be slim pickings for Vancouver, with a Cabrera cross in the 21st minute, that just eluded Brian White, the closest they came to creating anything.

Three minutes later though, the ‘Caps should have been ahead. Berhalter played the ball inside to Badwal and his neat footwork in the box saw it played to White in front of goal but his weak shot was cleared off the goalline by Carlos Barahona. Anywhere else than where White put it and Vancouver would have had the lead.

White headed over a Badwal cross two minutes later before Berhalter had an effort from distance, as the ‘Caps started to turn up the pressure.

Emmanuel Sabbi had a superb spin and shot in the 36th minute, which Kevin Briceno saved and just managed to get on the rebound before Edier Ocampo pounced.

Three minutes later and the ‘Caps had the chance to finally break the deadlock when they got a penalty after a handball was blown in the box. It felt harsh, but justice was perhaps served when Briceno produced a fantastic stop to deny White and the teams headed in level on the night and with the tie still very much in the balance.

With that in mind, Sorensen brought Thomas Müller on for the second half in place of Larraz and he was immediately involved in the action, crashing an Ocampo cross off the right post in the 51st minute.

The Whitecaps were laying siege to the Cartagines box and it was feeling a case of when, rather than if, the opening goal would come. And we didn’t have to wait too much longer as it came six minutes later.

Berhalter whipped in a corner from the right and Tristan Blackmon and Müller seemed to put each other off as they both attacked the ball. It broke off Blackmon to Cabrera at the back of the box and he produced a nice finish to whip it past Briceno and the ‘Caps led 1-0.

Berhalter didn’t miss by much from a free kick in the 66th minute and neither did Ricardo Marquez moments later for Cartagines. The visitor’s chance saw the flag raised for offside, but it was certainly a reminder for the Whitecaps if they needed it that an away goal would totally change the game.

There was another scare for the ‘Caps in the 74th minute when a Luis Flores Cordero free kick went through everyone forcing a low save from Takaoka, with no-one able to put away the rebound for Cartagines.

The right post denied Müller again three minutes later when his low curler crashed off it with the keeper beaten.

Vancouver finally got their second assurance goal with 10 minutes remaining. Berhalter got the ball from AZ Jackson and saw his first shot blocked, only to blast the rebound into the postage stamp corner to finally put the tie to bed.

Jackson brought a good diving save out of Briceno in the 85th minute before Andres Cubas picked up a soft yellow, his second of the competition, and will now miss the first leg against Seattle in the next round.

It was a solid, workmanlike performance from the ‘Caps with a mixture of positives and concerns to take from it.

Badwal seems to be growing into the attacking midfielder role he’s been given over these two games and could be an interesting option moving forward for games where Müller is deemed to need some rest. Jackson looked lively again when he came on, Müller is finding his groove, and Cabrera is slowly integrating into the team mix, which hopefully won’t be set back by any potential injury he picked up late in the game. Then there’s the defence, which is rotating nicely and has kept three straight clean sheets to start the year.

But the rhythm definitely is still missing. Understandably, but still concerncing. Sorensen spoke post game about them need to not be so rushed and to slow things down a little. They are at least creating chances, but the finishing isn’t quite there yet and it’s fair to say that White feels a little off the pace right now. That’ll all come though and after Saturday’s game against Toronto they have a full week to work on things.

Bring on Seattle!

FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 2 – 0 Cartagines

ATT: 15,517

VANCOUVER: 1.Yohei Takaoka; 18.Édier Ocampo (2.Mathías Laborda 85’), 33.Tristan Blackmon, 6.Ralph Priso, 28.Tate Johnson; 16.Sebastian Berhalter, 8.Oliver Larraz (13.Thomas Müller HT); 11.Emmanuel Sabbi (22.AZ 62’), 59.Jeevan Badwal, 17.Kenji Cabrera (20.Andrés Cubas 72’); 24.Brian White (19.Rayan Elloumi 72’) [Substitutes not used: 30.Adrían Zendejas, 32.Isaac Boehmer, 26.J.C. Ngando, 29.Mihail Gherasimencov, 41.Nikola Djordjevic]

CARTAGINES: 1.Kevin Briceño; 18.Carlos Barahona, 20.Diego Mesén, 3.Fernán Faerron, 19.Diego González (5.Marcelo Pereira 55’); 31.José Mora (13.Juan Gaete 55’), 8.Douglas López (28.Enzo Fernández 66’), 15.Luis Flores, 24.Suhander Zúñiga (16.Geancarlo Castro 82’); 21.Ricardo Márquez (6.Claudio Montero 82’), 10.Cristopher Nuñez [Substitutes not used: 33.Christopher Moya, 34.Darien Hidalgo, 2.Randal Cordero, 11.Leonardo Alfaro, 26.Bernald Alfaro]

SCORING SUMMARY:
58’ – VAN – Kenji Cabrera (Tristan Blackmon)
80’ – VAN – Sebastian Berhalter

STATS:
Possession: VAN 67.6% – CSC 32.4%
Shots: VAN 21 – CSC 5
Shots on Goal: VAN 6 – CSC 0
Saves: VAN 0 – CSC 3
Fouls: VAN 10 – CSC 14
Offsides: VAN 1 – CSC 1
Corners: VAN 7 – CSC 3

CAUTIONS:
28’ – CSC – Suhander Zúñiga
37’ – CSC – Luis Flores
45’+1 – VAN – Emmanuel Sabbi
45’+1 – CSC – Douglas López
73’ – VAN – Édier Ocampo
85’ – VAN – Andrés Cubas

REACTION:

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

JESPER SORENSEN

On tonight’s performance:

“We didn’t have the best start. We didn’t get the flow, we made some stupid decisions, but it got better and better towards the end of the first half. Then in the second half, we really pushed the gas pedal down. And I think that it looked good in the second half. It was the same as last year, we were at halftime and it was nil-nil even though we were dominant. But we knew that it might be the case that we wouldn’t finish it off early. So we had to have the patience and also not start being frustrated, and I think the players in the second half really played with pace but still with patience, and not opening up and playing too hectic and too fast.”

On Kenji Cabrera:

“Kenji is a very talented and skillful player, and he should be having the confidence that he can also be a determinant player for us, a guy that can determine the score and outcome of games. He has to work harder and bring himself in better physical condition, but he’s a great talent and he had a little bit of an abrupt fall after he came [last summer], because he was all the time away with the Peruvian national team when he actually had to get into and know his teammates better. But he’s a talented player and he just needs to work hard for taking the next steps. And then he can also be a very decisive player for us, because his finishing abilities, his touch on the ball, his shots are very good and he is also good on the header. He should be able to take the next steps.”

MIDFIELDER SEBASTIAN BERHALTER

On the series:

“Credit to them, they did well over two legs. They defended hard and gave us a tough time. The first half was a little sloppy, and the second half we kicked into another gear. Thomas [Müller] made a big difference. It’s nice to be on to the next round.”

On keeping level headed:

“All of last year, we’ve been in positions like this. So we’re prepared and Jesper was telling us against Saprissa [last year] we had that same situation, we were zero-zero going into the second half and we didn’t panic. We knew we would get the goal, so it was just about being consistent and not trying to get ahead of ourselves.”