Vancouver Whitecaps v Chicago Fire – The Story In Pictures

Posted on July 9, 2018 by Michael McColl in MLS, VANCOUVER WHITECAPS with 1 Comment

Two teams with similar records and similar inconsistency. This one could have gone either way, and the result was perhaps unsurprisingly still up in the air right up to the final whistle.

Thankfully for Vancouver Whitecaps, despite their best attempts to throw away another couple of points through an inability to see out matches, the ‘Caps defence held on under intense late Fire pressure to avoid being burned and come away with a 3-2 win thanks to a Kei Kamara double and a first MLS goal from Jordon Mutch.

Regular AFTN photographer Tom Ewasiuk (@ResidualImage) was there to capture the action before, during and after the game. Here’s their “Story In Pictures”, with a full Flickr slideshow at the end.

Your Vancouver Whitecaps starting XI

The Southsiders were in full voice for the start of this one

After a spell of early pressure and chances, Vancouver finally took the lead when Richard Sanchez could only parry a Yordy Reyna shot

And the ball fell to Kei Kamara to fired home from close range

Celebration time!

Alphonso Davies nearly made it two minutes later when he was in on goal

But he could only look on in agony as Sanchez tipped the ball onto the woodwork

I’m not going to lie, Chicago’s Mr Tambourine Man was seriously getting on my tits the entire match

But he at least had something to bang it for three minutes before half time when Nemanja Nikolic hit home the equaliser

The ‘Caps started the second half brightly though and Efrain Juarez’s long ball forward saw Jordon Mutch in on goal

And after what felt like an age of waiting for the ball to sit properly on the turf, the Englishman put the Whitecaps back into the lead in the 47th minute

The joy of your first goal in MLS

The ‘Caps looked to have put the game to bed in the 72nd minute after great work by Alphonso Davies, who cut the ball back for the second time in the match

His first one had not takers, but Kamara was on hand this time to hit his second, and Vancouver’s third, of the match

Chicago fought back though and former Whitecap Tony Tchani game Brian Rowe no chance with an 81st minute rocket to make it 3-2

No celebration though

Chicago kept pushing and had a couple of good chances to share the points

But were exasperated that they couldn’t and Vancouver grabbed three vital ones in the end

You can see all of Tom’s photos from the game HERE and in our full Flickr slideshow below: