Vancouver Whitecaps v Houston Dynamo – The Story In Pictures
If ever there was a game where Carl Robinson could trot out his “fine lines” spiel after the match, it was this one. Sadly, the Whitecaps had used up all their FLAM (Fine Lines Allocation Money) earlier in the season, so we had to make do with getting our heads around just what happened out there ourselves.
Vancouver Whitecaps dominated a Houston Dynamo team in the second half at BC Place on Friday night. They had 15 shots during the match and a number of close calls, but a combination of poor finishing, dreadful finishing, the woodwork, Joe Willis in the Dynamo goal, bad bounces, and possibly the wreckage of a dozen mirrors and a run over black cat behind the scenes, left the ‘Caps needing a last ditch header from Kendall Waston in stoppage time to save a point.
You can point a lot of fingers at Robbo this season, but he can’t put the ball in the back of the net for these guys. That’s all on the players. A bad night at the office or is the quality simply not there? That’s all for another day.
For now, regular AFTN photographers Tom Ewasiuk (@ResidualImage) and Caroline (@FrogPhoto) were there to capture what action there was before, during and after the game. Here’s their “Story In Pictures”, with a full Flickr slideshow at the end.
[Also check out Tom’s website www.residualimagephotography.com and Caroline’s Instagram for more of their photos and work].
Your Whitecaps starting XI
The blue bloods of the Southside
Kei Kamara had the first chance of the game, heading over a Bernie Ibini cross three minutes in, but there wasn’t a lot of goalmouth action in the opening half hour
Seeing a red card at a Whitecaps game? Surely not
Houston stun the home crowd when Tomas Martinez rifles a low one home from the edge of the box in the 35th minute
Dynamo delight
But Vancouver get back on level terms with a minute of the first half remaining as Kendall Waston does well to keep the ball in and cut it back into the path of Jose Aja
Who shows a finish the ‘Caps forwards could learn from to level things up
His first goal as a Whitecap and in MLS
The second half was a story of what could have been as the Whitecaps had close calls and near misses
Were thwarted by the woodwork
Found Joe Willis in fine form
And whatever this was from Brek Shea
AFTN’s Miss of the Year winner? Let’s hope so, as we don’t want to see another one as bad
Kei consoles him though – it happens to the best of us I’m sure he said
Then there were more close calls
And strong goalkeeping, as Houston were on the ropes but not put away
Which of course only meant one thing, a 90th minute sucker punch from Mauro Manotas to give Houston a 2-1 lead very much against the run of play
But if Houston thought they were going to get their first ever win in Vancouver, Kendall Waston had other ideas
And the ‘Caps captain headed home a dramatic equaliser four minutes into the three minutes of stoppage time added on!
Goooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Look at the sheer joy. Although still two points dropped.
You can see all of Tom and Caroline’s photos from the game HERE and in our full Flickr slideshow below:
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