The Vancouver Whitecaps extended their lead in the race for the 2014 Cascadia Cup with a big 1-0 win at BC Place over the Seattle Sounders FC in front of a sell-out crowd on Saturday night. The Whitecaps win solidified their position at fifth place in the Western Conference. The Whitecaps Now have a four-point cushion over the Los Angeles Galaxy and Portland Timbers while the Sounders lead in the Supporters' Shield decreased to seven over DC United and Real Salt Lake.
The sell-out crowd was brought to their feet in the 12th minute by a wonder-strike from midfielder Sebastian Fernandez. Fernandez found the ball at his feet thirty-five yards from goal with some space. The former Miramar Misiones midfielder turned towards the target firing a hard shot bending away from goalkeeper Stefan Frei. The shot caught Frei moving the wrong direction and sailed past the Swiss keeper to give Vancouver the early 1-0 lead.
Vancouver would continue to press the issue throughout the first half with the majority of the possession and scoring chances. Kekuta Manneh had the next best look in the 25th minute off of a diagonal ball to the corner of the 18-yard box. Manneh would take a few touches before cutting back into the middle of the field. He fired a low shot to the left of Frei forcing a quick fall to keep the difference at 1.
12 minutes later Manneh split the center backs to get a clear path at goal. He tried to catch Frei low and to the right as the keeper came out to challenge but Frei was able to get his foot out to make the block. The ball would find its way out to Erik Hurtado off of a poor clearance from the Sounders back-line. Hurtado’s bouncing shot would be corralled by Frei.
The Whitecaps would get another good look at goal in the first half stoppage time. Hurtado led a quick counter-attack through the center of the field; he distributed the ball out to the right wing where Pedro Morales fired a bending ball that was easily picked up by Frei. The first half would end shortly after that with the Whitecaps nursing a 1-0 lead.
The second half started out with the speedy Whitecaps pressing the Sounders deep into their own zone. The Sounders were finally able to get a good look at goal in the 52nd minute when Marco Pappa's quick field switch found Lamar Neagle open on the left side of midfield. Neagle trapped towards the center of the field before firing a low, hard shot with his right foot that beat David Ousted but could not beat the far post. Neagle’s shot just missed the net by maybe a foot or two.
Seattle would see another good scoring chance go to waste just six minutes later when Michael Azira skied a shot just over the crossbar.
Erik Hurtado would get a chance to put the game away in the 67th minute when he found himself on a breakaway. The play started in the Vancouver end with a big defensive block that found its way to Pedro Morales, he subsequently found Hurtado between Zach Scott and Chad Marshall. Hurtado challenged the goal but did not get under the ball enough to score leaving Frei with an easy stop.
The final chance of the match would come in the 92nd minute and it would be Marco Pappa with the shot. Seattle was pressing for a late equalizer with numbers forward, Jalil Anibaba found Pappa about 25 yards out from goal angle right. The former Chicago Fire man attempted a curling shot into the upper far corner but the ball just missed over ending the Sounders unbeaten streak at seven across all competitions.
Sounders fans were already aware that a positive result would be difficult with the number of starters missing in the match (including Clint Dempsey and Osvaldo Alonso). The hope of pulling off a win took an even bigger hit as the Sounders announced just an hour before kickoff that forward Obafemi Martins did not travel with the team due to a hamstring injury suffered in training this past week.
His absence added to the rumors going around Seattle that a transfer seeing Obafemi Martins end up in Turkey was nearing completion. Sources who follow the Turkish Super Lig mentioned recently that there are rumblings of interest in Martins from Besiktas in Turkey but that a transfer was not imminent. In addition to that, he noted that Besiktas is in need of a striker, so the rumors make sense.
Seattle must now regroup for a huge week starting on Wednesday as they host their other Cascadian rivals, the Portland Timbers, in the quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup at Starfire Sports Complex before the big one on Sunday. It will be game two of a massive football doubleheader on ESPN, the first match being the FIFA World Cup Final from Rio de Janeiro. The second match will be the second regular season meeting and second meeting in the week between the Timbers and Sounders. This time it will be at CenturyLink Field in front of 68,000 fans and a national television audience.
There is always a “big fight” feel when these two clubs meet but this time the loser of Sunday's match will all but be eliminated in the race for the 2014 Cascadia Cup. Seattle will receive a much needed boost with the returns of United States National Team members Clint Dempsey and DeAndre Yedlin as well as the suspended midfield pairing of Osvaldo Alonso and Gonzalo Pineda.
Portland is coming off of a very disappointing draw at the StubHub Center with the Los Angeles Galaxy. It looked as though the Timbers were headed for a critical win. Unfortunately that dream was dashed just four minutes before the end of regular time when Rauwshan McKenzie put a ball in the back of his own net to split the points. The news will be even worse for the Timbers, as they will be without holding midfielder Diego Chara who will miss the match due to yellow card accumulation.