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Ousted red card leads to Whitecaps collapse in San Jose

Jorge Mendoza
Jorge Mendoza
|
Mar 12 2017, 12:29 pm
Ousted red card leads to Whitecaps collapse in San Jose

An early red card to goalkeeper David Ousted proved too big of a burden for the Vancouver Whitecaps as they surrendered a 2-0 lead and finished with a 3-2 loss against the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night. Carl Robinson and his pupils were unable to break a curse that has not seen the Blue and White take full points from San Jose since joining MLS.

There are, however, a few things to discuss:

The lineup

The Blue and White have one of the most important matches in their 40 year history this upcoming Tuesday night as they face Liga MX reigning champions Tigres UANL in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League semi-finals.

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As such, Carl Robinson had to balance his lineup in order to manage his personnel ahead of the big clash in Monterrey. The Welsh tactician sent out a team that lacked some of his regular starters like Matias Laba and Tim Parker, and gave way for the MLS debuts of defender Jake Nerwinski and midfielder Ben McKendry.

Mckendry in particular had a strong showing which comes as a reward for the 23-year-old who has put in his time over the last two years playing with Whitecaps FC 2 in the United Soccer League.

Hurtado > Messi

Much maligned Whitecaps striker Erik Hurtado got the nod from his coach for the second week in a row. After being heavily criticized by supporters after the opening game against Philadelphia, “E-Money” repaid his coach’s trust and bagged his first goal of the season only two minutes into the game.

The Quakes central backs let a ball bounce in their box and Hurtado pounced on the opportunity and buried his volley in the back of the net.

Just 15 minutes later, Hurtado setup Nicolas Mezquida for the second goal of the night and the Whitecaps found themselves ahead by two within the first 20 minutes of the match.

After going down a man with 67 minutes to go (more on that in a minute), Hurtado was tasked with the ungrateful job of leading the line, chasing balls, battling lonely fights against Quakes defenders, and supporting his teammates defensively. His speed and athleticism allowed him to perform his job admirably before he was subbed off to give more competitive minutes to Fredy Montero.

Once again, the Beaverton native proved that he is a valuable asset to this roster despite the criticism that he seems doomed to receive from fans week in and week out.

David Ousted? More like David Outed

Three minutes after Mezquida doubled the Whitecaps lead, things took a turn for the worst for the Blue and White when David Ousted saw his first red card in his MLS career after tripping Chris Wondolowski.

With over two thirds of the game to go, the red card completely changed the dynamic of the game.

Robinson withdrew Mezquida from the game to insert backup goalkeeper Paolo Tornaghi and the Blue and White retreated and absorbed pressure in an effort to conserve their lead. Such efforts would eventually come up short as they surrendered three goals over the remaining 67 minutes of the match.

Perhaps more worryingly, the Great Dane has earned a one-match suspension which means that he will miss next week’s difficult home match against a star-studded Toronto FC.

The Manneh issue

MLS golden boy Kekuta Manneh failed once again to put in a decent performance. The speedy winger was not an offensive threat and when his team needed him to be defensively responsible and put in a hardworking shift, the Gambian was nowhere to be seen.

San Jose’s second goal was scored by a wide open Nicolas Lima, a player that should have been tracked by Manneh.

The Whitecaps supporters are starting to notice Manneh’s lack of effort and ineffectiveness.

With the return of Christian Bolaños to the fold, the addition of Brek Shea, and the emergence of Alphonso Davies, it remains to be seen if Manneh will continue to be a starter.

No reason to panic

The Blue and White have started their 2017 MLS campaign earning only one out of six possible points. However, considering the special circumstances of today’s match and, if there is anything that we can learn from the defending MLS champions (the Seattle Sounders), it is that in this league, a team can be absolute rubbish between March and July and still go all the way with a hot second half.

So, all in all, there is still a lot of football to be played.

MATCH DETAILS
Budweiser Man of the Match: Erik Hurtado
Referee: Drew Fischer
Attendance: 18,000

Scoring Summary
2′ – VAN – Erik Hurtado
17′ – VAN – Nicolás Mezquida (Erik Hurtado)
32′ – SJ – Chris Wondolowski (Víctor Bernárdez)
54′ – SJ – Nick Lima (Chris Wondolowski, Jahmir Hyka)
79′ – SJ – Anibal Godoy (Jahmir Hyka)

Statistics
Possession: San Jose 78% – Vancouver 22%
Shots: San Jose 21 – Vancouver 4
Shots on Goal: San Jose 7 – Vancouver 2
Saves: San Jose 0 – Vancouver 4
Fouls: San Jose 11 – Vancouver 16
Offsides: San Jose 2 – Vancouver 2
Corners: San Jose 36 – Vancouver 10

Cautions
7′ – SJ – Fatai Alashe
15′ – VAN – Russell Teibert
89′ – VAN – Christian Dean

Ejection
23′ – VAN – David Ousted

San Jose Earthquakes
1.David Bingham; 24.Nick Lima, 5.Víctor Bernárdez, 23.Florian Jungwirth, 20.Shaun Francis; 22.Tommy Thompson (10.Jahmir Hyka HT), 27.Fatai Alashe (6.Shea Salinas 75′), 30.Anibal Godoy, 49.Simon Dawkins; 8.Chris Wondolowski ©, 21.Marco Ureña (9.Danny Hoesen 80′)

Substitutes not used
28.Andrew Tarbell, 2.Kofi Sarkodie, 15.Andrés Imperiale, 17.Darwin Cerén

Vancouver Whitecaps FC
1.David Ousted; 28.Jake Nerwinski, 4.Kendall Waston ©, 22.Christian Dean, 2.Jordan Harvey; 30.Ben McKendry, 31.Russell Teibert; 13.Cristian Techera, 11.Nicolás Mezquida (70.Paolo Tornaghi 25′), 23.Kekuta Manneh (7.Christian Bolaños 61′); 19.Erik Hurtado (12.Fredy Montero 61′)

Substitutes not used
14.Cole Seiler, 32.Marco Bustos, 47.Kyle Greig, 77.Mauro Rosales

Jorge MendozaJorge Mendoza
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