Shea ejected as lack of discipline costs Whitecaps again

Mar 19 2017, 4:59 am

It’s been a tough start to the 2017 MLS season for the Vancouver Whitecaps.

The ‘Caps have yet to win a game this season, and have been reduced to 10 men two weeks in a row.

On paper things looked good for Vancouver, who were facing a winless Toronto FC team who were missing injured superstar Sebastian Giovinco.

The Whitecaps were also shorthanded with goalkeeper David Ousted serving a suspension for his sending off away at San Jose last week.

See also

The first half of the match was uneventful with Vancouver striker Fredy Montero coming close to scoring, but watched his partial block of Alex Bono’s clearance roll harmlessly wide of the Toronto goal.

Robinson clearly felt that the Vancouver attack needed tweaking, and chose to bring on Christian Bolaños for Alphonso Davies at the start of the second half.

Bolaños had an immediate impact setting up Nicolás Mezquida with a clever ball chipped into the Toronto area.

The big turning point in the match point came in the 70th minute when Vancouver’s Brek Shea was sent off.

Shea had kept his nose clean until this point in the match, but was shown a yellow card after he chopped down Toronto’s Nick Hagglund.

To add insult to injury Shea then proceeded to chirp at referee Ismail Elfath, who immediately sent the Vancouver attacker off for dissent.

And that’s where things starting going downhill for Vancouver.

Five minutes after Shea took his long walk of shame back to the Whitecaps’ dressing room, Victor Vázquez headed the ball past Vancouver goalkeeper Spencer Richey to open the scoring.

Ten minutes from full time Altidore stuck a dagger in the Whitecaps’ hopes of a comeback when he made it 2-0 for the Reds.

“It (Shea’s red card) was a turning point, because the game was pretty even,” Robinson said after the match.

“Happy, but disappointed,” was how goalkeeper Spencer Richey described his MLS debut.

“Two nights ago I honestly didn’t sleep at all,” Richey told reporters after the match. “Last night I actually slept ok. I was more nervous for the decision more so than for the match itself.”

Saturday’s loss was Vancouver’s second in as many weeks. The Whitecaps have a bye next weekend and have an extra week to prepare for the LA Galaxy on April 1st.

MATCH DETAILS

Man of the Match: Tim Parker
Referee: Ismail Elfath
Attendance: 20,438

Scoring Summary
76’ – TOR – Victor Vazquez (Jozy Altidore, Raheem Edwards)
80’ – TOR – Jozy Altidore (Jonathan Osorio)

Statistics
Possession: Vancouver 42.1 % – Toronto 57.9 %
Shots: Vancouver 8 – Toronto 10
Shots on Goal: Vancouver 1 – Toronto 3
Saves: Vancouver 1 – Toronto 1
Fouls: Vancouver 11 – Toronto 14
Offsides: Vancouver 6 – Toronto 1
Corners: Vancouver 3 – Toronto 7

Cautions
70’ – VAN – Brek Shea
70’ – VAN – Brek Shea
87’ – TOR – Michael Bradley

Ejection
70’ – VAN – Brek Shea

Vancouver Whitecaps FC
18.Spencer Richey; 25.Sheanon Williams, 4.Kendall Waston ©, 26.Tim Parker, 2.Jordan Harvey; 15.Matías Laba, 31.Russell Teibert; 67.Alphonso Davies (7.Christian Bolaños HT), 11.Nicolás Mezquida (23.Kekuta Manneh 74’), 20.Brek Shea; 12.Fredy Montero (19.Erik Hurtado 74’)

Substitutes not used
70.Paolo Tornaghi, 8.Andrew Jacobson, 13.Cristian Techera, 17.Marcel de Jong

Toronto FC
25.Alex Bono; 15.Eriq Zavaleta, 3.Drew Moor, 6.Nick Hagglund (44.Raheem Edwards 75’); 23.Steven Beitashour, 31.Armando Cooper (7.Victor Vasquez 64’), 4.Michael Bradley ©, 21.Jonathan Osorio, 2.Justin Morrow; 10.Tosaint Ricketts (23.Chris Mavinga 81’), 17.Jozy Altidore

Substitutes not used
1.Clint Irwin, 14.Jay Chapman, 18.Marco Delgado, 22.Jordan Hamilton

Mark DaileyMark Dailey

+ Offside
+ Soccer
ADVERTISEMENT