The Vancouver Whitecaps continued their winning ways last night with a solid 5-0 win over the Cincinnatti Riverhawks, in a game that was very slow to start but ended with a bang. On an absolutely gorgeous evening at Swangard Stadium, the 4,059 on hand had to sit through a nervous and tentative first half before the Whitecaps took advantage of a tired and undermanned Hawks side with 4 second half goals.
As usual in the wierd and wacky world that is the A-League, both teams entered the game perhaps a bit tired. Vancouver had just come off of a three game-in-five-nights road trip, and the Riverhawks had just played in Calgary. Such scheduling woes are common here, and although most teams are used to it by now, it makes for a somewhat unpredictable game. The Riverhawks looked the sharper team at the start. They were quicker to the loose balls in midfield, and the passing was a fair bit sharper than the Whitecaps who seemed to not quite be all on the same page. So for a period of time early on the Whitecaps had to be content to absorb some pressure from the visitors. We saw the same thing when Calgary were here last week; lots of hustle and energy, but severely lacking in the final third. The neat passing moves were never follwed through to a finish- a fact hammered home by the amount of balls that went sailing harmlessly over top.
It took one quick counterattack to put the Riverhawks on their heels, and the spark was provided by Jason Jordan. He's been on fire lately showing lots of pace and imagination up front, and the goal came at the end of some really nice work. It all came about at minute 32 as Jordan took the ball neatly and attacked the Riverhawk penalty area from the left, going one way then the other as he tried to gain advantage from the defender on that side of the pitch (Alizadeh). It worked. Once J J got the separation he needed, he then looked across the box for the supporting runs. They were there, but the ball instead hit the legs of the inside defender (Morelli), and caught goalkeeper Murphy falling over in reaction. The ball hit Murphy and bundled itself into the far corner. Not the best goal by any means, but the 1-0 lead looked good at the time.
There were some good positive signs in the first half, though. Johnny Sulentic is really starting to take control in the midfield, and his darting runs would prove no end of problem for the Riverhawk defence all night. Another plus is that former Riverhawk Jeremy Piette is looking really comfortable on the Whitecaps back line. With our defence looking set now, it looks as though Nick Dasovic will be patrolling in a central midfield role. We mentioned Jordan earlier; his forward partner Carlo Corrazin is also settling in nicely, and is becoming a really nice presence in the air. But two players who have been perhaps the most consistent this year are Oliver Heald and Alfredo Valente. And both of them would have a hand in goals that would signal the end of the Riverhawks this night. It was Heald that took a nice feed from Jordan and sent a superb cross over everybody to a waithing Sulentic who then unleashed an absolute cracker of a volley into the top corner.
One of the most important things that a player can do to contribute on a counter is to make sure that the first touch counts. Valente took his first touch at midfield intercepting a ball and made a superb turn to separate from Matis. That separation created acres of space and Valente mad it count, bringing the ball smartly upfield before sending a low hard pass across the goalmouth to a waiting Jason Jordan. J J's tap-in made it 3-0 and the Riverhawks sagged.
There was more to come. Andrew Veer started a really nice passing play when he took a ball down the right side, fed a pass to the penalty spot where Dave Morris was waiting with his back to the goal. Morris then just touched the ball back to Sulentic who finished again into the top corner. All that was left to do was finish the game, and it finished with a bang as Niall Thompson headed in a nice cross from Jeff Skinner for his first of the year on 90 minutes. On a beautiful Vancouver night, the Whitecaps continued their slow, quiet move forward. Unbeaten now in 8 games and starting to look very good indeed.
Whitecaps: M.Franks/ C. Franks, Piette, Lyall/ King (Veer 63'), Heald, Dasovic, Sulentic (Robson 75'), Valente (Skinner 71')/ Corrazin (Morris 65'), Jordan (Thompson 63')
Riverhawks: Murphy/ Alizadeh, Morelli, Cole/ DiGuardi, Wallace (Cipriani 62'), Eller, Matis (Reid 85'), Finklea (Child 54')/ Sastoque (Apple 67'), Yacks.
Goals: Vancouver- Jordan 32', 60', Sulentic 51', 74', Thompson 90'
Shots: Van: 14, Cinci: 9
Attendance: 4,059
photos by Brian Goldie (Whitecapsfan)
