Exciting draw in sunny California for the Caps
By: Brenton | July 21st, 2011Hassli scored twice to earn us a draw on the road, which feels like a win. Our four-game losing streak ended. We’re a new team. Etc.
San Jose 2 – 2 Vancouver
The Caps played a strong if hectic game, putting together tons of chances but also allowing as many. Our attacking play was excellent, our midfield was strong, but our defence was a bit shambolic.
As I predicted elsewhere, we started with a familiar 4-4-2, Jarju slightly behind Hassli up front, Camilo – Vagenas – Koffie – Salinas across the middle, and an odd choice at the back: Leathers on the left (which we’ve seen before) and Brovsky on the right, centred by Boxall and Janicki (DeMerit was hurt and Rochat is in Vancouver with his new baby girl. Congratulation, Alain!).
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San Jose started strong, getting a goal in the third minute. With a makeshift backline, we were always going to struggle for coherence. It looked like there was a bit of confusion between Vagenas and Koffie in the middle: neither closed down Dawkins, who clipped a ball wide to Wondolowski (scorer of a few goals). A bit more confusion on defence, as Brovsky slipped as he left Wondo to try and put him offside but Janicki kept him on.
Now, I’m of the opinion that an offside trap is only as good as its leader, only as good as the coach. Leaving Wondo offside was probably a better choice than marking him, but offside traps don’t always work. And to expect a makeshift backline to work an offside trap really well is expecting a lot. That said, Janicki has to do better on this play.
San Jose kept up the pressure, but the next 20 minutes were a bit scrappy, a bit boring. Jarju had a good chance but put his shot over when a pass to Hassli in the middle would have been better. Vancouver found some fluidity in the later stage of the first half, and Hassli got us another nice goal.
Salinas found Hassli down the left side with a nice volleyed pass. Hassli let the ball bounce into the box, then pounded it past Busch low into the far bottom corner. 1-1 at the half, and happy to be.
We started the second half better than the first, putting some pressure on, but San Jose got their second goal in the 54th. It doesn’t show on the replay, but Janicki gave away a stupid foul near the left sideline, half-pushing half-tripping a San Jose player. It also doesn’t show that he shouldn’t have had to chase the player that wide, but Leathers was continually caught up the pitch. Ex-TFC player Jacob Peterson swung in a cross, Brovsky slipped as he went to mark Wondo (again?), who put a free header past Cannon.
Digression: Brovsky, a slight and not-particularly-good-in-the-air midfielder was marking their top striker on a set piece that led to a goal. Sound familiar? It should: Brovsky was also marking the top hulking striker in the league, Conor Casey, for Colorado’s second goal last week. No real fault by him; that is Soehn’s mistake, plain and simple.
The next 20 minutes was about as open and swashbuckling as you’ll see in MLS. The teams traded chance after chance, and Vancouver capitalized on one in the 61st.
Koffie (who had a strong game) got the ball to Chiumiento (on for Jarju) in the middle. He turned and ran with the ball, then found a wide-open Salinas on the left. Salinas made an excellent run towards goal, and Leitch (the right back) was late coming over to close him down because the two centre backs were marking Hassli and Leitch needed to stay central in to stop Chiumiento from having a clear path to goal. Salinas beat Leitch one-on-one in the box:
Leitch (blue dot) is getting up and Stephenson (pink dot) is watching Salinas while Hassli meanders into an open space in front of a gaping net.
and from close in on goal centred the ball for an open Hassli to put home. Stephenson, a central midfielder, was guilty of ball-watching and left Hassli wide open.
San Jose almost got one back immediately. A Peterson set piece from the right found an open Wondolowski, who put a bullet header off the crossbar. His mark? Brovsky, who was at least close to him this time.
Salinas then almost got a third assist, putting in a great cross from the left, but Camilo’s flying header went wide.
Vagenas took a nasty elbow to the mouth, but continued on despite losing a tooth.
Camilo almost got a winner in the 74th, as Boxall screened Busch on a free kick from distance.
In the 75th play slowed for about five minutes, then picked right back up. San Jose pressed for a winner, putting three shots on net in the space of two minutes.
Lenhart (spits on ground) had a breakaway when Boxall forgot to play defence for a second; fortunately his blasted shot went wide. He then put a ball off the crossbar a minute later.
Koffie almost grabbed a late winner with a shot from 35 yards that unfortunately also hit the crossbar.
2-2 is a fair result in a game that could have gone either way. Both teams went for the win, and both hit the crossbar in the last ten minutes of play.
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Player assessment
Clear Man of the Match to Hassli for his two goals and for working hard in the middle of the pitch to keep the ball, but Shea Salinas also had a stellar match. Interestingly, both his assists came down the left side. Soehn’s inverted wingers tactic paying off?
Camilo was good on set pieces, but should have done better with his shots from open play. A good game from him. Chiumiento came on for Jarju in the 57th and kickstarted our attacking play. Jarju looked comfortable if a bit lost at times, which is to be expected. He put in a good shift, but rarely touched the ball.
Our midfield finally looked good (at times). Vagenas and Koffie broke up San Jose attacks, held the ball, passed fairly well, and combined well with Hassli and Chiumiento. San Jose went around them rather than trying to go through them. This was probably Vagenas’ best match, and Koffie’s best passing match. Khalfan came on late, didn’t do much.
Our defence was non-existent at times. Leathers was constantly caught upfield, Janicki made a few mistakes, Brovsky can’t really defend and couldn’t stay on his mark, Boxall is prone to errors… Ugh. Janicki also made a vital last-second tackle in the box to prevent a goal in the 89th minute (I think), and Leathers made one earlier. Brovsky occasionally linked up well with Salinas in the first half, but I didn’t notice him as much in the second.
Cannon played well, getting a few good saves, but also could have done better on the second goal and Wondo’s header off the bar. Both came from the six-yard line, and many keepers would have gone up to challenge them. I think he’s a bit tentative, and wonder if a more aggressive keeper would have done better with our makeshift backline. But I’m not a keeper.
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Soehn Watch
A point! What an improvement over the last few games. Soehn worked with what he had, and put out a competitive side. I blame him for our poor marking on set pieces, an issue that he needs to address after goals and chances by Colorado and San Jose.
Playing Brovsky at right back was an odd move, one that wasn’t successful but didn’t hurt us either (he was playing midfield when he was marking Casey last week). And he was better than Duckett. Leathers on the left did hurt us, but Wagner was our only other option, and he’s no option. I wonder how long Knight sticks around.
Soehn’s going to have to work on getting Jarju more involved in the play if he wants this move to help us this season. He only had about ten touches on the ball in his 57 minutes on the pitch, though he was involved in the first goal and had a few nice passes, including a nice one to Camilo that Hassli intercepted.
Soehn only used two subs, Chiumiento and Khalfan, but looking at our bench I’m not sure anyone else would have helped. Maybe Salgado on for Camilo in the 85th, but Camilo was still running.
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