PORTLAND, OR – A pair of goals early into the second half was the difference on Tuesday evening as Vancouver Whitecaps FC fell 2-0 to Seattle Sounders FC at Providence Park.
Playing their second match in four nights, Whitecaps FC made wholesale changes to their lineup from Saturday's win over San Jose Earthquakes, fielding a club MLS record seven Canadians in their starting XI.
With the loss, the 'Caps were unable climb up the Western Conference table, staying put at seventh place and above the playoff line with two matches remaining.
In the evenly matched start to the battle, neither side was able to find a breakthrough as defence reigned supreme early on. While Theo Bair was able to haul in some well-timed aerial through balls, he and the rest of his attacking teammates were unable to find that crucial goal to put the ‘Caps up early. On the other end of the pitch, the Vancouver defence limited the Sounders to just one shot on target and blocked three others in the first 45 minutes.
After the halftime break, the Sounders came out and pressed the ‘Caps until they found their eventual score. Although initially ruled offside by the assistant referee, the Sounders struck in the 54th minute as Nouhou Tolo spun an in-swinging ball that Ruidíaz hit into the back of the net. Seattle was able to put up one final goal as Yeimar Gómez Andrade sent a ball down the middle of the pitch to find Ruidíaz in the box, where the Peruvian cut back a pass to the middle of the box that Nicolás Lodeiro finished into the side netting in the 60th minute.
The 'Caps will remain in Portland for their final two games of the regular season although serving as the away side in a clash with the Portland Timbers at Providence Park on Sunday, November 1 at 7:00 p.m. PT. Catch the match live on TSN and TSN Radio 1040.
MATCH DETAILS
VWFC Man of the Match: Derek Cornelius
Referee: Fotis Bazakos
Scoring Summary
54' – SEA – Raúl Ruidíaz (Nouhou Tolo, Nicolás Lodeiro)
60' – SEA – Nicolás Lodeiro (Raúl Ruidíaz, Yeimar Gómez)
Statistics
Possession: VAN 31.9% – SEA 68.1%
Shots: VAN 4 – SEA 11
Shots on Goal: VAN 0 – SEA 4
Saves: VAN 2 – SEA 0
Fouls: VAN 12 – SEA 6
Offsides: VAN 0 – SEA 3
Corners: VAN 4 – SEA 3
Cautions
62' – VAN – Lucas Cavallini
84' – VAN – Cristian Dájome
90' – VAN – Derek Cornelius
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
30.Evan Bush; 15.Andy Rose (12.Fredy Montero 58'), 4.Ranko Veselinović, 13.Derek Cornelius; 19.Janio Bikel, 55.Michael Baldisimo, 31.Russell Teibert © (17.Leonard Owusu 71'), 3.Cristián Gutiérrez; 87.Tosaint Ricketts (53.Ali Adnan 71'), 14.Theo Bair (9.Lucas Cavallini 56'), 27.Ryan Raposo (11.Cristian Dájome 56')
Substitutes not used
1.Bryan Meredith, 22.Érik Godoy, 28.Jake Nerwinski, 32.Patrick Metcalfe
Seattle Sounders FC
24.Stefan Frei; 18.Kelvin Leerdam (16.Alex Roldan 83'), 3.Xavier Arreaga, 28.Yeimar Gómez, 5.Nouhou Tolo; 6.João Paulo (33.Joevin Jones 73'), 4.Gustav Svensson; 7.Cristian Roldan, 10.Nicolás Lodeiro ©, 13.Jordan Morris (29.Roman Torres 83'); 9.Raúl Ruidíaz
Substitutes not used
30.Stefan Cleveland, 8.Jordy Delem, 11.Miguel Ibarra, 27.Shane O'Neill, 37.Shandon Hopeau
