VANCOUVER, BC – Yordy Reyna netted his sixth goal of the season in Vancouver Whitecaps FC’s 1-1 draw with San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday evening at BC Place.
And what a goal it was.
You won’t see it among this week’s MLS Goal of the Week nominees, but when you break it down from start to finish, there is so, so much to like. Let’s have a look.
After a headed clearance from Tim Parker, the play starts with Fredy Montero chasing down Quakes midfielder Anibal Godoy just in front of Vancouver’s bench. The Colombian striker is absolutely relentless in his pursuit of the ball. He was not going to stop until the ‘Caps won possession. Eventually, with the help of Brek Shea, Montero wins the throw-in, which he quickly takes himself.
Shea then lobs the ball into the path of Tony Tchani in midfield. Game on.
We’ve talked before about Tchani’s ability to connect the ‘Caps midfield to the attack, and that’s exactly what he does here, playing a nice ball out wide to Cristian Techera.
Techera still has a lot of work to do at this point.
The Bug delays his run enough for an overlapping Jake Nerwinski to get himself down the line before essentially eliminating a pair of Quakes defenders with a clever, reverse ball to Vancouver’s rookie right back.
And finally, Nerwinski makes a perfect low cross to the back post, where Reyna taps it in.
The following angle provides a nice birds-eye view of the build-up.
I want to draw your attention to two things here. First, look how much ground Nerwinski covers on the far side of your screen. The rookie senses an opportunity early on in the play – and he doesn’t stop running. In fact, if you go back and look and the second clip above, you’ll notice that Nerwinski’s run actually started around Vancouver’s own 30-yard mark.
Secondly, I want to highlight the movement of Shea and Reyna.
By making a near-post run, Shea occupies the attention of Quakes centre back Victor Bernardez, which leaves a big gap in the box. Reyna sees that, attacks the open space, and gets his reward.
You really couldn’t have drawn it up any better.
