(L to R: Martin Nash, Teitur Thordarson, and Marcus Haber address the media after Wednesday's match).
Wednesday's Voyageurs Cup game between the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Montreal Impact felt rather like an episode of 24, starting slowly and building to a chaotic and hard-to-believe 1-1 final. In between, there were a couple of goals, plenty of cards and much more entertainment than that other Vancouver team offered.
The match offered little at first, with both teams electing to start defensive lineups; Montreal fielded a 4-5-1 with Peter Byers as the lone striker, while Vancouver opted for a 4-4-1-1 with Marcus Haber supported by attacking midfielder Jonny Steele. The Whitecaps controlled most of the early possession, but only created a few chances, and the score remained level until Byers slipped one by Jay Nolly in the 31st minute. Montreal then took over the game for the next fifty minutes until a bizarre sequence of events unfolded.
With time dwindling, the Whitecaps began to apply more pressure, and they were helped by a dubious foul called just outside the Montreal penalty area. That led to a free kick swung in by Martin Nash, and Impact defender Adam Braz lost his mind. Already on a yellow card, he saw Vancouver central back Greg Janicki slip by him as the ball soared into the air, and responded by bull-rushing Janicki and knocking him out of the way before the cross got there. That resulted in Braz's ejection and a penalty kick for the Whitecaps, which Marcus Haber coolly converted for his first goal of this year in the 81st minute.
Thanks to the score being knotted at one and Montreal being reduced to 10 men, Vancouver turned the pressure on even more. They had several further chances, but were foiled by excellent keeping from Matt Jordan, who grabbed every cross that came anywhere near him. Marlon James actually managed to sneak through the defence and beat an onrushing Jordan, but his shot trickled wide. You have to think Vancouver may regret that missed opportunity down the road.
Right at the end, there was a further complication. A clash between Montreal's Reda Agourram and Vancouver's Chris Williams saw Agourram sent off with a straight red card. It was difficult to tell what exactly happened, but the result means Montreal could face a couple suspensions for the upcoming tournament games. Already missing Roberto Brown after a foolish punch against Toronto FC, they could be even more shorthanded for the rest of the tournament, a difficult prospect considering that they have only one point from two games.
Head coach Marc Dos Santos is convinced that they're not out of it yet, however. In the post-match press conference, he pointed out that the Impact came back to win the inaugural Nutrilite Canadian Championship under identical circumstances in 2007.
"If we've done it once, we can do it again," he said.
They will need plenty of help from both Vancouver and Toronto FC, though, as the most Montreal can now finish the tournament with is seven points.
"We can't depend on ourselves anymore," Dos Santos said.
He was rather displeased with the way the match turned out.
"I really felt we deserved the full three points until the 80th minute," he said. "Until the 80th minute, Vancouver didn't have a real chance."
His Whitecaps' counterpart, Teitur Thordarson, also wasn't happy with the end result.
"I'm a little disappointed we didn't get more than one point," he said.
Thordarson was pleased with Vancouver's early play, but disappointed with their second half performance.
In the end, the draw was probably a fair result. The shots were 7-7, with Vancouver putting three on net and Montreal responding with four. It was a chippy game as well, with 14 fouls for the Impact and seven for Vancouver. Neither side will be completely happy with their showing, and the draw does give Toronto FC a leg up on the competition, but there are still plenty of matches to be played. If the rest of the tournament is anything like this, it won't be lacking in drama.
[Cross-posted to The 24th Minute]
Showing posts with label Marcus Haber. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marcus Haber. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
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Sunday, April 11, 2010
Soccer: The Whitecaps and the story of Marcus Haber
The Vancouver Whitecaps begin their new season today at Swangard Stadium, and I'll be live-blogging the game from the press box for this site, The 24th Minute and Epic Footy. They'll be taking on the NSC Minnesota Stars[Simon Fudge, WhitecapsFC.com]. Game time is at 7 p.m. Eastern/4 p.m. Pacific, and live video can be found via the Whitecaps' home page.
It should be an interesting clash; Vancouver finished with a mediocre 11-10-9 record last season, but got hot in the playoffs and went all the way to the USL championship before losing to Montreal. The Minnesota Stars are a new team, but they have nine players from the former Minnesota Thunder, who were 7-13-10 last year and missed the playoffs. They'll be eager to get off to a hot start.
I've already written a season preview focused on the Whitecaps' league and personnel changes for Dave Clark over at Sounder At Heart, and I wrote one focused on their potential Voyageurs' Cup ambitions over at Fighting For Canadian Supremacy, but I think there's still some ground to be covered. In my mind, perhaps the best way to do that is focusing in on perhaps the Whitecaps' most high-profile player, Marcus Haber, who recently returned to Vancouver [Marc Weber, The Province] on loan from England's West Bromwich Albion.
Haber is not expected to be available for today's game, but he should be a force for the Whitecaps in his two-month stay. He scored eight league goals for them last year and added four more in other competitions, and he also excelled at setting up other strikers like Charles Gbeke. With the departure of Haber and Gbeke, the biggest questions around this year's Whitecaps squad centred on where the goals will come from. Haber's return will reduce those questions, at least for a couple of months.
At the same time, though, he represents the odd dichotomy at the heart of this year's Whitecaps squad. On the one hand, they're all about building for the future. They'll be joining MLS next season, and getting off to a strong start there is far more important than anything they can accomplish in USSF Division II this year. To that end, they have built an excellent academy system and have focused on developing young players; some, like Haber, have turned out very well. The nature of soccer is that those who shine brightest don't often stick around in the dimmer leagues, though, and that's what happened with Haber's exit after the season. The Whitecaps still received a substantial transfer fee for him, so it was worth it for them to develop his skills, but it's unlikely that he'll help them on the pitch beyond this current loan spell.
On the other hand, though, this season and the Voyageurs' Cup do still matter to the Whitecaps. They've had a very successful run in the second tier of North American soccer, and they don't want to go out with a whimper. They'll give their youngsters some playing time to help them develop, but they'll also throw in guys like Haber (and other older veterans, such as Martin Nash and Takashi Hirano) who will help the team win now. Moreover, putting too much pressure on untested prospects could hurt their development, and giving them too much exposure could result in their eventual exodus. Those are all tough lines to walk, and the Whitecaps will be balancing on them all season long.
We'll likely see the Haber story play out again down the road, not just with Vancouver but also with the youth development arms of the Montreal Impact and Toronto FC. Development is a crucial thing, but not all the players you develop will wind up as part of your long-term plans. They can still be very helpful, though, both in terms of the transfer fees they bring in and in the way they build the reputation of their first club. In the short term, however, their most important contribution may be what they do on the pitch. Haber can certainly aid the Whitecaps this season, and I'm sure many fans will be excited to see him back in the blue and white. His return may not last for long and may not be a crucial part of the future, but he should help with the present, and that can be appreciated for what it is.
It should be an interesting clash; Vancouver finished with a mediocre 11-10-9 record last season, but got hot in the playoffs and went all the way to the USL championship before losing to Montreal. The Minnesota Stars are a new team, but they have nine players from the former Minnesota Thunder, who were 7-13-10 last year and missed the playoffs. They'll be eager to get off to a hot start.
I've already written a season preview focused on the Whitecaps' league and personnel changes for Dave Clark over at Sounder At Heart, and I wrote one focused on their potential Voyageurs' Cup ambitions over at Fighting For Canadian Supremacy, but I think there's still some ground to be covered. In my mind, perhaps the best way to do that is focusing in on perhaps the Whitecaps' most high-profile player, Marcus Haber, who recently returned to Vancouver [Marc Weber, The Province] on loan from England's West Bromwich Albion.
Haber is not expected to be available for today's game, but he should be a force for the Whitecaps in his two-month stay. He scored eight league goals for them last year and added four more in other competitions, and he also excelled at setting up other strikers like Charles Gbeke. With the departure of Haber and Gbeke, the biggest questions around this year's Whitecaps squad centred on where the goals will come from. Haber's return will reduce those questions, at least for a couple of months.
At the same time, though, he represents the odd dichotomy at the heart of this year's Whitecaps squad. On the one hand, they're all about building for the future. They'll be joining MLS next season, and getting off to a strong start there is far more important than anything they can accomplish in USSF Division II this year. To that end, they have built an excellent academy system and have focused on developing young players; some, like Haber, have turned out very well. The nature of soccer is that those who shine brightest don't often stick around in the dimmer leagues, though, and that's what happened with Haber's exit after the season. The Whitecaps still received a substantial transfer fee for him, so it was worth it for them to develop his skills, but it's unlikely that he'll help them on the pitch beyond this current loan spell.
On the other hand, though, this season and the Voyageurs' Cup do still matter to the Whitecaps. They've had a very successful run in the second tier of North American soccer, and they don't want to go out with a whimper. They'll give their youngsters some playing time to help them develop, but they'll also throw in guys like Haber (and other older veterans, such as Martin Nash and Takashi Hirano) who will help the team win now. Moreover, putting too much pressure on untested prospects could hurt their development, and giving them too much exposure could result in their eventual exodus. Those are all tough lines to walk, and the Whitecaps will be balancing on them all season long.
We'll likely see the Haber story play out again down the road, not just with Vancouver but also with the youth development arms of the Montreal Impact and Toronto FC. Development is a crucial thing, but not all the players you develop will wind up as part of your long-term plans. They can still be very helpful, though, both in terms of the transfer fees they bring in and in the way they build the reputation of their first club. In the short term, however, their most important contribution may be what they do on the pitch. Haber can certainly aid the Whitecaps this season, and I'm sure many fans will be excited to see him back in the blue and white. His return may not last for long and may not be a crucial part of the future, but he should help with the present, and that can be appreciated for what it is.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Setting up the Whitecaps - Timbers clash
[Second leg live blog is above]
The first leg of the USL-1 semifinal was a bit of a tricky win for the Vancouver Whitecaps. Yes, they won 2-1, but they conceded a penalty along the way after a ball bounced off Lyle Martin's hand. That tied the score after an early goal from Charles Gbeke, and Vancouver only won thanks to a late goal from Marcus Haber off a Gbeke cross.
Whitecaps head coach Teitur Thordarson said he was impressed with the team's resilence.
"I think they responded very well to the goal," he said.
Thordarson wasn't happy with the penalty call, though.
"From my perspective, it's very harsh to give that penalty there," he said. "He just covered his face and the ball hit him. I've never seen that before."
Gbeke said he was confident the team would come back despite a 1-1 tie at halftime, and he figured Haber would notch one of his opportunities.
"In the locker room, I told Marcus he was going to score today," he said.
Gbeke, who led USL-1 with 12 goals this season, played one of his best games of the year. He was dominant all night, scoring the first goal and setting up the second. He's played in a variety of roles this year thanks to the Caps' depth up front, but he said he isn't concerned if he starts or not.
"It doesn't matter if Coach wants me to start or wants me to come in off the bench," he said.
Haber said the team didn't get frustrated when they fell behind.
"We knew we had to keep pressuring them," he said. "We knew we'd get our chances."
They did indeed get them, and Haber notched home the winner off a lovely cross from Gbeke. Still, Vancouver only has a one-goal lead going into this second leg at Portland, a place where they've struggled recently. The temptation might be to play defensively, but Thordarson said that won't be the case.
"We will try to go down there and play our game," he said. "I feel the team is very confident. It will be a totally different game down there; whether that will suit us beter than them is yet to be seen."
[Cross-posted to The 24th Minute]
The first leg of the USL-1 semifinal was a bit of a tricky win for the Vancouver Whitecaps. Yes, they won 2-1, but they conceded a penalty along the way after a ball bounced off Lyle Martin's hand. That tied the score after an early goal from Charles Gbeke, and Vancouver only won thanks to a late goal from Marcus Haber off a Gbeke cross.
Whitecaps head coach Teitur Thordarson said he was impressed with the team's resilence.
"I think they responded very well to the goal," he said.
Thordarson wasn't happy with the penalty call, though.
"From my perspective, it's very harsh to give that penalty there," he said. "He just covered his face and the ball hit him. I've never seen that before."
Gbeke said he was confident the team would come back despite a 1-1 tie at halftime, and he figured Haber would notch one of his opportunities.
"In the locker room, I told Marcus he was going to score today," he said.
Gbeke, who led USL-1 with 12 goals this season, played one of his best games of the year. He was dominant all night, scoring the first goal and setting up the second. He's played in a variety of roles this year thanks to the Caps' depth up front, but he said he isn't concerned if he starts or not.
"It doesn't matter if Coach wants me to start or wants me to come in off the bench," he said.
Haber said the team didn't get frustrated when they fell behind.
"We knew we had to keep pressuring them," he said. "We knew we'd get our chances."
They did indeed get them, and Haber notched home the winner off a lovely cross from Gbeke. Still, Vancouver only has a one-goal lead going into this second leg at Portland, a place where they've struggled recently. The temptation might be to play defensively, but Thordarson said that won't be the case.
"We will try to go down there and play our game," he said. "I feel the team is very confident. It will be a totally different game down there; whether that will suit us beter than them is yet to be seen."
[Cross-posted to The 24th Minute]
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Whitecaps - Railhawks preview: Not as one-sided as it may look
The Vancouver Whitecaps begin their title defence tonight against the Carolina RailHawks, but the Whitecaps squad that will take the pitch will be very different from the team that hoisted the USL-1 trophy last season. Gone are Alfredo Valente, Steve Kindel, Wesley Charles, Nicholas Addlery, Jason Jordan, Eduardo Sebrango, Jeff Clarke and others who were key parts of that team, and as Marc Weber of The Province wrote today, some of the team's tenaciousness may have departed with them.
Unlike last year's championship squad, which was primarily a group of talented veterans hitting their stride at the right time, this season's been dominated by a focus on youth, as I talked about in my post on their first match of the regular season. Young players like Marcus Haber, Randy Edwini-Bonsu, Ethan Gage, Wes Knight and Luca Bellisomo have all made their impact felt on the team this year. Haber in particular has impressed; many thought the team might struggle to score goals this season after the departure of Sebrango and Addlery, but that void up front was nicely filled by Haber (eight goals, four assists), Charles Gbeke (a league-high 12 goals and one assist) and Marlon James (nine goals). Haber finished seventh in league scoring with 20 points, while Gbeke tied for second with 25 points and James placed eighth with 18 points in 17 games. Meanwhile, Addlery put up 17 points in 22 USL games this year and Sebrango only recorded 10 points in 28 games in all competitions.
If the Whitecaps have improved up front, they have perhaps taken a step back in midfield and defence. The midfield's seen plenty of talented players, including Gage, Ansu Toure, Martin Nash and Vicente Arze, but injuries have made it difficult to establish a consistent lineup there. The same is even more true at the back; Knight (who tied for the league assist lead with eight and was the team's nominee for the USL Rookie of the Year award) and Takashi Hirano have been solid presences on the wings, but the centre's seen a revolving cast, much of it inexperienced. The release of Wesley Charles, the team's most experienced defender, was a good move from a team chemistry point of view after two bizarre on-field incidents (including a punch-up with Gbeke during a game), but it showed that the Caps are painfully thin at the back. The retirement of Justin Thompson didn't help matters either. Goalkeeper Jay Nolly has been solid as always, leading the USL in minutes played, finishing second in saves and recording seven shutouts, but he hasn't received a lot of defensive help this season, and that's one of the key reason why the team heads into the playoffs as the seventh seed.
This isn't a one-sided matchup, though. Carolina was very good this year, finishing with a 16-7-7 record, and Vancouver's 11-10-9 mark is much less impressive, but the Whitecaps turned it on down the stretch, going 4-1-5 to clinch a playoff spot. The team faced some of the typical struggles observed when using young players earlier in the season, but their young stars have found ways to contribute and the team has gelled down the stretch. Moreover, Vancouver may have gone 0-1-1 against Carolina this year, but the Whitecaps played well in both games. They could have won the game in Carolina, and they dominated the August 15 contest at Swangard. I'm expecting a tough physical battle tonight, and a great contest. Tune in here for the live blog at 10:30 Eastern/7:30 Pacific!
[Cross-posted to The 24th Minute]
Unlike last year's championship squad, which was primarily a group of talented veterans hitting their stride at the right time, this season's been dominated by a focus on youth, as I talked about in my post on their first match of the regular season. Young players like Marcus Haber, Randy Edwini-Bonsu, Ethan Gage, Wes Knight and Luca Bellisomo have all made their impact felt on the team this year. Haber in particular has impressed; many thought the team might struggle to score goals this season after the departure of Sebrango and Addlery, but that void up front was nicely filled by Haber (eight goals, four assists), Charles Gbeke (a league-high 12 goals and one assist) and Marlon James (nine goals). Haber finished seventh in league scoring with 20 points, while Gbeke tied for second with 25 points and James placed eighth with 18 points in 17 games. Meanwhile, Addlery put up 17 points in 22 USL games this year and Sebrango only recorded 10 points in 28 games in all competitions.
If the Whitecaps have improved up front, they have perhaps taken a step back in midfield and defence. The midfield's seen plenty of talented players, including Gage, Ansu Toure, Martin Nash and Vicente Arze, but injuries have made it difficult to establish a consistent lineup there. The same is even more true at the back; Knight (who tied for the league assist lead with eight and was the team's nominee for the USL Rookie of the Year award) and Takashi Hirano have been solid presences on the wings, but the centre's seen a revolving cast, much of it inexperienced. The release of Wesley Charles, the team's most experienced defender, was a good move from a team chemistry point of view after two bizarre on-field incidents (including a punch-up with Gbeke during a game), but it showed that the Caps are painfully thin at the back. The retirement of Justin Thompson didn't help matters either. Goalkeeper Jay Nolly has been solid as always, leading the USL in minutes played, finishing second in saves and recording seven shutouts, but he hasn't received a lot of defensive help this season, and that's one of the key reason why the team heads into the playoffs as the seventh seed.
This isn't a one-sided matchup, though. Carolina was very good this year, finishing with a 16-7-7 record, and Vancouver's 11-10-9 mark is much less impressive, but the Whitecaps turned it on down the stretch, going 4-1-5 to clinch a playoff spot. The team faced some of the typical struggles observed when using young players earlier in the season, but their young stars have found ways to contribute and the team has gelled down the stretch. Moreover, Vancouver may have gone 0-1-1 against Carolina this year, but the Whitecaps played well in both games. They could have won the game in Carolina, and they dominated the August 15 contest at Swangard. I'm expecting a tough physical battle tonight, and a great contest. Tune in here for the live blog at 10:30 Eastern/7:30 Pacific!
[Cross-posted to The 24th Minute]
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