Vancouver Whitecaps 5-0 CF Montreal
VANCOUVER, BC—Both Simon Becher and Ail Ahmed came from Whitecaps 2 in MLS NEXT Pro and were making their first MLS starts for the main team on Saturday night against CF Montreal as they Whitecaps had one eye on the Concacaf Champions League quarterfinal tie against LAFC on Wednesday night. Both shone in the Whitecaps’ 5-0 win at BC Place. It was the Whitecaps’ first win of the season while CF Montreal remain bottom of the Eastern Conference losing their fourth match in five.
Anything that could have gone wrong for CF Montreal on this night did. It started in the tenth minute when midfielder Samuel Piette went down with an injury and was substituted. Thirteen minutes later, they would be down a man they could not substitute due to a red card. That would be Rudy Camacho for dragging down Becher in a denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity.
Brian White got his first of the season in the match (Photo: Gerrit te Hennepe)
It ended up being a matter of time before Vancouver would take advantage and that started in the 38th minute when Simon Becher fed Ryan White for the opening score with Montreal’s defense caught at sea. Five minutes later, Becher turned goal scorer as he collected a pass from Ahmed and scored from seven yards out.
Montreal continued to look out of sorts and gave up a third before halftime. Julian Gressel pounced a rebound after White’s shot was initially saved. It would only get worse for Montreal in the second half after another misplayed ball resulting in Ali Ahmed scoring his first MLS goal in the 48th minute. Becher would get his brace in the 59th minute flicking in a cross from Javain Brown. Becher would become the quickest in MLS history to four goals in 87 minutes of play.
Simon Bechel became the fastest in MLS history to four goals in 87 minutes of play (Photo: Gerrit te Hennepe)
Montreal were down to ten men for 67 minutes, but the way the Whitecaps played on Saturday, it would not have mattered that much according to head coach Vanny Sartini.
“Nobody says that we won because there were 10 men, because it’s not true,” said Sartini. “We won because we played much better than them. Stop. And even if there were 12 we would have won.”
Having players like Becher and Ahmed helped a great deal and it’s a great advertisement for Whitecaps 2.
“For me, the most important thing that this organization has done in the last five years is to reinstate the second team. Without the second team, Ali wouldn’t be here, Simon [Becher] wouldn’t be here. And maybe some players that are now in the second team won’t be here in the next season and helping the team to be better.”
As for Ahmed and Becher, a match like Saturday is what players like them have worked towards as they spent their time with Whitecaps 2.
“We’ve been playing together for a long time last year and we had some success last year together,” said Ahmed. “Just having (Becher) in front of me helped me a lot because I know where he is most of the time. We have good chemistry together. So it helped for sure. And it’s a dream for the WFC2 boys.”
“We took a lot of the same steps together,” added Becher. “Both of us getting called up at different points last year. Both signing contracts in the preseason. Starting tonight, just really special, especially to have (Ahmed) somebody so humble, such as hard worker, definitely a special night for both of us.”
The Whitecaps, who were able to rest some of their regulars on Saturday, will now focus on the Concacaf Champions League tilt against LAFC at BC Place on Wednesday at 7pm Pacific time. Montreal will look to recover at New England, next Saturday at 7:30pm Eastern time.
Thanks to Gerrit te Hennepe for the photos from this match. You can view more photos by clicking on the link to the gallery.
SCORING SUMMARY:
VAN-Brian White (Becher, Brown) 38
VAN-Simon Becher (Ahmed, Martins) 43
VAN-Julian Gressel (unassisted) 45
VAN-Ali Ahmed (unassisted) 48
VAN-Simon Becher (Brown, Vice) 59
BOOKING SUMMARY:
MTL-Rudy Camacho (caution, reckless tackle) 11
MTL-Joel Waterman (caution, tactical foul) 18
MTL-Rudy Camacho (sent off, denial of goal scoring opportunity) 23
VAN-Mathias Laborda (caution, tactical foul) 50
MTL-Sean Rea (caution, reckless foul) 52
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC (4-3-2-1): #18-Yohei Takaoka; #23-Javain Brown (#26-Jean-Claude Ngando 65), #4-Ranko Veselinovic, #6-Tristan Blackmon (#2-Mathias Laborda 46), #14-Luis Martins; #19-Julian Gressel (#31-Russell Teibert 54), #20-Andres Cubas (#16-Sebastian Berhalter 54), #22-Ali Ahmed; #45-Pedro Vite, #24-Brian White (#7-Deiber Caicedo 65); #29-Simon Becher
Subs not used: #1-Thomas Hasal, #2-Mathias Laborda, #11-Cristian Dajome, #25-Ryan Gauld, #27-Ryan Raposo
CF MONTREAL (3-4-1-2): #40-Jonathan Sirois; #16-Joel Waterman, #4-Rudy Camacho, #3-Kamal Miller (#26-Robert Thorkelsson 55); #22-Aaron Herrera (#15-Zachary Brault-Guillard 55), #2-Victor Wanyama (#19-Nathan-Dylan Saliba 55), #6-Samuel Piette (#18-Rida Zouhir 10), #29-Mathieu Choiniere; #27-Sean Rea; #13-Mason Toye (#25-Gabriele Corbo 27), #9-Chinoso Offor
Subs not used: #1-Logan Ketterer, #5-Illias Illiadis, #7-Ahmad Hamdi, #30-Romell Quioto
EXPECTED GOALS: VAN 3.4-0.3 MTL
TOTAL SHOTS: VAN 29-3 MTL
SHOTS ON GOAL: VAN 9-0 MTL
FOULS: VAN 7-9 MTL
OFFSIDES: VAN 1-1 MTL
CORNER KICKS: VAN 6-1 MTL
SAVES: VAN 0-4 MTL
Referee: Tim Ford
Referee’s Assistants: Michael Barwegen, Christ Wattam
4th Official: Jeremy Kieso
VAR: Younes Marrakchi
Weather: Cloudy and 45º (roof closed)
Attendance: 16,046
Man of the Match: Simon Becher (VAN)
