The runners up in the FA Cup final Crystal Palace of the English Premier League paid a visit to Vancouver last to take on the Vancouver Whitecaps of the Major Soccer League and the fans were not disappointed as the clubs battled to a entertaining 2-2 draw before 14,788 fans at BC Place.
The opening half was a bit of a sleeper between then teams in the friendly. Crystal Palace had the better of the scoring chances against Vancouver with three quality chances denied by goalkeeper Paolo Tornaghi.
Vancouver were held without a direct shot on goal as the visitors from Crystal Palace held a 8-5 edge with Palace getting three direct shots on Paolo Tornaghi of the Caps. Vancouver’s best chance came off the boot of Ben McKendry, a call-up from the Caps USL side.
Christian Techera had the Caps other quality chance in the first half just driving the ball over the Palace crossbar.
In the second half the clubs were allowed to make several subs allowed. In a friendly lots of playing time is given to players to show off their skills and the fans were not disappointed with players performance.
The second half proved to be a much more entertaining match as the game opened up with some key subs coming in. Whitecaps newcomer David Edgar scored the games opening goal in the 50th minute off a great set play from Techera.
Palace showed why they were runners up in the FA Cup final last year, scoring twice in a span of 4 minutes. They got the equalizer from sub Frazier Campbell that came off the bench to start the second half his first of two excellent set pieces in the 62nd minute set up on a free kick by Andros Townsend to even the game at 1-1.
They took the lead in the 66th minute with Campbell banging home his second of the match on a excellent give and go with sub Connor Wickham,.
The Whitecaps got the equalizer late in the game from defender Kendall Watson on a great set-up from FC2 player Brett Levis and Christian Bolanos hammering home a header past Julian Speroni of Palace to tie the game at 2-2.
From there Caps and Crystal Palace traded scoring chances on the pitch but were unable to break the deadlock as it ended in a very entertaining 2-2 draw sending the fans home happy in the friendly on this night under the dome at BC Place.
The Whitecaps hit the road for four games now in Houston July 23rd FC Dallas July 31st Central FC August 2nd and Colorado August 6th. The club returns home to BC Place on August 12th when they take on the San Jose Earthquakes at 8pm.
