By Rusty Silber
ORLANDO, FL-The Vancouver Whitecaps defied the odds and was in line for a long road trip home, but then after a 93-minute lightning delay, lightning struck not once, but twice to get past Chicago Fire FC 2-0 on Thursday morning.
“I just left them breathe, relax and play some music,” said Vancouver Whitecaps coach Marc Dos Santos during the delay. “Then, they talked tactics and they wanted to go for it after the restart.”
The Whitecaps were without a point in the MLS is Back tournament through its first two matches with loses to San Jose and Seattle FC in the Group B standings and needed a victory by at least two goals to advance while Chicago was in a better position moving on with a victory or at least a tie.
Yordy Reyna and Cristain Djome scored goals six minutes apart for Vancouver that extended its stay into the knockout round.
Chicago held a 16-2 shot advantage and held the time of possession before the delay. The Fire were clearly the dominant team and outshot the Whitecaps 25-4 in the match.
The Man of the Match Reyna changed everything in favor of Vancouver in the 65th minute by taking a through ball from Ali Adnan. Then, he beat a couple Fire defenders, took control of the ball with a move and beat Fire goalkeeper Kevin Kronholm leaving him with a goal into an open net.
About six minutes later, Reyna found Djome with a pass into the box, which Djome was able to get a shot past Kronholm for the second tally.
The Fire thought they had a lifeline with a goal in the 84th minute that could have given them the tiebreaker on goal differential against the Whitecaps.
Alvaro Medran fired a shot that hit the crossbar and while it was coming down it appeared to catch the upper body of C.J. Sapong and it rolled into the back of the net. On the play, Sapong was collided by Whitecaps’ players Derek Cornelius and Cristian Gutierrez.
The play was reviewed and on the replay, the goal was waived off for a handball on Sapong.
Chicago has numerous chances of scoring through the first half and up to the lightning delay that occurred in the 63rd minute.
Early on, Gaston Gimenez off a cornerkick had sent a headball on goal that was saved by Whitecaps keeper Thomas Hasal (4 saves).
Then, Prezemyslaw Frankowski knocked a header off the post in the 47th minute with the Fire’s other goal scoring opportunity.
“I’m not looking for any excuses,” Chicago Fire head coach Rafael Wicky said. “Including the weather delay given that it affected both teams. We will not look for excuses and have to look at themselves.”
The Fire did get past Seattle FC in its opening match but lost its two remaining matches to San Jose and now Vancouver.
“It’s all part of the progress, with three games played with the whole group,” Wicky said. “I just need time to think of what went wrong (Thursday).”
Vancouver used a third-string goalkeeper 21-year old Hasal, who made his first start, because the other two keepers Maxime Crepeau and Bryan Meredith were unavailable.
Whitecaps will next either play Toronto FC or Sporting KC in the round of 16.
SCORING SUMMARY:
VAN-Yordy Reyna (Ali Adna) 65
VAN-Cristain Djome (Yordy Rena) 71
BOOKING SUMMARY:
VAN-Thomas Hasal (yellow, delay) 71
CHI-Gaston Gimenez (yellow, unsporting behavior) 81
CHI-Fabian Herbers (yellow, unsporting behavior) 92
CHICAGO FIRE FC: #2-Boris Sekulic, #3-Jonathan Bornstein (#6-Miguel Angel Navarro 60), #5-Francisco Calvo (C), #7-Ignacio Aliseda (#9-CJ Sapong 59), #10-Alvaro Medran, #11-Przemyslaw Frankowski, #18-Kenneth Kronholm, #21-Fabian Herbers, #22-Mauricio Pineda (#28-Elliot Collier 76), #27-Robert Beric, #30-Gaston Gimenez.
Subs not used: #1-Bobby Shuttleworth, #24-Connor Sparrow, #36-Andre Reynolds, #25-Nicholas Slonina, #20-Wyatt Omsberg, #13-Brant Bronico, #14-Djordje Mihailovic, #37-Javier Casas, #40-Brian Gutierrez.
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS: #51-Thomas Hasal, #28-Jake Newinski, #20-Jasser Khmiri (#11-Cristian Djome 45+3), #4-Ranko Veselinovic, #13-Derek Cornelius, #53-Ali Adnan, #6-Hwang In-Beom, #17-Leonard Owusu (#3-Cristian Gutierrez 63), #31-Russell Teibert, #14-Theo Bair (#7-David Milinkovic 62), #27-Ryan Raposo (#29-Yordy Reyna 57)
Subs not used: #40-Johnathan Sirios, #55-Michael Baldisimo, #32-Patrick Metcalfe, #54-Simon Colyn, #62-Damiano Pecile,
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 25-4 VAN
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 5-2 VAN
FOULS: CHI 14-7 VAN
OFFSIDES: CHI 2-2 VAN
CORNER KICKS: CHI 10-0 VAN
SAVES: CHI 0-4 VAN
FOULS: CHI 14-7 VAN
OFFSIDES: CHI 2-2 VAN
CORNER KICKS: CHI 10-0 VAN
SAVES: CHI 0-4 VAN
Referee: Armando Villareal
Assistant Referees: Kathyn Nesbitt and Logan Brown
Assistant Referees: Kathyn Nesbitt and Logan Brown
Fourth Official: Rubiel Vazquez
Video Assistant: Timothy Ford
Assistant Video Assistant: Claudiu Badea
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and 81º
Man of the Match: Yordy Reyna (VAN)
Man of the Match: Yordy Reyna (VAN)
