The Whitecaps had two weeks off since their match against Portland Timbers where they drew 1-1, but there were a few minor things of note between then and their most recent match against Houston Dynamo.
When it came for the match against Houston Dynamo, the Caps had plenty of time to recover from what was a very hectic month of May and Rennie surprised most with his starting lineup up front in attack. He went with Chiumiento on the left wing and Darren Mattocks up the middle, while Sebastien Le Toux took what is now his familiar spot on the right wing. The mid lined up as a triangle and was probably what could be considered our strongest combination when playing a 4-3-3, with Jun Marques Davidson playing defensively in the center, Gershon Koffie on the right and John Thorrington on the left. The familiar “fantastic four” were holding it down in defense.
The break served the Caps well, coming out blazing scoring just after the three-minute mark when YP Lee played a fantastic cross into the box that Mattocks connected with on the volley for a highlight reel goal. You could tell Mattocks felt like he was really out to prove something, especially after the last disappointing home match where he missed countless opportunities. He missed a couple still in this match, but looked very dangerous; eventually netting his second of the night from a gorgeous pass from Koffie releasing Mattocks blazing passed the defense to slot in his second of the match.
It was a highly entertaining match with many of the Whitecaps playing the best game of their season. YP Lee repeatedly joined the rush making numerous perfect crosses into the box and held his defensive form as per usual. Gershon Koffie seemed to take on his role to join in the attack with ease and was robbed of what should have been a blistering goal, unfortunately directed it at the Dynamo keeper. Davide Chiumiento was a machine, dribbling through the Houston players and making his trademark precision passes creating chances after chances. Chiumiento also narrowly missed the far corner for a goal of his own on a nice rush. Joe Cannon kept the Caps in the match with two incredible saves that stood out over a handful of great saves.
Houston did get one back when the Caps defense couldn’t clear the ball far enough and then lost track of Macoumba Kandji in the box who hit a nice shot passed Cannon. Before the match ended however, Jordan Harvey started warming up on the sideline making most fans nervous...was Rochat hurt or was he going in for Chiumiento, neither of which seemed to be required. To my delight and of the fans around me, he came on for Chiumiento in mid. I personally like Harvey best as a substitute mid rather on defense, and he solidified that when he got himself in the right place at the right time to slot in a third Whitecaps goal to win the match 3-1 over Houston Dynamo.
Next match is as mentioned, against the Colorado Rapids who sit fifth in the Western Conference three points behind.
In Canadian National soccer news, Canada's Men's National Team played Cuba in their first World Cup Qualifying match in hopes to make the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. In appalling conditions both on and off the pitch, the two teams played in humid forty-plus degree Celsius weather on a pitch that made the match look like a rec league game. The grass was not manicured and it made for slow ball movement and terrible runs, but Canada was able to come out with a very important 1-0 win thanks to a beautiful header from Olivier Occean. Next for Canada is an extremely important match versus Honduras at BMO field in Toronto June 12th.
