By RYAN TOLMICH
Vancouver Whitecaps Daren Mattocks netted his third in as many games, but it wasn’t enough for the Whitecaps to get more than their tenth draw of the season.
The Whitecaps and FC Dallas played to a 2-2 draw Sunday at BC Place behind goals from Mattocks, Blas Perez, Michel and Pedro Morales.
The Whitecaps opened the scoring in just the 11th minute by way of Mattocks. The Jamaican’s speed with the ball was on full display, as Mattocks took off with a Gershon Koffie through-ball past the FC Dallas defense. Mattocks calmly bested FC Dallas keeper Raul Fernandez with the ensuing shot, giving the Whitecaps the early 1-0 lead.
FC Dallas found their equalizer in the 29th minute on a wonderfully handled rebound by Blas Perez. FC Dallas defender Moises Hernandez broke into space on the left side before sending a ball into the box in the direction of Zach Loyd. Loyd’s header bounced back off the bar and into the direction of Perez, who patiently chested the ball down before firing past Whitecaps keeper David Ousted.
FC Dallas scored a second just nine minutes later due to a defensive blunder from Whitecaps defender Carlyle Mitchell. With goalkeeper Ousted set to claim a soaring ball near the top of the box, Mitchell went flying through in search of a header only for his arm to strike the ball as it approached his goalkeeper. Ousted uttered some harsh words for his defender before being beaten by Michel to make the score 2-1 to the visitors.
The Whitecaps then found a penalty equalizer of their own just after halftime, with Pedro Morales netting from the spot in the 53rd minute for his seventh goal of the season. The spot-kick came as a result of a handball from Hernandez, whose limb caught the ball just inside the penalty box. Morales left Fernandez standing in net, firing to the keepers’ right for the game’s final goal.
Both sides nearly found the go-ahead goal, with Mitchell nearly repenting for his mistake when he unfortunately struck the post. Morales also had a pair of chances, the first of which was parried away by Fernandez. Morales’ stoppage time volley nearly snatched a late winner, but it was not to be as the teams settled for a draw.
The Whitecaps will now face a short turnaround with a Wednesday visit to the Chicago Fire coming next on the schedule. Meanwhile, FC Dallas will have a longer break between games before heading to Los Angeles to take on Chivas USA August 3.
Didn’t get to see the game but the highlights told the story of a pretty evenly matched game…I just hope we can start pulling out the win more often than we draw or the playoff race could get uncomfortably tight.
Not really an even game at all. Pretty much one-way traffic for the Caps. In classic Caps fashion of late, they gave up two easy goals on Dallas’ only two chances of the game. They turned what should have been a 3-0 or 4-1 victory into a 2-2 draw and had to rely on a borderline penalty just to get the draw (still not sure if the Dallas handball was inside or outside the box). To be fair to Dallas, they took their chances and pretty much stopped trying to score in the second half which no doubt led to some of the statistical imbalance in the second half.
*obligatory “looks like the childlike empress’ headpiece from The Neverending Story”