Wednesday night’s lone MLS match certainly had chances and had quite a few goals, but it did not have a winner.
The San Jose Earthquakes split points with the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place as the two teams settled for a 2-2 draw. The draw continues poor runs of form for both teams, who combine for just two wins in their past 16 matches.
Cristian Techera opened the scoring for the Whitecaps in the 19th minute, firing home a Yordy Reyna through ball for the opener. Just moments before halftime, though, the match was level on a Danny Hoesen goal in stoppage time of the first half.
Moments into the second, Nick Lima smashed a stunning goal, giving the Quakes the lead. However, that lead was gone by the 64th as Reyna deflected a header off a defender and in for a split of the points.
MAN OF THE MATCH
After recently being left off of Peru’s provisional World Cup squad, Yordy Reyna put in a strong performance with a goal and an assist.
MOMENT OF THE MATCH
The most memorable moment of Wednesday’s clash was Lima’s stunner, a goal that will be up for Goal of the Week this week.
MATCH TO FORGET
Shea Salinas was outmuscled on Reyna’s header and then saw the ball deflect off his back and in, capping a frustrating sequence with an equalizing goal.
speaking of ‘caps, eh hem, i would like to share a phone app that’s got me hooked recently and it might hook you, too. it’s called soccer caps. do you play this one already? i just found it and i can’t stop playing it. there are many versions of it you can play on your phone. typically, it’s five on five. you play with something that looks like hockey pucks. they slide around like in air hockey. they have mass and glide and bounce off each other like in curling. there is a ball. it looks like a soccer ball. it gets knocked around and spins sometimes like the ball on a foosball table. the playing area looks like a soccer field with goals and lines all drawn as usual. you play by pulling back with your finger and the puck releases as if you stretched a rubber band and let it go. the pucks crash into each other and knock the ball around. two players take turns until time runs out or someone scores. this game feels like soccer even though it’s slower and you take turns. one hockey puck in your own net can be like the goalie. hockey pucks can also be like defenders, midfielders and forwards. you can change formations during a game. you need to clear the ball out if its near your goal. you can pass the ball by aiming carefully and playing it near another one of your own hockey pucks. you can play the ball through the other player’s hockey pucks. you can of course shoot at your opponent’s goal and try to score. you can hit the post and get a rebound. own goals are possible and sometimes do happen when the space is tight around the goal and the ball bounces backwards. sometimes you build from the back and sometimes you play the long ball. sometimes skillful building leads to scoring and sometimes there is a turnover and you score against the run of play. actually, what has me hooked is how much this stupid game is actually just like real soccer. in it’s free and you can play it on your phone and have a whole, satisfying match in three minutes. and there are world cup versions of this game, you can play the russia 2018 wc on your phone in soccer cap bliss.