Kekuta Manneh outshines Robbie Keane as Caps win

Many people came to see Robbie Keane shine at B.C. Place Stadium on Saturday night – but, instead, Kekuta Manneh stole the show.
Manneh, a 21-year-old Gambian scored the only goal the Vancouver Whitecaps needed in a 2-0 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy while Keane, the famed Irish international, was held in check throughout the game. The Whitecaps posted a franchise-record fourth consecutive win and moved into first place overall for the first time since joining MLS in 2011. The Galaxy fell to 1-2-2.
“I wouldn’t say it’s (my) best game of the season,” said Manneh. “I felt that the goal gave a lot to that. But I felt that I played well in Chicago and the first game against Toronto. But the goal (against L.A.) completes my performance. If I had a goal in the first game against Toronto, I would say that, probably, that’s my best game.”
In the past two seasons, Manneh has mixed some magical moments with inconsistency while still maturing physically and trying to adjust to the pace and physicality of MLS. The first four games of this season spelled more of the same, but he rescued Saturday’s contest, which had plenty of hype considering the opposition, from being a tedious affair.
While the first half was scoreless, Manneh’s chances, which went high, wide and off the crossbar, provided some consolation as Vancouver dominated but could not put shots on the net.
In the second half, he took a lead ball from Pedro Morales, raced in on goal and beat L.A. goalkeeper Jaime Penedo with a low shot in the 56th minute. The goal, mercifully, opened up the play, and Octavio Rivero put the Caps ahead 2-0 in the 66th minute as he converted a Nicolas Mezquida rebound from in close.
“I told (Manneh) he had done very well in the first half without hitting the target,” said Vancouver coach Carl Robinson. “I told him in the second half that he needed to stay positive and hit the target, and he did so it was a good performance. I think he has shown over the past couple of weeks glimpses of (his scoring potential), but for 70-odd minutes he was outstanding today.”
Robinson replaced Manneh with Darren Mattocks in the 78th minute. But for all intents and purposes, the game was over by then as Keane rarely had the ball and his strike partner, Gyasi Zardes, also generated little.
“They were the better team all night,” said Keane. “They outplayed us the entire match. They out-competed us from the start, and it was a big factor in the game. Give them credit. They outplayed us in every aspect of the game.”
As he went off, Manneh could rest comfortably with the fact that he is likely to start again Wednesday against the Columbus Crew. After being used primarily as a substitute the past two seasons, he has started all four games that he has played this season while missing the other because of a suspension for a two-footed tackle.
With Saturday’s effort, he served notice that it won’t be easy to knock him out of the starting 11 in games to come. The strong showing was important to him because he wanted to excel amidst recurring reports that Cristian Techera, a goal-scoring winger for River Plate in Uruguay’s top division, is due to join the Whitecaps in the next few days. Last week, the Whitecaps obtained an international roster spot from the New England Revolution for allocation money, so it appears that, even if Techera doesn’t arrive, an acquisition of some sort is planned.
“We have a lot of great players on the team and everybody’s fighting for a spot,” said Manneh. “I feel like this performance really helped me."
Manneh, who is listed as a midfielder but moves up often, was credited with seven shots, two of which were on target. He threatened regularly from the left wing with Canadian rookie left back Sam Adekugbe often sending the ball his way up the sideline or while overlapping.
Morales, who played one of his better games, also did a good job of distributing the ball so that others could feed Manneh, who likes the left-leaning approach.
“I like to attack, I like to go forward, that’s my game. That’s the setup,” he said of getting him the ball on the left wing. “We try to create one-on-one situations for me, so then I can try to create chances for my teammates or myself, and it looked like it worked today.”
While the crowd oohed and aahed at Manneh’s opportunistic moments, his teammates were also impressed.
“(His goal) was fantastic,” said goalkeeper David Ousted. “He’s done it all week in training. We know he can do it. It’s fantastic to see him get what he deserves from all the hard work today.”
Added centre back Kendall Waston: “He’s a very important player for us. He’s a young guy that wants to reach the top level. I think he’s improving every day, and he wants to get better. Today was a nice goal for him because in the last games, he got other opportunities when he couldn’t score, so today we’re very happy for him that he could score.”
Manneh, chosen fourth overall by Vancouver in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft, now has 11 career goals in North America’s top circuit. Much of the early-season public discussion has focused on how many Rivero, a Uruguayan in his first season with Whitecaps, and Morales, the club’s second-year captain, will score this year.
But, chances are, fans will be talking about Manneh often, too, in the weeks ahead.
"Hopefully, the next game, I can be even better,” he said.