Whitecaps show glimpse of their potential in win over K.C.

David Ousted offered a voice of objectivity in the wake of a big Vancouver Whitecaps victory Sunday.
The Whitecaps blanked defending Major League Soccer champion Sporting Kansas City 2-0 at B.C. Place Stadium. While happy with the strong performance, Ousted still put it in perspective after the Whitecaps (7-4-12) jumped into fifth place – the last playoff qualifying post – in the ultra-tight Western Conference.
“It is definitely crunch time right now,” said Ousted. “Like you say, people are winning next to us, and we need to keep winning like we did today to keep up with people and keep going up the standings.
“This was a good start, but the work doesn’t stop here. We’ve got an even more important game next week in (the Los Angeles area against) Chivas – and this will be good for nothing if we don’t go there and get something out of it.”
The Whitecaps were thoroughly deserving of the victory as they controlled Dom Dwyer, the league’s second-leading scorer, and the rest of a strong Kansas City squad (11-6-6) that remained first in the Eastern Conference.
“It was a good test for us – a test that we managed to overcome,” said Vancouver coach Carl Robinson. “I believed we could win the game, if we did things right, because of the personnel that we have got and we could cause any team problems, and we showed today that it could have been, maybe, (4-0 or 5-0) on another day. But we’ll take the victory.”
The comment was a reference to the fact that Vancouver declined to sign a proven veteran scorer, which they clearly lack, before the international transfer window closed Friday.
But the result still generated a couple of nagging questions. The first: Was it more a case of Vancouver playing well or Kansas City having an off day? The Whitecaps scored both goals in the first half, with the first coming in the 17th minute as Sporting defender Igor Julia headed a Pedro Morales lead ball into his net after starting goalkeeper Andy Grunebaum came out to play it and could not get back in time. The second came as Darren Mattocks converted a two-on-one after Morales intercepted a pass with Kansas City’s defenders and then raced towards the opposing goal. Mattocks would have looked extremely bad if he had missed.
Late in the second half, the Jamaican striker did miss on a penalty-kick as K.C. backup goalkeeper Jon Kempin got a hand on the shot, which Mattocks telegraphed, and then the ball bounced off the goalpost. (Kempin replaced Grunebaum at the beginning of the second half, because the starter suffered a shoulder injury as he collided with the post while stopping a Morales free kick.)
“They were the better team,” Kansas City coach Peter Vermes told reporters. “They wanted the game more. Their guys were hungry. Our guys were lackadaisical. We made two mistakes, and the mistakes are one thing, because that happens sometimes in games, and that kind of stuff you’ve got to be able to live with, but it’s our approach in the game. I always say that that’s my responsibility, so I’ll take responsibility, but at the same time, I’ll say that it won’t happen next week, I can tell you that.”
Accordingly, Whitecaps coach Robinson was not entirely comfortable with his club’s 2-0 lead to start the second half.
“It would have been more relaxing if we’d got the third goal, to tell you the truth,” said Robinson.
As he said, it was a good win against a good team, but Vancouver generated little offensively after Morales subbed out for Russell Teibert in the 77th minute.
Robinson did not appear likely to promise that his charges will produce a similar effort against Chivas, which ranks last in the Western Conference, next weekend.
Which brings us to the second nagging question: Why can’t the Caps produce wins like they did Sunday more often?
The Whitecaps earned their first win in more than a month after posting four consecutive draws. Taking a July 5 win over Seattle and a June 1 victory over Portland into account, the Whitecaps now have three wins in about three months. While excelling against contenders like the Sounders and Timbers, they have delivered sub-par performances against cellar-dwellers Montreal and Chivas, playing both to draws.
“It shouldn’t be that way,” Mattocks said of a big effort against Kansas City. “I think we should be up for it every single game.”
Robinson defended Vancouver’s youth movement, contending (as many other coaches in several sports have) that, sometimes, teams have to take a step back to move forward.
“I think it’s vitally important when you’re building football clubs, soccer clubs, that you have a foundation,” he said. “I think it’s vitally important that you have a core group of players. Kansas City are a perfect example. So are Salt Lake. You don’t need to spend over the odds to do it, but it takes time.
“I was in Toronto from 2007 to 2010, and I saw an influx of, maybe, 80-odd players, teammates, come and go. I don’t want to talk about Toronto too much, but that wasn’t a base for success. I think you’ve gotta build somewhere. You’ve gotta start somewhere. And, sometimes, you need to go backwards before you can go forwards. The good organizations understand that. We’ve certainly got a very good organization here, and one that wants to progress, and one that wants to win, and one that wants to produce young players as well.”
Contending the Whitecaps are “close” but also “far away” when it comes to being a championship-calibre team, he chalked Vancouver’s shortage of wins to the inconstancy that accompanies player development.
“We can compete,” said Robinson. “Can we compete on a consistent basis? That’s the question with young players. You get ups and downs with a young group, but we’re finding that we’re not losing too many games, which is great. But we’re winning, probably, not enough games, which isn’t great. … But the potential’s there.”
Indeed, the Whitecaps showed a glimpse of their potential Sunday. But if the Caps want to make the playoffs for only the second time in four years of MLS existence, they need to start showing that potential more often.
Otherwise, as Ousted said, Sunday's win will be good for nothing.