Earnshaw steals the show in Whitecaps debut

Robert Earnshaw could not have picked a better debut Saturday with the Vancouver Whitecaps.
The former Welsh international striker came on as a substitute with three minutes left in regular time and scored the winning goal in the 90th minute as the Whitecaps stole a 2-1 victory from the Portland Timbers at B.C. Place Stadium.
The Whitecaps (3-0-1) picked up their third win in the first four games of the 2015 MLS season while the Timbers (0-3-1) remained winless in as many outings.
“I was thinking: I just need a chance. Just give me one chance,” said Earnshaw, who continued his habit of scoring in his first game with a new team. “I think it’s amazing because, the amount of times I see debuts, and things just happen to go your way, especially when it’s spoken by one player: It’s my debut. What an amazing feeling.”
Earnshaw, 33, who had a long pre-season trial with the Whitecaps and only signed a contract Wednesday, stole the show in a poor performance from the home side. He took a through ball from Pedro Morales, narrowly beat a Portland offside trap and chipped a shot over charging Timbers goalkeeper Adam Larsen Kwarasey.
Afterwards, the usually reserved Earnshaw did a flip in mid-air and a jig near a corner flag as fans danced with him.
“I didn’t know what to do,” he said. “I was so moved, I was so happy that I kind of lost myself in the moment.”
The winning tally came five minutes after Portland’s Fanendo Adi put in a rebound after a Rodney Wallace shot bounced off Vancouver goalkeeper David Ousted’s hands. Nicolas Mezquida opened the scoring for the Whitecaps with a well-placed free kick that went over a defensive wall and curled into the top left corner of the net in the 15th minute.
After that point, the Timbers controlled play the rest of the way as the Whitecaps rarely managed to get out of their half of the pitch – let alone create scoring chances.
Earnshaw rescued his new team from the jaws of defeat while helping to resuscitate his own career. A product of Cardiff City’s youth program, Earnshaw made his professional debut and 201 appearances with the senior side between 1998 and 2004 while scoring 105 goals in all competitions. with the senior side in 1998. He also toiled for English Premier League side West Brom Albion as well as Norwich City and Derby County before moving to MLS.
In the past two MLS seasons, the Cardiff native has accumulated 11 goals, while starting 24 of his 31 appearances. Last season, he only played 174 minutes with the Chicago Fire, but still managed to score three goals. In 2013, he posted eight goals while starting 23 of his 26 appearances with Toronto FC.
Since leaving English squad Nottingham Forest in 2011, he has played for Cardiff in his homeland and Israeli Premier League side Maccabi Tel Aviv and Blackpool – for just one game – back in England. The delay in signing with Vancouver created a fair amount of uncertainty about his future. (He announced his retirement from the Wales men’s national team the same day he signed with the Caps.)
Hence, Saturday’s game-winning goal, the 217th of his career had considerable meaning.
“The negotiations went on a little bit long, but it was all about me getting myself right, getting fit, getting ready and getting to know the team,” he said. “(The goal) feels amazing, it feels amazing, because it feels like I’ve worked for this. I’ve worked hard this pre-season. Actually, I haven’t had a good pre-season for a few years. So that was one of the reasons I came here, in order to have a good few weeks in pre-season and really get right, get fit and I did.”
The winning goal also meant a lot to Whitecaps coach Carl Robinson, a fellow Welshman who played on the national team with Earnshaw.
“Carl was saying to me just know that, as soon as I came on, he just felt that I was going to score,” said Earnshaw.
Robinson told reporters the same story while making his decision to insert Earnshaw look astute.
"I've known him for a number of years, and I brought him here because he can score goals," said Robinson.
But Earnshaw gave Robinson another, much more important reason to celebrate than seeing an old teammate do well.
“Today, I thought we were average at best, but we stole a victory in the end,” said Robinson. “So, yeah, I’m very happy.”
While Earnshaw stole the victory, Vancouver goalkeeper David Ousted robbed the Timbers on dangerous opportunities. Ousted was credited with four saves compared to just one for Kwarasey.
“(Ousted) was excellent,” said Robinson. “He won us a game today. Obviously, the subs coming on at the end made a big difference for us. They all had an impact in the game, but without (Ousted), we would have lost the game and, probably deservedly, should have lost the game. … They were the better team for a long stretch, because we couldn’t get to grips with them. When it went to 1-1, I would have taken a draw at that point.”
Ousted got lucky when Portland second-half substitute Dairon Asprilla bounced a header off the turf and barely over the crossbar in the 89th minute. But the Vancouver goalkeeper also made a point-blank save after Earnshaw’s goal and caught a dangerous free kick in the closing seconds of the game.
“I gave us a chance to win today, and that’s why I’m in there,” said Ousted. “It was a delight see Earnie get that goal. It just shows what a wonderful football player he is. He’s a great addition to our team.”