Whitecaps 1, FC Dallas 0: Max Crepeau’s late heroism keeps Caps chasing the playoffs

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A week after the Vancouver Whitecaps fought hard to steal a point against one of the best teams in the West, the MLS team’s playoff chase lives on after a predominantly dominant performance and wild finish against visiting FC Dallas. Saturday night at BC Place.

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A brilliant save by Max Crepeau on a late penalty Preserved a 1-0 Whitecaps (8-9-8) victory over FC Dallas (6-9-12).

Caps defender Patrick Metcalfe was fouled in the penalty area in the 95th minute by the video assistant referee, but Crepeau looked to Dallas’ designated player Franco Jara to save the victory.

NEXT GAME

Wednesday

Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Houston Dynamo

6 pm, BBVA Stadium, TV: TSN, Radio: AM730

With nine games to play, the Caps have 33 points on the season. They are not yet in a playoff spot, but are now just three points behind Real Salt Lake, who are in the seventh and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. RSL lost 4-1 to Portland.

The Caps have a game in hand at RSL and LAFC, who they outscored in points per game as the Angels lost 2-0 to San Jose.

San Jose also has 33 points, but has also played one more game than Vancouver.

The Caps’ game Wednesday against the mediocre Houston Dynamo means more than ever.

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Find the flow

The Caps got the first chance of the game, as Cristian Dajome found himself unmarked in the center of the area in a corner.

The ball found him, he had an open header, but Dallas goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer was there to deflect it.

But for the next dozen minutes or so, Dallas, who fired coach Luchi Gonzalez last Sunday with general manager Marco Ferruzzi taking over, was rising. With attacking talents like teenager Ricardo Pepi (the forward had 12 goals for Saturday) and Jader Obrian, that came as no surprise.

Crepeau stopped Obrian point-blank in the ninth minute, calmly dropping his hammer.

They took the lead in the 20th minute when Russell Teibert took a fumble and floated it to the left side of the six-yard box, where rushing Brian White deftly headed the ball past Maurer and into the net to his sixth goal of the game. year and second in two games.

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It was the first time White and Lucas Cavallini had started out together and it took a while for them to soften their association. But as the game progressed, their understanding of each other and of Ryan Gauld directing traffic behind them grew.

Cavallini, in his first start since 8 August after recovering from a left knee injury, connected with a powerful header in the 40th minute, a shot that Maurer was able to deflect over the crossbar.

A minute later, White missed a second goal after Dajome stabbed into the box, fell back to the top of the six-yard line for White, but was unable to drag his shot on goal, putting the ball just outside the left post.

More of the same

The Caps opened the second half as they had closed the first, with a lot of energy.

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Cavallini had a half chance in the 50th minute, fighting for space in the penalty area to get his head into a cross, but still hit the post.

Ten minutes later, Dajome fired a powerful shot from the left, which Maurer was able to catch, but it was so powerful that it still moved to the baseline, with the Dallas goalkeeper forced to concede another corner.

The Caps would have done every fan’s heart a favor if they managed to find a second goal.

Dallas found a rhythm in the final 20 minutes of the game, but despite controlling much of the possession, it couldn’t find a draw.

The Hoops got a couple of good open looks, but other than the PK, Crepeau never had a problem.

Busy times

With three games in seven days, it wasn’t a huge surprise that Caps coach Vanni Sartini chose to keep a couple of his key players on the bench to start.

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Both Deiber Caicedo and Janio Bikel started the game on the bench. It was kind of a roll of the dice, as leaving Bikel off the field put a lot of pressure on Leonard Owusu and Teibert to control play in midfield.

But as is often the case, whatever steel Sartini gave in opening Owusu over Bikel, was more than made up for by Gauld’s performance at the front of midfield.

Gauld had four key passes in the first half alone, which kept Dallas on the defensive, hampering his efforts to counterattack.

Caicedo was replaced by Cavallini in the 62nd minute as the Canadian international had his longest playing spell since returning to action three games ago. He had managed just under half an hour in his two previous appearances, both off the bench, after wasting time due to a knee ailment he contracted on international duty for Canada.

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And Bikel came to bring the game to a close, replacing Owusu, who played as well as he ever has in his time in white and blue.

White was also spelled in the final stages by Tosaint Ricketts.

Do it

With left backs Cristian Gutiérrez and Florian Jungwirth and center back Erik Godoy unable to play (all three were seen working alone in practice last week) Sartini got creative with his three defenders, moving Jake Nerwinski back to the left side. of the three-man compact.

That meant Dajome went back to playing as a left back with Bruno Gaspar as a right back, instead of Javain Brown.

Gaspar came out in the 62nd minute, having stopped himself, replaced by Brown.

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