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本帖最后由 青瓦台 于 2012-4-30 02:51 编辑
Young-Pyo Lee's free kick gives Vancouver Whitecaps 1-0 win over Columbus Crew
By Marc Weber, The Province April 28, 2012
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Young-Pyo Lee of the Vancouver Whitecaps fights off Chandler Hoffman #12 of the Philadelphia Union as he keeps control of the ball during the first half of a Major League Soccer game on March 31, 2012 at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania.Photograph by: Rich Schultz , Getty Images
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Vancouver Whitecaps penned The Art of the Steal on Saturday night.
Their 1-0 win didn't have the glitz of a Donald Trump work but he'd at least have admired the bottom line: take the three points and run.
Vancouver felt fortunate to reach the locker room at half time still in a scoreless tie against the Columbus Crew.
And some Caps fans might still be trying to figure out how their boys are coming home with another win, their fourth of the season.
Last year, win No. 4 came on Aug. 27.
It was just one of those nights.
Columbus could only score when offside or when a foul was called. They hit the crossbar, too, forced Joe Cannon into a diving save, and threatened on most of their nine corners.
But the only goal came from the foot of Whitecaps' fullback Young-Pyo Lee, and, wouldn't you know it, he wasn't even trying to score.
Lee's free kick from 20-plus yards in the 74th minute curled beautifully, and fortuitously, past goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum and into the far top corner.
It was a back-post cross intended for Atiba Harris's head.
Then it was just down to spirit and guts, of which this team has plenty.
Cannon epitomized that when he bravely punched away a late cross with Chad Marshall crashing into him, and Jay DeMerit and Martin Bonjour got meaner and stingier in central defence as the game progressed.
"Away from home," said DeMerit, "sometimes you've got to battle, and keep battling, and keep battling. And, sometimes, it goes your way and, thankfully, the guys did that all night and sometimes [balls] go in when they're not supposed to."
If this season has been about anything through eight games, it's the Whitecaps ability to earn points despite being aesthetically-challenged for large chunks of matches.
Creativity and flow has taken a back seat, for now at least, to responsibility and fight, and it's proved a successful formula.
The Whitecaps are 4-2-2 under Rennie. They've already posted more clean sheets — six — than all of last season, and they're 2-1-1 away from home, where they didn't win a single game all last season.
Saturday, Rennie was without the talents of Camilo and Alain Rochat, who, from an entertainment perspective, can't come back soon enough.
But Rennie's also made decisions like sitting Davide Chiumiento in favour of a defensively-minded midfield triangle of Jun Marques Davidson, Gershon Koffie and Matt Watson.
Davidson, again, was the best of the bunch Saturday. Early in the second half, he made a terrific sliding block on Eddie Gaven to bail out Jordan Harvey after a turnover.
Rennie's prudent side showed again late when veteran midfielder John Thorrington came off the bench, and not Ohio native Michael Nanchoff, who had more than 400 fans in the crowd of 12,000 on a chilly night at Columbus Crew Stadium.
There's no question, it's all about the wins right now. No room for sentimentality. Bank the points and worry about the rest later, maybe in the summer when Barry Robson and whoever else arrives.
"It's wins like this that hopefully will transform us from a team that's fighting to a team that will be in the thick of it this year," said Cannon.
"It seemed like the god above was with us tonight but we'll take it. For all the bad luck we've endured, I think we've created our own luck here."
With Camilo back in Vancouver, still bothered by his right quadriceps, Rennie gave Eric Hassli a start up front.
The Frenchman's goal drought stretched to 17 games in the victory and he seemed peeved coming off in the 74th minute, though that was apparently down to a verbal exchange with the referee.
No one looked good in the first half.
Cannon fished two balls out of his net within six minutes but neither counted as a Columbus goal.
Marshall pulled down DeMerit in the box just before Josh Williams fired a shot past Cannon off a corner.
Then Eddie Gaven was called offside before claiming a goal.
In the 16th minute, off another corner, Williams struck the crossbar with a bicycle kick.
Whatever was said during the break didn't work right away.
Seconds after the restart, there was another fire drill in the Whitecaps' box and Gaven pushed a great chance into the side netting.
But Vancouver came on after that — Omar Salgado zipping down the left wing to create a spark — and while their passing and possession continues to grate, their willingness to battle and tackle has proved more important.
The Whitecaps actually finished with one more shot on target — three — than the home side, who haven't won in four.
One shot, of course, was Lee's lucky strike. The South Korean legend has been perhaps their best player this season, so if anyone deserved a break, it was him.
"The way he plays the game every day," DeMerit said, "he warrants things like that."
It was a night of hard work and theft. Fourteen points from eight games? After last season, it's hard to trump that.
mweber@theprovince.com
twitter.com/ProvinceWeber© Copyright (c) The Province
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发表于 2012-4-30 02:49
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