The season may be over for the senior squad, but the Academy squads are still going strong. On Saturday in Coquitlam, it was the Portland Timbers who provided the opposition.
In the eighth minute, Portland's Anthony Macchione opened the scoring and the visitors held the narrow lead for more than half an hour. But Vancouver, cheered on by a vociferous crowd, found an equaliser in the 39th minute.
The goal was scored by Sam Adekugbe, who continued his fine form after having made his MLS debut two weeks ago.
As the players walked off the pitch for their half time break, we noticed that assistant coach Carl Robinson, our favourite to succeed former manager Martin Rennie, and goalkeeper coach Marius Røvde had decided to take in the match. Tellingly, assistant coaches Paul Ritchie and Jake DeClute were nowhere to be seen.
In the second half, the game was largely controlled by a pair from Winnipeg, Marco Bustos and Kianz Froese. They made several darting runs, penetrating the Portland defence, while alternating with some shrewd tackles whenever the home team lost possession.
In the 73rd minute, their efforts finally bore fruit as Bustos found the back of the net. Less than two minutes later, the Caps had trebled their lead thanks to the efforts of Jordan Haynes.
As the match wound down, the Timbers continued to press, shortening Vancouver's lead to one goal in the 83rd minute through a Samuel Werner strike, but the score line flattered the visitors.
After those early nerves, the match was never in doubt. The final score was Vancouver 3, Portland 2. Click here to open our fullscreen slideshow.
