COLUMBUS, Ohio – Down 1-0 to Columbus Crew SC, the Vancouver Whitecaps were staring at a 558-minute scoreless streak away from home on Saturday. But a fortunate own goal gave the visitors a breakthrough in the 13th minute, and they followed it up with two late strikes to stun Columbus 3-1 and perhaps save their season.
It had been a full two months since the Whitecaps had scored on the road, and an eight-game winless streak saw the club falling deep out of the playoff race in the Western Conference. Second-half goals from Andrew Jacobson and Erik Hurtado gave Vancouver the win in Columbus and newfound hope.
“I’ve got to credit my guys with character and guts and determination,” said Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson, who was suspended for the match. “The second half was an excellent display of away football.”
Robinson said his club played “a game of two halves” against Crew SC, and credited his players for rebounding from a first half in which they did not register a single shot on target.
With Saturday's win, the Whitecaps jumped up into seventh place in the West. While that will certainly give them a boost in confidence, they know they still face an uphill battle when it comes to earning a postseason berth.
“It’s out of our hands, unfortunately,” Robinson said. “There are teams above us that have games in hand and points, but Major League Soccer is strange. Strange things happen, so we’ve got to just keep going.”
What will help the Whitecaps keep the faith is the idea that they are due for some good fortune. The past few weeks have seen them on the wrong end of what they deem unlucky bounces, but Saturday's win might be a sign that things are changing for the better. Just in time, too.
“We have had some serious bad luck over the last few games with a re-taken penalty, a goal kicked out of our goalkeeper’s hands, a handball goal last week and things like that,” Robinson said. “I just said to the guys, ‘You’ve got to keep going. If you keep going, put the work in, the rewards will come.’
"Today, the reward came.”
