‘Anything can happen’
Long-serving Whitecap has seen it all before, but the Caps don’t exactly have the momentum that other underdogs did
John Thorrington knows his MLS history. He’s been in the league longer than any Whitecap, except goalkeeper Joe Cannon.
So when Thorrington says what all players in the Whitecaps position say at playoff time — that everyone left standing has a legitimate shot at the MLS Cup — he can back it up.
“L.A.’s backed into the playoffs when they’ve won it [in 2005],” Thorrington said. “Salt Lake backed into the playoffs [when they won in 2009], Colorado backed into the playoffs [when they won in 2010]. New York’s made a final being the last qualifying team [in 2008].
“Once you’re in the playoffs anything can happen and then fans and everybody looks back on those years as great years. If we go places in the playoffs it will be no different for us.”
The comparisons are fair, and they serve as an important rallying cry for the Whitecaps, but they’re not entirely accurate. Those teams did squeak into the playoffs, but they had momentum.
That Salt Lake team won three of its last four games, Colorado was 4-0-3 down the stretch, and L.A. was 3-1-1 in its last five before the playoffs in 2005.
The Whitecaps do not have momentum. They have one win in their last 10 games, capped by a scoreless tie at Salt Lake last week. They also do not have a good track record of performing in the biggest games this season.
But they certainly have a strong defensive foundation, they have nothing to lose, and they appear to have belief.
Perhaps those things are just as important.
“It doesn’t have to be the prettiest game,” said goalkeeper Brad Knighton. “This is a great opportunity for us to show people that we can show up in big games and knock off the defending champs.
“We’ve relished [the underdog] role this season. We’re going to turn some heads, I think.”
The Whitecaps have struggled against L.A. at the Home Depot Center this season, losing 3-0 and 2-0, but they were much better the second time around and it took two wonderful goals to beat them.
They’ll also take confidence from a 2-2 tie at home where they led L.A. 2-0 into the 80th minute.
Everyone expects Martin Rennie’s side to get numbers behind the ball and wait for their chance on the counterattack through the speedy Darren Mattocks or Dane Richards.
The hope will be to frustrate the hosts, but it’s a game plan that still requires a moment of surgical precision, or good fortune.
“Whatever it takes,” said Thorrington, who could start in midfield. “Whether it’s a free kick, a fluky goal, we’ll take it.”
O n Saturday, in what the team called a dress rehearsal in Salt Lake, the defensive side of the plan came together, but there wasn’t much to speak of at the other end.
Rennie will try to tweak the lineup and squeeze a goal from somewhere; Barry Robson’s return seems likely.
Rennie pointed to the fact Vancouver was the favourite against Toronto and Portland. Not so here. Not even close.
“We’re in with a shot to do something special,” Rennie said. “So you embrace those opportunities.
“We’re on the road against the best team last season, the champions, a very good team, a team we’ve figured out twice what not to do against, and maybe the third time we can figure out what to do in the Home Depot Center.”
And if they do, it will be a massive step for the club, and perhaps the start of another Cinderella story in the MLS playoffs.