Camilo’s late miss forces Whitecaps to settle for scoreless draw

Camilo PHOTO: CANADA SOCCER/BOB FRID

A last-second miss from Camilo brought the Vancouver Whitecaps’ winless streak to seven games, as the club tied the Seattle Sounders 0-0 in front of a crowd of 21,000 at a sold-out BC Place Saturday night.

The Brazilian’s miss from close range after a flick on from Kenny Miller was the final agonizing miss to cap off a frenetic 10 minutes to close the match, the first opportunity of which came in the 79th minute, as Seattle’s Jeff Parke got on the end of a Christian Tiffert corner kick, only to see Lee Young-Pyo clear off the line when Brad Knighton was bested. Down at the other end of the pitch, Barry Robson set Miller up for a chance in the 87th minute, but the striker fired wide to the left of the goal under immediate pressure from the Seattle defence.

With one minute left in the 90, substitute Steve Zakuani was allowed to turn at the top of the box, hitting an effort which took a deflection, only to be well stopped by Knighton, who reacted well in the Vancouver goal.

“From a defensive point of view, we kept a clean sheet which is always your objective before the game,” Andy O’Brien said following the match. “I think we limited them to few chances and I suppose we’re disappointed we didn’t nick it in the last few seconds, but that’s soccer.”

Despite the Sounders having the better of possession with 56.6 per cent of the ball, head coach Martin Rennie was satisfied with his club’s creativity throughout the match.

“These games are tight,” Rennie said. “First of all I was pleased that we limited their play but also I was pleased that we did have good opportunities, even if there weren’t a lot of clear chances around the goal, apart from that last one [from Camilo].”

Playing a diamond formation without any natural wingers, the Whitecaps played a compact style, allowing Seattle to run up and down the flanks. While the strategy seemed to limit the Sounders chances in the centre of the park, there seemed to be little from Vancouver in the way of creativity from the wings.

“One thing I think in the game was our delivery from wide areas wasn’t good enough,” Rennie said. “I think that we got in great positions on a regular basis and we need to improve on that because there were numbers in the box, and had the delivery been better, we would have probably had more chances to score.”

Rennie had to make two enforced substitutions in the first half, as John Thorrington and Darren Mattocks both went down with hamstring strains, meaning Matt Watson and Camilo stepped in unexpectedly.

“It was tricky but I thought the players that went on found the rhythm of the game very quickly, which is sometimes hard to do,” Rennie said. “It just meant that it limited our opportunities to change the game in the second half with substitutions if we wanted to, but I thought the players that went on did very well.”

Following the game, Mattocks said he would likely miss the club’s next match against Chivas USA, and could also miss the Portland Timbers match on Oct. 21.

“First time I’ve ever felt an injury apart from the burn [injury],” Mattocks said. “I felt a slight tug. I think that caught me off balance – I just felt a pull right away, and I went down.”

As a result of the draw, the Whitecaps now sit on 39 points, with a record of 10-12-9. The club is next in action Wednesday, when it hosts Chivas USA at BC Place. But the Caps didn’t lose any ground to FC Dallas in the race for fifth in the Western Conference, as a late Steven Lenhart goal allowed San Jose to draw the Hoops, 3-3. The gap between the teams is still two points.

Martin MacMahon is a Vancouver-based soccer writer. Follow him on Twitter: @martinmacmahon