Whitecaps give up first goal again, win again

Camilo PHOTO: TONY LEWIS/CANADA SOCCER

The Vancouver Whitecaps continued their cardiac-kids routine on Wednesday, defeating Chivas USA 3-1 in front of 16,130 at BC Place despite conceding an early goal.

First-half stoppage time goals from Jordan Harvey and then Camilo 82 seconds later proved enough to turn the match, before Camilo bagged a second in the 81st minute to seal the deal.

Tristan Bowen got things going for the visitors with a knuckleball of a strike which dipped into the top left corner just seven minutes in after Harvey backed up and allowed the midfielder plenty of time on the ball.

“We got off to a bad start,” Whitecaps head coach Martin Rennie said following the match. “It was a little bit of a freak goal. The ball really spun and dipped, and went in the only place it probably could have gone in.”

But ultimately the Whitecaps responded, although it did take a while.

Harvey bagged Vancouver’s equalizer after Russell Teibert attempted to find Camilo streaking into the box in the 47th minute of the first half. The Brazilian was at full stretch and his attempt to strike the ball took a slight touch before finding the fullback, whose shot deflected off a defender before going in. As the shot was going on target anyway, Harvey was given credit for the goal — his third in his last four matches.

“He’s continuing to get in good positions,” Rennie said following the match. “I think he was also involved in the third goal, and he’s just got a great work ethic. He’s fantastically fit. He can go up and down that line all day and we encourage him to get forward.

“I’ve got a couple of ideas of why he’s more open, but I’m not going to go into that because it might help teams adjust.”

Then, Camilo gave the ‘Caps the lead a minute and 22 seconds later, latching onto a pass from Teibert, who dispossessed Gabriel Farfan in midfield, before beating Mario de Luna and placing the ball in the bottom left corner.

The Brazilian struck again in the 81st minute, banging home a loose ball in the area which deflected off Walter Vilchez before crossing the line.

“I feel very confident here now,” Camilo said. “Every game, even if I don’t score, I think I play well. This is good. Our confidence is back. We’ve won four games in six.”

Those goals mean the forward has now bagged 11 in his last 12 matches in all competitions.

“He’s always been a talented player,” Rennie said following the match of Camilo. “He’s always been a danger in front of goal, but he’s become much much more of a team player, where he creates opportunities for other people, where he’s all about the entire group and the club, and because of that, more opportunities have come his way.”

The win marked Vancouver’s third after allowing the opening goal of a match, to give it an impressive 3-4-3 record when conceding first – and its second such result in a row after coming from behind to defeat the New England Revolution 4-3 on Saturday.

“We showed excellent character to stay composed and to fight back,” Rennie said. “A lot of teams when they lose the first goal the game is over, and that’s never been the case for us, especially this season, so that’s an encouraging sign.”

The Whitecaps now have a bit of a break after moving to 5-3-3, not playing again until June 29 as they play D.C. United away at RFK Stadium.

“We’ve been waiting for this break,” Rennie said. “Right now we’re playing well, but if someone gave me the choice to play on Saturday, or have a little break, then I think it would be good for us to have a little break and have time to prepare for the next run of games.

“When we come back, we have three games in a week.”

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