Whitecaps end up with goalless draw

April 11, 2009 - USL First Division (USL-1)
Vancouver Whitecaps News Release


BURNABY, BC - Vancouver Whitecaps FC began the defense of their USL First Division championship title with a goalless home draw versus Charleston Battery on Saturday evening.

On what was the opening night of the 2009 USL-1 season, both the Whitecaps and the Battery struggled to find their scoring finish in front of the goal during the season opener at Swangard Stadium, as early season rust seemed to affect the standard of play from both sides.

The draw took Vancouver's run of not conceding a goal in a home opener to eight matches, though the stalemate was the Whitecaps first in a home opener since the 0-0 draw with former USL-1 club Toronto Lynx on April 14, 2005.

Playing in his usual 4-4-2 formation, Whitecaps head coach Teitur Thordarson gave Vancouver native Marcus Haber his USL-1 debut in Saturday's match, while centre back Marco Reda lined up against the club he played for last season in his Vancouver debut, as he partnered the returning Justin Thompson in the centre of the Whitecaps backline. Another player to make his Whitecaps debut was winger Ansu Toure. The former Minnesota Thunder, Atlanta Silverbacks, and Miami FC Blues man started on the left-hand side of midfield.

Battery head coach Mike Anhaeuser, meanwhile, gave former Whitecaps striker Ian Fuller the start up front for the South Carolina visitors, as he played alongside new club signing Tom Heinemann. Former Toronto FC man Tyler Hemming earned a start in a three-man midfield, as Anhaeuser went with a 4-3-3 formation against Vancouver. Former Canadian international Chris Williams also started in the midfield for the visitors.

On a cool and wet spring evening, a large Swangard crowd of 5,037 saw both sides struggle to get into their full stride. In fact, the first 10 minutes looked a bit untidy in terms of the overall play, with the Battery making the more dangerous forward runs in that period of time.

The home crowd, however, did not have long to wait for some excitement, as the Whitecaps created their best chance of the half on 14 minutes. Vicente Arze's fine through ball from his right wing position freed the speedy Haber to make a dangerous run towards the Charleston goal. With only Battery goalkeeper Dusty Hudock to beat, the Canadian youth international hit the far post with his low finish, with the ball rolling away to safety as a result.

Haber's pace was causing Charleston's backline some problems, with the former FC Groningen player making another dash towards goal on 19 minutes. Unfortunately for him, the ball got away from his possession at a critical stage and allowed Hudock to collect with relative ease in the Battery box.

As the match past the half-hour mark, the Whitecaps applied more pressure, with Charles Gbeke heading captain Martin Nash's cross from the left well off target on 31 minutes before Toure sailed a strike over the Charleston crossbar a minute later. Hudock then needed to collect Thompson's goal-bound header on 33 minutes, as the Whitecaps defender connected with Toure's corner from the right.

As the rain began to fall more heavily, the Battery registered their first shot on goal on 34 minutes, with Heinemann forcing a routine save from Whitecaps number one Jay Nolly.

On 40 minutes, Arze earned a yellow card from match referee Fabrizio Romano after making one complaint too many to the game official. It was the last eventful moment of the half, as both sides eventually went to the halftime break tied at 0-0.



USL First Division Stories from April 11, 2009


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